Gov. Gregoire to share agenda, budget plans in noon speech today

January 12, 2010

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire plans to present her State of the State address today. In the speech, the governor will present her agenda for the 60-day state legislative session, which began Monday.

Gregoire will give the speech at noon Tuesday before a joint session of the House and Senate. Afterward, she will present her proposed budget plan to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Lawmakers are attempting to determine how to plug the $2.6 billion budget deficit.

Gregoire is expected to present a list of programs that she'd "buy back" from the hypothetical all-cuts budget, but the details of how to pay for those programs could largely be left to the Legislature.

To watch Gregoire's speech live online, visit TVW, the Washington state public affairs television network, online at http://www.tvw.org/media/liveevents.cfm?CFID=3907007&CFTOKEN=90449297&bhcp=1.