Legislature to Debate 2011-13 Budget  

The full legislature will debate the 2011-13 biennial budget this week. Both the full Assembly and Senate will consider the more than $65 billion spending document that encompasses all parts of state government.

The Assembly is scheduled to meet in Extraordinary Session on Tuesday, June 14, to soley consider AB 40/SB 27 - the biennial budget. The Senate is then expected to solely consider the budget bill in Extraordinary Session on Thursday, June 16.

Late last week, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) released its comparative analysis of the Governor's budget bill to the Joint Finance Committee' version of AB 40/SB 27. The more than 750-page document illustrates that the Joint Finance Committee spends more than $112 million (for a total of $66 billion over two years) than the Governor's bill, which spends $65.9.   

The Joint Finance Committee's budget differs from the Governor's budget on several high profile issues like its restoration of Senior Care - the popular prescription drug program for seniors, additional funding for the state's recycling fund and its continuation of UW-Madison as part of the University of Wisconsin System along with a few other, more minor issues of disagreement. 

It is unclear if the legislature will include an amendment to the biennial budget that limits public employees' ability to collectively bargain. The reason for this question is that GOP legislative leadership is awaiting the decision of the State Supreme Court in regard to Dane County Judge Sumi's decision to declare the budget repair bill null and void. Judge Sumi declared last month that the budget repair bill violated the state's Open Meeting Law..

The timing of the Supreme Court's ruling as it relates to the legislature's budget debate this week is unknown at the time of this writing.

After its debate this week, the legislature is expected to send the budget bill to the Governor where he is expected to sign it prior to the beginning of the 2011-13 budget, which begins on July 1, 2011. 

To view a copy of the LFB's comparative analysis of the two versions of the 2011-13 budget bill, please click here.