On the latest sound politics, the state legislature has adjourned.

So what is your state senator or representative doing now?

Their day jobs include lawyering, farming, forestry, even bison ranching.

This has been the story since Washington state was born.

But now, some politicians on both sides of the aisle think it's time to move to a

full-time legislature. We'll talk about it on sound politics wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, good morning. Patricia Murphy here. It's Saturday. This is Seattle now. Today we're bringing you the best from the KUOW Newsroom.

First, a story about our lawmakers. Washington's legislature works just a few months a year, which means most of them have day jobs on the side.

State government reporter Sarah Mises Tan went to a forest in Centralia

to find out why the state operates this way and if it's time for a change.

It's a rainy day shortly after the legislative session has wrapped,

and Representative Ed Orcutt is taking me deep into a grove of Douglas firs.

We're on an old access road and we'll just get up into the timber unit and then we'll

dive off into the woods and start taking some measurements. Orcutt a Republican, and a forester by trade.

He's taking me out to measure the width of tree trucks. In his hiking boots and rain gear,

he looks pretty different from the way he did just a month ago in a suit on the floor of the House

of Representatives. If I have a big tree, I can just hook into it and just walk around the tree and it'll hold it in the place.

This tree is small enough, but I can just reach around.

Most of the state's lawmakers work a day job for about nine months of the year.

One is a bison rancher.

Others are lawyers.

Some are small business owners.

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