Good morning. Here’s last night’s press conference:

Gov. Chris Gregoire is joined by Sen. Lisa Brown and Rep. Frank Chopp.

She said there’s nothing regular about this session. “We are confronting the worst economic times in 80 years,” she said.

“This session is about moving forward. Tonight and today I congratulate the Legislature” for taking “major steps” forward on school reform and levy equalization.

She thanked the lawmakers for sending a Constitutional amendment to voters. “There is much that has been accomplished in a very short session, but there is more to do.”

“Tonight I’ve issued a proclamation calling for a special session that will begin on Monday at noon,” she said, and hopefully last 7 days or fewer.

Sen. Lisa Brown said they’re looking forward to coming back on Monday and getting the budget and revenue package done.

“I’d like to say it really is about jobs and fortunately we have a transportation budget that’s fully passed through both the House and the Senate,” she said. With that alone, she said thousands of jobs will be created.

Speaker Frank Chopp: Said they’re proud of the education reform, early learning bill, levy capacity and Race to the Top reform. “We were so hopeful we could get that done today and we were able to get that job completed.”

He said the Legislature will be “really focused in on our jobs agenda” during special session. “The package that you’ll be seeing refreshed next week will be very aggressive.”

So: Everyone will be back on Monday. They’ll reintroduce budget bills “and start passing those immediately” so that when they are done negotiating, they can pass the budget, Sen. Lisa Brown said. She said budget and jobs are the only topics that will be discussed. She said negotiations will begin this weekend.

As for the size of the revenue package, Brown said they “more or less cut the difference.”

Gregoire said she hasn’t read the cell phone bill yet, but it seems like not talking on the phone while driving is good public policy.

Tags: special session

Details to come on any special session … stay tuned.

Gov. Chris Gregoire just announced that she’ll hold a press conference at 9:15 p.m. to discuss the end of session. TVW will be there live, as will I.

The bill to make talking on a cell phone while driving a primary offense passed the House as-is. Now it will head to Gov. Chris Gregoire.

The bill will also ban texting while driving. The House initially took away the provisions making cell phone chatting a primary offense, but left in the texting provision and made both a primary offense for teens. They gave up on that position and agreed with the Senate bill.

The Senate is now debating the Race to the Top education reform bill.

“The hour is late but this is a very, very important bill. I think this is the right time to end the session on this note,” she said. “This bill is something that we have waited for for many years,” she said. “It is acompromise agreement” among all “education stakeholders.” She said Washington “will be qualified and will be selected” for federal funding.

Sen. Curtis King said he approved.

The Senate passed the bill 47 to 2. It now heads to the governor.

Meanwhile, the House is finishing up on the education funding bill. Watch live here.

The House just passed the Race to the Top bill and the Senate just moved to adjourn.

That passed unanimously. But they’re not adjourned yet: They’ll have to wait for the House.

While waiting, they can still pass more bills.

The Senate is debating a bill to change the way the state funds schools in the future.

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe said passing the bill would be a high note for the end of session. She said schools need more funding and this bill is the way to do it.

Sen. Curtis King said the bill promises funding but doesn’t say where it comes from. He said for those who think Republicans don’t care about education, they’re wrong. He said each year he’s been in the Legislature, he’s heard more empty promises from the past. “There’s no funding.  And there never was any funding,” he said. This bill would commit the state to $9 billion a biennium, he said.

Sen. Cheryl Pflug said “the only thing happening in this year are two new working groups” under the bill. And yet, she said, the Legislature passed a bill a couple hours ago to allow local districts to ask for more local property tax. She said the state doesn’t even have the money it needs now.

The Senate passed the bill. I don’t always post statements, but below is one from McAuliffe that gives some explanation of the deal brokered between the Senate, House and governor over the education bills:

“Gov. Gregoire, and House and Senate leadership negotiated an agreement on two very important K-12 bills that accomplishes the two critical education goals of this legislative session, without sacrificing either.

“As negotiated, House Bill 2776 ensures that funding enhancements to our basic education obligations begin in the 11-13 biennium and are completed by 2018. Without the adoption of HB 2776, the promises we made House Bill 2261, last year’s landmark education reform effort, would be delayed at least another year.

“We anticipate the House will pass Senate Bill 6696 which complements the reform effort we began last year, while also positioning Washington to be competitive for grants in the federal Race to the Top. Under this proposal, all schools will benefit from increased accountability, flexibility and targeted reforms in educator preparation and evaluation systems.

“Education is the people’s priority, and it’s great to end this regular session on a high note with these two powerful bills to reform our education system for our kids.”

Gov. Chris Gregoire is on set with Jessica Gao now on The Impact’s special Sine Die edition.

A crowd of about a two dozen lobbyists have gathered just outside the set — which is in the legislative building for today — and they’re watching, silently to see what the governor has to say. Tune in now on TVW. I’ll see what I can hear from where I sit and post here.

“I’m hopeful that we’re going to hear the Race to the Top bill” come out of the House pretty soon, she said. She said they’ve made an agreement on the content of the bill and “I don’t really care about the structure.”

She said the key for Race to the Top is that the state needs to be ready to implement the changes.

Gregoire indicated that there still is not agreement on the level of revenues and cuts. She said that public employee benefits, facilities closures and GA-U — three areas she identified as big sticking points for the session — have had good conversations, but not consensus.
On GA-U — which Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson said there was an agreement on earlier today — Gregoire said there’s progress, not agreement.

She said the state needs to close institutions, but didn’t say which ones. She said the key is that they cannot let anyone out early. She also said the Legislature may be passing bills that will lead to a greater caseload for the prison system, which needs to be taken into account. She said try to build a new prison in someone’s community and “they will fight you tooth and nail.” Try to close it after it’s been built: “and they will fight you tooth and nail.” She said trying to close an institution is an interesting experience.

She reiterated that there isn’t agreement between the House and Senate on the level of revenue and cuts. She said they’ve made progress today, but they’re not there yet.

Tags: Governor, special session

The Senate is now debating amendments on a bill to increase the levy lid. I’ll update when they start debate on final passage. Here is the bill.

Sen. Cheryl Pflug: “This isn’t temporary,” she said. “This is not about the state doing statewide funding,” she said, “we did drop that bill, it did not get a hearing — to increase statewide funding and simultaneously decrease local levy dependence,” she said. “Please reject this bill and let’s get a good proposal,” she said.

Sen. Rodney Tom: “I do support the underlying bill,” he said, but he wants to talk about levy equalization. He said he thinks poor districts should be helped. “The problem with levy equalization is it’s one of the most random formulas we have,” he said. He said it’s not on a per-student basis — which means some schools get far more than others. “We could do better. Hopefully with this work group, we will do better,” he said.

Sen. Eric Oemig: “For those of you who think the budget is going to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from education funding,” he said, this bill will help. “There are only 14 districts that don’t run a local levy,” he said. Their per pupil spending ranges wildly.

Sen. Linda Evans Parlette: “We all support public education,” she said. She said voting against the levy bill does not mean you don’t support schools. “This bill, I have to tell you, my local districts are already supporting their schools.” She said this bill will allow schools to ask for more via levies, but she said people don’t have more to give. “There is only so much money right now … now is not the time. There isn’t enough money out there.” She said if the Legislature had their budgets in order and was getting out on time, she might feel differently.

Sen. Cheryl Pflug: “Levy equalization is a problem. It is also current law,” she said. The reason: Levy lid lifts. “When you increase levy lids, you increase the disparity.” She said this bill is not the right thing to do.

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe said the bill allows schools to ask voters for a little more money to make up for what the state isn’t providing. “This gives our school district that opportunity,” she said. “This is a very important bill. We must not tie the hands of our school districts.”

The bill passed 29 to 19.

Tags: levy lid lift

Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson was on set with Jessica Gao earlier this afternoon and said she and Sen. Jim Hargrove have come to a compromise on General Assistance-Unemployable reform.

She said their agreement would save the state about $24 million. In the agreement: A lifetime maximum of 24 months on GAU, a voucher system for new applicants who are homeless and getting chemical dependency treatment for those who need it. Also: It will be renamed “Disability Lifeline.”

More details as they come.

Tags: GAU