Gov. Jay Inslee and legislative leaders of both parties announced early Saturday they had “reached an agreement in principle” on a new state budget.
“This agreement ends the threat of a government shutdown on July 1,” according to a joint statement issued by the governor’s office just before 1:30 a.m.
No details were provided. Inslee and lawmakers from the House and Senate are to meet again Saturday morning to “finalize details”, according to the agreement.
The announcement comes on the 30th and final day of a second special session. Inslee will need to call a third extra session beginning Sunday to give lawmakers time to debate and pass the budget. He must sign it by midnight June 30 to prevent parts of government from shutting down Wednesday.
There also are a number of bills necessary to implement the budget that must be acted on in the next three days.
The Democrat-controlled House and Republican-led Senate have been at loggerheads for months on how much money to spend and where to spend it in the next two-year budget cycle.
This week, the differences between the two chambers appeared to have shrunk to a handful including teacher pay, a cut in college tuition, social services and early learning.
The House is scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. Saturday and the Senate at noon.
Here is the statement released Saturday.
“Early this morning we reached an agreement in principle on a two-year state operating budget.
“This agreement ends the threat of a government shutdown on July 1.
“We met in the governor’s office for several hours last night before reaching the agreement. We will reconvene later this morning to finalize details of the two-year spending plan. More information will be available later today.”
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