Skip to content

State Supreme Court will wait until special session adjourns before deciding on sanctions

by caprecord

The Washington Supreme Court will wait until the conclusion of special special before deciding if the Legislature should face sanctions for failing to come up with a plan to fund public schools.

Chief Justice Barbara Madsen wrote in an order this week that the “court’s consideration of contempt sanctions and other remedial measures will continue to be held in abeyance” until the adjournment of special session, which began on April 29 and is scheduled to last 30 days.

Madsen ordered lawmakers to provide the court with an update the day after special session ends.

Legislators adjourned the regular session on April 24 without an operating budget in place. They are currently in negotiations on a budget plan that will fund the state for the next two years and put more money into basic education.

The state Supreme Court found the Legislature in contempt in September for failing to submit a plan detailing how the state will pay for basic education through 2018. It did not impose sanctions at the time — instead giving the Legislature the chance to purge the contempt if lawmakers came up with an education funding plan by the end of the 2015 legislative session.