Lawmakers Searching For Dollars In Special Legislative Session

It's time for a special session in Olympia to deal with a huge problem...bills to pay...but not enough money to pay the bills. Things have to be cut. money needs to be raised. It's the job of people like 14th District State Representative Charles Ross from Naches to find money. So cuts or tax increases or both?...The Governor wants 1.7 billion dollars in cuts and a temporary sales tax hike to prevent severe cuts to education and public safety. Ross says he's against any tax increases. And he says if cuts are to be made they need to stay away from public safety. Among the cuts local officials are concerned about?

The Governor is proposing to reduce supervision of convicts in the state to help pay state bills. For this county that means 750 offenders would go unsupervised and 41 people would be laid off from the Department of Corrections. Ross is fighting that proposal and other cuts that he says will hurt public safety.