Gov. Jim Doyle cuts to muni budgets would affect some cities and counties more than others.

Doyle has proposed cutting state shared revenue to municipalities in the second year of his biennial budget, reducing the state's commitment to local governments from $859.7 million in fiscal year 2010 to $851.1 million in fiscal year 2011.

But while all the municipalities would receive a reduction, some will have their share cut by as much as 15 percent, while others see a cut of less than 1 percent, under the guv's budget now before lawmakers.

For instance, Milwaukee, the state's largest city, would have its shared revenue cut from more than $229.8 million in fiscal year 2010 to less than $229.4 million in fiscal year 2011, a 0.20 percent cut.

At the same time, Mequon would see a cut of 14.67 percent, dropping from $424,418 in the first year to $362,167 n the second, a difference of $62,251.

State budget director Dave Schmiedicke said the cuts were distributed based on per capita property value of the community to protect more vulnerable municipalities from the harshest cuts. A cap of 15 percent was set for reductions, he said.

However, one municipality, the Dane County town of Westport near Waunakee, ended up with a possible 15.21 percent cut. Westport would have its funding cut from $71,264 to $60,488.

Overall, the state would save more than $8.5 million in fiscal year 2011 through the shared revenue cuts.

Eight counties -- Waukesha, Vilas, Ozaukee, Oneida, Door, Burnett and Adams -- would receive 15 percent cuts under Doyle's plan.

Milwaukee County would see its shared revenue cut 0.40 percent, from $56.3 million to $56.1 million. Dane County's shared revenue would be cut from about $2.5 million to a little more than $2.3 million, a 6.75 percent reduction.

See a spread sheet listing the cuts for each municipality here.

-- By Greg Bump

The state Office of Recovery and Reinvestment has added features to its Web page that include a searchable a database of recovery programs funded under the federal stimulus plan.

See the press release from DOA here.

See the Web page here.

-- By Greg Bump

The 115-page summary can be found here.

-- By Greg Bump

Gov. Jim Doyle said this morning the high-speed rail he has seen in Spain would have "a tremendous application for what we could do in the United States and the Midwest."

Doyle said in a conference call with reporters this morning from Spain that funding for the first stages of high-speed rail expansion in Wisconsin can be laid in place using federal stimulus cash. He said a line from Chicago through Madison, Milwaukee and to the Twin Cities could become a reality within 10 years.

The governor is in Spain this week meeting with government and business officials and touring passenger rail car manufacturing facilities.

Doyle said the expansion of passenger rail has "tremendous potential for economic development for our region," and rail could fill a need that the air travel industry has "abandoned in recent years."

Doyle said with federal stimulus cash customers will see major improvements in the Milwaukee-Chicago line in the next year or two.

"The demand is there, we know that," he said.

Doyle said the state will also "compete very hard" for stimulus money to build a passenger rail link between Milwaukee and Madison is within five to seven years, and a Milwaukee to Watertown link can be completed even sooner.

Doyle said Wisconsin is one of only two states that have set aside funds for the 20 percent match of federal dollars for inter-city rail.

"We are in a good position to be one of the first to move forward here," he said.

Doyle said demand for the service will grow as people see the ease and economy of rail travel, as he has witnessed in Spain where major cities are linked by high-speed passenger lines.

"Spain confirms how the rail system has helped rev up their economy by providing so much quicker and easier transportation," he said.

Doyle is also trying to cultivate business partnerships on the trip, and said he has spoken with Spanish business officials about potential partnerships with Wisconsin manufacturers, such as Super Steel in Milwaukee. And he said he has spoken "very specifically" about the idle GM plant in Janesville as a potential manufacturing site for passenger rail cars, though he hasn't given up hope that the auto manufacturer will put the plant back to work.

"I hope GM will be in that plant, and I've had talks with GM in the last couple of weeks even about it. That's still something I haven't given up the possibility of. But if not we need to find another big-time, high-quality manufacturer and it seems to me that rail may be a possible answer," Doyle said.

-- By Greg Bump

Railroad Commissioner Roger Breske won't have to worry about reducing his agency to a "dog-and-pony show" under Gov. Jim Doyle's budget plan.

Breske, the former Dem lawmaker from Eland, complained bitterly to the Department of Administration last year over orders to submit budget plans to account for a possible 10 percent reduction in state funding. He argued in the letter that meeting the propose cut could require laying off one of the agency's five employees, undermining the state's railroad tradition and "reduce this Office to a dog-and-pony show."

Under the guv's 2009-11 budget proposal, Breske's office would get an additional $28,500 over the biennium compared to the base year doubled. That's about $29,300 less than the office had requested for the two-year period.

See Breske's October letter here.

In other budget news:

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents will provide a first look at an estimated $174 million in cuts to the UW's initial budget request next week.

The Business, Finance and Audit Committee will provide a "snapshot" of the UW System's budget for the next two years, which will include a discussion of both Gov. Jim Doyle's budget proposal and the federal stimulus package.

Doyle cut $100 million in GPR from the university system's budget request, along with $49 million in an across-the-board 1 percent GPR cut and $25 million in reallocation of auxiliary funds, according to UW spokesman David Giroux. Doyle also pledged to hold tuition flat for students with family income under $60,000, and to fund the UW's Growth Agenda.

That coincides with the removal of college campus construction funds during congressional negotiations of the stimulus bill. Giroux said the UW has been working closely with the state Office of Reinvestment and Recovery to coordinate any UW projects that may receive federal aid.

The board will vote next week on the 2009-2010 budget distribution adjustments, which will set the guidelines for UW staff to craft its budget for the next academic year.

"It will be our first attempt to take this down to the next level in terms of detail," Giroux said. "It's an honest attempt to show this is the level of challenge that will be given to La Crosse and to Platteville and Superior and so on."

Giroux added the UW is in the midst of poring over other agencies' budget documents to find any other cuts that might affect the System's budget. The board will vote on a final budget this summer.

----

The Department of Tourism is looking for private groups to put out pamphlets touting various Wisconsin attractions at state welcome centers.

Doyle announced in his budget address last week that the state would no longer staff the welcome centers as part of his budget cuts. That change will happen April 11, according to Tourism.

The agency notified those who usually send their publications to be distributed at the welcome centers to hold off sending them this year, even though some have already received requests from Tourism staff for the pamphlets.

The e-mail, dated Friday, apologizes for the short notice but "the information only became available in the last several days."

See the e-mail here.

----

Doyle's budget creates a placeholder for an estimated $650 million in discretionary federal stimulus cash that will later be disbursed to several programs like weatherization, clean water initiatives and community block grants.

The money will be directed to the Program Supplements fund until it is clear exactly how much will flow from the feds, Budget Director Dave Schmiedicke said. The estimated $650 million is in addition to funding the state will receive for budget stabilization, Medicaid and education aids, he said.

"There are a multitude of different pots from which the (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) sends the funds out," Schmiedicke said. "Those programs where money wasn't didn't directly allocated will be bundled (in Program Supplements) until we know what funds we're actually getting."

-- By WisPolitics Staff

Wisconsin is to receive more than $163 million to help meet Medicaid costs in the first round of FMAP matching funds received under the federal stimulus bill, President Obama announced today.

See a press release from the White House, which includes a state-by-state breakdown of the FMAP disbursements.

-- By Greg Bump

Gov. Jim Doyle will head to Spain tomorrow to meet with a company that manufactures passenger trains, and will try to entice them to build their cars here in Wisconsin.

"There is real opporunity to rebuild a passenger rail manufacturing sector, and I think it would be fitting for it to be in the middele part of the country," Doyle said during a conference call with reporters from Washington, D.C. where he is attending a National Governors' Association conference.

Doyle has proposed authorizing regional transit authorities in three urban areas of the state including southeast Wisconsin, which could lead to the building of a Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line. In addition, Doyle's budget makes available additional bonding resources to build a passenger service between Milwaukee and Madison, and the state is hoping to snare a piece of the $8.1 billion in funds for rail projects included in the federal stimulus bill.

See more on Doyle's Spain trip in this press release from his office.

Doyle attended a dinner party with President Barack Obama Sunday, and along with other governors met with Obama again today to talk about putting the federal stimulus into action.

In speaking one-on-one with the president, Doyle said Obama expressed particular interest in what's happening with the GM plant in Janesville, which he visited during his campaign last year. The company announced it would idle the plant shortly after Obama's visit.

-- By Greg Bump

Gov. Jim Doyle, a former prosecutor and state attorney general, is recommending a 1.7 percent budget cut to state Public Defender Board over two years, along with cutting funding for district attorneys by 6.5 percent in FY '10.

The cuts to public defenders will lower funding from the base of more than $80 million in FY '09 to $79.4 million in FY 10 and $78.7 million in FY '11. In FY '08, the agency received $84.4 million.

Doyle's proposed reduction to district attorneys will lower funding from $47.6 in FY '09 to $44.5 million in FY '10. Funding for FY '11 will be kept at the FY '11 level. Doyle also proposes cutting 3.25 FTE positions in FY '10. The cuts come after a Legislative Audit Bureau report found a significant prosecutor shortage statewide.

"This budget clearly worsens an already bleak reality that our justice system shortchanges those who work with police and crime victims," said Ralph Uttke, president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association in a statement. "The crisis in this state will continue until there is full staffing and pay progression for prosecutors."

Currently, the Public Defender Board, which oversees the Office of the State Public Defender, has 530.45 FTE positions, and was requesting 534.34 in FY '10 and 726.25 in FY '11. Doyle recommends keeping positions levels flat at 530.45 in each of the next two years. The office oversees legal representation for indigent people accused of crimes or who are defendants in some civil cases.

The governor recommends also decriminalizing the operation of a motor vehicle after suspension or revocation, unless the underlying cause for the revocation was related to alcohol or other drugs. This would reduce the number of cases in which a public defender must be appointed and speed restoration of driving privileges when appropriate.

-- By Greg Bump

Property taxes on a median-valued Wisconsin home could go up anywhere from $50 to more than $100 on the bills sent out this December under Gov. Jim Doyle's budget, which would loosen school revenue limits and municipal levy limits and cut shared revenue.

But top Doyle administration officials cautioned a lot will depend on how local school districts treat the federal stimulus money they receive.

DOA Deputy Secretary Dan Schooff told a WisconsinEye reporter roundtable Friday that chunks of the stimulus money don't count toward state-imposed revenue limits. If districts use the extra federal money to reduce the burden on property taxpayers, the increase on a median-valued Wisconsin home likely would be less than $100. If districts go the maximum under the revenue limits in addition to the federal money, it could be another $25 on top of that, he said.

Separately, state budget director Dave Schmiedicke told WisPolitics.com the increase could be as small as $50 for that median-valued home. But he said it's difficult to gauge as the state waits to see how locals use the federal stimulus money.

Schooff told the roundtable Doyle was able to use $2.1 billion in federal stimulus money to prevent things like laying off teachers and double-digit property tax increases.

Doyle's administration estimated the property tax bill on the typical Wisconsin home went up $4 on the bills sent out in December 2008, compared to the year before.

But things could be different this year. Doyle's budget would maintain revenue limits on Wisconsin school districts, but it would allow districts with higher-than-average costs for safety, transportation and nursing to exceed the caps to cover those costs. He also once again proposed eliminating the qualified economic offer on teacher salaries, but this time he's likely to get it with the Legislature under Dem control.

The guv also proposed a levy limit on local governments of 3 percent or new construction, whichever is higher. That's looser than the cap of 2 percent or new construction that Doyle imposed in the second year of the current budget. The first year of the 2007-09 budget imposed a cap of 3.86 percent.

Along with the levy limits, the budget also proposes a small cut in shared revenue. It's less than what local officials had feared, but it will have a negative effect, nonetheless.

Watch the roundtable with Schooff here.

Business tax changes could add millions to state coffers

Besides the well-publicized inclusion of combined reporting in his 2009-11 budget, Doyle's proposal also could send ripples through the business world by adding millions of dollars annually to state coffers.

--Among them, Doyle recommends "decoupling" from the Qualified Production Activities Deduction, a fed Internal Revenue Code provision from the American Jobs Act of 2004. Repealing the deduction would mean more money for the state -- $38.2 million in FY '10 and $33.5 million in FY '11.

--Doyle also wants pass-through entities to make quarterly instead of annual estimated payments of withholding tax for nonresident members to be consistent with the current treatment of resident members. This move would grab estimated tax revenue of $38.5 million in FY '10.

--He's also recommending requiring income from "throwback sales" to be treated equal to income from normal sales for corporate income tax computation purposes. Throwback sales are sales shipped out of Wisconsin to states without income tax jurisdiction over the company or sales shipped out of state to the federal government. The fiscal impact in increased taxes would be $57.7 million in FY '10 and $37.5 million in FY '11.

--In addition, Doyle wants a change in the tax code to specify that if an affiliated entity is treated as part of the parent company for the purpose of income tax liability, it should also be liable for the same treatment in sales tax. The fiscal impact would be $19.8 million in FY '10 and $21 million in FY '11.

--In another proposal, an economic nexus standard for Internet businesses would require amendment of the statutory definition of a retailer engaged in business in Wisconsin to include an Internet retailer that has an affiliate physically located in the state that makes similar sales. Impact: $1.5 million annually.

Finally, there is are some proposals that will save taxpayers money. For example, Doyle proposes an Internal Revenue Code update to include provisions from 14 previously enacted federal laws going back to 2005. The changes will reduce tax collections by $40.6 million in FY '10 and $5.5 million in FY '11. The biggest item is adoption of a federal law that waives the requirement that people 70-and-a-half years of age make minimum distributions from their retirement accounts. The waiver lets the senior citizens avoid distributions during the troubled economy at no penalty. The change will save the seniors $17.9 million in FY '10, and $6.1 million in FY '11.

-- By WisPolitics Staff

Gov. Jim Doyle on Thursday defended his budget proposal to grant domestic partner benefits to state employees by saying "it isn't marriage." Critics have said the proposal may violate the state ban on same sex unions

"I think most people think that somebody ought be able to make end of life decisions for a lifelong partner," Doyle told reporters following the signing ceremony for the budget adjustment bill passed Wednesday by the Legislature.

"I think you'll see these are pretty common sense rights that would come to people on the registry, and they don't cost the state any money, they're just a way that you can be a little more decent to people," he said.

Doyle also responded to a question about cutting the film tax credit in his 2009-11 budget proposal. A reporter said he talked to a film producer who was planning to bring a $6 million production to the state, but won't come if the credit is eliminated.

Asked if eliminating the credit is a good thing in light of the producer's comments, Doyle deadpanned, "It probably saved us a lot of money."

Doyle proposed cutting the tax credit after it was revealed the state paid out $4.6 million in incentives to producers of the film "Public Enemies," while realizing about $5 million from the production.

"Can anybody seriously justify that we should be laying out $4 million for one movie that comes here that doesn't produce any long-term jobs for the state, where we end up paying portions of a director's salary?" he asked. "You know, I'd like to see what that movie finally makes."

Doyle jumped at the chance in the press conference to clarify his position on toll roads. A newspaper reported Wenesday that Doyle said during an editorial board visit he is open to the possiblity of toll roads.

"I am not contemplating toll roads," he said. "I have not proposed them, and I will not propose them."

Doyle said his comments to the newspaper were in the context of looking down the road 10 or 15 years when cars may be run by means other than gasoline, and the need to adjust how roads are paid for at that time.

Doyle brushed off charges that the budget adjustment bill was a partisan document and rushed through the process.

The provisions in the bill have been discussed and debated over time, he said.

"What are we gonna do, debate the hospital assessment for another month?" he said.

Doyle said there was a lot in the bill that Republicans could vote for, like cuts to state government and provisions to encourage early investment in start-up companies. No legislative Republicans voted for the bill.

"I think what you saw last night for those of you who watched the endless, meaningless debate was just an attempt by them to make it as partisan as they could," Doyle said.

Listen to Doyle's remarks before signing the bill here.

Listen to Doyle taking questions from reporters here.

-- By Greg Bump

GPR tax collections were down 9.5 percent last month compared to January 2008, according to figures released by the Department of Revenue.

Incomes, sales and corporate taxes were all down compared to last year, while cigarette taxes were up 67.8 percent.

Overall collections for the fiscal year through January were down 1.5 percent compared to the same point a year ago.

See the release here.

-- By Greg Bump

With a new presidential administration that could overturn the federal mandate for states to implement REAL ID, Gov. Jim Doyle has decided to pull the funding for the controversial program in his 2009-11 budget.

The program, which was mandated by the Department of Homeland Security in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, irked some state officials because the federal government mandated it be paid for by the states.

By pulling the appropriation for the program, policymakers would save the state up to $6 million in fiscal year 2010 and nearly $11 million in fiscal year 2011. However, some of that money is still being used to meet some requirements of REAL ID, said Patrick Fernan, operations manager for the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Fernan said continues to collect the $10 issuance fee on drivers licenses and identification cards. Some of that money will continue to go toward improving the security of state-issued drivers license and identification cards.

"With the money we spent to reposition ourselves well to be in compliance with REAL ID, until we know how REAL ID may be changed it's wise to hold off for now to see how things play out," Fernan said.

REAL ID was championed in Congress by U.S. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls. Sensenbrenner chief of staff Tom Schreibel said today that the program is not only necessary for homeland security -- he said the 9-11 terrorists had more than 50 drivers licenses -- but also driver safety. The act standardizes licensure authentication and issuance procedures.

"It's unfortunate the governor's chosen to zero out the program," he said.

Asked if there would be any punitive actions against for Wisconsin for lack of compliance, Schreibel said, "That's up (Homeland Security Secretary Janet) Napolitano."

Napolitano is the former Democratic governor of Arizona appointed to the federal post by President Obama.

Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, a member of the Joint Finance Committee, argued for eliminating funding in the last budget.

"I think the economic crisis sort of speaks for itself regarding this item. It's a very expensive item," he said. "Until the Department of Homeland Security defines this or we find (federal) funding for it, we shouldn't be paying for it."

-- By Greg Bump

Insurance industry officials say proposals buried in Gov. Jim Doyle's budget bill could lead to a jump in insurance coverage for individuals and businesses in Wisconsin.

Doyle is proposing to raise the minimum coverage requirement on auto insurance. Currently, those minimums are set at $25,000 for personal injury, $50,000 for occurrence, and $10,000 for property. Doyle proposes boosting the minimums to $100,000 for personal injury, $300,000 for occurrence, and $25,000 for property.

Andy Franken, president of the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, says raising those caps would mean Wisconsin car insurance customers would see their rates jump by between 33 percent and 43 percent.

The hardest hit ratepayers would be low and middle income families and individuals, Franken said, because they often purchase the minimum level of insurance. But, he said the change would impact all ratepayers.

The proposal would give Wisconsin the highest minimums in the country, Franken said. Wisconsin is one of only two states, along with New Hampshire, to not mandate auto insurance.

Madison attorney Keith Clifford, former past president of the Wisconsin Association for Justice, said the change is overdue as the old minimums for auto insurance have been in place for nearly 30 years.

"The burden of costs of these cases has been shifted from liablity to health insurance and BadgerCare and Medicaid," Cliford said. The policy change "shifts the burden off health insurers and back onto liability insurance where it belongs."

Clifford said insurance customers shouldn't see a dramatic jump in costs due to the change. He said Wisconsin is one of two states that doesn't require drivers to carry auto insurance, yet Wisconsin is among the lowest in the nation for rates.

"The mandate on insurance has nothing to do with the cost of insurance, and coverage increases aren't going to have anything to do with it either," he said. "The fact is the minimums barely have anything to do with the rates."

In a separate proposal, Doyle alters the language joint and several liability for damages to "Any person found to be causally negligent whose percentage of causal
negligence is equal to or greater than the negligence of the person recovering."

Currently, the statute reads, "The liability of each person found to be causally negligent whose percentage of causal negligence is less than 51 percent is limited to the percentage of the total causal negligence attributed to that person. A person found to be causally negligent whose percentage of causal negligence is 51 percent or more."

Franken says that change would impact small and large businesses across the state and "jeopardize the litigation climate."

Clifford said the change in the joint and several language "takes the burden for severely injured people off society, and makes sure it's on people who are at fault.

"It doesn't make somebody who's not resposible and not negligent have to pay for anything," he said.

The proposals weren't included in the governor's executive summary of the budget bill, and Franken said insurance industry officials weren't consulted prior to the changes.

"It was buried deep in the budget and it wasn't one of the highlights, so I think that speaks for itself," Franken said.

State Insurance Commissioner Sean Dilweg Dilweg said there wasn't an attempt to hide the changes.

"I think the governor's main focus was securing the stimulus dollars ... and creating jobs. There were a lot of items that were not focused on that were in this budget," Dilweg said.

Dilweg said between now and the time the changes may be adopted, he will monitor the effect the provisions may have on the marketplace and the 211 insurance companies licensed in Wisconsin.

"I think that the governor's goal was to bring more certainty to consumers," he said.

The proposals will be under the scrutiny of the Legislature, he said.

"There's obviously the budget process, and I expect this to get some attention," he said.

Wisconsin Civil Justice Council, Inc. also issued a statment today crticizing a budget item they argue would repeal provisions that protect against predatory lawsuits.

Council spokesman Bob Fassbender called the repeal a "stimulus for lawsuit abuse," and predicted that, if enacted, the "joint and several liability" measure would lead to disproportionate penalties for workers involved in lawsuits.

See the WCJC statement here.

See a statement from the Wisconsin Association for Justice here.

-- By Greg Bump

Gov. Jim Doyle has signed the state stimulus bill passed in both houses of the Legislature yesterday.

A statement from Doyle's office said the bill cuts the state's shortfall by $700 million while cutting $125 million in state spending.

"This bill lays critical groundwork for getting our state's economy back on track and creates a platform for putting federal stimulus dollars to work quickly and efficiently," Doyle said.

See the press release: http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=149785.

See more in the PM Update.

-- By Andy Szal

Gov. Jim Doyle's office has issued a list of state programs that will be helped by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as well as an estimate of the amounts each program will receive.

Of the estimated $3.7 billion heading to the state, $1.2 billion has been allotted for Medicaid, the largest program affected. $718 million will go toward a state stabilization fund for education, while $529 billion will go to highway funding.

Doyle said the funding would create or save 70,000 jobs, provide Pell Grants to 91,500 students and tax credits to 2.2 million families.

See Doyle's press release here.
See the list of state benefits here.

-- By Andy Szal

Gov. Jim Doyle will sign the budget adjustment bill at 3:30 this afternoon in his conference room in the State Capitol.

The Dem-controlled Legislature passed the bill Wednesday, receiving no Republican votes in either the Senate or Assembly.

-- By Greg Bump

Gov. Jim Doyle proposes bringing back a series of provisions that he has proposed in previous budgets only to see lawmakers take them out. They include:

*Extending the amount of time W-2 participants can stay at home with newborns to 26 weeks, up from the current 12 weeks.

*Providing monthly cash benefits to pregnant women on W-2 with no other children who are in the third trimester and not able to work because of a medically-verified at-risk pregnancy.

*Collective bargaining for UW faculty and academic staff.

*Allowing undocumented citizens who graduate from a Wisconsin high school or get a GED to pay nonresident tuition if they have lived in the state for at least three years since starting high school and promise to apply for permanent residency as soon as they're eligible.

*Expanding a family planning waiver to include men, who would be eligible to receive contraception, counseling on family planning, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

Other tidbits from the document include:

*Increasing the nursing home bed assessment from $75 per bed per month to $150 in the first year to the biennium and $170 in the second year. Some of the money would be used to pay for an increase in reimbursement rates for nursing homes with the rest going into the state MA program.

*Allowing tech college district boards to do up to $1.5 million in capital building projects without public referendums. The current limit is $1 million.

*Increasing the elk hunting permit fee to $10 from $3; there currently isn't an elk hunt.

*Create a second endangered species license plate. The budget calls for purchasing the design for the state of Minnesota, which is also now creating a new plate of its own. The two plates would not have the same design. Wisconsin and Minnesota officials are looking for ways to collaborate under an initiative signed by Doyle and Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The state also would create a new Milwaukee Brewers license plate with the proceeds going to help pay off debt on the team's stadium.

*Recommends using the universal service fund, funded by fees imposed on telecommunication providers, to cover an increase in aid to state schools for library service contracts.

*Recommends expanding the prevailing wage law to include private projects that receive public financing.

*Allowing the Department of Corrections to move sex offenders from active to passive tracking after 12 months. Republicans who supported requiring GPS tracking for sex offenders criticized the move for watering down the program.

-- By WisPolitics staff

Democrats fought off 50 Republican amendments before passing the budget adjustment bill tonight on a 51-48 vote.

Two Democrats -- Bob Ziegelbauer and Annette "Polly" Williams -- voted with 46 Republicans against the bill. Independent Rep. Jeff Wood joined the 50 Democrats who voted for passage. See the roll call here.

The bill will now go to Gov. Jim Doyle, who is expected to sign it tomorrow afternoon.

-- By Greg Bump

Dem Rep. Mark Pocan had this quip about the relevance of GOP amendments:

"We need to make sure next time we're in session the people on the other side of the aisle have the same bill we have."

GOP Rep. Leah Vukmir said the combined reporting is an "unconsionable" tax and will "create havoc for so many people in our state who will lose their jobs."

"I don't know why you can't get this? Who do you think supplies the jobs in the state of Wisconsin?"

Vukmir said she wished Dems would give her side "five votes" and they'd pass a bill that would take care of the fiscal problems.

Dem Rep. Marlin Schneider was blown away.

"We gave you 20 votes (in the last budget) because you couldn't govern," Schneider said.

"That is the most incredible statement I have ever heard on this floor I think," he said.

Freshman GOP Rep. Richard Spanbauer expressed frustration with the lack of bipartisanship on the bill as the Dems rejected all 50 Republican amendments.

"I don't see an open-mindedness. I don't see a fairness," he said. "If this is all I have to look forward to -- where is the gain to the state of Wisconsin in fairness if no on wants to work across the aisle?"

Dem Rep. Peter Barca said there was a "genuine effort" to seek Republican input, but they didn't offer their amendments until they came to the floor.

"When you surprise us at the last minute, you don't share amendments, it's impossible to work together," he said.

Dem Rep. Phil Garthwaite had the line of the night.

"I don't ever profess to be the brightest bulb on the tree. Having said that, I didn't roll in here on the head of a cabbage either," he said.

-- By Greg Bump

Dem Rep. Peter Barca, who came back to the Assembly this year after serving an earlier stint, says Dem staff calculated the impact of the Republican amendments offered tonight. Their tally -- the amendments would have cost the state an extra $660 million.

"You talk about spending cuts, where are they?" he asked. "Don't insult the people of Wisconsin's intelligence by talking about fiscal responsibility."

GOP Rep. Scott Suder says the 50 GOP amendments were ways to improve the bill.

"If we had more than 48 hours, we would have come up with 100 more," he said.

Dem Rep. Spencer Black said Dems are trying to get "the economy out of the ditch that George Bush drove it into."

GOP Rep. Kitty Rhoades said the bill "shrugs off $416 million into the next biennium," and blasted the Dems for bringing the bill to the floor within 48 hours of introduction.

"No public hearing, no public input, no transparency and it comes to the floor in the dark of night," she said. "That's not how you govern."

-- By Greg Bump

They've plowed through 50 amendments, and now they're moving on.

By the way, that non-germane ruling on the sales tax holiday for school shopping was upheld by the chair.

Now they're on to concurrence. Time to make those final points.

-- By Greg Bump

Remember that sales tax holiday amendment for back-to-school shopping that came up about 40 hours ago? The Democrats say it is non-germane to the bill.

So the Republicans asked for a short break here to sort it out.

UPDATE: The GOP has asked for more time to research the germane-ness of the amendment, so they had it moved to the end of the calendar.

Dems are also trying to get amendment 50 ruled non-germane because it expands the scope of the bill. How? It deals with abortion.

Here's what the amendment says:

"The department shall ensure that none of the following moneys are disbursed to a hospital ... or clinic that performs or to a hospital or clinic affiliated with a health care provider ... that performs abortions ... in the 2nd or 3rd trimester of pregnancy."

It does offer exceptions for sexual assault or incest, or if it must be performed to save the life of the mother or prevent grave, long-lasting health issues.

GOP Rep. Dan LeMahieu, the author of the amendment, says it is germane because it has to do with how the federal money for health care will be spent.

UPDATE Part 2: Rep. Spencer Black, sitting in the Speaker Pro Tem chair for Rep. Tony Staskunas, rules that indeed the amendment is non-germane. The body votes 51-48 to uphold his ruling.

-- By Greg Bump

The amendment to eliminate combined reporting from the budget adjustment bill was tabled on a 50-49 vote.

Dem Reps. Terry Van Akkeren and Bob Ziegelbauer voted with the 47 Republicans against tabling the amendment.

The Dems had moved the amendment to the foot of the calendar, but brought it back up sooner.

-- By Greg Bump

The majority Democrats have asked that the amendment to eliminate combined reporting to the end of the calendar.

After about a half hour of remarks by Republican members blasting Dems for combined reporting, the Assembly went informal for several minutes. When the body returned, Dems asked for the move.

Something afoot?

-- By Greg Bump

The amendments had been tabled in short order by Dems up to this point, but with amendment 35, which would eliminate the combined reporting tax in the bill, the Republicans are not going quietly.

The pattern has been for one GOP member to stand up and talk about why an amendment is important. So far on this amendment, at least eight Republicans have gotten up to blast Dems for what they call a "job killer" during this recession.

"Combined reporting is as foolish as it gets," said Rep. Mark Gundrum.

On tabling motions, remarks are supposed to be limited to two minutes under Assembly Rules, and many speakers have gone beyond that.

GOP Rep. Phil Montgomery said his comments can't be contained to two minutes, and has just asking for 15 minutes.

-- By Greg Bump

Amendments are 0-for-23, but does number 24 still have life?

Dem Rep. Peter Barca has asked that AA 24, which would create a sales tax holiday for back-to-school shopping season, be moved to the end of the calendar.

Dems are fighting back these amendments because they want to get the bill passed tonight without changes so they Senate doesn't have to reconvene to vote on an amendent, and the bill can go Gov. Doyle ASAP for signing.

See all the amendments and their roll calls here.

-- By Greg Bump

Democrats have now killed 14 amendments. There are at least 20 more to go through.

-- By Greg Bump

Dems are flirting with passage of some amendments.

On two amendments, Assembly Amendments eight and nine, the margin has been just 50-49. Dem Reps. Peg Krusick and Bob Ziegelbauer, along with independent Rep. Jeff Wood, have voted with Republicans.

-- By Greg Bump

GOP Rep. Mike Huebsch, who as Assembly Speaker last session was criticized for not considering Democratic amendments to bills, is not going to let the new majority off the hook as they table proposals tonight.

"We're on amendment nine and we have yet to hear from any one of the Democrats why they're tabling our amendments," he said.

-- By Greg Bump

GOP amendments to the budget adjustment are being dispatched quickly. On some votes Independent Rep. Jeff Wood is voting with Republicans, and with Democrats on others.

Dem Rep. Peg Krusick along with Wood voted with Republicans on Assembly Amendment 5.

They're currently on amendment number eight. There are at least nine more coming.

-- By Greg Bump

Gov. Jim Doyle's budget proposal represents a mixed bag for the Milwaukee area with local governments set to be hit with a 1 percent cut in shared revenue, but potential help for city of Milwaukee property tax payers with changes to the school choice funding formula.

As part of his effort to avert a projected $5.7 billion state budget deficit, Doyle is proposing state payments to support local government be shaved by 1 percent.

With the city of Milwaukee's $230 million in share revenue it receives, 1 percent would amount to a $2.3 million cut. Exact figures won't be available until next week, an adviser to Mayor Tom Barrett said, but that figure could higher depending on the formula used to apportion cuts across municipalities.

Barrett expressed disappointment in the cut, but noted it could be worse without federal stimulus money poised to flow into the state.

"After 14 years of a flat shared revenue program, we would prefer to see an increase ... but I also recognize where we are," Barrett said.

Barrett, however, said he intends to pursue additional revenue streams, such as a 0.15 percent sales tax to support public safety.

See more in Milwaukee Notes.

Listen to an interview with Barrett following Tuesday night's budget address here.

-- By David Wise

Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, has the first amendment of the evening. He couldn't help but take a poke at the new Dem majority for coming to the floor at such a late hour.

"Here we are at 6 p.m. The more things change the more they stay the same," Kaufert said.

Democrats often complained last session about the then-Republican majority not taking up bills "in the light of day."

"Being in the majority isn't so easy," Kaufert mused.

Kaufert's amendment would reinstates a rule that the state not spend more money than it will take in. In this bill, that rule would be suspended for this year.

Dems have moved tabling.

Update: The motion is tabled 53-46. Independent Rep. Jeff Wood voted with the 52 Dem members.

Follow along with amendments at the Assembly InSession page.

-- By Greg Bump

Quorum call is underway. Assorted members are on the floor.

-- By Greg Bump

Assembly Dem leaders gave their members a dinner break and have been told to be back by 6 p.m.

-- By Greg Bump

The state would eliminate its film tax credit program and replace it with a grant program for film and video companies that create "permanent jobs in Wisconsin."

Commerce Department Executive Assistant Zach Brandon said the proposal would refocus the program on what it was intended to do -- create jobs in Wisconsin. He said there are problems with the current program, pointing to an agency analysis about a Johnny Depp film that was shot in Wisconsin last year. It found the state barely came out ahead on the $5 million in tax credits the film received and the film only created five full-time equivalent jobs in the state.

He said the $500,000 a year in grants would go to Wisconsin-based, bricks and mortar companies, including video game development.

"We want to focus on Wisconsin films, we want to focus on Wisconsin jobs and we want these tax credits to stay in the state of Wisconsin and not end up in Hollywood," Brandon said.

But Lt. Gov. Barb Lawton, a proponent of the credits, said the agency continues to misread the benefits of the program and said the move would essentially shut down a burgeoning film industry in Wisconsin. She said other studies have shown the Depp film included $18 million spent in Wisconsin, for example.

And she ticked off a list of studios that have been set up in various Wisconsin cities because of the film credit program in part because of the incentives created by the film credit.

"It makes no sense to me," said Lawton, who said she expects lawmakers to try to maintain the program.

-- By JR Ross

The Doyle administration informed reporters that there had been an error in handouts they gave to reporters yesterday regarding how much a proposed assessment on oil companies gross receipts will bring.

The tax will raise $100.3 million in fiscal year 2010, and $171.5 million in fiscal year 2011.

The administration had originally told reporters it would bring in $272 million annually.

-- By Greg Bump

The beginning of the Assembly's session is being delayed as both parties are in closed caucus receiving fiscal bureau briefings.

UPDATE: Assembly Democrats remain in caucus. They broke briefly for a Rules Committee meeting to move the Feb. 24 calendar, then reconvened the caucus.

Senate leaders, who had told members to hang around in case they have to come back into session to vote on Assembly amendments to the budget adjustment package, sent their members home and adjourned until 10 a.m. Thursday.

-- By Greg Bump

State bloggers on both sides of the political spectrum are reacting today to Gov. Jim Doyle's Tuesday night budget address.

Read their comments by clicking the links below and add your own thoughts by clicking the "comments" link at the bottom of this post.

• Ed Garvey: Tough times
• Christian Schneider: Fifteen things about Governor Doyle's proposed budget
• Emily Mills: Doyle's budget plan remarkably sound
• Mike Hahn: Cigarettes: government's tax cure-all
• Kevin Binversie: So what happens when we run out of smokers?
• James Rowen: Initial thoughts on the governor's budget speech
• Jo Egelhoff: The morning after -- try to look on the bright side?
• Kevin Fischer: Many flaws in Governor Doyle's budget address
• Gregory Humphrey: Governor Doyle's budget makes me yell "yes"

Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald today told the WisPolitics.com luncheon that he expects all 46 Republicans to vote no on the budget adjustment bill today.

The Horicon Republican said his caucus will be heard loud and clear in oppositon to $1.5 billion in tax increases that he said will hurt business and result in lost jobs. For example, he warned that combined reporting likely will force layoffs at the Deere plan in his town.

"Raising taxes on businesses is not getting anybody back to work," he told the luncheon.

He said Dems "co-opted" three Republican tax credit bills that will create jobs but otherwise have been shut out of the process. The talk of bipartisanship hasn't come true, he said.

He said elections have consequences. "We don't have the votes to stop it anymore," he said "There's no checks and balances anymore."

But he said the first major Assembly votes today could come back to haunt freshman Dems next November.

Leaders are doing a "terrible disservice" to the new members, he said, adding there's "a real good chance of picking some of these people off."

-- By WisPolitics staff

Gov. Jim Doyle defended tax increase proposals in his budget plan and knocked Republicans as naysayers during a media availability in Milwaukee today.

"Even in the most difficult of budget circumstances, I have kept the property tax limits in place, I have not had any sales tax increase, any income tax increase that affects anybody who makes less than $300,000," Doyle said.

Responding to Republican criticism of the plan, Doyle asked what they were prepared to cut.

"It's pretty easy to just stand on the outside and say 'I don't like this, I don't like that,'" Doyle said.

"I've already in my budget cut over a billion dollars from existing programs, made the deepest cuts in the history of the state, but I'm not going to go to a point where we're cutting schools by hundreds of millions of dollars," he said. "If we can ask people who in this economy are making over $300,000 to help out a little bit to make this work, then I think that's what we have to do."

Doyle said Republicans right now nationally and in the state are "in the frame of mind of saying no to everything."

"But unfortunately we can't get out of the situation we are in by just saying 'no' to everything," Doyle said. "You actually have to take some steps to move this state forward."

Doyle also defended his proposed tax on oil companies, saying he was confident it would not be passed on to consumers, as well as an increased cigarette tax, which he said would save in health care costs and prevent teen smoking.

Doyle made his comments to reporters after providing an overview of his plan to employees and others at C.W. Purpero Construction Inc. on Milwaukee's south side, a company that could benefit from federal-stimulus fueled highway construction projects in his budget.

-- By David Wise

Gov. Jim Doyle is meeting with the editorial board of the Appleton Post-Crescent to discuss the state budget.

Watch it live here.

-- By Andy Szal

The budget adjustment bill passed the Senate on an 18-15 party-line vote.

Now it heads over to the Assembly.

-- By Greg Bump

Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, said Republicans are ignoring the nearly $300 million in highway and infrastructure projects included in the bill, which he said will create 8,400 jobs.

He said the 47 projects enumerated in the bill and the jobs they will create will have a "multiplier effect" on the economy.

"This bill is going to make a huge difference to those families that feel abandoned and feel a sense of hopelessness in life," Jauch said.

"Don't tell those workers this bill doesn't make a difference," he said.

Jauch also said the combined reporting provision in the bill brings tax fairness.

"What's wrong with requiring everyone to pay their share, particularly in tough times?" he said.

-- By Greg Bump

Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the Democratic proposal to stimulate the economy and balance the budget does neither.

"What it does do is kill jobs," he said.

"This is nothing more than a kickstart on new taxes that the majority couldn't wait for the full budget to pass on," Fitzgerald said.

Focusing on combined reporting, the so-called "Las Vegas loophole," Fitzgerald said it will hurt Wisconsin companies liek Ashley Furniture, Harley-Davidson, Schneider National and Wausau Homes and result in job cuts.

"I don't understand the (Democrats') disconnect ... that corporations of Wisconsin are not employing the workers of Wisconsin," he said.

-- By Greg Bump

The caucus is over and the Senate is proceeding.

First order of business on the bill is to approve the amendment approved yesterday by the JFC that requires full committee approval of federal stimulus projects.

Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, said providing the JFC the power to grant millions of dollars in projects without approval of the full Legislature is a bad decision. He said everyone is in too big of a hurry to spend the money.

"We are abdicating our responsibility in a democracy to vote for the allocation of millions of dollars," Ellis said.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said there is a 180-day window with the federal funds or they will revert back to the federal government and be sent to other states.

UPDATE: Amendment passes on a voice vote.
-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee formally introduced Doyle's 2009-11 budget bill last night following the guv's budget address.

JFC co-chair Mark Pocan said public hearings on the biennial budget will likely begin the week of March 23, and will probably include at least half a dozen meetings around the state though the locations haven't been finalized.

-- By Greg Bump

The Senate session is being held up for a bit by a Republican caucus as they decide which, if any, amendments they will offer.

-- By Greg Bump

The Senate start in a few minutes with the debate on the budget adjustment package. The start time was originally set for 11 a.m. but was moved back a half hour.

The Assembly has a floor session scheduled at 2 p.m., but that could be adjusted depending on how the Senate proceeds.

-- By Greg Bump

Gov. Jim Doyle called Tuesday night for the state's top earners, those earning capital gains, smokers and oil companies to pay more as part of his plan to balance the state's projected $5.7 billion budget deficit for 2009-11.

In addition to the tax hikes, Doyle proposed a mix of spending cuts and federal stimulus money to balance the budget while protecting education and public safety.

In all, the governor called for $1.4 billion in revenue increases and $2.2 billion in cuts to state programs to help close the shortfall, along with $2.1 billion in federal stimulus money.

For full coverage of the budget address and reaction, go to WisPolitics main page here.

See text of the 1743-page budget bill here.

See the budget in brief here.

-- By WisPolitics staff

Wisconsin corporate and government officials got a run down Tuesday on the best strategies for getting a piece of the federal stimulus package that President Obama signed into law.

"I hate to keep saying speed, speed, speed, but the commitment of these funds will be done very quickly. You need to get on the list," predicts Murray Sim, national project director of energy for Titus at The Road to Economic Recovery symposium.

See the full story here.

-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee voted 12-4 to approve the budget adjustment bill, with the dozen Dems voting yes and the four Republicans on the committee voting against.

The bill will now head to the Senate, which will hold a floor session beginning at 11 a.m. tomorrow. The Assembly has tentatively scheduled a 2 p.m. session to vote on the bill. The Dem lawmakers goal is to pass it quickly so Gov. Jim Doyle can sign it on Friday.

-- By Greg Bump

Rep. Mark Pocan, the co-chair of the committee, said "things are going to be done a little bit differently" under the new Democratic leadership in the Legislature.

He said one of those things that will be done differently is to not give a pass "to companies hiding profits in a P.O. box in Las Vegas."

Addressing a question from Rep. Montgomery earlier about whether employees of companies impacted by combined reporting were asked for input on it, Pocan said that is another difference.

"We're probably not going to bring special interests in to write bills anymore," he said.

Montgomery took exception to Pocan's remarks, saying that he shouldn't "portray the companies in Green Bay and their union workers" as "anything less than the heart and soul" of the city.

Montgomery said having only seen the bill for the first time last night he didn't have time to inquire with companies in his area whether they avoided state taxes, and he would certainly support making them pay their fair share if that was the case. But he said his instincts tell them they are not.

"Your assertion as to why we need to do combined reporting is to go after those people who set up P.O. boxes ... I'll stand shoulder to shoulder and go after them all day long."

Rep. Vos also attacked the bill, saying that it includes $10 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts.

"It's a pork-filled spending bill," he said.

Vos added that anyone who thinks government spending can boost an economy out of a recession is either "smoking something" or "has lived in Madison way too long."

-- By Greg Bump

The committee unanimously passed a motion to delete the provision that would authorize the JFC co-chairs approve the governor's plans for federal stimulus projects. Instead the co-chairs will convene the full committee to modify or approve the plans.

The JFC has 14 days after a plan is submitted by the governor to approve or modify the plan.

An amendment was added by Rep. Vos to require 48 hours between when the LFB analysis of the plan is available on its Web site and the JFC meeting to vote on it. Vos said more time was needed to allow the public to be informed on the plans. Vos's amendment also passed unanimously.

Also, the motion amended the language for the regulation of mortgage brokers to not include the Deparment of Veterans Affairs when administering the veterans housing loan program.

-- By Greg Bump

Sen. Mark Miller said he will be introducing an amendment to give the full Joint Finance Committee oversight of projects funded by federal stimulus dollars, not just the committee co-chairs.

The bill currently requires the governor to provide the Joint Finance Committee co-chairs with a plan for the expenditure of federal stimulus funds. After receiving the plans, the co-chairs could direct the governor to implement the plan, or the JFC could convene within 14 days to either approve the plan or modify it.

The provision does not include $298.7 million in pre-approved projects included in the bill.

The state will receive about $550 million from the federal government for transportation and infrastructure projects.

-- By Greg Bump

Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, says that the hospital assessment is "really a tax" because the state is taking more from hospitals than they need to in order to maximize federal funding.

"We're taxing hospitals 33 percent more than we need to," Olsen said. "In essence this is a hospital tax because it's going to the general fund."

This year, hospitals will be assessed a total of $275 million. Of that, the state will "skim" $79 million, which will be put in a Medicaid trust fund and used to implement a health insurance program for childless adults. In turn, hospitals will receive $477 million in federal funds.

In 2009-10, hospitals will be assessed $310.5 million. Of that the state will keep $106 million. The federal government will send back $503 million.

In 2010-11, the state will assess hospitals $340 million and skim $119 million. Coming back from the feds will be $551 million.

"A third of this is a hospital tax, two-thirds of it is working the system," Olsen said.

Sen. Miller responded that Wisconsin is always ranked among the lowest states in return of federal dollars compared to taxes paid. Miller said the assessment helps the state recapture $925 million from the feds that ordinarily would not be returned.

-- By Greg Bump

The White House predicts the $789 billion federal stimulus bill the president is signing today will create or protect 70,000 Wisconsin jobs.

The White House released a series of fact sheets and overviews today in addition to the state-by-state job projection.

The projections even providesa break down by congressional district.

The projections range from 8,100 jobs in the 4th CD, comprised mostly of Milwaukee, to 9,500 jobs in the 2nd CD, which includes Madison and south-central Wisconsin.

Other documents the White House released include:

An overview of the plan.

An overview of the impact on working families.

An education fact sheet.

An energy fact sheet.

A health care fact sheet.

And an infrastructure fact sheet.

-- By JR Ross

Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Ashwaubenon, is not happy that workers at the paper mills in Green Bay and for other businesses were not asked about how combined reporting will effect their jobs prior to introduction of the bill.

Montgomery, who is beginning his first session on the JFC, asked the LFB staff if workers were consulted on the new tax, which LFB said amounts to about an 11 percent increase in corporate taxes.

Co-chair Mark Miller interrupted Montgomery a few times to instruct him that debate on the bill would occur soon, and that his questions for now should be limited to those that the LFB can provide expertise on.

"I was trying to do that before you interrupted me," Montgomery replied. "Do I not even get to ask questions here?"

The answer from LFB staff was that they didn't know who was involved in putting together the bill

"I think it was a reasonable request to ask these folks," Montgomery said.

Miller said combined reporting was originally proposed by GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson.

-- By Greg Bump

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, questioned whether the spending cuts assigned for this fiscal year will be carried over into the next biennium.

The bill proposes $38 million in lapses or transfers in 2008-09. Another $87 million in lapses and transfers are included in 2009-11, but LFB director Bob Lang said he'd have to see the governor's two-year budget plan to see if the cuts are carried through.

At the same time, Lang said, the tax increases in the bill are permanent.

"he spending cuts are temporary, but the tax increases are permanent," Vos repeated for emphasis.

Vos then railed on the bill for not doing enough to eat into the $600 million deficit the state faces this fiscal year. The bill will reduce the deficit by $183 million.

"This so called budget repair leaves us with a whole ... that is almost as bad as when we began," Vos said.

-- By Greg Bump

Details are beginning to emerge about the budget that Gov. Jim Doyle will release at 7 p.m.

According to sources, Doyle will propose a statewide smoking ban in the budget that would include bars and taverns and could take effect as early as this year. Doyle is also expected to call for an increase of 75 cents per pack in the cigarette tax, which would push the state's tax to $2.52 a pack. Congress also recently approved a 62-cent hike in its cigarette tax as part of the SCHIP legislation. Smokers would now pay $3.53 a pack in state and federal taxes if Doyle's proposal is approved.

Other provisions expected to be in the bill include the oil franchise fee Doyle had advocated, an increase in the mandatory limits for car insurance and an effort to address what Milwaukee officials complain is a funding flaw in the school funding formula for the voucher program.

Sources also indicated shared revenue for local governments would also largely remain intact. One source said a small cut was expected, but nothing close to what local officials had feared.

* The Joint Finance Committee will meet tonight to formally introduce Doyle's two-year budget plan. The formal introduction is normally held the day after the bill is unveiled, but with the full Legislature in Wednesday to vote on the budget adjustment bill, the co-chairs decided to hold the meeting tonight.

The JFC will convene at 8 p.m. or a half hour after Doyle's address, whichever is later.

The committee is also meeting this morning on the state stimulus bill.

-- By WisPolitics staff

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, raised some objections to the process the bill has taken, pointing out that there will be no public hearing and the LFB analysis was only made available less than 24 hours ago.

He apologized in advance for the many questions he will ask today, saying it is important to understand "what may be the biggest tax increase in the last 15 years."

Some members had hoped to move the bill quickly in order to attend a send-off ceremony for troops at noon at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.

Vos promised to go through each of the provisions in detail "so the people of Wisconsin understand" what is in the bill.

LFB staff are now briefing the members on the bill.

-- By Greg Bump

JFC is called to order. Sen. Mark Miller, the co-chair of the committee, says the bill today is just the first in a series of steps that will be needed to stimulate the economy and solve the budget deficit.

-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee will convene in five minutes to take up the budget adjustment bill unveiled by Gov. Jim Doyle and Democratic lawmakers last week.

See the LFB summary of the bill here.

-- By Greg Bump

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A new coalition has formed to fight against the expansion of sales tax to professional and business services such as accounting and legal services.

The Coalition Against New Taxes, or CANT, is concerned that repealing the exempt status on services will hurt consumers and small businesses.

Members of CANT include the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Wisconsin Grocers Association and State Bar of Wisconsin.

Doyle has not indicated whether he would seek to pull tax exempt status from services in order to help balance the budget. An estimate from the left-leaning Institute for Wisconsin's Future predicts that extending sales tax to non-medical professional services would generate $300 million a year and extending the sales tax to business services would generate $230 million annually.

Pulling the tax exempt status for legal services would have been worth as much as $119 million for state coffers in the 2006 fiscal year, according to the most recent Department of Revenue figures available. Other large, tax-exempt services include technical consulting services ($60 million), accounting services ($51 million), commissions for real estate brokers ($50 million), barber, nail and personal care services ($28 million), sewerage services ($25.3 million), and janitorial services ($24.7 million).

-- By Greg Bump

Some highlights of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's analysis of the stimulus/budget repair bill, or budget adjustment as the LFB terms it.

* Revenue uppers for 2008-09 budget year in the bill bring $37.1 million. In 2009-11, the new revenues will net $252.5 million.

* Appropriations in the bill for 2008-09 are a minus-$43.1 million, including minus-$78.5 million realized from the hospital assessment. In the 2009-11 budget, the appropriations are minus-$221.3 million, including minus-$223.6 million via the hospital assessment.

* Lapses and transfers in the bill total $38 million in 2008-09, and $87 million in 2009-11.

* The effect on the general fund balance from the bill is $183.3 million for 2008-09. For 2009-11, the net effect is $561.5 million.

* In his note on the analysis, LFB director Bob Lang says tax collection estimates were lowered on Feb. 11 due to a reduction in cigarette and tobacco tax receipts. Under the new estimate, the state's current fiscal year deficit is $600.2 million. The budget adjustment bill would reduce that deficit by $183.3 million.

* Combined reporting will bring in an estimated $27.7 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year, and $187.3 million in 2009-11. Modifications to the sales and tax use on software, a provision which addresses the Menasha Corp. Supreme Court ruling, will bring in $9.4 million in 08-09, and $56.6 million in 09-11.

* The streamlined sales tax proposal, which begins in the 2009-11 fiscal year, will pull in an estimated $4.7 million. A 5 percent sales tax on digital products to begin in 09-11 generates $10.9 million in revenue.

* The bill would eliminate for 2008-09 the requirement for the state to keep a general fund balance of $65 million.

* The bill requires the governor to provide the Joint Finance Committee co-chairs with a plan for the expenditure of federal stimulus funds. After receiving the plans, the co-chairs could direct the governor to implement the plan, or the JFC could convene within 14 days to either approve the plan or modify it. The provision does not include $298.7 million in pre-approved projects included in the bill. Those 47 projects are enumerated on page 110 of the LFB document.

-- By Greg Bump

The economic stimulus package unveiled by Gov. Jim Doyla and legislative Dems last week has been drafted. See a copy of the 389-page bill here.

The Joint Finance Committee will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday to deliberate and vote on the bill. The Senate will take up the bill first. They are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

UPDATE: See an Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis of the bill here.

-- By Greg Bump

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-LaCrosse, sent out this summary of the benefits for Wisconsin of the $789 million stimulus bill passed by the House today.

The Senate is set to vote on the bill later, and President Obama is expected to sign it on Monday.

According to Kind, the American Recovery and Reinvstment Act:

- Creates or saves 70,000 jobs in Wisconsin over the next two years.

- Provides a "Making Work Pay" tax cut of up to $800 for 2.2 million Wisconsin workers and their families, designed to start paying out immediately into workers' paychecks, as well as tax cuts for small businesses.

- Modernizes our infrastructure and creates jobs with an extra $716.4 million for infrastructure in Wisconsin, $529.1 million for roads and bridges alone.

- Modernizes schools and makes college more affordable with improved Pell Grants for the 91,532 Pell Grant recipients in Wisconsin and a higher education tax credit for 63,000 students in the state.

- Helps workers hurt by the economy, expanding unemployment and maintaining health care benefits for the 191,400 of Wisconsinites that are out of work right now.

- Saves the jobs of teachers, police officers, health care workers, and protects the vital services they provide through direct aid to the Wisconsin state government.

UPDATE: More information on the Recovery Act from the Center for American Progress, forwarded by Kind's office.

An interactive map showing state-by-state allocations, which reports that the total fiscal impact for Wisconsin.

A spreadsheet on the allocation of funds.

In a press conference with reporters this afternoon, Gov. Jim Doyle said that in addition to the $2 billion the federal stimulus bill, the legislation provides $550 million for infrastructure projects in Wisconsin as well as other cash through grants and other programs.

In the final tally, the impact to the state from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act could reach $3.5 billion, Doyle estimated.

Doyle said $2 billion in fiscal stabilization funds in the bill can be used state medical assistance a education, and will help to relieve some of the state's $5.7 billion projected deficit. But he warned that would not be "dollar for dollar" relief.

"This is not going to solve all the budget problems Wisconsin has or any of the other states have," he said, warning that the budget he introduces Tuesday will contain "very, very deep cuts."

Doyle said he will continue his mantra for this budget, that "being held even is the new increase."

According to Doyle, here is what some of the provisions in the $798 billion legislation mean for Wisconsin:

* $550 million for roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects. Under the state stimulus bill unveiled yesterday, $300 million of those projects would be pre-approved

* Doyle plans to seek a chunk of the $8 billion for railroad modernization and high speed rail

* Education incentive grants for schools in which Wisconsin schools can compete for extra funding. Doyle said he expects Wisconsin schools could get as much as $90 million

* The bil includes $19 billion for health information technology, which Doyle hopes state businesses like Epic Systems, Marshfield Clinic and GE Medical can capitalize on.

* Doyle said Wisconsin will get $150 million of the $5 billion in the bill earmarked for weatherization of homes. He said the weatherization money will not only lower heating bills for low and moderate income families, but also employ many state residents.

See more on the impact to Wisconsin in this document from the White House.

Wisconsin is in line to receive roughly $2 billion for medical assistance and education programs from the compromise stimulus legislation federal lawmakers hammered out, Gov. Jim Doyle said today.

Doyle, speaking with reporters on a conference call with U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, said the money by no means will alleviate the state's $5.7 billion budget shortfall. He said the budget he introduces next week will still include some "very, very hard choices," but the federal money will help the state avert a "disaster."

Doyle had estimated earlier this week the Senate version of the stimulus bill would mean $600 million less for Wisconsin than the version approved by the House. A good chunk of that was restored in the conference committeee, and the compromise bill drops the state's share of the federal plan by about $250 million.

"This agreement is considerably better than what came out of the Senate," Doyle said, praising the work of Obey, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and served on the conference committee.

Obey, D-Wausau, took issue with those who have combed through stimulus bills trying to find questionable items to single out for ridicule. He said there is always at least one "strange item" in a budget bill that could be mocked, but he insisted lawmakers need to keep their eye on the big picture. Doing nothing could put the nation's economy into an even deeper hole.

"We cannot afford to nitpick," Obey said. "We have to take our best shot and if we make a mistaken then we have to, as we move down the line, correct things."

Citing a White House analysis, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind says in a press release that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act could bring as many as 70,000 jobs to the Badger State.

"This bill is a smart mix of tax cuts for small businesses and 95 percent of American families, investment in vital infrastructure, and aid to people in need," Kind said. "While there will never be total consensus on a bill of this magnitude and nature, I believe the recovery compromise achieves a balanced goal: using stimulative spending and tax cuts to get our economy up and running again so that we can keep and create jobs - 70,000 right here in Wisconsin."

UPDATE: Here are state-by-state and congressional district breakdowns of the job creation proponent of the bill, from the White House via U.S. Rep. Dave Obey.


State-by-state

Congressional district

GOP legislative leaders derided the stimulus plan introduced by Gov. Jim Doyle and Dem lawmakers today as a collection of tax increases with limited capacity for job growth.

Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said their members were unlikely to support the package, and Jeff Fitzgerald predicted Assembly Democrats would have to take a tough vote on the bill.

"As of 1:30 today, Gov. Doyle became a tax-increase governor," Scott Fitzgerald said.

He said the provisions to initiate the hospital assessment, combined reporting, the streamlined sales tax and reverse a court decision on the Menasha Corp. shouldn't be construed as anything other than tax hikes on businesses and citizens.

"They're just kick-starting the revenue early," Scott Fitzgerald said.

Jeff Fitzgerald wants strict oversight of the $300 million in the bill for new infrastructure projects, but both leaders said they'd endorse the use of one-time money for one-time projects. But both also said the bill's job creation potential is limited.

"How does the hospital tax create jobs? How does combined reporting create jobs?" Jeff Fitzgerald asked. "Combined reporting will drive business out of the state of Wisconsin."

Gov. Jim Doyle said today that the federal stimulus package agreed to today by congressional leaders and President Obama does not fully restore the full fiscal stabilization funds that were pared back by the U.S. Senate.

Doyle said a portion of the funds were put back in, but he doesn't think "it's a whole lot."

Doyle on Tuesday expressed concern over the Senate's version of the stimulus bill, dubbed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, because it cut $40 billion for fiscal stabilization that was in the House version. He said the reduction could force cuts to essential positions like teachers and firefighters, and would make balancing the state budget more difficult to do.

Doyle said today, speaking with reporters following an address at WMC's Business Day in Madison, he didn't know what the Wisconsin's share of the $789 billion stimulus will shake out to be. Tuesday he said that the difference in the House and Senate version would mean about $600 million less for Wisconsin. The Senate bill passed yesterday had a price tag of $838 billion.

"I do know that the House members, and again I'm very thankful to (U.S. Rep.) Dave Obey, were able to get more into the state stabilization. I don't think it was anywhere near what they had originally proposed," Doyle said.

Doyle also spoke about the combined reporting proposal included in the state stimulus bill unveiled today, indicating it was part of a compromise to put together the package.

"I think you all know this has never been ... part of my agenda, I've never proposed it. But I do think we're at a time where we ... need revenue and I think there's fairness to it," Doyle said. "I do think as part of the bill I also got some things we never would have had. ... [T}he early stage credits, the business incentives, the tax credits are really good things that I've been working to get done a long time. So I think for business there's a mixed bag here but I think it's exactly the kind of thing we're all going to have to confront. There's going to have to be some shared sacrifice and we're all going to have to compromise a little and move forward."

Doyle also said that local option sales tax to fund regional transit authorities is a good mechanism.

"If you look around the country that is the way that most successful regional transit authorities have been funded," he said, but stopped short of saying the proposal would be in his 2009-11 budget bill.

Listen to Doyle's comments here.

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.

State agencies would be required to lapse $125 million, hospitals would pay a new assessment to generate matching federal dollars and businesses would be subject to combined reporting for their tax bills under legislation the governor and lawmakers unveiled this afternoon.

The bill would trim the state's $5.7 billion budget gap by an estimated $675 million.

The package also includes expanding eligibility for angel investor tax credits, consolidating existing tax credit programs and other measures.

It also pre-approves $300 million in anticipated federal stimulus funds for infrastructure and transportation projects. Additional stimulus money would be approved by the Joint Finance Committee.

Read the release.

Read Doyle's letter to legislative leaders.

A state stimulus package to be released later today is expected to include a new assessment on hospital revenues, combined reporting for corporate taxes and a provision giving lawmakers some oversight of any federal money flowing into the state to jumpstart the economy.

The governor and legislative leaders scheduled a 1:30 p.m. news conference today to announce details of the plan. Some final language was being worked out this morning.

Gov. Jim Doyle and lawmakers have been working on a state bill that would complement the pending federal stimulus package, streamline processes for moving federal money into state projects and include job creation efforts and the expansion of angel investor tax credits.

Also expected in the package is the streamlined sales tax proposal to allow the state to capture taxes from online purchases, and language to reverse the Menasha Corp. Supreme Court decision on taxing specialized computer software, sources said.

Sources expected the stimulus package to include across-the-board cuts to state agencies, adding the plan would either eliminate or come close to eliminating the projected $594 million budget deficit in this fiscal year. Funding for job training programs and some infrastructure projects are also expected, as well as language to stem the rising tide of foreclosures in Wisconsin, sources said.

Gov. Jim Doyle said today's state stimulus package announcement will be focused on creating jobs and enacting cuts and revenue uppers to help balance the state budget.

"I think what we're talking about is a good package and one that will help us significantly," Doyle said during a media availability in Milwaukee. "It's going to be both something that will help us a lot with the budget and it's something that will also help us to create jobs."

The package will include measure aimed at stimulating job creation and getting the state lined up with the forthcoming federal stimulus act to ensure the state cam put people to work quickly, Doyle said.

Doyle said it will also include "some of the very deep cuts" that will need to be made to balance the budget.

"We better start making them starting now," Doyle said.

The hospital assessment will be among revenue uppers included in the package, he said.

"Clearly the hospital assessment is something we should get done and need to get done in order to access federal money," Doyle said.

Doyle dismissed claims that the assessment is a tax and faulted Republicans in the Legislature for blocking it in the past.

"They have fought against what they call the hospital tax for all of these years," Doyle said. "The fact is, even the hospitals support it. They don't think it's a tax. It's not a tax. It's a way we can get more federal money into the state."

"While most other states have been receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government for years, because of the Republicans in the Legislature, we have not been able to do that," Doyle continued. "That's just nonsense. We're now at a point where we can't play these games."

Gov. Jim Doyle's cabinet secretaries will forgo a scheduled 2 percent pay increase scheduled to go into effect this summer.

Administration Secretary Mike Morgan wrote in a letter to the secretaries yesterday that Doyle had asked him to formally direct them to give up the pay hike. The cabinet met to discuss the issue yesterday.

"We have all agreed to take this step because, as leaders of this Administration, we need to send a message to the working families in our state who have been hit hard by the national economic recession," Morgan wrote.

Doyle returned a portion of his salary each quarter during his first term. He received a pay increase after his second term began in 2007, and his salary won't go up during the current term, his office said.

See the letter here.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said this afternoon he hoped a deal on a state stimulus package could be done by tonight or tomorrow.

"We've still got some details to work out," Decker said. "Hopefully we'll have something to announce very shortly."

The governor and lawmakers have been working to hammer out a deal on a state bill that would complement the federal stimulus package, streamline processes for moving federal money into state projects and include job creation efforts.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations told WisPolitics lawmakers have reached a general overall agreement on the package and details would likely be released tomorrow.

Asked if the bill will include provisions to close the state's estimated $594 million budget deficit in this fiscal year, Decker said, "That's still part of the process. We're still crunching some numbers."

Decker said the bill would follow the normal legislative channels; through the Joint Finance Committee before moving on to the Legislature.

Decker declined to give details on how many jobs the stimulus might create, but said they will include initiatives to build infrastructure.

"We've been talking about public works projects for a couple months now, whether it's roads, bridges, airports or harbors," Decker said.

One issue that had been thought to be snagging negotiations, the so-called Columbus Park issue, is still something he'd like to see get done, Decker said.

"We'd still like to see this taken care of, if not in this vehicle than in another fashion," Decker said.

On the so-called Las Vegas loophole, Decker said, "I certainly hope it makes it in there." Decker has championed closing the loophole, sometimes called combined reporting, that prevents companies from moving offices outside of Wisconsin to avoid corporate income tax here. Enacting the change would bring an estimated $130 million to state coffers this fiscal year.

Decker said the hospital assessment hasn't been a contentious issue in the negotiations, and that streamline sales tax has also been part of the discussions.

Lawmakers have reached a general overall agreement on a state stimulus package, a source with knowledge of the deal told WisPolitics this afternoon.

The source said details would likely be released tomorrow.

The governor and lawmakers have been working to hammer out a deal on a state bill that would complement the federal stimulus package, streamline processes for moving federal money into state projects and include job creation efforts.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said last week he would also like to see the budget deficit in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, addressed in the package as well.

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, said in a statement the economic recovery package the Senate approved today is not perfect, but the country's rising unemployment rate requires quick and responsible action.

"The economic recovery package is not perfect but it does take important steps to create or save millions of jobs while addressing our country's energy and infrastructure challenges," Feingold said in a statement.

Feingold also highlighted some of the Wisconsin provisions in the bill:

--$537 million for Wisconsin roads and bridges.

-- $99.8 million for transit infrastructure; there's also $2.25 billion for passenger rail and $5.5 billion for national infrastructure projects that Wisconsin can compete. Feingold mentioned as an example a Milwaukee-Madison high speed rail corridor.

-- $107.6 million for Wisconsin's Clean Water State Revolving Fund and $38 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

-- $17.7 million for Wisconsin law enforcement through the Byrne Grant program.

-- $161 million in funding for the supplemental nutrition assistance program, formerly known as food stamps.

-- $26.1 million for the Public Housing Capital Fund that public housing authorities could use to modernize public housing facilities.

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee, released some details on what funds are included in the $838 billion Senate stimulus package approved this morning on a 61-37 vote.

Among the provisions is $1.6 billion nationally for federal and state law enforcement initiatives, and provisions for funding nutrition and agricultural initiatives.

Gov. Jim Doyle said this morning that he was "very discouraged" by the U.S. Senate's removal of state fiscal stabilization funds in the federal stimulus package.

He told the Wisconsin Counties Association's Legislative Exchange conference this morning that those funds were meant to help state and local governments meet basic needs in this struggling economy.

"You wonder what they were thinking," he said.

"Hopefully as this bill now goes to conference, maybe some cooler heads will prevail or we'll see a compromise," he said.

The bill that is before the Senate today removes a $25 billion fund directed to states for firefighting, police, education and other essential services, Doyle told reporters following his address.

"We're talking about money that goes directly out in wages to some of the most important workers in our state," Doyle said.

In terms of what Wisconsin could see from the federal stimulus package, Doyle said that the difference between the House and Senate versions is about $600 million.

Doyle said he has been "constantly on the phone in the last couple of days" talking with governors about how they can educate the senators on the needs of states.

"This isn't about money going to states where it's just going to get spent wildly. This is about states like Wisconsin and many others that are going to have to make deep, deep cuts. And without this the cuts are going to get deeper," Doyle said.

The result of the cut in stabilization aid to states is that firefighters, teachers and "other absolutely essential people may not have jobs," Doyle said.

Doyle said he hopes the conferees will restore the funds in the final bill.

"It doesn't make much sense to be working to be working to put operating engineers and laborers to work on the roads, which is a very good thing and we really want that to happen, when on the other end you're laying off health care workers and teachers," Doyle said.

The removal of the fund makes balancing the budget without a significant tax increase "a lot harder to do," Doyle said.

"One of my main principles here is to do everything I can to make sure that hard-working, middle class families don't have an added tax burden," Doyle said.

"It's another irony -- you can't be saying at the federal level let's have middle class tax breaks then cut this from the states in a way that the states are required to do it," Doyle said.

As the stimulus bill heads to a conference committee, Doyle said he will make a decision in the next couple of days which numbers to present in his state budget address, scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m.

"Generally I'll go with the most conservative numbers. I'm not going to put a budget on everything I wish Congress would have in a bill," Doyle said.

-- Doyle offered few specifics in his speech to the Wisconsin Counties Association gathering on a topic that many had on their minds -- what his budget hold for state shared revenues to local municipalities.

Doyle told them that every level of state spending will see cuts, but the only way through this economic crisis is cooperation.

"We really need to stay together and work together," he said.

Doyle of his run against ex-Gov. Scott McCallum, who proposed eliminating shared revenues in his 2002 campaign. Doyle hammered McCallum on the proposal on his way to beating the incumbent.

"We have acted as good partners together in these last six years and I deeply appreciate it," Doyle said.

The governor said he doesn't think county leaders will be "terribly upset" with his budget proposal, "and I think some of you may be very pleasantly surprised."

At the same time, Doyle said it will be a budget "where we're all going to have to pare back some, and we're all going to have to do more with less."

The U.S. Senate passed a cloture vote to end debate on the federal stimulus bill in that chamber. Sixty-one senators voted for cloture, narrowly meeting the requirement of 60 votes to end the debate. Thirty-six senators, all Republicans, voted against cloture.

The vote clears the way for a vote on passage tomorrow.

A spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle said today the governor "has some concerns" about a compromise stimulus package now before the U.S. Senate that carries a price tag of $827 billion.

One report estimated Wisconsin would receive nearly $600 million less in the Senate compromise compared to the version the House passed last month; a bulk of that difference would be reductions in money for education.

Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said the details of the bill are "changing hour by hour."

"The governor in particular is working hard to make sure Wisconsin schools get what they need to continue moving forward," Sensenbrenner said.

If the Senate approves the stimulus package it will next head a conference committee to iron out the differences between the House and Senate bill. U.S. Dave Obey, D-Wausau, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and a key architect of the bill, is expected to sit on that conference committee.

The U.S. Senate is expected to take a procedural vote on the federal stimulus package today, which could lead to a vote on passage tomorrow. Senators made cuts to the package passed in the House, including cutting $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization, $2 billion for broadband funding, and $600 million for Title I school funding.

Once the bill is passed by the Senate, it will go to a conference committee to iron out a final compromise between the House and Senate.

See a list of cuts in this story.

Sen. Russ Decker wants a proposal to broaden the availability of tax exemptions for low-income housing in the stimulus package.

But not everyone involved in the talks is on the same page.

The conflict has some budget watchers concerned that a hard-line stance could derail the state stimulus package and foul the water for money expected to come from the feds.

The so-called "Columbus Park fix" was vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle from the budget repair bill last spring after Decker fought hard to put it in. In his veto message, Doyle said he didn't think it was proper to include the bill in a budget repair bill and that it needed a full airing by the Legislature.

Doyle's position hasn't changed, according to spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner.

"It should be given a full debate, and there's not a necessity to have it passed in the budget repair," he said.

Rebekah Sweeney, spokeswoman for Sheridan, said the Janesville Democrat's priority is focused on stimulating the economy and getting people back to work.

"We are not negotiating the bill in public," she said, when asked if the issue has been a roadblock to agreement on the package.

She stressed there has been progress. "There's a lot of agreement, a lot of overlap with this," Sweeney said.

Decker said today the past concerns have already been answered. The bill passed the Senate unanimously last session, and was approved by an Assembly committee on a 5-3 vote but failed to come to the floor in that house, he said.

"The position of the Senate is we'd like to keep a roof over the head of the elderly people," Decker said. "I'd like to see that these people are taken care of."

Asked if this was a bottom line for him, Decker responded, "You never say never in politics."

The bill has caused turmoil because of the uncertain effect on local governments. A fiscal estimate of the bill last session didn't determine the impact, and many are wary it could end up exempting many more properties than intended.

Rep. Mark Pocan, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, said in the end there will be a "unified package" coming from the Democrats. He said he's hopeful it can be introduced before Doyle's Feb. 17 budget address.

"I fully anticipate we are going to have a good, strong stimulus plan in the very near future," he said.

Asked if that would include the "Columbus Park" issue, he said, "We need to focus on the most pressing, important issues that deal with the budget. And after that we can take care of some other issues in the session."

See the bill history here.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker said he would like to see a state stimulus package include provisions to balance the current fiscal year's projected $594 million budget gap.

Decker, D-Weston, also said he'd like to see a stimulus bill come together before Gov. Jim Doyle delivers his 2009-11 state budget on Feb. 17.

"There's still a few things on the table," Decker said.

Decker and Sen. Mark Miller, the co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, have been talking with Assembly leaders and the governor about a stimulus package to dovetail with the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Miller, D-Monona, said earlier this week that it was still undecided if the stimulus would include a budget repair, or if that would be put into separate legislation or wrapped into the 2009-11 budget bill.

The White House this afternoon sent out a release touting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and detailing the impact it will have on each state. The bill was passed by the House last week, and is currently in the Senate.

Here is what the White House has to say about what the stimulus plan will do for Wisconsin:

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is a nationwide effort to create jobs, jumpstart growth and transform our economy for the 21st century. Across the country, this plan will help businesses create jobs and families afford their bills while laying a foundation for future economic growth in key areas like health care, clean energy, education and a 21st century infrastructure. In Wisconsin, this plan will deliver immediate, tangible impacts, including:

* Creating or saving 74,000 jobs over the next two years. Jobs created will be in a range of industries from clean energy to health care, with over 90% in the private sector. [Source: White House Estimate based on Romer and Bernstein, "The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." January 9, 2009.]

* Providing a making work pay tax cut of up to $1,000 for 2,220,000 workers and their families. The plan will make a down payment on the President's Making Work Pay tax cut for 95% of workers and their families, designed to pay out immediately into workers' paychecks. [Source: White House Estimate based on IRS Statistics of Income]

* Making 63,000 families eligible for a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to make college affordable. By creating a new $2,500 partially refundable tax credit for four years of college, this plan will give 3.8 million families nationwide - and 63,000 families in Wisconsin - new assistance to put college within their reach. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of U.S. Census data]

* Offering an additional $100 per month in unemployment insurance benefits to 553,000 workers in Wisconsin who have lost their jobs in this recession, and providing extended unemployment benefits to an additional 74,000 laid-off workers. [Source: National Employment Law Project]

* Providing funding sufficient to modernize at least 138 schools in Wisconsin so our children have the labs, classrooms and libraries they need to compete in the 21st century economy. [Source: White House Estimate]

In addition to this immediate assistance for Wisconsin, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will help transform our economy by:

* Doubling renewable energy generating capacity over three years, creating enough renewable energy to power 6 million American homes.

* Computerizing every American's health record in five years, reducing medical errors and saving billions of dollars in health care costs.

* Launching the most ambitious school modernization program on record, sufficient to upgrade 10,000 schools.

* Enacting the largest investment increase in our nation's roads, bridges and mass transit systems since the creation of the national highway system in the 1950s.

Gov. Jim Doyle's office announced today that he will delay his budget address until Feb. 17.

Doyle's office said he wanted to wait until more was known about what is contained the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bill is currently in deliberation in the U.S. Senate and has passed the House.

Under state statute, Doyle was originally supposed to deliver the budget by the end of January but was granted an extension by the Legislature. A new date had been set for Feb. 10, but that has now been moved back a week.

Doyle said Monday and Tuesday this week that if it appeared the federal bill was close to final passage, he would delay his budget address until there was a definitive package to work from. If the bill appeared stalled for a longer period, Doyle said he would release his budget on the 10th and then adapt it when a federal stimulus was passed.

The Democratic Policy Committee has released its analysis of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the impact it will have on states.

The DPC, using figures from the Senate Appropriations Committee, estimates Wisconsin will $3.1 billion in benefits from the stimulus package.

See their analysis of the Wisconsin benefits here.

Find information on all 50 states here.

The Assembly Committee on Organization this morning unanimously approved a ban on fundraising during budget negotiations after some initial GOP objections.

Rep. Mark Gottlieb, R-Port Washington, questioned whether the bill allows the speaker to exceed his authority by regulating the conduct of members outside the chamber.

Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, countered that the bill mirrors a rule currently in place that bans contributions from PACs in the first year of a session.

Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said Gottlieb has a bill that extends the fundraising ban to the entire Legislature and the governor. He suggested that the Assembly pass that bill "so everyone is in the same boat."

Sheridan said it is his intention to take up Gottlieb's bill.

Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald is asking where Gov. Jim Doyle's plan is to deal with the nearly $600 million deficit the state faces this fiscal year.

DOA Secretary Michael Morgan noted in a Nov. 20 report on agency budget requests and revenue estimates that the current fiscal year deficit had exceeded the 0.5 percent threshold that triggers the need for a budget repair bill. Morgan writes in the report that Doyle would be introducing a repair bill "early in 2009."

At the time, the deficit for the fiscal year ending on June 30 was estimated at about $342 million. Last week that estimate jumped to $593 million due to tax collections lagging even further than projections.

"Where is Governor Doyle's plan?" Fitzgerald asks in a press release. "He is required by law to introduce legislation to put the state books in balance this fiscal year and he has been silent. I fear that he will use federal stimulus money intended to create jobs to plug the hole in his budget."

Doyle has said he will leave it up to the Legislature whether to handle the current year's deficit in a budget repair bill or in the 2009-11 budget bill. The state faces a $5.7 billion deficit by the end of June 2011.

A spokesman for Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, the co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, said legislative leaders are still discussing with Doyle whether to handle the budget repair in a state stimulus bill, in a separate bill or in the biennial budget bill.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has posted a list of cities requesting funds through the federal stimulus bill, including 11 Wisconsin cities.

The Wisconsin cities listed are Beloit, Cedarburg, Green Bay, Janesville, Madison, Milwaukee, New Berlin, Racine, Sheboygan, Superior and Waukesha.

The data includes a list of projects requested, the amount of funding needed, and the number of jobs they are proposed to create.

See the page here.

For a list of projects submitted by municipalities to the state Department of Administration, go here.

Gov. Jim Doyle said today that his budget address, tentatively set for Feb. 10, may be delayed, saying he is "playing it day by day" as he waits for the federal government to move on a stimulus bill.

Doyle said that if it looks like Congress will approve a package by the Feb. 12 deadline set by President Obama, he may hold his budget proposal. If it looks like the federal process will drag on longer, he will put out his budget on the 10th and the state will "have to move forward and make our best calculation about what will be in that bill."

Sen. Mark Miller, the co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, said discussions of the state stimulus bill "are going very well," but a date for the release of the legislation has not been set.

Miller, D-Monona, told WisPolitics Monday that a number of issues have been discussed, but his priorities are job creation and workforce training, along with improving the availability of credit for homeowners.

The job creation package will include efforts to build public infrastructure, he said.

"Public investment in infrastructure is the way you create jobs, and that will have a ripple effect," Miller said.

Still being worked out between legislators and the governor's office is whether the state stimulus will include provisions to balance the current fiscal year's $593.8 million budget deficit, or whether that will be tackled in a separate bill or in the 2009-11 budget bill, a Miller aide said.

On aid to distressed homeowners, Miller said the federal stimulus package may address that problem, but failing that the state may take steps to help.

"People are in danger of losing their homes because they're in an undesirable mortgage situation," Miller said, saying he and other lawmakers are examining "what role might the state have to help people in those situations."

If the federal stimulus, which passed the House last week and is now in the Senate, comes together in the next few days, the state stimulus will follow. But if the federal process bogs down, state lawmakers will go ahead with their plan and then adapt it later to the federal package, Miller said.

Miller said he expected a "significant difference" between the House-approved bill and what will ultimately be passed in the end.

The governor isn't required to seek legislative approval for the disbursement of federal stimulus funds, but officials charged by Gov. Jim Doyle with managing the cash flow insist lawmakers will be involved in the process.

Legislative Fiscal Bureau director Bob Lang wrote in a memo to Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, that under state statutes the governor "is authorized to accept federal funds on behalf of the state and direct those funds to the state agencies responsible for administering those funds."

Lang goes on to write that "unless there are certain specific requirements under the federal legislation," the governor can exercise that authority to send the money directly to state agencies.

Lang does note that lawmakers could pass a bill to give the Legislature or its committees the power of review or oversight of the federal dollars. Also noted is that federal money directed for K-12 funding would require legislative oversight.

See Lang's letter here.

Lawmakers have been discussing proposals to give themselves oversight of the money.

Gary Wolter, the MG&E CEO leading Gov. Jim Doyle's new Office of Recovery and Reinvestment, said in a Senate committee meeting last week that the Legislature will be "partners" in the process.

"The two big myths of this office are that we're making a bunch of decisions and people won't know what we're doing. A, we're not going to be making any decisions and, B, we have to be completely transparent about where all this money is going on a monthly report to Congress," said Al Fish, Wolter's deputy in the Recovery Office, in an interview last week with WisPolitics.com.

Wisconsin counties, cities and villages have asked for more than $5.4 billion in federal stimulus funds to pay for everything from installing new equipment at an Oconto County paper miller to replacing a ski dozer and buying new big screen TVs for Milwaukee courtrooms, a WisPolitics.com review finds.

The number of requests, contained in Department of Administration records provided to WisPolitics, totaled more than 3,300 through last Tuesday. They far outweigh the amount of federal stimulus money expected to be devoted to transportation and other infrastructure projects in the state.

Wisconsin would be on tap to receive $564 million for highways and bridges through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to a numbers released last week breaking down the House bill. Another $317 million is earmarked for education, modernization, renovation and repair, and $157 million is intended for clean water projects. The Senate still must sign off on the bill, and the final numbers may change as the two houses hash out a compromise.

Gary Wolter, the MG&E CEO leading Gov. Jim Doyle's new Office of Recovery and Reinvestment, said not all the projects will fit with the intent of the federal stimulus bill.

"I suspect there are many on the list that do and many on the list that do not," Wolter said. "So that's the first cut. But then we'll also look at the final bill to see what the criteria are generally. And part of it is to create jobs, part of it is to build infrastructure."

Wolter and Al Fish, on loan from the UW-Madison to serve as Wolter's deputy, stressed in an interview last week that the new office will not make final decisions on how the money is divvied up. They also said there was a misconception that the state will receive the money in a block grant to dole out however it pleases.

Instead, the final federal stimulus bill will lay out a series of criteria for projects that will largely dictate which of the requests are eligible for funding, though there will be some money that can be sent to local government as block grants that they can use as they see fit. The office will largely work to decide whether requests fit the demands of the bill and then forward that analysis on for final decisions to be made through the normal state legislative process.

Geographic distribution of the projects and cost-benefit analysis will also be measured when awarding the dollars, Wolter said.

"We aren't there yet in the process. ... (W)ithout a bill we can't take the entire list and start prioritizing until we have a sense for what pots of money are going to be in the final bill and what criteria the bill itself will apply," he said.

"One of the goals is to ... get people working or keep people working so that more people don't lose their jobs. But by the same token, you can't be building bridges to nowhere. There is a criteria that we will have to apply as far as the cost-benefit of the projects that do get built," Wolters said.

Fish said the stimulus money will come in a variety of streams -- some for existing programs that will receive increased federal funding, some for programs like medical research facilities that will be awarded competitive grants, and some from strict formulas, such as money for highway and bridge projects.

School districts will get some allocations earmarked for repairs. In the highways and bridges appropriation, there will be money available to local units of government that will receive funds to spend under their discretion according to whether the projects can meet the timeline set by the bill.

"The two big myths of this office are that we're making a bunch of decisions and people won't know what we're doing. A, we're not going to be making any decisions and, B, we have to be completely transparent about where all this money is going on a monthly report to Congress," Fish said.

In addition, the congressional process still hasn't been completed. The House passed a bill this week; now it's the Senate's turn. Once the bill is passed by Congress and signed by President Obama, the Recovery Office then will do a detailed analysis of what funds are available and communicate with local officials "and people are going to have to evaluate their idea against what's in the bill and is possible to be funded," Fish said.

"The amount of sorting out that this office will do is really going to be pretty minimal," he said.

Of the 3,330 project requests submitted, at least 95 have an estimated cost of $10 million or more. The request with the biggest price tag is a $350 million project to install a linerboard and tissue paper machine at the ST Paper mill in Oconto County. Another $150 million was requested by Oconto County to expand the ST Paper mill in Oconto Falls.

Milwaukee County requested $220 million to replace and repaint the Hoan Bridge, while Manitowoc County asked for $200 million to finance a cheese processing plant expansion.

Milwaukee County or its various departments submitted the most requests, with 756 totaling more than $708 million. Nearly 500 of those requests are small-dollar projects from the Milwaukee County Parks Department. Oconto County submitted 87 requests, while Calumet, Brown and Sheboygan counties had 83 requests each. The City of Manitowoc had 84 requests.

The city of Milwaukee's requests aren't included in the DOA file, but a copy was given to WisPolitics when Mayor Tom Barrett submitted them to the Obama transition team in December. The city requests nearly $600 million for 71 projects, including $100 million for a Connector/street car system, $56 million to rehabilitate some 800 affordable housing units, and $30 million to build three new regional libraries.

Wolter said he doesn't fault local officials for turning over lengthy lists.

"I don't want to be critical of anybody submitting ideas because there are many needs out in the state and the bill's just sorting out so they don’t know what's in it," Wolter said. "They're looking at the needs of their communities and the things they might want, and they're submitting them based on their criteria.

"I give them credit for participating in the process. But at the end of the day, we will have a bill against which we will need to measure those projects and sort out which of those projects they're submitting make sense under the bill and which ones just are not eligible."

See Barrett's stimulus requests to the presidential transition team here.

See all other requests submitted to DOA here.

See a list of Doyle's requests to the Obama team here.

Gov. Jim Doyle said today that he sees the need for "a modernization of the tax code," such as enacting the streamline sales tax proposal to allow the state to capture sales tax from online purchases.

"Particularly in this difficult time it has always seemed unfair to me that if you're a business in that state that has a building, pays property taxes and has employees you collect and pay a sales tax," Doyle said, speaking with reporters following a lunch address to the Wisconsin Way conference. "But if it's done online then it isn't a sales tax in most cases."

In addition to streamline sales tax, Doyle said there are things like "cleaning up that Menasha issue ... that we can do to help us moving forward."

In July, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of Neenah-based Menasha Corp., affirming am appeals court decision that the state incorrectly collected sales tax on customized computer software sales. In addition negating $265 million collected from companies with similar tax situations, the ruling meant an expected $28 million that would have been collected this fiscal year won't be paid.

"The Menasha case showed that the law was just not up to date with what the technical world is now," the governor said.

Doyle also said that a cost-saving move being considered is to force state workers take unpaid furlough.

"We certainly are considering it. It's something we're going to have to be considering over the next couple years," Doyle said. "I continue to believe the best way to do this is through attrition. We've had a large number of people leaving, we're holding open large numbers of state positions, and that's a better way to go than having people, particularly in this economy, get furloughed and lose part of their paycheck. On the other hand, things can get worse and so it's one of the techniques state government has to try to meet a huge budget deficit."

Doyle said he expects to deliver his budget address on Feb. 10, but if the federal stimulus is near completion, he may wish to hold his budget until the federal government acts.

"If (the federal bill) looks like it's off a ways, then we ought to move and deal with that as it comes along," he said.