State stimulus bill on fast track
The state stimulus plan introduced today by Gov. Jim Doyle and Democratic legislative leaders will be on a fast track as the authors hope to get it to the governor by Feb. 20.
The Joint Finance Committee will begin deliberations on the bill Tuesday, the same day Gov. Jim Doyle will unveil his 2009-11 budget bill.
Some highlights of the bill:
* $125 million in cuts to state agencies, including $500,000 in cuts from the Legislature's budget
* Adoption of an assessment on hospital gross revenues, which is estimated to bring $900 million in federal revenues over a three year period. Doyle said the timing of this bill is essential to the hospital tax as a federal deadline for states to recover funds is fast approaching
* Expansion of tax credit programs, such as angel and investor credits, to encourage more investment and create jobs
* The pre-approval of $300 million in infrastructure projects funded by the federal stimulus bill. The pre-approved projects can be viewed here
* Implements combined reporting, which is estimated to bring in $22.6 million for FY 2008-09 and $150.4 million for FY 2009-11
* Implements streamline sales tax, or Main Street Equity Act. It is projected to bring in tax revenues of $9.4 million in this fiscal year, and $61.3 million over the 2009-11 biennium
The bill relieves about $168 million of the state's current $593 million budget deficit in this fiscal year ending June 30. Doyle said the rest of the fiscal year 2009 deficit will be addressed in his biennial budget package Tuesday, along with his plan for eliminating the rest of the state's projected $5.7 billion gap.
The state has a constitutional amendment that requires the budget be balanced at the end of a fiscal year, so Doyle's strategy to close the current year's gap in the budget bill will put added pressure on the Legislature and Doyle to come to a deal.
Asked whether it was realistic to expect the Legislature to pass a budget by this year's deadline given past years, Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said with mock confidence, "We're Democrats."
Doyle said the cuts to agencies will be across-the-board "percentage cuts" and more cuts will be included in his 2009-11 budget bill. He added, though, that some agencies involved with public safety will be exempted from the cuts.
Agencies are going to have "to do more with less," Doyle said, adding that state residents "are going to have to do with not quite the level of service we've had for some time." He said that could mean the closure of some regional state offices, or the consolidation of services.
Asked if furloughs for state employees to cut costs would be part of Doyle's budget bill, he said that it was an option, but one that he'd rather not pursue.
"I don't want to do that and I don't have plans to do that," he said. "During this economy, we're trying not to have people go out of their jobs, we want people to maintain their jobs."
Doyle also said his budget plan also includes reaping tobacco resecuritization, which could be a shaky proposition given the current bond market.
