The battle lines are becoming so entrenched in Olympia that the prospect of a government shutdown are starting to be discussed. Here is how the AP describes the situation:

"Top officials in Washington state started preparing Monday for a potential government shutdown in July as lawmakers stalled in their bid to reach a budget compromise.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said she has started holding talks with Cabinet and financial-management leaders about what would happen if there were no spending plan by the time a new budget cycle begins in July. She's seen little progress in budget negotiations in the Legislature and can't recall a time that things have been so bogged down.

'I'm a little discouraged,' Gregoire said. She's asked lawmakers for an agreement-in-principle by the end of this week."

As we pointed out last Friday, in order for a government shutdown to occur the Legislature would be in violation of state law for almost a month.

According to RCW 43.88.080:

"Adoption of the omnibus appropriation bill or bills by the legislature shall constitute adoption of the budget and the making of appropriations therefor. A budget for state government shall be finally adopted not later than thirty calendar days prior to the beginning of the ensuing biennium."

The new fiscal year for the ensuing biennium begins July 1 meaning by law the budget should be adopted by June 1.

Luckily for lawmakers, however, they are apparently exempt from the penalities for violating this law.

According to RCW 43.88.270:

"Any officer or employee violating, or wilfully refusing or failing to comply with, any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

While confirming that "the legislature will be in violation of the law" if a budget isn't enacted by June 1, a 1979 Attorney General's Opinion determined that lawmakers wouldn't face penalities for this law being broken.

The goal of the law is to avoid the very discussion that is now occurring in the Governor's office --- a government shutdown.

In 1977, then state Rep. Jim McDermott asked the Attorney General's Office what would happen if the state didn't adopt a budget before the beginning of the biennium.

Here is what the Attorney General's Office said:

At the outset, we must make note of a policy consideration regarding the issuance of an attorney general's opinion on the question you have posed.  Simply stated, it has long been the policy of this office not to advise any state officer upon an hypothesis which assumes primarily an intent to violate the law.  And, in this case, there is a law presently in existence which clearly would be violated by the failure of the legislature to adopt a budget for the 1977-79 biennium prior to June 30, 1977.  We have reference, specifically, to RCW 43.88.080, a part of the state budget and accounting act, which reads as follows:

'Adoption of the omnibus appropriation bill or bills by the legislature shall constitute adoption of the budget and the making of appropriations therefor.  A budget for state government shall be finally adopted not later than thirty calendar days prior to the beginning of the ensuing biennium.'

Assuming, however, that this existing statute were to be either amended or repealed by the legislature so as to sanction the adoption of a budget for a given fiscal biennium even after the commencement of that biennium, our direct answer to your question would then involve a reference to another provision of the budget and accounting act; namely, RCW 43.88.130 which reads as follows:

'No agency shall expend or contract to expend any money or incur any liability in excess of the amounts appropriated for that purpose:  Provided, That nothing in this section shall prevent the making of contracts or the spending of money for capital improvements, nor the making of contracts of lease or for service for a period exceeding the fiscal period in which such contract is made, when such contract is permitted by law.  Any contract made in violation of this section shall be null and void.'

. . . In conclusion, however, except for these various special situations, the basic consequences of a failure by the legislature to have adopted a biennial budget by June 30, 1977, is quite simple; namely, no expenditures may be made for salaries or anything else, and no obligations to make such payments may be incurred by any state agency - including, we should note, the legislature itself in the absence of some special appropriation for that purpose."

Sounds a lot like a government shutdown.