On Friday Senate and House budget negotiators agreed on an overall spending level for 2015-17. But there’s still a lot to do — the caucuses must agree to the figure (which hasn’t been disclosed) and then they must decide how to apportion the spending among programs. Austin Jenkins quotes Office of Financial Management Director David Schumacher:

“I think that they are now there at the middle where they weren’t a week ago,” he said. “And that leads you on to the next round of difficult things which includes how much do you spend on class size and how much you spend on parks … but that’s a different kind of debate.”

In a policy brief we compared the spending proposals that passed each chamber in April, and in this blog post, I compared the new offers each chamber made more recently. One big question is whether new revenues will be included in the final agreement. On that note, Melissa Santos reports in The News Tribune that a vapor product tax is still alive in the Legislature. Gov. Inslee included a 95 percent excise tax on vapor products (like e-cigarettes) in his budget proposal. The current plan would tax them at a rate of 45 percent.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Washington is not alone in having budgetary problems:

Though the national economy is in its sixth year of recovery from the recession, many states are still facing major funding gaps that have locked legislatures in protracted battles with governors. In some states, lawmakers have gone into overtime with unresolved budgets, special sessions and threats of widespread government layoffs. Only 25 states have passed budgets, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers, which tracks legislative activity.

UPDATE: So much for that: “Tentative budget agreement on ropes.”