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Co-Chair: Mark Pocan, D-Madison

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Assembly fails to override budget repair vetoes

The Assembly failed to override three of Gov. Jim Doyle's partial vetoes today as Republicans tried to restore exemptions to protect K-12 funding, SeniorCare and the transportation fund from cuts or lapses to meet spending reductions he ordered in the budget repair bill he reworked.

Majority Republicans picked up 10 Democrats in their efforts to override the K-12 and SeniorCare vetoes while losing three of their own. Rep. Barb Gronemus, D-Whitehall, joined the 10 Dems and majority Republicans in voting to override for the transportation fund veto.

*See the roll call on K-12 funding:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/insession/insessiondocs/Votes/av0298.htm

*See the roll call on SeniorCare:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/insession/insessiondocs/Votes/av0298.htm

*See the roll call on the transportation fund:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/insession/insessiondocs/Votes/av0300.htm

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posted by Andy Szal @ 4:33 PM  

Friday, May 23, 2008

Assembly still mulling overrides

Assembly Republicans are examining Gov. Jim Doyle's vetoes in the budget repair bill to determine if they can override any portions of his handiwork.

Of particular interest to the Assembly Republicans is the maneuver of about $100 million from the transportation fund to the general fund the governor vetoed into the bill.

"We are still looking at veto overrides," says Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon. "The Governor took his veto pen to dozens of areas in the bill and we are looking through the specifics of those changes. We replaced hundreds of millions of dollars that Governor Doyle raided from the transportation fund in the last budget with his veto pen. Now he is trying to do it again."

The Assembly and Senate will hold skeleton sessions on Tuesday, the first of two days the Legislature has next week for veto review. Both houses will be on the floor Wednesday to approve state worker contracts.

An override attempt would have to pass through the Assembly first, where it would need a "yes" vote from two-thirds of its 99 members.

The Senate Chief Clerk's office sent out a notice today for the skeletal session Tuesday which includes language for two possible overrides. The clerk's office said the notice was sent out to abide by Joint Rule 82 (2)(a), which sates: "Any vetoes of regular or special session bills not previously on a calendar in the house of origin shall be shown as pending business on the calendar for the veto review session's first day."

Senate Org will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday to approve a calendar for the floor session on Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, has said he doesn't expect an override vote in his house because he doesn't believe the Assembly has the votes to pass one.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 4:33 PM  

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Lang says repair bill not to blame for deficit

LFB director Bob Lang sent a letter to Sen. Mike Ellis today saying that the estimated $1.68 billion structural deficit is not due to the budget repair bill. Rather, Lang says, it is due to a decline in tax collections and departmental revenues at a time when expenditures are expected to increase.

Ellis, R-Neenah, sent out a press release earlier in the day saying that Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature are to blame for the ballooning structural deficit because they refused to "honestly" address the revenue shortfall.

"Instead, they relied on delayed debt payments, transfers and other accounting gimmicks to shove the problem out of this election year and into the next biennium. That is what created the structural deficit," Ellis said.

Lang says his memo says no such thing.

"It would have been inaccurate to portray the significant increase in the structural deficit as the result of the budget adjustment bill. It was not," he wrote. "The structural deficit was neither improved nor worsened by the budget adjustment bill; nor did the memorandum suggest that it was."

Lang continued that the memo LFB prepared on the structural deficit "was not intended to assign credit or blame to either branch of government, but rather to factually state why the number increased as significantly as it did."

See the structural deficit memo here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:26 PM  

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

LFB: Structual deficit $1.682 billion

Gov. Jim Doyle's partial vetoes of the budget repair bill shaved $12 million off the state's structural deficit compared to what lawmakers had approved, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The budget repair bill lawmakers approved left a structural deficit of $1.694 billion heading into the 2009-11 budget. LFB Director Bob Lang said the net result of the governor's vetoes left a $1.682 billion shortfall.

The structural deficit was projected to drop below $900 million under the budget Doyle signed into law last fall. But sharply falling revenues pushed it significantly higher.

According to the LFB, the plan Doyle introduced to fix the shortfall would have left the state with a structural deficit of $1.42 billion, the original Assembly plan carried a $1.65 billion structural deficit, and the Senate's proposal had a $1.37 billion structural deficit.

See the LFB memo here.

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posted by Administrator @ 3:00 PM  

LFB memo lists lapse possibilities

A memo released today by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau lists appropriations that would be subject to lapse under the original 2007-09 budget, the budget repair bill passed by the Legislature, and the bill as amended by Gov. Jim Doyle's vetoes.

See the memo here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:32 PM  

Monday, May 19, 2008

LFB summary of Doyle vetoes

Read the 11-page Legislative Fiscal Bureau summary of Gov. Jim Doyle's vetoes to the budget repair bill here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:57 PM  

GOP legislators talk about Doyle vetoes

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch said in an interview at the convention this weekend he will have to analyze Doyle's vetoes to see if an override on $100 million in transportation diversions is possible without interfering with the rest of the $270 million in lapses the governor made.

"We will not be overriding the governor's vetoes to reduce his ability to cut spending," he said. "He's expanded his ability and his authority to cut government spending and he's beginning to come close to mirroring what Assembly Republicans passed back in March."

Huebsch, R-West Salem, said many at the convention were "very complimentary" about the Assembly Republicans acting as the "last line of defense" against tax increases.

Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he will seek the advice of legislative counsel and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau on whether the lapses can be divided to separate out the transportation portion for an override.

"A lot of it falls back on both leaders who negotiated without any veto assurances," he said.

"Is there an opportunity for a veto override? A lot of that's going to be based on whether or not lege counsel analysis tells us that we can put together a veto override package that makes sense and that the dollars will work," Fitzgerald said.

Rep. Steve Nass, a frequent budget critic, said he doesn't expect an override in the Assembly.

"I think the deal that was cut probably precludes an override. That's just my gut feeling," said Nass, R-Whitewater. "I have not heard that, but I would be suprised if there were a veto override."

Listen to the Huebsch interview here.

Listen to the Fitzgerald interview here.

Listen to the Nass interview here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:28 AM  

Friday, May 16, 2008

Reactions to repair bill vetoes

Click below to read reactions to Doyle's vetoes

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posted by Administrator @ 4:04 PM  

Doyle confident vetoes will stick

Though Gov. Jim Doyle did exactly what GOP legislators warned would force them to override his veto, he didn't sound especially concerned by the prospect of being contradicted.

"I'm pretty confident if they try there won't be any success to override efforts," the Dem governor said today after announcing his vetoes of the budget repair bill.

Despite the admnitions of legislators, Doyle reduced spending on transportation by about $100 million with his veto pen. He also vetoed a provision in the legislative bill to push off $125 million in school aid payments into the next biennium.

"You can not repair a budget by refusing to pay your bills," Doyle said, adding that the manueuver would have "led to very, very sharp cuts in education in the next budget."

Even with his cuts, Doyle said spending on road projects will actually increase over what was approved in the biennial budget adopted last fall. The Legislature's plan wold have spent an additional $180 million on transportation in addition the $350 million added to the fund in the biennial budget bill.

"It's difficult to see how you address a budget repair bill ... by spending an additional $180 million" on transportation, he said.

The vetoes will not have an impact on the schedule of road projects approved in the budget last fall, Doyle said.

Doyle said his vetoes will implement $270 million in lapses to state programs. The Legislature's bill included $69 million in lapses.

He said the lapses will "delay programs we all agree are worthwhile," citing reductions to the Energy Independece Fund. The $15 million appropriated for grants will be reduced to $10 million, he said.

"It's easier to start at places receiving increases in the next year and you just sort of shave those increases back," he said.

Doyle said the spending reductions will also be aided by new state contracts. He thanked state employees, who he said "have done their share" by negotiating contracts that delay some pay increases while also increasing the amount they pay for health care coverage.

He said the cuts will not come from shared revenues to local municipalities or school aid payments.

Doyle said the the legislative plan "went too far in taking money from the tobacco settlement fund." Instead of the $209 million in tobacco bonding in the legislative budget, Doyle said he will look to scale that amount back to $150 million when the bonds go back to the market. The legislative plan had the state selling bonds for the rights to tobacco settlement funds over the next dozen years. Doyle said his plan may reduce the number of years that will be bonded, but said the deal will depend on market forces.

The governor also vetoed a provision to take $22 million allocated for the implementation of the federally-mandated Real ID program. Doyle's plan takes $2 million from that pot, leaving $20 million.

Doyle called the Real ID mandate "federal arrogance at its height" because it demanded the states to pay for the program, but he said state residents could suffer "serious consequences" if it is not implemented, such as not being able to get on airplanes.

Also vetoed was the controversial "Columbus Park fix" that would exempted some low income housing from state taxes. Doyle it was a "very difficult and complicated issue" that "shouldn't be in a budget bill much less a budget repair bill." He said the proposal wouuld need a full debate in the Legislature before becoming law.

Doyle reminded reporters that the document is "a budget repair bill, not a budget bill." Soon he will be sending out directions to state agencies for the next biennial budget, and the process can begin again.

Listen to Doyle's address on his vetoes here.

Listen to Doyle's Q&A with reporters here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:30 AM  

Doyle nixes school aid delay, pulls money from transpo fund

Gov. Jim Doyle used his veto pen today to nix a move to push a school aid payment into the next biennium and ordered another $270 million in lapses from state agencies, including the transportation fund, to help fix the state's budget problems.

Doyle also killed a transfer from the REAL ID fund but left in place a corporate tax increase.

He also eliminated a provision to provide property tax exemption for low-income housing, saying it was a laudable goal that needed a full public hearing and legislative debate.

See the full veto message:
http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/080516_Veto_Message.pdf

See Doyle's statement:
http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=126363

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posted by Administrator @ 10:22 AM  

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Doyle to announce vetoes tomorrow

Gov. Jim Doyle will announce his vetoes to the budget repair bill at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the Governor's Conference Room in the state Capitol.

Doyle has repeatedly expressed his displeasure with two key provisions of the Legislature's budget repair compromise - -- the $209 million in bonding from the tobacco settlement, and the shift of $125 million in aids to local school districts.

Republicans in both legislative houses have warned that any attempt by the governor to access transportation funds to close the projected $525 million budget deficit will lead to an override vote.

"We'll be back if (Doyle) touches transportation," Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald

Doyle had proposed transferring $257 million from the transportation fund and backfilling the borrowing with bonds to help plug the budget hole. That move was rejected by legislators in favor of tobacco securitization and the school funding shift.

An override attempt would have to begin in the Republican-controlled Assembly. An override would need approval from two-thirds of the 99-member house to move to the Senate. Republicans control the chamber 52-47. One Republican member, Rep. Mark Gundrum, is currently deployed overseas.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said Tuesday he's not thinking much about an override until the Assembly takes action.

"I'd be very surprised if the Assembly was able to muster the votes to override anything," he said.

Listen to Doyle's comments today on the budget bill here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:13 PM  

GOP Reps. want vetoes

GOP Reps. Robin Vos, Rich Zipperer and Leah Vukmir circulated e-mails to colleagues today asking them to sign on to letters to Doyle urging partial vetoes of the budget repair bill.

Vos, of Racine, and Zipperer, of Pewaukee, are urging Doyle to veto provisions within the bill that would eliminate deductions for rental payments and interest payments to a related entity. Vukmir, of Wauwatosa, requests that Doyle veto the inclusion of property tax exemptions for low income housing.

See the letter from Vos and Zipperer here.

See the Vukmir letter here.

UPDATE: Vukmir's letter garnered 26 signatures.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:09 PM  

Doyle says vetoes coming soon

Gov. Jim Doyle this morning again expressed concerns with some provisions in the budget repair bill passed by the Legislature this week, and said he will work quickly to put his mark on the document.

"You'll see my vetoes very quickly here," the governor promised, though he said he had not formally received the bill.

"I'm working on this really hard right now ... This isn't a big budget bill. This is a correction, and I'm hoping in the next day or two we're going to be able to announce them and move on."

Doyle reiterated his biggest problems with the repair bill - the $209 million in boding from the tobacco settlement, and the shift of $125 million from aids to local school districts.

He also said he's concerned with the provision to move $22 million to implement the Real ID program into the general fund. He had proposed shifting $5 million in his budget plan.

"I think that creates a real problem for us," Doyle said of the Legislature's maneuver.

He said there are legitimate concerns with the federally mandated program, but added, "I can't allow us to get in a situation where Wisconsin citizens can't get on airplane because our drivers licenses aren't new. So I have to live in the real world, and the real world means we're going to have to take some steps forward."

Listen to Doyle's comments here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:46 AM  

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Fitzgerald predicts Assembly will be back for override vote

Rep. Mark Pocan said the 20 Democratic votes for passage of the Speaker's budget repair bill shows that Assembly Dems are "ready to lead and govern."

The Madison Dem, who has been placed in charge of his party's Assembly election efforts after Minority Leader Jim Kreuser decided to run for Kenosha Co. exec, said the GOP majority couldn't get the votes out of their caucus, unlike the Senate Dem majority.

Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald responded that Dems voted while giving "the wink and the nod" to Gov. Doyle to use his veto power on the bill. He warned the minority, especially their freshmen, to be ready for a veto override attempt.

"We know what happened here today," Fitzgerald said. "We'll be back if (Doyle) touches transportation."

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posted by Administrator @ 4:15 PM  

Assembly approves budget repair bill

The Assembly has passed the budget repair bill 51-46.

See the roll call vote: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/insession/insessiondocs/Votes/av0296.htm

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:52 PM  

Travis rips conference committee procedure

Rep. Dave Travis, D-Waunakee, scolded leadership for bringing an unamendable bill through conference commmittee in a skeletal session.

"We have now set the precedent now that one or two people can slip a budget by everybody," Travis said.

Huebsch countered that Travis had used the process when he was in leadership, a fact Travis acknowledged during his remarks.

"He did it in 1993," Huebsch said. "He did it on the full budget."

Travis maintained his opposition.

"This is a precedent that will haunt this body forever," the retiring Dem said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:36 PM  

Opposition is widespread

Legislators across the board are opposing the budget repair bill.

Rep. Frank Boyle, D-Superior, blasted the bill for being irresponsible and pushing off the problem to future generations. He said a courageous move would be to raise taxes on corporations to get the revenues to address the problem, and urged the conservative members of the Republican caucus to oppose the bill.

"I'm a tax and spend guy. I am not a spend and borrow guy," he said.

Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, said the repair bill uses the same "accounting gimmicks" that the budget passed last fall used. He also said there should be true spending cuts in the document instead of lapses, which is spending he said will merely be restored in the next budget.

"Nothing is being cut. Not one dime," he said.

He also lamented the draining of the rainy day fund. "This is not a rainy day," he said. "The rainy day fund is being ripped off to cover fiscal mismanagement."

Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, D-Milwaukee, criticized the grab of tobacco settlement cash, calling it a "ridiculous stealing of money."

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:14 PM  

Vukmir: Repair bill is a sham

Rep. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, said the budget repair proposal is another example of how legislators "defer, delay and deny" when it comes to budgeting.

Vukmir said "unrealistically optimistic" budget bill was passed in the fall, one that legislators claimed taxpayers could afford. "That claim was proven wrong within two months," she said.

"Maybe the people of Wisconsin are not working hard enough to meet the spending priorities set by this Legislature," she said.

She also predicted that the Legislature will be back again to pass another repair bill.

"This isn't a repair. It's a sham," she said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:53 PM  

Black is voting "red"

Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said the tobacco securitization plan in this budget repair bill rivals the original tobacco settlement sell-off as the most irresponsible things he's seen the Legislature do. Black said he is voting "no" on the bill.

Black said that the provision in the budget repair plan essentially has the state assume $1.7 billion in future debt to access $209 million in cash through bonding the tobacco settlement.

Black said the provision sells off the rights to tobacco settlement cash until 2030, and puts all the risk on the state if those payments default.

He said the budget repair bill does not solve the state's fiscal problems, it just pushes them off.

"We kind of punted," he said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:45 PM  

Budget repair bill on the floor

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said Republicans would have preferred a solution that did more to cut state spending, and he said no one is thrilled with having to do a budget repair bill.

"If any of these were good ideas, frankly we would have done them already," he said. "But in the end the people of the state of Wisconsin have asked us to come here and govern ... and figure out a way that we can keep this state moving forward."

Huebsch said that he is hopefully that the slowing economy that created the budget shortfall will turn around, and he said that Wisconsin may be able to move out of the slowdown faster than its neighbors.

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, opened his remarks by acknowledging that the bill is not popular with the guv.

"There will be no gathering tonight at the residence if we pass this," Kreuser said. Instead, there will be a "dutch treat" reception at The Silver Dollar a block from the Capitol. "Bipartisan, of course," he said.

Kreuser said the changes that came in the last week have made the bill better, but he also lamented "missed opportunities" like the hospital assessment and funding for the KRM commuter rail line.

"Out of all the ideas that were out there, these were the ones we had to agree on," Kreuser said. "It's compromise."

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:33 PM  

Dems finish caucus

The Assembly Democrats have completed their caucus and should be headed to the floor.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:55 PM  

Assembly gathering

The Assembly will be on the floor in about five minutes.

The body will first memorialize a fallen soldier, then Assembly Democrats will resume their closed-door caucus on the budget repair bill and Great Lakes Compact.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:21 AM  

Nass says budget repair bill representative of GOP woes

Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, sent a stinging email to his GOP colleagues this morning blasting the budget repair deal put together by Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston.

He says the repair bill, which the Assembly is set to vote on today, "is representative of the problems confronting Republicans in the State Capitol. Do Wisconsin Republicans really believe in lowering taxes and controlling government spending??? Or was that just rhetoric to get votes."

The repair bill is expected to need much support from Assembly Democrats to pass the house today. Republicans control the Assembly 52-47.

The full email is as follows:

Dear GOP Colleague:

Congressional Republicans lost a third straight special election in a "safe GOP seat." Last night, a Democrat, running as a conservative, defeated a moderate Republican by a 54%-46% margin in Mississippi.

The message is clear for Republicans in Congress and state governments across the land. People will vote for those they trust to keep their word and promise to represent their fiscally conservative views: even if that person is a conservative Democrat.

Today's vote in the Assembly on a bad budget deal is representative of the problems confronting Republicans in the State Capitol. Do Wisconsin Republicans really believe in lowering taxes and controlling government spending??? Or was that just rhetoric to get votes.

Steve Nass

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:36 AM  

Assembly will act on budget repair today

The Assembly is scheduled to take the floor today at 11 a.m. to vote on the budget repair bill. Assembly Democrats will caucus at 9:30 a.m.

Assembly Republicans held a closed door caucus yesterday that ended around 5 p.m.

The Senate will be on the floor at 10 a.m. to memorialize fallen soldiers, then will break until 11:30, when the body will vote on the Great Lakes Compact.

The Assembly may vote on the water compact today if time permits, but an additional floor session has been scheduled for tomorrow in case the budget vote becomes and all day event.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 8:49 AM  

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Decker not thinking yet about override vote

Speaking to reporters after the floor session adjourned, Sen. Decker said he's not really thinking about a possible veto override if the governor makes sweeping changes to the budget repair bill.

"It starts in the Assembly. Any override has to go through that house first," he said. "I'd be very surprised if the Assembly was able to muster the votes to override anything."

Decker said his members had some concerns with the final package, and there were moments when he wasn't sure if the votes were there to pass the bill. "You always worry about that," he said. "We got the votes. It's in the Assembly, so we're cool."

"The hospital assessment was something we all wanted that we couldn't get. KRM was something we all wanted and the Assembly wasn't willing to go along with," he said. "But by and large I think our victories were pretty good."

Decker said cuts to essential services were kept to a minimum, transportation funding transfers were prohibited "which was very important to Senate Democrats," more money was provided for child care subsidies, and corporate tax loopholes were closed. He also said SeniorCare and school aids were protected from cuts.

He declined to give a reason for Sen. Carpenter's no vote.

"I don't want to speak for Tim," he said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:46 PM  

Robson says she voted for bill "despite grave flaws"

Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, said Senate Dems should have held out for the hospital assessment and avoided tapping tobacco securitization funds. But despite those "grave flaws" she voted yes on the budget to avoid delays in road projects.

See her statement here.

Other reaction:

Sen. Decker: Statement on passage of budget repair bill

Sen. Darling: Statement on budget repair bill

Sen. Kedzie: Statement on the budget repair bill

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:45 PM  

Decker answers criticism on transportation

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said the budget repair bill just passed by the Senate does a good job on many levels, including protecting transportation funding.

Decker said the bill does protect the funding for road projects, a departure from the bonding proposed by the governor in his budget repair plan forwarded in March.

"You all just voted against protecting transportation," he said to those who voted "no."

"We protected transportation. You all just voted against it."

As for the potential of a veto, Decker said Senate Democrats believe "very strongly this budget should be signed as it is."

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:19 PM  

Fitzgerald says Senate "better be back" to override veto

As he said yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, firmly believes that Gov. Doyle will use his veto pen to block the shift of $125 million in school aids, and will borrow that amount from the transportation fund to fill the budget gap.

He said there will be a call in the Assembly to override the governor in that event, and he said the Senate had better follow suit.

"Keep your calendars clear for that last week in May," Fitzgerald said.

"The Assembly's going to go first, and then the pressure's going to be on this house," he said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:14 PM  

Budget repair passes without debate

Passes 17-16. Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, voted with the 15 Republicans against the bill.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:08 PM  

Senate comes to order

First they're going to take up some appointments and recognitions, then move on to the budget repair.

All appointments are approved unanimously.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 4:59 PM  

Senate heading back to work

The announcement has gone out that the Senate will return at 5 p.m.

Coming out of the caucus, Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, said he expects the bill to pass.

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posted by Administrator @ 4:49 PM  

Bill draft

Click here for a draft of the budget repair bill language.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 4:19 PM  

LFB: Structural deficit at $1.7 billion

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau says the state's structural deficit will rise to $1.694 billion in this biennium under the proposed budget repair bill before the Legislature.

Under the budget adopted last fall, the structural deficit fell to just under $900 million. But sharply falling revenues have caused the deficit to jump back to its highest level since the 2003-05 biennium, when it hit a record $2.9 billion.

The current budget repair proposal, approved by a conference committee of bipartisan legislative leaders yesterday, does not significantly inflate the structural deficit above plans forwarded earlier by the governor, the Dem-controlled Senate, or Republican-controlled Assembly. According to the LFB, the governor's plan would have left the state with a structural deficit of $1.42 billion, the Assembly plan carried a $1.65 billion structural deficit, and the Senate's proposal had a $1.37 billion structural deficit.

See the LFB memo here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:13 PM  

Holding pattern

Senate Democrats remain in caucus.

Budget watchers are wondering if the delay means there aren't sufficient votes to pass the repair bill. Senators who have come out intermittently say the delay is merely because the members "haven't talked to each other in a while."

Meanwhile, Assembly Republicans continue to get a line-by-line briefing on the budget from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

One key member of the Assembly GOP leadership, Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, will not be supporting the budget repair package, an aide said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:12 PM  

Senate start a little late

The Senate was scheduled to be on the floor to vote on the budget repair bill at 11 a.m., but the start has been delayed until 11:30 a.m.

Senate Republicans are being briefed on the plan by Legislative Fiscal Bureau staff.

UPDATE: Senate President Fred Risser has just announced that the Senate will convene at noon.

UPDATE 2: Risser has just announced that the Senate is recessed until further notice. "In other words, we don't know when" the Senate will meet, he said.

He said Senate members will get a 15 minute warning prior to the start of the session.

Senate Democrats remain in caucus while Senate Republicans have finished theirs.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 12:03 AM  

Monday, May 12, 2008

Sensenbrenner blasts Doyle on Real ID

U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls, is blasting Gov. Jim Doyle for a proposal in the budget repair agreement reached by a bipartisan group of legislators to use $22 million meant for implementing the REAL ID program.

"When the State Legislature passed the state budget, they included a six dollar increase on drivers' license Renewal fees to help pay for Wisconsin to be Real ID compliant," Sensenbrenner says in his release. "Now, Governor Doyle is playing fiscal games and stealing from Wisconsinites $6 at a time to get himself out of this budget mess. Games will not make our country more secure. Governor Doyle must wake up and stop playing these games."

Sen. Decker said this morning that the REAL ID program is not "good thinking," and that the federal government should pay for the program, not the state.

Rep. Huebsch said Assembly Republicans support the program, and should the federal government require implementation, he thinks the state will implement it.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 4:23 PM  

Doyle coy on veto pen

Saying he still has "plenty" of veto powers left despite the April 1 voter referendum to curb them, Gov. Jim Doyle said this afternoon that he will have to see what the Legislature gives him before deciding on how he'll alter the budget repair bill.

As he has repeatedly for the past several weeks, Doyle said he has "significant problems" with provisions in the Legislature's proposal to push $125 million in school aids off into the next biennium.

"It will just make our jobs much tougher to do next year," Doyle said to reporters today at the state Capitol.

Doyle was also critical of the use of tobacco settlement cash in the legislative plan, but admitted it may be difficult for him to be ideologically "pure" about it given the dire budgetary straits the state faces.

Doyle proposed pulling $30 million out of securitization in his proposal to fix the shortfall.

Doyle said contracts for summer road projects, which are due to be awarded tomorrow, will go out as scheduled, but said ominously that the state must "hold out the possibility" that the projects may not be able to move forward on their original timetable.

Doyle said one option he will explore is whether to veto the entire bill.

"I hope not. I really do," Doyle said of using his pen to veto the full bill. "I don't think that's what it will come to."

"When the bill is on my desk, I'll make the decision of what I am going to do," he said.

Asked how much the referendum to do away with the so-called "Frankenstein veto" will hamper his powers, Doyle replied, "I think I have plenty of veto power left."

Listen to the press conference here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:45 PM  

LFB memo

Here's a link to the LFB memo on the budget repair bill.

A memo circulated earlier this morning contained some errors. The link above is to the revised version.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:57 PM  

Conference committee passes repair bill

The committee report passes 5-1, with Sen. Fitzgerald the only "no" vote.

No amendments to the bill were proposed at the conference table, and the bill will now be unamendable on the floor of the Legislature.

The Senate plans to take up the budget repair bill tomorrow, with Assembly to follow on Wednesday.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:32 PM  

Decker says transpo concerns legit

Sen. Fitzgerald restated his worry that the transportation fund will be a refuge for the governor, saying that he sees a scenario where the governor could easily veto the provision to delay $125 million in school aid payments.

"The only place to go is back to the transportation fund," Fitzgerald said.

Decker said the concerns "are legitimate" but said the hospital assessment would have addressed the problem, but Fitzgerald and his Republican colleagues opposed it.

Decker said there is no certainty the governor will veto the school aid provision.

"He may just take this because none of us got everything we wanted," he said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:17 PM  

Republicans worried about Doyle veto

Rep. Rhoades said the legislative intent for the transportation fund is clear in the document, and it should be clear to the governor that legislators don't want transportation moneys used to address the general fund shortfall.

Huebsch echoed Fitzgerald's concerns about veto assurances. He said he has asked the governor to give assurances "and have received none."

Huebsch said the state gone to the transpo fund "one too many times" to solve budget crises, and he agreed with Rhoades that the legislative intent is "spelled out without question" regarding the fund.

Sen. Miller said $13 billion in taxes have been cut since 1995, which may explain why the state budget is prone to fluctuations in the economy.

He applauded some good points of the repair bill, including that it does not take cash from the transportation fund, provides $18 million for child care assistance, increases tobacco use control grants, protects general and categorical school aids, and closes the "Las Vegas loophole halfway."

His biggest regret, he said, is that it does not include the hospital assessment.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:57 PM  

Fitzgerald wants override assurance if guv touches transpo

Fitzgerald says he'd like to know what assurances the governor has given on vetoes, particularly that he won't use his pen to take money from the transportation fund.

Fitzgerald said he fears that in his perusal of the bill, he sees that the transportation fund may be vulnerable to the governor.

LFB director Bob Lang said despite some curbing of veto power on the April ballot, the governor still has some broad latitude that could be used.

Fitzgerald said if veto assurances don't exist "for us to move forward on this ... is ridiculous."

He said he wanted both houses to agree that if the governor changes the bill to access cash from the transportation fund that there will be a vote to override him.

Kreuser said he wouldn't support delaying the bill by attempting an override of the governor's veto action. "I don't see that being workable or reasonable," he said.

He said the bill does not include some provisions his members wanted to see, but it is the result of a compromise.

"Is it perfect? No, it's not," he said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:44 PM  

Conference begins

The lineup for the Dems is Decker, Miller and Kreuser. For the Republicans Huebsch, Rhoades and (Sen. Scott) Fitzgerald.

Huebsch, who is chairing the committee, reiterated his comments this morning that no one wanted to have to repair the budget, but an economic slowdown made it necessary.

"I don't think any of us are thrilled with (the proposal), which must mean we have a pretty good package," he said.

Decker said the package includes a minimum of cuts to "vital" state programs, and protects transportation funding.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:33 PM  

Press release reaction

Gov. Doyle will hold a Capitol press conference at 3 p.m. to discuss the budget repair deal.

Senate Org will meet today at 3:30 p.m.

Sen. Decker

Rep. Huebsch

Sen. Kedzie

Rep. Nass

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posted by Greg Bump @ 12:32 PM  

Leaders discuss deal at press conference

Sen. Decker said it was a difficult deal to put together, and he touted the protection of funding for road projects and closure of two "corporate loopholes" that will bring in $15 million. He said the package was a "bipartisan compromise."

Rep. Huebsch said that "none of us wanted to be here," saying states across the nation are facing similar financial problems because of the slow down in the economy.

"We knew we wanted to address this in a way that families are addressing it across the state," he said, citing cuts to unnecessary spending, delays in some payments and reaching into savings to close the projected $525 million deficit.

"I believe we have the to votes to send it to the governor," Huebsch said.

Rep. Kreuser said he was pleased that the amount of tobacco bonding was cut significantly and that two other bills supported by Assembly Democrats on invasive species and extending the do-not call list to cell phones were included in the final product.

"At this point last week I wasn't sure we were going to get here," said Kreuser, addng that Huebsch and Decker "worked in good faith" to get the deal finalized.

"The priority was to get a fair deal and that something get done in time to get the road contracts done," he said, referring to the May and June lets that are supposed to be awarded tomorrow.

Kreuser said he has received an assurance from Doyle that the contracts will go out on time.

Listen to audio of the press conference here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 12:18 PM  

Conference committee at 1 p.m. today

The conference committee will meet around 1 p.m. today to pass the budget repair bill on to the houses of the Legislature.

On the committee will be Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, the co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.

On the Assembly side will be Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, and Rep. Kitty Rhoades, R-Hudson, the other JFC co-chair.

At a press conference minutes ago, Decker said the Senate will be on the floor to vote on the budget repair bill tomorrow, and will come back to take up the Great Lakes Compact on Wednesday.

Huebsch said the Assembly will caucus tomorrow, then take up the budget bill on Wednesday and Great Lakes bill on Thursday.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 12:04 PM  

Deal includes tobacco cash, corporate tax increases; conference committee meeting later today

The state would pull $209 million out of tobacco securitization payments and delay $125 million in school aid payments into the next biennium to take care of the bulk of Wisconsin's budget deficit, under a deal legislative leaders are scheduled to announce later this morning.

The plan also calls for a $15 million revenue upper by making changes to target rental and interest expenses some companies had claimed to reduce their state tax bill, according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo that WisPolitics obtained this morning.

Dems had been particularly critical of Wal-Mart, for example, for creating an arrangement on the rent of its facilities in Wisconsin that reduced its tax bill.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, were scheduled to announce the details at an 11 a.m. news conference in the Capitol.

A conference committee will meet later today to consider the budget repair bill.

The deal would also take $57 million out of the state's budget stabilization fund and drop the statutory balance by $40 million to $25 million.

It also includes provisions to add cell phones to Wisconsin's Do Not Call list, target invasive species and provide new child care subsidies.

Senate members have been told to prepare for session days tomorrow and Wednesday. The Assembly has not sent out a notice yet to inform members of when they will be on the floor, but one is expected to be sent soon.

An LFB memo is circulating among some members, but a source said it includes an error and is being re-drafted.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:17 AM  

Deal reached on budget repair

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch have scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference to announce details of a new budget deal.

Please check back later for details on the package.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 9:27 AM  

Friday, May 09, 2008

Hopes rising for budget deal next week

It's unlikely legislative leaders will be able to work out a new budget deal today that could pass both houses of the Legislature, representatives for the main negotiators said. But hopes are rising for a compromise next week.

Notice was sent out today from Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker's office and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch's office to staff and members to keep their schedules open for a session on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

"It's just not going to happen today, but I'm very optimistic for next week," said Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Decker.

The budget negotiations took on a new urgency this week with a deadline looming Tuesday for road construction contracts. Gov. Jim Doyle has threatened to delay summer road projects if a deal is not done by then.

Doyle refused to answer questions on the budget repair after a ceremony for fallen officers on the Capitol grounds.

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, made waves this week when he said a majority of his members couldn't support the proposal hashed out by Decker and Huebsch that was laid out during a closed-door caucus. He criticized the amount of tobacco securitization, which is reported to be in the neighborhood of $250 million, and a plan to shift $125 million in school aid payments into the next fiscal year. He also lamented the absence of the hospital assessment and said there should be a transfer from the transportation fund to help balance the budget. The transportation money would be replaced with bonding. Doyle has thrown his support behind the hospital tax and transportation transfer as well.

Kreuser said Huebsch, R-West Salem, didn't have to votes to pass a budget repair bill in his caucus. Saying he had been "cut out" of the talks, he demanded a seat at the negotiation table.

Yesterday, Kreuser, Huebsch and Decker, D-Weston, sat down for several hours, and aides said afterward that the talks were moving in the right direction. The three lawmakers were not in Madison today, but did communicate by phone, aides said.

Sources familiar with the talks said many of the parts of the package - the tobacco securitization, school aid shift - have remained the same. But percentages have been changed to make it more palatable to some legislators. Other issues may be cleaned up by the governor's veto pen, the sources said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:08 PM  

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Talks "moving in the right direction," will continue tomorrow

The three legislative leaders negotiating a solution to the budget deficit will pick up where they left off tomorrow.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, and Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser resumed their talks for about an hour late this afternoon after discussing budget scenarios for about three hours earlier in the day.

Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Decker, said the talks are "almost there, but there are a few issues to go."

Seth Boffeli, spokesman for Kreuser, said the talks were "moving in the right direction."

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:43 PM  

Talks continue

Three legislative leaders may meet into the night to reach a budget deal.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and Dem Assembly Leader Jim Kreuser met today to hammer out an agreement to bridge the projected $525 million biennial budget deficit.

The three traded budget repair ideas for a few hours earlier in the day to try to cement a deal, then retired to their own offices to crunch numbers with staff.

DOA Deputy Secretary Dan Schooff, a former Dem leggie from Beloit, was also summoned to the Capitol to participate.

Huebsch and Decker have worked out the framework of a possible solution for the state's budget shortfall. But Kreuser announced this week the majority of Assembly Dems didn't support the plan. And as with the budget bill last fall, it's expected that significant support will have to come from the Assembly Dem caucus to pass the budget fix.

Dem Gov. Jim Doyle also has objections to the Huebsch-Decker framework.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:05 PM  

TDA: Five Days to "Black Tuesday"

The Transportation Development Association continues its countdown to "Black Tuesday," the day $260 million in summer road projects are supposed to be awarded.

"The stakes are tremendously high and so are the emotions," said TDA executive director Craig Thompson in the press release. "The same passion that has driven individuals into steadfast positions now must drive them to arrive at a solution before it is too late. There are many different ways to solve this problem without raiding the transportation fund."

Gov. Doyle has said road "lets" may be jeopardized because negotiations to solve the state's projected $525 million budget deficit haven't been fruitful.

See a list of the projects here.

Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said the Department of Transportation is evaluating which projects may be delayed. Dollars that are withheld from the road projects would be used to shore up the budget gap, he said.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, and Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser are meeting today to try to iron out a compromise. Kreuser said earlier this week that he would like to see some level of transportation fund bonding, as Gov. Doyle proposed, in the final package. Decker and Huebsch have been resistant to the idea.

"This budget is clearly going to need both parties in order to pass. That's not a bad thing," said Thompson in his statement.

Sensenbrenner said he isn't sure what would avoid a scaling back of the project lets short of passage of a repair bill.

"The reason why these projects would be effected is it's basically the only choice," he said. "If some deal arrives it could affect (the project letting)."

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:35 PM  

Miller talks about budget repair bill on "WisOpinion: The Show"

The Senate co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee says the Legislature could send Gov. Doyle a deficit fix that the guv doesn't fully agree with.

But while Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, said that was a possibility, he suggested an agreement among all the parties was preferable.

Miller said the major sticking points remaining are the amount to be realized from tobacco securitization, a delay in school aid payments and transpo bonding.

See an interview with Miller and commentary on the prez race and more on the May 7 edition of "WisOpinion.com: The Show" here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:12 AM  

No date set for floor session on budget repair

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser has told his members to be ready for a Tuesday floor session on the budget repair bill. But the leaders in both houses say as of yet there are no plans to come to the floor.

"It's of the utmost importance to get budget repair passed by Tuesday to ensure that spring transportation contracts are let and workers get back on the job," Kreuser, D-Kenosha, said in his email to members. "... If we don't act on Tuesday, the reality is that the Republican Majority has no intention to deal with the fiscal crisis and road needs facing the state."

See the full email here.

Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said a Tuesday session is not yet slated. "We'd like to get it done sooner than that," she said.

John Murray, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said discussions are ongoing and "No decisions have been made regarding floor action at this point in time."

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:10 AM  

Budget bill will be routed through conference committee

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch's spokesman says the budget repair bill will go through conference committee before hitting the legislative floor.

"I think that's the preferred route," said Huebsch spokesman John Murray. "Whatever agreement we draft is going to be codified by a conference committee and sent to the floor in an un-amendable draft."

The Legislature did not vote on a resolution to form a conference committee prior to adjournning on the last day of the general business floor period on March 13.

Jim Bender, spokesman for Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, said there's precedent for appointing a conference committee through a skeletal session if the minority party gives unanimous consent, but it's most commonly done through a vote of the full body.

Murray said the makeup of the committee may be similar to last fall, when three majority and one minority member from each house worked on the 2007-09 budget, but he couldn't say definitively who the members will be.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker acknowledged last week that the bill could go through a conference committee. His spokeswoman Carrie Lynch said today they're not yet looking to that step.

"We're really focused on just trying to get the details (of the budget repair bill) worked out," she said.

Senate Chief Clerk Rob Marchant said if the Assembly appointed a conference committee, the Senate president would have the authority to appoint a committee.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:08 AM  

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Kreuser tells caucus to be ready for session Tuesday

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser sent a letter to his caucus members this morning telling them to be prepared for a floor session on the budget repair bill Tuesday, though he says he has not official word a session will take place that day.

Tuesday is the day that May and June road lets are to be awarded by the Department of Transportation. The Doyle administration has said that the letting could be jeopardized if the budget repair bill is delayed.

The Kreuser email reads:


Dear Members,

Please plan on being here Tuesday May 13th for session. While we have not received any official word yet, we should be ready to address the budget repair bill on that day.

It's of the utmost importance to get budget repair passed by Tuesday to ensure that spring transportation contracts are let and workers get back on the job. Further, it's my hope that we'll act separately on the Great Lakes Compact as well. If we don't act on Tuesday, the reality is that the Republican Majority has no intention to deal with the fiscal crisis and road needs facing the state.

Thank you in advance and please don't hesitate to give me or my office a call with any questions.

Jim

Jim Kreuser

Assembly Democratic Leader

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:07 PM  

Huebsch responds to Kreuser

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, released the following statement last night in response to comments from Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha:

"Senator Decker and I have spent the last several weeks putting together a bipartisan compromise that balances the concerns of members from both parties without raiding the transportation fund. I am disappointed that the Assembly Democrat's have decided not to join us in this effort to address the serious consequences we know will occur without a budget repair bill."

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posted by Greg Bump @ 8:34 AM  

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Kreuser says Assembly Dems "cut out" of budget repair talks

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser said a majority of his caucus does not support the proposed fixes for the state's budget shortfall that were put before members today during a closed-door caucus.

Listen to audio of Kreuser's remarks here.

The Assembly Dems got a briefing from Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, and from DOA deputy secretary Dan Schooff. Legislative Fiscal Bureau Director Bob Lang was also summoned to answer questions the leggies had on the proposals.

Kreuser said he's challenging Decker and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, to "get this done."

Sources suggest the current proposal to fix the shortfall is going to need Dem support to pass the Assembly.

"We've been cut out," Kreuser, D-Kenosha, said.

"Odds are (Huebsch) doesn't have the votes," he said.

Kreuser expressed his own displeasure with the proposals. He said he does not like the amount of tobacco securitization included in the plan or the delay in school aid payments being proposed.

Reports have put the amount of cash legislative leaders are hoping to reap from tobacco securitization at $247 million.

While he didn't give a precise figure on how much tobacco bonding he'd be comfortable with, Kreuser said "It's extremely difficult to support that if the first number is a two."

Kreuser said he'd prefer to see a hospital assessment included in the plan, saying it "makes more sense" than delaying school payments. He also said he'd prefer to bridge the budget gap with a transfer from the transportation fund that would be backfilled through bonding "provided it (the transportation fund) stays whole or goes up."

Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi posted a message on the Department of Transportation's Web site two weeks ago warning May and June project lets "could be negatively impacted" without swift budget action. Those May and June lets are to be awarded next Tuesday.

Kreuser challenged Huebsch and Decker to meet until an agreement is worked out to avoid those road projects from being delayed.

Kreuser also said he'll continue to push for a $13 increase to car rental fees in Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee counties to fund a commuter rail project.

Kreuser also said his caucus expressed its unhappiness to Decker over being "cut out" of the process to hammer out a deal.

"There was no misunderstanding of what their concerns were," Kreuser said during a media availability after the caucus.

The sources say that Decker and Huebsch have agreed in principle on a budget package to send to the governor. But it's expected that package would need Dem support, much like last year's budget, to pass the Assembly.

Kreuser said Assembly Republicans "couldn't govern that well in October when we needed to bail them out on the budget, and here we are again in May."

Republicans control the Assembly by a 52-47 margin, although one member, Rep. Mark Gundrum, is unavailable to vote because he is on military service in Iraq.

Thirty-seven Dems voted for the budget in October as the bill passed the Assembly 60-39.

See the roll call here.

If both sides come to an agreement, it's expected the bill would then go to a conference committee. If passed by the conference committee, the bill would be un-amendable when voted on by the Assembly and Senate.

The major components of the package are expected to include a combination of delaying $125 million in school aid payments, as much as $247 million in tobacco re-securitization and some spending cuts.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:20 PM  

Triple-A steps into budget fray

AAA Wisconsin regional president Tom Frymark sent a letter today to state legislators and Gov. Jim Doyle urging them to not use transportation fund cash to solve general fund deficits.

The organization claims more than 618,000 members in Wisconsin.

Frymark writes that 96 percent of AAA Wisconsin members said in a recent survey they believe revenues like fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees should be used solely for transportation purposes.

"Our members are not happy that, in the last three state budgets, $1.1 billion in transportation revenue has been mis-used to support general fund spending," Frymark writes. "It is a breach of trust between taxpayers and their government when taxes are imposed and collected for a specified purpose, but then are intentionally directed elsewhere to pay for other unrelated programs."

Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to address the projected $525 million biennial budget deficit includes a plan to transfer $257 million from the transportation fund to the general fund, and to backfill that borrowing with general obligation bonds.

The proposal was not included in the Assembly and Senate budget repair bills, and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said last week that proposal is unlikely to be part of the final budget repair package.

"(The transportation fund) just can't be looked at as a bank to fund the rest of the budget when it gets in trouble," he said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:34 PM  

Decker interview audio

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker said in a WisPolitics interview last week that he and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch are "fairly close in concept" to agreement on how to address the projected $525 million budget deficit.

Asked if Gov. Jim Doyle wasn't on the same page, Decker said, "That's accurate."

"They want to go in a direction that's very difficult for us to get the votes to pass it through the Legislature," said Decker, D-Weston.

The hang ups remain in the delay of school aid payments, Doyle's plan to borrow from the transportation fund and backfill it with bonding, and the amount to seek in re-securitizing tobacco bonds.

Decker said everyone has to keep in mind that any budget adjustment bill needs to get enough votes to pass both houses of the Legislature.

"We have a caucus of 18 in the Senate Democrats and Huebsch has his, and the governor has a caucus of one," Decker said. "So you know he doesn't have to juggle all the political situations of all the individual legislators."

Listen to the interview here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:21 PM  

Carpenter wants reconsideration of ethanol commitment

Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, has sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch asking them to reconsider the state's commitment to subsidizing ethanol production as the legislative leaders continue to negotiate a budget repair bill.

Carpenter's letter comes on the heels of a call from national Republicans to abandon ethanol mandates.

"Corn ethanol was originally assumed to be a win-win situation that would lessen dependence on foreign oil while being environmentally superior to fossil-based fuel. In response, government at both the state and federal level has heavily subsidized corn ethanol production. These assumptions appear to have been overly optimistic," Carpenter writes.

"It appears that politics got ahead of science, and the negative and unintended consequences of such subsidies require a reassessment of continued taxpayer support."

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Pridemore, R-Hartford, has proposed a plan to impose unpaid leave on workers that could reap $45 million in savings.

See the Carpenter letter here.

See Pridemore's letter here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 12:30 PM  

Assembly Dems to huddle on budget repair

Assembly Democrats will get an update on budget repair negotiations at a caucus beginning at 10 a.m. in the Capitol.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, is expected to brief the Assembly Dems on the budget negotiations, as is a representative from the governor's office and from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

A resolution to the projected $525 million state budget deficit has been mired in talks between Decker, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and the Doyle administration. Doyle called Decker and Huebsch to his office last week for a meeting, and the lawmakers said when they emerged that they all agree the budget repair bill needs to be resolved soon.

Spokesmen for Assembly and Senate Republicans say they have no plans to caucus.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:09 AM  

Monday, May 05, 2008

TDA warns of "doomsday"

The Transportation Development Association is warning that some major road projects could be doomed if the budget repair impasse isn't resolved by next Tuesday.

Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi posted a message on the Department of Transportation's Web site two weeks ago warning May and June project lets "could be negatively impacted" without swift budget action.

"That means we have eight days left until the May lets are supposed to go out. The May and June lets represent one third of the total transportation projects planned for 2008 and the Governor has threatened to cancel them if the Senate and Assembly don't agree to raid the transportation fund," said Craig Thompson, executive director of the TDA.

See TDA's press release here.

Gov. Jim Doyle has proposed transferring $257 million from the transportation fund and backfilling the borrowing with bonds to help plug the budget hole. The proposal has met with resistance from legislative leaders, and it is not believed to be part of the package they are pushing to solve the projected $525 million deficit for this biennium.

No breakthroughs were reported this weekend in budget repair bill negotiations, but Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, said senators have been advised to keep their calendars open for a possible floor session this week.

No face-to-face meetings were set for today, but Lynch expected negotiators to connect by phone.

Lee Sensenbrenner, spokesman for Gov. Doyle, said talks are ongoing. Doyle is traveling today, but he will be in contact with staff about the budget, Sensenbrenner said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:11 PM  

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Decker and Huebsch: We need to resolve budget repair soon

After a 45-minute meeting with Gov. Jim Doyle in his office today, legislative leaders said they want to resolve the projected $525 million budget deficit as soon as possible.

"We see the consequences out there, and we all came to the very real agreement that we need to resolve this soon," Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem said. "There's still differences, we're going to try to work through those and get to an answer very quickly."

"The speaker's right. We're going to keep talking and we're going to try to get this done as soon as we can," Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said.

Decker said the legislators and Doyle "talked about a couple different combinations" of proposals to bridge the deficit, but he and Huebsch didn't provide details on which proposals.

"To unveil any of that stuff would be premature," Huebsch said.

Huebsch said there shouldn't be any need to delay state road projects or payments to local governments "if we do this soon enough."

Listen to comments from Decker and Huebsch: http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/080501Huebsch_Decker.mp3

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:56 PM  

Doyle: Budget delay could move state into the red this summer

Gov. Jim Doyle today urged legislators to finalize a budget repair bill soon, noting that new Dept. of Administration figures show the state moving into a negative balance this summer without a bill.

DOA Secretary Michael Morgan issued the quarterly general fund letter this afternoon, writing, "Failure to reach a compromise on the budget adjustment legislation will result in a cash deficit in the general fund that exceed allowable levels by August 2008."

See the letter: http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/080501_DOA_general_fund.pdf

The governor will meet tonight with legislative leaders about repairing the state's budget shortfall. While he said he did not know whether a deal would emerge tonight, he added that excessive delays could force the state to prorate payments to municipalities, school districts, and providers.

"The choices aren't going to get any easier if you wait around, you know, day after day and week after week, so it's time to get this done," Doyle said.

Listen to Doyle's comments: http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/080501_Doyle_budget.mp3

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posted by Administrator @ 1:51 PM  

Doyle, legislative leaders meeting today

Gov. Jim Doyle will meet with Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch in the governor's office late today to discuss the budget repair bill.

The repair bill has been mired in discussion for months between the legislative leaders, their staffs, and representatives for the governor. Sources have told WisPolitics that the deal worked on by Decker and Huebsch includes delaying a school aid payment to the next fiscal year and a plan to sell off future years of the tobacco settlement that goes well beyond the $30 million proposed by Doyle.

Doyle yesterday in Milwaukee expressed his displeasure with pushing off a school aid payment to the next budget and selling future tobacco payments. He said he didn't think most lawmakers would support the proposals.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:12 AM  

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Lawmakers bash idea to combine lakes compact and budget bill; Doyle says time is ticking

A proposal to combine the Great Lakes Compact and budget adjustment into one bill has drawn criticism from both Dem and GOP lawmakers today. But a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch's office said "no final decisions have been made."

"It's an idea that was discussed, and we appreciate the input of all our legislative colleagues," said John Murray. "A number of things are still being discussed."

GOP Sens. Robert Cowles and Mike Ellis, Dem Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser, and GOP Rep. Steve Nass all issued statements today denouncing the possibility of combining the bills.

"The Great Lakes Compact is a crucial piece of legislation that has broad bipartisan support across the legislature," Kreuser said. "I am adamantly opposed to combining these two bills and I have made my position clear to both the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader."

Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker said the leaders "are discussing every option out there so we can get this done," but said "it's more likely that it's not (going to be combined) than it is."

The bills will be voted on in the same day, she said.

Murray said Huebsch and Decker have met or talked on the phone every day this week to reach a final agreement, and the two "remain optimistic we will have something fairly soon."

Gov. Jim Doyle said today that time is ticking for the Legislature to get the budget and Great Lakes Water Compact signed.

"My view of this is we have to get a budget repair done and we have to get it done very quickly. Time is ticking. Consequences of this are going to start piling up if they don't get it done," Doyle said while in Milwaukee.

Doyle also expressed his displeasure with some avenues lawmakers are exploring to help fill the budget hole, including pushing off a school aid payment to the next budget and selling future tobacco payments. He said he didn't think most lawmakers would support pushing off the payment until the next biennium or taking future tobacco settlement payments to fill a one-time budget hole.

When asked whether the budget and the compact would be packaged together in one bill, Doyle said that it would be up to the Legislature to decide.

Doyle touched upon the General Motors announcement it would be cutting 750 jobs come July and said that the government will be working with the affected families to make sure they all land on their feet.

See Kreuser's statement here.


See the Cowles and Ellis statement here.

See Nass' statement here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:04 PM  

Friday, April 25, 2008

Road projects could suffer without budget repair, Busalacchi warns

Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi's message this week to contractors that May and June project lets "could be negatively impacted" without swift budget action has caused alarm by the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin.

Busalacchi said in a letter posted Wednesday on the DOT's Highway Construction Contact Information Web site that contractors should be aware of the state's projected revenue shortfall and its possible impact on future road projects. He said the allocations for May and June lets "could be reduced dramatically" if action is not taken shortly on a budget adjustment bill.

The state faces a revenue shortfall over $650 million in this biennium, according to LFB estimates. The Doyle administration has cut the defict to $525 million with administrative maneuvers, but an agreement on how to address the balance has been mired in discussions between Doyle and legislative leaders.

Doyle had proposed transferring $257 million from the transportation fund and backfilling the borrowing with bonds to help plug the budget hole.

In a press release today, TDA executive director Craig Thompson praised legislative leaders for rejecting the Doyle proposal, but said Busalacchi's letter shows the Doyle administration is not willing to give up the proposal.

"What the secretary is talking about is redirecting hundreds of millions of dollars from road projects resulting in the loss of thousands of Wisconsin jobs," Thompson said.

UPDATE: The Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association has also weighed in with a letter to legislators urging them to quickly pass a budget repair bill that does not include a transportation fund transfer.

"As you know, the Administration has indicated it will transfer a significant amount of revenue from the transportation fund if there is not a budget agreement in the next ten days. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, this transfer would result in a significant portion or all of the May and June lettings to be indefinitely postponed. That action would result in the potential loss of $261 million in projects, which would lead to the loss of 2,000 construction jobs in Wisconsin," reads the letter.

See the Busalacchi letter here.

See the press release from the TDA here.

See the WTBA letter here.

The WTBA letter also includes a list of road projects that may be impacted. See it here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 12:33 PM  

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Leggies want to take up water compact, budget deal in tandem

The budget repair bill could be taken up next week in conjunction with the Great Lakes Compact during a special legislative floor session, aides to legislative leaders said.

Talks continued this week as Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and top aides met yesterday in the speaker's office to negotiate an agreement to fill the state's $525 million budget deficit. The leaders are also expected to talk today as they try to find a combination of budget-cutting initiatives that fits the agenda of the Senate, Assembly and Gov. Jim Doyle.

"They're working well together," said Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Decker. "They're working on a few details yet."

Lynch and John Murray, a spokesman for Huebsch, said a floor session appears unlikely this week as the Great Lakes Compact is still in drafting and budget talks aren't yet finished. The compact draft is expected to be finished by the end of this week. Lynch and Murray said it would be preferable to take up both the water compact and the budget adjustment bill on the same day.

"That would be ideal, but it all depends on getting a budget agreement," Murray said. "We're getting close to having all the amendments drafted on the Great Lakes Compact. If we have an agreement in the next week, it's foreseeable we could do that (in one session)."

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posted by Greg Bump @ 8:26 AM  

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Doyle again calls for budget resolution

Gov. Jim Doyle once again urged swift legislative action on repairing the budget, and said he hopes the hospital assessment can still be salvaged as part of the adjustment bill.

Speaking with reporters following his address this morning at the second annual Nelson Institute Earth Day conference at the Monona Terrace in Madison, Doyle said that the debate over fixing the deficit should not result in a prolonged fight similar to the biennial budget battle last summer.

"I will be introducing a new biennial budget next January," said Doyle. "And (legislators) can have all those fights then."

Doyle said despite Republicans' denouncement of the hospital assessment plan, he hopes the idea still has a chance because Assembly Republicans are "the only people in the world who are against it."

"I think it has become very obvious to people that if there is $450 million of federal money that is sitting there that the federal government is saying 'here, come and take' it seems pretty hard to understand why anyone would say we shouldn't do it," said Doyle.

--By Matt Steingraber

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:05 PM  

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

WHA hits radio with hospital assessment ad

The Wisconsin Hospital Association today launched a statewide radio campaign highlighting a proposal to assess hospitals and capture more federal funding for Medicaid reimbursement.

"Wisconsin is not getting back its fair share of federal tax dollars, and our health care costs are rising because of it," a female narrator says.

The spot says that the assessment proposal could return an additional $410 million in federal funds, and that the plan has wide support from a bipartisan group of legislators, business groups, and the governor.

"But some politicians in Madison are standing in the way," says the narrator.

The ad will run for at least a week, according to WHA senior vice president Eric Borgerding.

The assessment has support from Dem Gov. Jim Doyle and the Democrats who control the state Senate, but is opposed by the Republicans majority in the Assembly. Speculation from budget watchers as the negotiations on a compromise have dragged on is that the assessment will not be part of the final package.

Borgerding called the hospital assessment a "win-win" for the state, and he said the WHA will advocate for the assessment over the long haul if necessary.

"If unfortunately it's not included in the budget repair, there's a biennial budget bill right around the corner and we are committed to talking about Medicaid reform on a statewide level," he said.

Listen to the ad here.

See the WHA press release here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:06 PM  

Doyle on budget repair: "Now it really has to get done"

Gov. Jim Doyle urged action soon on a budget deficit fix to avoid "dire" consequences.

"Everybody is talking, but now it really has to get done," said Doyle yesterday.

Doyle said he didn't want to set a deadline or predict when a compromise would be reached on filling a projected deficit of $525 million.

"You're talking about the next week or 10 days we have to get this done, otherwise there are a lot of serious things that begin to start happening," Doyle cautioned.

Aides for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said the leaders spoke yesterday, but haven't offered details on the negotiations except to say that the talks are positive and ongoing.

Doyle said he's working with legislative leaders every day on the budget deficit and he believes legislators are "acting in good faith" to reach an agreement. Doyle added that he hopes to avoid cuts to essential programs, but recognizes the necessity of reaching a compromise everyone can support.

"Obviously, it is the Legislature that has to pass a budget repair," said Doyle. "And they have to be working not only to make a compromise but a compromise that will pass both houses in the Legislature."

Doyle said state agencies are working to put together plans in case a repair bill isn't agreed on soon.

"We're working all the time on what the contingencies are," Doyle said. "If we don't have an agreement, we have to plan to somehow get by with about $650 million less over the next 16 months."

Asked to list some contingencies, Doyle mentioned prorating payments to some state service providers and cutting non-essential services.

The scrapping of a payroll and accounting computer system won't have an impact on this biennium's budget.

State budget director Dave Schmiedicke said the $150 million project was budgeted over several years, and the decision to put it on hold doesn't free up any new cash.

About $11 million had been spent so far on the Integrated Business Information System, which will now be shelved until at least next year.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 8:37 AM  

Monday, April 14, 2008

Budget watchers speculate on repair bill endgame

Budget watchers and lobbyists speculate budget negotiators have set aside big revenue uppers like combined reporting and a new hospital tax to focus more on bonding moves and pushing a school payment forward as a short-term, election-year fix to the state's projected $525 million budget hole. Also likely out, observers speculated, would be Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to borrow $243 million from the transportation fund and backfill it with bonding.

While some budget pessimists say the Dem Senate and GOP Assembly still are far apart, others see coming floor sessions on the Great Lakes Compact compromise as a pressure point to finalize a budget deal and get legislative approval while leggies are in the Capitol.

If the transpo diversion and controversial revenue uppers are off the table, some believe budget negotiators could agree to get the necessary dollars from refinancing tobacco securitization bonds and a combination of other bonding schemes. A plan to refinance the state's tobacco bonds, for example, could net the state as much as $68 million a year through 2017, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. LFB says the budget passed last year accounted for some $50 million a year from a refinancing plan; Doyle's repair bill would add another $15 million annually to that.

The original tobacco settlement securitization, done in 2002 under then-Gov. Scott McCallum, got the state almost $1.6 billion to help fill a budget hole. According to LFB, the bond issued then was set to be paid off in 2032, but the state is now expected to retire that bond issue in 2018. The state is expected to receive tobacco settlement money, which is awarded to states in perpetuity, starting in 2019. Doyle's refinancing plan would extend the payoff date to 2027, giving the state cash immediately, instead of starting in 2019. LFB says the net effect of the refinancing would be $94 million less in revenue between now and 2028.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau explained this in a March 12 memo (see pages 20-22).

See more about what budget watchers are saying in the Friday, April 11 WisPolitics REPORT.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 12:27 PM  

Half surveyed oppose combined reporting proposal

Half of the likely voters surveyed in a new WisPolitics/Checkpoint poll opposed increasing business taxes on companies with out-of-state operations to help close the $500 million projected state budget deficit.

Senate Dems included the proposal in their plan to fix the shortfall. Combined reporting requires businesses to take into account their out-of-state holdings in calculating their Wisconsin taxes.

Thirty-six percent of those surveyed said they supported the proposal, while 50 percent were opposed. Thirteen percent weren't sure.

The telephone survey of 400 randomly selected likely voters was conducted March 27-April 2. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

See more in the Friday, April 11 WisPolitics REPORT.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 12:20 PM  

Friday, April 11, 2008

WTBA poll: 64 percent oppose transfers from transportation fund

A poll of 400 Wisconsin residents shows 64 percent oppose using transportation funds for non-transportation spending.

Gov. Jim Doyle has proposed taking $243 million from the transportation fund to help plug a $525 million budget deficit the state faces this biennium. Doyle's plan wold backfill the borrowing with bonding. The Assembly and Senate budget adjustment plans did not include the transportation fund transfer.

Thirty-one percent of those polled responded that taking money from the fund was OK, as long as it was repaid.

The poll, commissioned by the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, was conducted March 27 through April 2.

See the press release and poll question here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:38 AM  

Friday, April 04, 2008

Discussions continuing on budget repair

Talks continue between legislative leaders, their staff and Gov. Jim Doyle's administration in the effort to resolve the state's looming $500-plus million budget deficit.

Spokesmen for Assembly Republicans and Senate Dems remain optimistic that a compromise will be found soon. One option that does not seem likely to win support is to fix $75 million budget hole projected for the first year of the fiscal biennium and leave the larger deficit of the second year for a later time.

"It's an option, but I don't think it's one we're going to take," said Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston. "We haven't talked about it too much. We know it's a two-year problem, so we should look at it that way."

Jim Bender, spokesman for Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said acting on only the first year problem was discussed "but never really got any traction."

"Mathematically it puts you at the end of that second year in a situation where there's no savings to be had," he said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:28 AM  

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Huebsch says budget repair agreement may be days away

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch said today in an interview with WisconsinEye that an agreement on a budget repair bill is days away.

Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, didn't throw water on the enthusiasm.

"We're pretty optimistic too, and we're talking with Huebsch folks and the governor's folks and hoping something happens very quickly," she said.

"We're trying to get as far as we can to get a lot of stuff out of the way, so we can see where we have common ground and move from there," Lynch said.

Jessica Erickson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jim Doyle, said the governor is hopeful that a speedy agreement is in the works.

"The governor has always said we need to get this done quickly," she said. "We are in regular meetings, and we will continue to meet with legislators."

See the WisconsinEye interview here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:26 PM  

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

LFB releases comparative summary of budget repair proposals

See the LFB document here.

Also, see a memo on appropriations subject to lapse provisions under the three repair proposals here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:33 AM  

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Senate bill passes 18-14

As expected, the Senate passed its amendment to the budget repair bill 18-14, with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans against.

Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, was absent from today's session.

The Senate bill did not include a provision to form a conference committee.

UPDATE: Instant reaction from Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald: Senate Democrats raise taxes by half a billion dollars

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:40 PM  

Rude economic awakening

Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, says the nation is in for a "rude economic awakening" as the bill comes do on a $9 trillion federal debt.

"This country's in one hell of a mess," he said, adding it's a result of "bad budgeting by both Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C."

Ellis said the Senate Dem plan was better in Doyle's in at least one respect - they don't "raid" highway funds. But he knocked aspects like shifting school aid payments to the next fiscal year, a move they borrowed from the Assembly Republicans.

He likened the school aid shift to a family not making its mortgage payment for a year.

"We are passing a bill today that no family in Wisconsin would ever suggest as a solution to their economic crisis," he said. "No household in Wisconsin can do that."

He also blasted the hospital assessment, which he said would raise everyone's health care costs. Support from the Wisconsin Hospital Association and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce doesn't make it the right thing to do.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:36 PM  

Dem proposal "fair, responsible common ground," Miller says

Sen. Mark Miller, the co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, said the proposal from Senate Democrats is "fair, responsible common ground."

"We could have put forward a highly partisan proposal, but we did not," said Miller, D-Monona.

Miller urged his colleagues to "put away ideology" and "embrace practicality."

See a press release with Miller's floor comments here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:32 PM  

Decker, Fitzgerald spar over proposal

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said there are two teams in the battle to repair the state budget - those who side with Wisconsin families and businesses, and those who side with Wal-Mart.

He said the Senate Democrats' plan is a "compromise" that offers a smaller structural deficit than the one introduced by Gov. Doyle or the one from Assembly
Republicans.

Corporations like Wal-Mart and Microsoft are exploiting the "Las Vegas loophole" to the detriment of the tax bills of state businesses and residents, Decker said.

"Everyone should pay their fair share so Wisconsin businesses and families don't have to pay more than theirs," Decker said.

He said the Assembly Republican plan would "drastically" cut into state services.

Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said Senate Democrats are an "anti-business," "anti-job" and "anti-living wage" caucus, and the Dems' plan increases the size of government.

"What we have here today is growth," he said. "We're growing state government at a time we should be reducing state government."

Fitzgerald said the Dem offer may just be a "positioning" document, and said he doesn't the proposals much of a chance to be included in the final budget fix.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:19 PM  

The Senate is in

The Senate is taking up its amendment to the budget repair bill.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:04 PM  

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Reaction to Senate Dem budget repair plan

Some assorted reaction to the Senate Dems' plan to repair the budget deficit:

Sen. Decker: Senate Democrats propose compromise budget repair bill

Rep. Huebsch: Statement on the Senate Democrats' budget plan

Sen. Fitzgerald: Democrats confirm tax and spend stereotype

Sen. Miller: Statement on Senate Democrats' budget plan

Rep. Fitzgerald: Senate Democrat budget repair - The wrong direction

Rep. Rhoades: Statement on Senate Finance Committee action on the budget repair bill

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:04 PM  

Senate amendment passes 6-2

The Senate amendment to the budget repair bill 6-2, with the two Republicans, Sen. Ted Kanavas, R-Brookfield, and Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, voting against.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:31 AM  

Erpenbach chides Assembly on process

Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, chided Assembly Republicans for passing their budget repair bill without a committee hearing.

While he said he was not going to make the inference, some could infer that Assembly Republicans passed their bill without a hearing process because "they didn't want anybody to see what they were doing so they passed it and got out of town."

Erpenbach said members should remember this is a budget repair bill.

"This is not an answer to fix all the problems that are out there," he said. "Hopefully that will come next session."

He also called the combined reporting proposal a way to force "nameless, faceless corporations" to pay their fair share.

Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, rejected the notion of a "nameless, faceless" corporation and the idea that it won't effect the overall economy.

"I have no sympathy for corporations, but I think we understand at the end of the day people are going to pay that," he said, saying it could result in higher consumer costs and lower wages.

Note: Erpenbach and Kanavas are sitting in today for regular Finance Committee members Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, and Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:49 AM  

Kanavas says Senate plan pushes problem off to future

Sen. Ted Kanavas, R-Brookfield, said the Senate Dem proposal "lurches" the state forward into the next fiscal crisis without addressing the root of the problem.

"Bascially what this plan is, 'Let's raise taxes, let's not cut spending, and let's make sure the taxes we do raise are permanent so we have a higher baseline going forward," he said.

Kanavas said he wants to "jump on the bandwagon" of spending and proposed a motion to provide $800,000 in new spending on assistant district attorney positions, since the Senate is treating taxpayer money like "Monopoly money."

"I've evolved in my views," Kanavas said, explaining his reversal on spending.

Kanavas' motion failed 5-3, with Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, voting in favor along with Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:34 AM  

Senate version has lowest structural deficit, Lang says

The Senate proposal to repair the budget would result in the smallest structural deficit of the three current proposals, but not by much.

LFB director Bob Lang said this morning at the Senate Finance Committee meeting that the Senate plan builds a structural deficit of $1.37 billion at the close of the biennium. Gov. Jim Doyle's plan carries a structural deficit of $1.4 billion, while the Assembly's plan has a $1.6 billion structural deficit, Lang said.

Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, the chair of the committee, said the Senate plan closes a "substantial loophole used by multi-state corporations... whereby they can escape paying their fair share of taxes," referring to combined reporting.

He also said the proposal to delay school aid payments does ensure that categorical aids are protected, and that schools get the full funding obligation guaranteed in the 2007-09 budget.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:22 AM  

Senate offers budget repair plan

The start of today's Senate Finance Committee has been delayed until 10 a.m.

See the LFB memo on the Senate proposal here.

Among the proposals:

*Require DOA Secretary to lapse $40 million in unencumbered balances of appropriations to the general fund.

*Reduce statutory balance from $65 million to $55 million.

*Increase limit on interfund borrowing from 8 percent of GPR balances in a given fiscal year to 13 percent.

*Replace $11.2 million in GPR funding for public library system aid with $11.2 million from the Universal Service Fund.

*Transfer Real ID implementation funds to general fund.

*Does not modify the Assembly proposal to delay $125 million school aid payment from June to July.

*Limit lapse from transportation fund to $50 million; authorize $50 million in general obligation bonds for the state highway rehabilitation program.

*Lapse $800,000 in segregated funds provided to the JFC's supplemental appropriation for the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail project. Authorize tax of up to $15 (currently $2) on car rental fees in the three-county area to fund the project.

*Increase transfer from the permanent endowment fund to the medical assistance trust fund by $18 million annually associated with additional tobacco bond proceeds from tobacco securitization.

*Create new assessment on hospitals and repeal current assessment of $1.5 million; assessment would collect $416 million over the biennium, but would return $408 million in federal cash, for net aggregate gain for hospitals of $293 million. The state would gain $125 million to offset MA costs, freeing up that amount for the general fund.

*(Las Vegas loophole) Beginning with tax year 2008, require corporations that are subject to the state corporate income and franchise tax, and that are engaged in a unitary business, to file a combined report for state income and franchise taxes, providing $131 million in GPR.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 8:33 AM  

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

More Milwaukee hearing comments

Some of those who testified at today's hearing on the budget repair bill pressed the committee to protect their interests or even add money for additional spending to any plan to fix the deficit.

Dennis Oulahan, president of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, urged the committee to refrain from cutting money allocated to MPS for math and other programs, saying it would impede the progress teachers have made in closing the educational gap.

Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent William G. Andrekopoulos said the district has put $10 million it received from the state into a math initiative program that includes a partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and other
organizations. He also announced that MPS could have a 71 percent graduation rate this year, up from roughly 50 percent during the 1990s.

Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm asked to committee to consider including $886,000 in the budget repair bill, funds that he said would allow him to keep 22 prosecutors.

Terry McGowan of the Local 139 Operating Engineers stressed that a stimulus package was needed to keep the engineers working. Local 139 members made up nearly half of the audience, which numbered a little more than 100.

McGowan was critical of a plan forwarded by Gov. Doyle to take money from the transportation fund to pay for general fund expenses and backfill the transportation fund with bonding. He said replacing real dollars with bonds is not a sustainable situation.

-- By Samantha V. Hernandez

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:06 PM  

Senate Committee hears from Schooff, others on budget repair

One of Gov. Jim Doyle's top aides pressed a Senate committee this morning to support an assessment on hospital revenues as a way to close the state's budget deficit.

The Senate Finance Committee is meeting at the UW-Milwaukee Student Union Theater this morning for a public hearing on fixing the state's budget deficit.

Department of Administration Deputy Secretary Dan Schooff was one of the first to testify, telling the committee the governor's plan "protects essential state services that protect the public, like you and the public at large."

Doyle has called for the assessment on hospital tax revenues, a transfer from the transportation fund, a series of cuts in state agency spending and other moves to close the deficit.

The Assembly countered with a bill last week that would require deeper cuts in state spending while pushing off a school aid payment into the next biennium and draining the state's reserves to fix the shortfall.

Schooff said Doyle wanted to leave the $100 million in reserves for unforeseen circumstances that may arise. He said other states are dealing with similar budget problems, but Wisconsin lacks the proper reserves that other states have.

He asked for support for the provision in the bill that would do away the "hidden tax" in hospitals.

Schooff said hospitals are not fully reimbursed to treat Medicaid patients and much of the proposed hospital tax would be used to increase those payments, easing the "hidden tax" caused by the under payments. Approving the provisions would Passing this provision would leverage more federal dollars to hospitals so that they can continue treating these citizens.

But Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, complained the hospital tax it is a tax
on everyone because it would be passed on to patients.

Local officials also took their turn addressing the committee.

UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago said the UW System has been successful at reducing spending, but urged the committee to "help us to retain the exceptional faculty and
staff." Santiago said that UWM has the largest enrollment rate and that the school is doing more with less.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said the city is $5.9 million over budget from snow removal alone last year, and said the state needs to provide funding assistance so that the city does not have to cut back on services like firefighting.

Barrett proposed the passage of a program similar to the 911 surcharge, which
is set to expire this year. Barrett said the funds could be used for police and fire services.

Barrett, a former Congressman, also said he supports the proposed hospital assessment because it would help maximize federal dollars coming back to the state.

See Barrett's prepared remarks here.

See Schooff's prepared remarks here.

-- By Samantha V. Hernandez

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:47 AM  

Doyle and Assembly repair plans expand structural deficit

A memo released by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau figures the structural deficit will rise to more than $1.4 billion under the budget repair plan proposed by Gov. Jim Doyle, while the plan forwarded by Assembly Republicans would raise it to more than $1.6 billion.

That's a big leap from the $896 million structural deficit built into the 2007-09 budget signed by Doyle last October.

See the memo here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 10:46 AM  

Monday, March 17, 2008

LFB memo outlines potential cuts under budget repair plans

The 33-page memo details the potential impacts of funding lapses included in budget adjustment proposals from Gov. Jim Doyle and the Assembly. See it here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 3:45 PM  

Senate Finance Committee to take up budget repair bill

The Senate Committee on Finance will meet on Wednesday to take up the governor's budget repair bill and the Assembly's substitute amendment to the bill, according to Sen. Mark Miller's office. Miller, D-Monona, is the chairman of the Senate committee.

The Senate committee will meet on Wednesday, possibly for a public hearing, with a time and place to be determined.

The Republican-controlled Assembly passed its version of a repair bill last week. Leaders in both houses have indicated the bill will go to the Joint Committee on Finance, which consists of members of the Senate and Assembly finance committees, but no JFC meeting has been set.

Eric Schutt, chief of staff to Rep. Kitty Rhoades, R-Hudson and chair of the Assembly Finance Committee, said Rhoades is willing to call a JFC exec session this week on the repair bill if asked.

The bill could bypass the JFC is the Senate Finance Committee approves its own version. The bill could then be "dipped" into JFC before being taken to the Senate floor.

Update: The public hearing will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the UW-Milwaukee Student Union Theater. Details.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:07 AM  

Friday, March 14, 2008

WMC joins list of hospital assessment supporters

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business lobby, has lent its support to the 0.7 percent assessment on state hospital revenues.

"Current underfunding of Medicaid is driving up health care costs for employers," WMC vice president of government relations James A. Buchen said today in a statement. "Hospitals have not seen Medicaid reimbursement increases in 13 years and that has led to a hidden health care tax on employers as costs get shifted to private health care payers."

WMC originally opposed the assessment when Gov. Jim Doyle first proposed it as part of his 2007-09 budget package last year. The assessment is supported by Democrats in the Legislature, but was removed in final negotiations as the budget was approved in October.

Doyle also included the assessment in his budget repair bill introduced last week. He says it will bring $450 million in federal revenues back to the state over the biennium. Most of the federal cash will go toward raising reimbursement rates for hospitals that treat Medicaid patients, but $125 million could be used to help balance the state's general fund, Doyle said.

Republicans have called the proposal a tax that will hike the cost of health care for everyone. The assessment was removed in the budget repair bill passed by the Republican-controlled Assembly Wednesday.

WMC is the second large conservative-leaning organization to back the hospital assessment this week. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce voiced its support for the plan on Wednesday. See the MMAC statement here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 5:10 PM  

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Doyle: GOP repair bill "a sham," but talks are productive

Gov. Jim Doyle derided the budget repair bill passed by Assembly Republicans last night as "a sham" and "fiscally irresponsible," but also emphasized the he and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch have "good open lines of communication."

"We are way ahead in understanding what an agreement might be and what a package might look like," Doyle, comparing the repair bill process to last year's full-scale budget battle, said in a press conference today.

Doyle said the Republican proposal, which calls $250 million in additional cuts to state government but does not name what areas to cut, would mean slashing K-12 schools and university funding, and basic health care services offered by the state like SeniorCare, Doyle said.

"Obviously the level of cuts they propose are extremely harmful to state government, and extremely harmful to the services people rely on," he said.

Doyle also blasted the proposal to push off some school aids payments into the next fiscal year. While Doyle was reluctant to say anything is off the bargaining table as negotiations continue, "that's about as close to getting off the table as you can be for me," he said.

Listen to audio of the press conference here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 2:34 PM  

Statements on the Assembly GOP budget repair bill

Some press release reaction:

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem

Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon

Rep. Kitty Rhoades, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, R-Hudson

Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, the lone Republican to vote against the bill

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posted by Greg Bump @ 1:01 AM  

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Memo outlines new 08-09 spending in current budget

An LFB memo has been released that outlines the state programs that will receive general purpose revenue increases in the 08-09 fiscal year.

The GOP plan proposes to cut $250 million across the board in the 08-09 fiscal year. Speaker Huebsch says the plan amounts to a spending freeze for the second year of the biennium. The plan does not delineate where the cuts should be made, leaving those choices up to the Doyle Administration.

Assembly Democrats say that important social programs will feel the brunt of the cuts.

See the memo here.

Among the agencies with funding increases, according to the memo:

Children and Families - $26.7 million

Dept. of Administration - $1.2 million

Dept. of Corrections - $12.4 million

Dept. of Health and Family Services - $17.3 million

Higher Ed Aids Bd. - $7.6 million

Dept. of Public Instruction - $40.8 million

Dept. of Revenue - $2.7 million

UW System - $37.2 million

Dept. of Workforce Development - $4 million

Compensation Reserves - $93.9 million

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:43 PM  

GOP budget fix passes

The GOP Assembly plan to balance the budget passed by a 51-46 vote.

Only two legislators voted opposite the rest of their party - GOP Rep. Steve Nass voted against the bill, and Dem Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer voted for it.

See the roll call here.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:25 PM  

Kreuser calls GOP plan "do-nothing bill for a do-nothing Legislature"

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, ripped the Republicans alternative budget fix, calling it "intellectually lazy" and said Republicans "don't have the intestinal fortitude to identify where (budget cuts) are going to come from."

Kreuser called claims that the plan won't raise taxes "a lie," and that cuts to services like youth aids will result in tax increases at local government levels.

"When you do something at the last minute, it looks like a minute's worth of work," Kreuser said.

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posted by Greg Bump @ 11:02 PM  

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Greg Bump

Contact: bump@wispolitics.com

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Updates on Joint Finance Committee action on the 2007-09 Wisconsin state budget, from the first JFC meetings through the governor's final vetoes.

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