Washington state legislators face a difficult task in the special session beginning Nov. 28. Not only must they find a way to plug a $1.4 billion hole between revenues and expenses, possibly more once the next economic forecast is released Nov. 17, but they have only one third of the budget to do it with.
According to the Office of Financial Management, two-thirds, $15.1 billion, of the 2011-13 state budget is protected by constitutional, legal or contractual obligations, leaving $8.7 billion to cut from. If those cuts were made across the board that $1.4 billion plus would be 16 percent of al...
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