Capitol dome lit up phosphorus green for the Superbowl win.  photo courtesy of LaCrosse Tribune.

The powerful Joint Finance Committee of the state legislature has started to take votes on the state budget, and it's clear they have been getting the message from their constituents:  messing with important water quality laws in the budget is just plain wrong.   The non-partisan and highly respected Legislative Fiscal Bureau identified 46 items in the Governor's proposed budget that have nothing to do with the fiscal well-being of Wisconsin, and a handful of water quality issues are on the list.  At the first JFC meeting last Tuesday, a motion to remove all 46 non-fiscal items from the budget was proposed, and while the motion failed, Senators Luther Olsen (Ripon) and Sheila Harsdorf (River Falls) broke party ranks and voted yes! 

Could it be Senator Olsen, whose district has more pooping cows than people, and Senator Harsdorf, whose district includes Tainter and Menomin Lakes, have been hearing from folks they're fed up with stinking algae in their waters and want the new phosphorus rules to be implemented NOW?  Other watershed groups around the state have been reporting positive responses from their legislators too, so momentum is building.  While the JFC didn't act to sweep away all the non-fiscal issues, you can bet there will be motions made to delete each one at a time.  We don't know when the water quality rules or DNR's budget in general will be on the JFC's agenda, so it's extra important to keep the pressure on. 

Keep contacting your legislators and especially the members of the Joint Finance Committee (and if you're in Senator Olsen's or Senator Harsdorf's district, be sure to thank them and ask them to keep it up!), and tell them:

• Maintain the rules for limiting phosphorus in waterways. 
• Keep oversight of commercial construction site erosion control in DNR. 
• Maintain the rules for reducing polluted runoff from cities.

Find your legislators here  http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx , and JFC members here:

Senator Alberta Darling, Co-Chair    Representative Robin Vos, Co-Chair     
Senator Luther Olsen         Representative Dan Meyer       
Senator Sheila Harsdorf      Representative Dan LeMahieu    
Senator Joe Leibham          Representative John Nygren     
Senator Glenn Grothman    Representative Pat Strachota   
Senator Randy Hopper       Representative Joel Kleefisch  
Senator  Lena Taylor          Representative Tamara Grigsby  
Senator  Robert Jauch        Representative Jennifer Shilling