A hundred and fifty years ago Friday, about two dozen members of the territorial legislature convened for their first session. They met on the second floor of a general store near Olympia's waterfront, and lawmakers arrived on foot, by horseback, and in canoes. Their average age was 29, and the big issues of the day were roads and mail service.

"Their total budget was a couple of thousand dollars, just like today," joked Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley. (The state's two-year general fund budget is more than $23 billion.)

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