Special Session: Talks continue

OLYMPIA — A meeting among legislative leaders, top budget writers and Gov. Chris Gregoire continues into the evening as the group looks for a way to reach agreements on budgets and reforms connected to that spending plan.

Three reforms are reportedly under discussion: a way to plan for balanced budgets for four years, rather than the current two years; changes to public school employees’ health benefits that eventually bring them in line with the state employees’ system; revisions to state employees’ pension plan that would eliminate some early retirement options for new hires.

Different versions of each exist in the House and Senate. With the clock ticking toward a midnight Tuesday adjournment, there’s not enough time to keep passing different versions back and forth. Legislators will need to agree to one version of each reform bill, along with a final version of the revised operating budget and a capital budget, and get them passed in the same form by both chambers.