OLYMPIA -- As the special session of the Legislature entered its second week, Gov. Jay Inslee seemed in need of a thesaurus to come up with more words for to describe the slight progress on the budget. "A long, long way to go," he told reporters after signing some bills that did pass in the regular session. "A lot of work to do." There had been exchanges of budget proposals between Senate Republicans and House Democrats, he said. The two sides finished the regular session far apart on how to spend existing state revenues and whether to seek new sources and the new proposals are "quite minimal in their approach," Inslee said. Pressed to quantify the smallness of progress, he replied: "A lot, lot smaller than a bread box." Meanwhile, the governor remains optimistic the Legislature will agree to some form of carbon pollution reduction in the final mix of budget proposals. Neither chamber passed his proposals to cut carbon pollution during the regular session but Inslee said he discussed it House Speaker Frank Chopp on Wednesday. He may have a revised version of his earlier proposal sometime next week. The Legislature, meanwhile, held quick "pro forma" sessions in each chamber today, and has a repeat scheduled for Thursday.

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