For those of you curious about what happens next regarding Senator Carrell's seat.

– The Pierce County Republican precinct committee officers will send the Pierce County Council a list of three people to replace  Carrell as the 28th Legislative District’s senator.
– The Pierce County Council has 60 days from the date of vacancy (May 29) to fill the vacancy from the list of names provided by the PCOs.
– If the council can’t choose an appointee from the list during this time, Gov. Jay Inslee will decide on an appointee from the list provided by the Pierce County Republican PCOs.
– Whoever is appointed to the Senate seat can be sworn in to office immediately.
– Whoever is appointed to fill Carrell’s seat will serve until November 2014. (Under state law, because his death occurred on or after the Monday of this year’s Candidate Filing Week, it is too late to have a special election for the 28th District Senate seat in November 2013.)
– A special election for the 28th District Senate seat will be held in November 2014. The winner of that election will serve the final two years of the four-year term. The 28th District Senate seat will be up for election again in November 2016.

As you can see, this process may not happen before the end of  the special session. We hope the special session ends soon, at least soon if the budget is a good one. This certainly complicates things. This puts 24 D's against the coalition. The Democratic Lt. Governor votes to break a tie.