OLYMPIA -- Anyone looking for a frenzied pace of activity in the special session would so far be disappointed, and today might best exemplify the pace.

The House isn't doing anything and the Senate had its own version of casual Friday. Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, who normally presides over Senate activity, wasn't available for the 10 a.m. pro forma session, so Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler of Ritzville was pressed into service to bang the gavel.

Schoesler took the rostrum without a tie, which isn't just a fashion faux pas but outside the normal dress code of the chamber. "I didn't find out I was doing this until five minutes to 10," Schoesler said. 

With one Republican and one Democrat on the floor, Schoesler banged through the business of the day -- reading the journal (dispensed with), reading of new bills (skip to the last line), accepting partial vetoes from Gov. Jay Inslee (message received) and adjournment -- in three and a half minutes.

Probably not a record, but pretty fast for his first time.

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