Several news blogs are reporting that House and Senate budget negotiators last night reached an agreement on a final state budget for these tough times.
As is usual, no details are available until the formal unveiling, which some say will be Friday.
The Tacoma News Tribune reports that House Democratic budget writers will brief the House Democratic Caucus today on the budget deal.
The Olympian reports the House may vote on the final budget as soon as Friday, leaving the Senate just two days to hold a hearing and a floor vote.
The Olympian also reports the deal softens the blow to higher education.
The Seattle Times reports the budget numbers have been agreed to, but not all the details.
And a source we trust close to RHCs reports that as of now in the budget, Yakima Valley School will remain open. If that pans out when the final details are released, that will be a big victory for our Local 1326 members who’ve waged a full-court press all session long. However, don’t get too excited. The same source says the final budget may fund studies on the residential habilitation centers, which we take to mean we’ll see future proposals to close one or more RHC.
This is an unusual final stretch run for the budget. Normally, each house adopts a budget and then both sides work out the differences. This year, that didn’t happen and House and Senate budget writers immediately started negotiations on what amounts to one, joint budget.
The session ends Sunday.
As we know more, we’ll let you know. But that’s what we know as of now.
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