Thirty days go by awfully quick in a short session, especially when lawmakers are looking at hundreds and hundreds of bills. Several big bills have already come up for a vote in the House this year as progress is made on everything from student nutrition and school construction to equal pay for women and men and improved services for veterans. But scores of bills are still in limbo while the House Appropriations Committee burns the midnight oil during the stretch leading up to cut-off. Approps chair Representative Timm Ormsby explains that in a few words.

ORMSBY: “That’s the last day that we have to vote on any bills out of committee, in the interest of sending them to the Rules Committee for consideration on the House floor. Our filter that we’re using is we’re fixing unintended consequences, and we’re putting people and families first.”

Ormsby, a Democrat from Spokane, said his committee, the largest in the Legislature, expects to work into the wee hours on Monday and Tuesday. The House-originated bills that they OK by Tuesday have until 5 p.m. on Valentine’s Day to hit the floor for a House vote. In Olympia, I’m Dan Frizzell.