Evan Smith: Rep. Kagi on the one-day special legislative session

By Evan Smith

ShorelineAreaNews Politics Writer

Democratic 32nd District State Rep. Ruth Kagi told me last week that she expected the special legislative session to last two days, one for committee hearings and another for the State Senate and House of Representatives to pass a supplemental budget.

The Legislature, however, took only Saturday to pass a supplemental budget that cut about $700 million from the last six months of the 2009-11 budget.

After the session, Kagi told me that cooperation between Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate made the action quick.

“The governor got agreement from all four caucuses on Wednesday,” she noted, adding that the unanimous House ways and means committee vote was something she had never seen in her 12 years in the Legislature.

The supplemental budget passed the House 86-6 and the Senate 30-9.

Kagi praised the bipartisan cooperation during the special session.

“I hope the bipartisan spirit lasts into the session that begins January 10,” she said.

Kagi called the cuts made Saturday “truly devastating to our schools, community health-care clinics, low-income working families who need child care, and the list goes on.

“We have only cut a small portion of the reductions we face in January,” she said. “The voters left us no room to find solutions other than cuts.

"Washington state is going to be a very different place by the end of next year, much to my sorrow.”