Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington lawmakers won't have to reconvene next month for a special session. But they will have to tackle a possible one-billion dollar budget hole when they meet again in January.

That's the upshot of Thursday's state revenue forecast. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

Earlier this year Washington lawmakers closed a projected $9 billion shortfall with a combination of cuts and federal bailout money.

But since lawmakers went home, projected revenues over the next two years have dropped more than $900 million. While at the same time demand for state services is on the rise.

Official forecaster Arun Raha says the economy has bottomed out, but recovery is still months away.

Arun Raha: “The end of the recession simply means that the decline in activity has troughed. It's a turning point in activity. It will be awhile before we get back to where we fell from.”

Majority Democrats in Olympia say all options will have to be on the table come January – including eliminating some state programs.

So far though no one is talking openly about a tax hike.