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This Week in Olympia: Committee Assembly Days, Revenue Forecast

State lawmakers return to Olympia this week for Committee Assembly Days.

On Thursday (Nov. 21) and Friday (Nov. 22), legislative members will attend committee hearings to discuss upcoming legislative priorities, and also gather for caucus meetings.

To find out what meetings are happening when, check out the legislative calendar here; if you want to follow the action yourself, tune in to TVW.

At 10:00AM today (Nov. 20), all eyes will be on the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council’s Revenue Forecast. The Governor will use the revenue projections and the caseload forecast (released last week) as a basis to build his budget, with release of a budget proposal expected in mid-December.

The 60-day 2014 legislative session begins on January 13, 2014.

In other Olympia news:

Gov. Inslee returns to the state after a trade mission to China (check out Twitter for news from that trip: #GovAsiaTrade).

State Senator Ed Murray (D-Seattle), now Seattle Mayor-elect Murray, announced yesterday (Nov. 19) that he will resign his seat effective December 31.

Sen. David Frockt, (D-Seattle) has been serving been as the interim caucus leader. Senate Democrats are expected to meet this week to elect a permanent leader. According to The News Tribune, two contenders have emerged for the Senate Democratic leadership post: State Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Des Moines) and State Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island).

State Senator Nick Harper (D-Everett) resigned his seat earlier in the month. No word yet on when that vacancy will be filled.

Several vacancies in the State House will also be filled in the coming months.

A 26th Legislative District House seat will be left vacant when Rep. Jan Angel (R-Port Orchard) moves to the State Senate (after a successful campaign for the seat in the recent election).

State Rep. Gary Alexander (R-Olympia) is resigning effective December 31, leaving a vacancy in the 2nd Legislative District, and State Rep. Larry Crouse (R-Spokane Valley) is also leaving the legislature, creating an opening in the 4th Legislative District.

The 3rd Special Session of 2013 adjourned November 9. The legislature successfully passed a package of legislation relating to the Boeing 777x aircraft.