Oregon Public Broadcasting

At long last, the Washington legislature's overtime session has ended. Lawmakers adjourned early Tuesday morning after approving an $800-million tax package and closing a $2.8 billion budget gap.

After weeks of deadlock, the 30-day special session ended with a flurry of late night activity. In the course of just a few hours, House and Senate Democrats rebalanced the state's two-year budget.

They also approved a menu of tax increases on convenience store items like candy, gum, bottled water, soda and beer.

Republican State Senator Mark Schoesler took umbrage with a separate tax hike on service sector businesses. He says it plays into the hands of Idaho Governor Butch Otter.

Mark Schoesler: "It's no wonder that weíre getting love letters from Governor Otter to key businesses in the state of Washington because this is the Idaho Economic Development Act."

Democratic Senator Jim Hargrove defended the tax increases as a reasonable way to offset deeper cuts to public schools and other state services.

Jim Hargrove: "Yes, there will undoubtedly be some private jobs lost, hopefully not too many, from the taxes in this bill, but the budget here is gonna cost a lot of state jobs also."

The tax and budget bills now go to the governor and lawmakers get to go home.