The curtain goes up in Olympia

Amid the speechifying, the Legislature tackles the budget and commences legislating

The Legislature returns to the statehouse this week, and there’s no shortage of action planned in the first few days. For the first time since 2013, lawmakers will deal with a new governor in now-Attorney General Bob Ferguson. In recent days, Ferguson has cast himself as something of a budget hawk compared to outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee and Democratic legislative budget writers in recent years, so look for the budget debate to get spicy in a hurry. 

After today’s opening ceremonies in the House and Senate, lawmakers are scheduled to meet in joint sessions to hear first from Inslee, who delivers his final State of the State speech tomorrow, and then from Ferguson, who delivers his inaugural address on Wednesday. Inslee has been aggressively spiking the football about his legacy in recent weeks, so expect more of that. We’re looking forward to Ferguson’s take on where we’re at and where he plans on steering the ship of state. 

But the Legislature’s here to legislate, so we’re going to focus today on the things lawmakers care enough about to tackle in the opening days of the session. Here’s a sampling: