Week 8: It’s the Final Countdown

From Washington State PTA, March 8, 2026

Four days remain in the 2026 legislative session, with lawmakers planning to end on time – March 12 by midnight. They will leave town passing supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets, hundreds of bills, and a tax on millionaires – ostensibly to support public schools and other priorities, but with specific carve-outs and earmarks funding many things, but not K-12 education. 

After passing budget proposals back and forth less than 10 days ago, the budget teams began meeting in earnest to identify areas of agreement and smooth out differences. The rules of both chambers require the budget documents to be posted 24 hours prior to a vote. Typically, the Office of the Code Reviser – those good folks who actually put legislation and budgets into bill format – needs a day to get the documents ready, which means that the reconciliation needs to be completed by Tuesday at the latest.  

See the full post.