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Class Size Standoff Continues In Olympia

File photo of the Washington State Capitol building in Olympia.
Colin Fogarty
/
Northwest News Network
File photo of the Washington State Capitol building in Olympia.

Typically, the Washington legislature is done long before Oregon because of how the legislative calendars work in each state. But not this year.

Oregon lawmakers adjourned Monday as Washington lawmakers are still meeting in their third special session.

They are at loggerheads and they still have more than 20 days on the clock because every time they start a new special session they get an additional 30 days. This session goes till the end of July and what we’ve seen before is that they wait until the final days and final hours -- and we may be right back there again.

The stalemate this time around is over whether to suspend a voter-approved class size measure. Senate Democrats said they won’t vote to suspend the initiative unless Republicans agree to suspend a biology exam requirement that’s preventing 2,000 high school students from graduating.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy, as well as the Washington State Legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia."
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