Agenda Debate Bogs Down Special Session Lawmakers Accomplish Little On First Day As Some Try To Push Pet Issues Onto Docket

After a three-week break, lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday for what most promised would be a short legislative session - and spent the day arguing over just how little to do.

Gov. Gary Locke had called lawmakers back to Olympia to wrap up a handful of unfinished work left over from a 105-day session that ended last month. He and legislative leaders from both parties insisted the business could be wrapped up in a few days or a week at most.

But leaders spent most of the day scurrying to reign in a ballooning wish list as rank-and-file members, and a few leaders themselves, pushed to get their pet issues on the agenda.

“If we let this thing go more than two days, we could be stuck here for an eternity,” said co-House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee.

House Republicans, still smarting from defections last month that broke the House’s 49-49 tie and let Democrats pass their version of a $20 billion spending plan, are eager to go home.

Senate leaders, meanwhile, announced early in the day they wanted to handle only three issues - a transportation plan, a timber plan, and salmon issues - and go home.

But House Democrats, fresh from last month’s budget victory, had a much bigger agenda including a patient’s “bill of rights” and extending insurance benefits to laid-off timber and aerospace workers.

It made for an odd day as legislative leaders tried to work out the disparities. Through most of the day, Senate lawmakers settled into plush leather couches in the wings, waiting for word that the House had taken action on anything at all. Not until 8:30 p.m. did senators actually start debating bills on the floor.

Still, little went smoothly.

Early in the evening, House Democratic leaders even held a press conference to dispel rumors that they might be trying to accomplish a lot.

“We keep hearing there’s like 20 or 30 things we want to do,” said Dan Frizzell, Democratic communications director. “It’s really only about six.

Three times Monday, Ballard was set to open debate on lawmakers’ biggest unfinished task - approving a $4 billion highway construction plan - only to find out the toughfought budget deal needed to be tinkered with yet again. The touchstone issue: A dispute over the makeup of an obscure committee that oversees transportation work in the legislative off-season.

“I still hope we can get to it tonight,” Ballard said at 9 p.m. - 15 minutes before the House adjourned leaving the spending dispute unresolved.

Several lawmakers, such as Rep. Duane Sommers, R-Spokane, still hoped their issues would surface in coming days.

Sommers was pushing for a bill that would prevent mothers on welfare from having to return to work within three months of giving birth. Earlier this year, Sommers proposed similar legislation, then sat on it when Republican leaders told him they didn’t like it.

Since then, child-care proponents and others have run radio and newspaper advertisements against Sommers, chastising him for the about-face. Early Monday, he was still working with party leaders to get his second attempt in.

“We’ll see, we’ll see,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jeff Gombosky, D-Spokane, was trying to urge Spokane senators to help him pass a bill in that chamber to create a Spokane “empowerment zone” - a special district that offers incentives to lure businesses to poor sections of town.

Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Seattle, said when she went to visit a pair of House members to talk about an upcoming parade in Renton, both pounced on her for not agreeing to take on their personal issues.

“Special sessions are always hectic, but this one is unusually tense,” she said.

AT A GLANCE Special session Lawmakers convened a special session Monday. What happened The House approved and sent the Senate HB2091, restricting logging around salmon-bearing streams and rivers. The House approved and sent the Senate, HB1147, boosting training requirements for “novice” drivers, mostly teens. The House approved and sent the Senate HB1004, requiring homeless sex offenders to register with the county sheriff. The Senate approved and sent the House SB5595, creating a five-member state Salmon Recovery Funding Board. The Senate approved and sent the House SB5819, providing extended jobless and retraining benefits for displaced aerospace, timber and fisheries workers.

Coming up Lawmakers will work on transportation, salmon restoration and other issues today. Gov. Gary Locke scheduled a youth and school safety conference at the Capitol today.