Next week the Washington House and Senate will spend long days on the floor.

The first half of the week will be dedicated to advancing policy bills, not necessary to implement the budget, from the floor to the Governor’s desk.  Both chambers have until the end of day on April 15 to move bills.  A word to the wise be cautious what you consider to be a “dead bill”, things can come back to life at anytime.

Once this deadline passes it will be full throttle to the ultimate deadline – sine die.  April 26 marks the end of the regular session.

So where do things stand.

To date, the House has passed a proposed biennial operating budget to the Senate. It is now in Senate Ways & Means.  No further action has taken place on revenue, which underlies the operating budget. The House Finance Committee is scheduled to meet a week from today.  The House also advanced, with a strong bipartisan vote, a biennial capital budget.  The capital budget is now in Senate Ways & Means.

The Senate has passed an operating budget to the House. It is now in House Appropriations. This past week the Senate released and advanced a capital budget proposal. The Senate “gut-n-stuffed” the House’s capital budget (HB 1115/116) with their proposal in committee late this week. It is expected the Senate will take up the bill on the floor next week.