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| Wisconsin: Legislative & Political Weekly Update
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TO: Clients & Friends of Capitol Consultants, Inc. and Wimmer & Company
FROM: Capitol Consultants, Inc.
and Wimmer & Company
DATE: June 17, 2009
SUBJECT: Wisconsin Budget Update
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Senate Works into the Night and Passes State Budget
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The Wisconsin State Senate went to the floor Wednesday, June 17th to vote on the state budget.
The Senate version of the budget passed at approximately 9 p.m., by a vote of 17-16, with Senator Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwautosa) voting with the Republicans.
The Senate Democrats, who control the chamber 18-15, chose to work from the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) version of the budget as opposed to the version passed by the State Assembly last week because, according to a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, the Assembly version was not yet engrossed.
After working the past few nights, the Senate Democrats today unveiled an amendment that got rid of the oil franchise. Additionally, some of the other contentious changes the Senate Democrats made to the budget include: eliminating the capital gains exclusion, adding mandatory auto insurance, removing joint and several liability, removing driver cards for undocumented immigrants and removing in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants.
The Senate went to the floor to vote at approximately 4:35 p.m., after caucusing in the early afternoon. After opening remarks by leaders of both parties framing the debate for the night, they began voting on amendments to the budget.
The first order of business was voting on the Democrats' super simple amendment to the JFC version of the budget bill, which passed 17-16 with Senator Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwautosa) voting with the Republicans.
There were 32 amendments offered. Similar to the action in the Assembly, the Republicans offered many amendments only to have them tabled throughout the budget session.
Among the Republican budget amendments were:
--Removing all policy provisions
--Removing all earmarks
--Removing elimination of capital gains exclusion
--Removing early release provision
--Removing prevailing wage provision
--Removing auto insurance changes
--Removing the QEO repeal
--Removing collective bargaining for UW, daycare, and home health care workers
The next step in the budget process is formation of a conference committee to settle the differences between the Assembly and Senate versions of the budget.
www.thewheelerreport.com
www.wispolitics.com
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JFC Co-Chair Miller's Reaction to Budget Passage
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JFC Co-Chair Senator Mark Miller's statement on Senate budget passage:
The Governor and Legislature have stepped up to the daunting job of developing and passing a balanced budget in the face of the worst economy since the Great Depression.
In the midst of the Joint Committee on Finance's work on the budget, new revenue estimates indicated a potential $6.6 billion budget deficit.
Working with the Governor and our legislative colleagues, we crafted a budget that cut general spending by 3.4% and avoided across the board general tax increases.
Our top priority was job creation. This budget added $250 million in transportation construction alone. This equates to 10,000 construction jobs. Combined with federal stimulus money, the new spending in public works will speed up the state's economic recovery.
I am confident the differences between the Senate's version of the budget and the Assembly's version will be resolved quickly. Both houses did good work. I expect we will have a budget bill on the Governor's desk before the end of June.
http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/June09/june17/0617millerbudget.pdf
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Democrat Sullivan Explains Why He Voted Against Budget
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After Senator Jim Sullivan's (D-Wauwautosa) vote against the Senate budget, Wispolitics.com interviewed Senator Sullivan to find out why he voted no on the budget.
The Wispolitics.com interview with Senator Sullivan is below:
Sen. Jim Sullivan, the lone Senate Democrat to vote against the budget,
said it was important for him to "cast a vote that was in keeping with
my district."
"There is some good in this budget," Sullivan
said, citing tax credits for job creation and capital expenditure for
the UW System. "But in the end there were some things in here that I
could not vote for and believe that I was keeping up with the promise I
made two-and-a-half years ago to represent a district and not a party
or ideology."
Sullivan said problem provisions for him included
the JFC's proposal for regional transit authorities and the Milwaukee
County sales tax, the delay of the Zoo Interchange project, and tax and
fee increases, though he declined to single any out.
"However
you have to make tough decisions," Sullivan continued. "The majority
did that. I respect that and I'm not going to piecemeal this thing out."
Sullivan
shrugged off suggestions that he was given a pass on the budget vote
from his caucus because he holds a district many see as difficult for
Dems to keep in 2010.
"You know there's no pass to be asked for
and there's no pass to be given," he said. "We all are individual
senators representing individual communities. This was not right for my
district, and I communicated that to my colleagues.
"I'm not about to step on their toes for some of the hard work that people did making some really, really hard decisions."
Sullivan said he expects to vote "no" on the budget report from the conference committee if his concerns aren't addressed.
--Interview from Wispolitics.com Budget Blog
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