The special session of the Legislature convening today is expected to get off to a slow start. Brad Shannon has a good preview in the Olympian. The job before them hasn’t changed in months.

The biggest chore is breaking the political stalemate over closure of a $1 billion budget gap. The goal eluded the Legislature in a 17-day special session last December and again in the 60-day session that ended early Friday morning.

There’s more, Shannon writes: spending reforms, a jobs package, possible tax hikes. But, ultimately, the chore is unchanged: fix the budget in a way that doesn’t hurt the economy.

How they handle that is critical. Kriss has a good blog post highlighting the sustainability issues. Of the three budgets that passed a legislative chamber (two in the House, one in the Senate) only the bipartisan Senate budget shows a positive outlook through 2013-15.

The Seattle Times, in its Sunday editorial takes note of the WRC outlook and says what it wants from the session.

We want three things from this budget: first, that it balance without gimmicks; second, that it leaves the state without a crisis at the start of the next budget period; and finally, that it have no more cuts to education, including higher education.

Because lawmakers have taken so long to resolve this issue, it may not be possible for them to reach an agreement that doesn’t entail some spending reductions in education, which represents the bulk of state spending. But the priority is right. It’s time to act.