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Capitol Notes
Wisconsin Political and Legislative Update
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TO: Clients/Friends of Capitol Consultants, Inc./Wimmer & Company, S.C.
FROM: Tony Langenohl
Capitol Consultants, Inc.
& Wimmer Company, S.C.
DATE: November 26, 2012
SUBJECT: Weekly Political & Legislative Update 
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Wisconsin projected to end current fiscal year with $342 million surplus
 | | DOA Secretary Mike Huebsch |
On Tuesday, Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch submitted the 2013-2015 State Agency Budget requests and revenue estimates to Governor Scott Walker. The 2013 Fiscal Year is projected to open with a $342.1 million balance, the largest opening balance since fiscal year 2001. At the introduction of the current biennium, in February of 2011, Wisconsin faced a $3.6 billion structural deficit. The $342.1 million opening amount is after a $108.7 million deposit into the state's rainy day fund in October. $125 million has been deposited into the rainy day fund in the last two years by the Walker Administration. Including the rainy day fund, the state will have $467 million in reserves at the beginning of the next biennium. Secretary Huebsch's letter to Governor Walker can be found here. In his letter, Secretary Huebsch identifies two major risk factors that "may impede this estimate and extinguish or delay the recovery." He identifies those factors as the fiscal cliff and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation. Specific to the fiscal cliff, Secretary Huebsch identified any federal changes to the Medicaid program as potentially having "profound and long-lasting effects on Wisconsin's budget going forward." Although exempted from the sequestration agreement, the Medicaid program is expected to feel pressure as the parties negotiate a fiscal settlement. Secretary Huebsch identifies the uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the ACA on the State's health insurance delivery system as a potential risk to the state's revenues and expenditures. Secretary Huebsch notes that Wisconsin ranks 7th in the country in the percent of citizens covered by health insurance of which 70 percent are covered through employer-sponsored insurance. The ACA will require employers to "reassess their health benefits to its employees." Legislative Reaction:  | | Speaker-elect Robin Vos (R-Rochester) |
Speaker-elect Robin Vos (R-Rochester)"Considering what we inherited from the former administration two years ago, the state of Wisconsin has come a long way. Thanks to our honest budgeting and reforms, we eliminated a $3.6 billion deficit and were still able to make the largest deposit into the rainy day fund in state history. Wisconsin is back on track.
"Our state is in a much better position to help create an even better business climate so the private sector can grow. We can now realistically consider income tax reform and relief for every taxpayer.
"We will continue to be good financial stewards for the taxpayers of the state. We will balance the next state budget. We will continue to make the necessary reforms to make Wisconsin a better place to run a business and raise a family."
 | | Sen. Minority Leader Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) |
Senate Democratic Leader Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee)
"I would urge legislators to be cautious before relying solely on fiscal numbers provided by an agency filled with partisan appointees. There are still a lot of moving puzzle pieces that have to be put into place, including figuring out how to finance an anticipated spending increase by Governor Walker and his administration. Instead, I would encourage fellow Democrats, Republican legislators, and Governor Walker to wait patiently for the real budgetary numbers expected to be released by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau in January.
"We also need to ensure that we are not making the same mistakes with this budget as were made last time around. In the past, Governor Walker and Republican legislators opted to worsen our values deficit by cutting money from things Wisconsinites care about, including over $800 million from our K-12 schools, so they could then brag about how we have some loose change.
"This next budget provides us with an opportunity to create a bipartisan document that protects programs Wisconsinites value, rather than gutting them unnecessarily. This includes investing in quality education for Wisconsin's youth, encouraging responsible economic development to create family supporting jobs, and increasing accountability and transparency measures in state agencies to weed out fraud, waste, and abuse. I look forward to working with Republicans on crafting a budget that we can all support."
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Governor Scott Walker outlines agenda for 2013-2014
Before a sold-out crowd at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and after concluding his prepared remarks, Governor Scott Walker hinted at his agenda for his 2013-2015 Executive Budget in an answer to a woman who identified herself as a "fellow Wauwatosan" wanting to know what his plans are for the next two years in Wisconsin with a Republican-controlled Legislature?  | | A Reagan Forum with Scott Walker - 11/16/12 |
In response to her question, which can be found at the 54 minute mark of the YouTube video link at the right, Governor Walker highlighted the following initiatives:
- continuing to lower property taxes
- putting in place an aggressive income tax reduction and reform
- require the state's public schools, including technical colleges and the University of Wisconsin System to meet performance-based targets to receive increased state funding. (Modeled after programs in Florida and Pennsylvania)
- further streamline rules and regulations
- expand the state's voucher program for private schools
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Joint Committee on Finance Membership Starting to take shape
Now that legislative leadership elections have all taken place, focus has now turned to who will be the appointments to the powerful 16-member legislative budget writing committee, the Joint Committee on Finance. Because of the party-control of the Legislature, Senate Republicans get 6 seats on the Committee, Senate Democrats get 2 seats; Assembly Republicans get 6 seats, Assembly Democrats get 2 seats.  | Co-Chair of Joint Finance Committee Alberta Darling (R-River Hills)
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On the Senate-side, immediately following his election as Senate Majority Leader, Senator Scott Fitzgerald announced that Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) will be the Senate Chair of the Committee. Senator Darling was previously chair of the Committee until Democrats captured control of the Senate in June. No other Republicans have been announced yet, but the members of the Committee that served when Republican had control of the Senate last session were Sens. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls), Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan) and Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend). From the previous session, there is one seat that is "vacant" that was filled by Sen. Rich Zipperer (R-Pewaukee), who joined the Walker Administration as Deputy Chief of Staff. On Wednesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee), made his two appointments to the Committee; Senator Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) and Senator Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha). Sen. Shilling has previously served on the Committee in both the Assembly and currently in the State Senate. Sen. Wirch last served on the Committee 10 years ago. Wispolitics.com has a good blog post about the politics of appointments to the Committee, http://budget.wispolitics.com, and speculation whether the appointment of Wirch to the Committee was related to his vote to make Sen. Larson Leader, and whether the appointment of Shilling was an olive branch to those in the caucus that supported Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) for Leader. Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), who currently is the Co-Chair of the Committee, released a statement on Friday noting that she was disappointed but not surprised that she did not get reappointed to the Committee by the new Democratic leader after serving 8 years on the Committee. Link to releaseOn the Assembly-side, no decisions have yet been announced on who the Republican or Democratic appointees are. Speaker-elect Robin Vos (R-Rochester) is currently the Assembly Chair of the Finance Committee. Two current committee members, Representatives Joel Kleefisch (R-Hartland) and Dan Meyer (R-Eagle River), will not be serving on the Committee next session. Kleefisch does not want to be reappointed and Meyer did not seek re-election to the Assembly. That will create at least 3 vacancies on the Committee that will be filled by new Assembly Republicans. The other three current Republican members of the Committee; Reps. John Nygren (R-Marinette), Dan LeMahieu (R-Cascade) and Pat Strachota (R-West Bend) are all being considered for the chair position. On the Assembly Democratic side, currently Reps. Cory Mason (D-Racine) and Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) serve on the Committee. Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) has not yet announced whether both or either will be reappointed to the Committee for this session. Currently Announced Finance Committee MembershipSenate: - Co-Chair Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills)
- GOP
- GOP
- GOP
- GOP
- GOP
- Sen. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse)
- Sen. Robert Wirch (D-Kenosha)
Assembly: - Co-Chair GOP
- GOP
- GOP
- GOP
- GOP
- GOP
- DEM
- DEM
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Election 2013 Begins
After a two week respite from campaign commercials, the 2013 campaign season is starting to heat up as candidates are starting to discuss their interest in a least one of the two statewide elections on the ballot this Spring. Both State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers and State Supreme Court Justice Pat Roggensack are up for re-election this Spring, however it is likely that Supreme Court race is the one that will generate the most interest.
 | | Justice Pat Roggensack |
Three candidates, in addition to Justice Roggensack, have made their interest known in the election:
- Marquette University Law Professor Ed Fallone
- Dane County Judge Mary Ann Sumi
- Milwaukee Attorney Vince Megna
Justice Roggensack, who previously was an Appeals Court judge, was elected in 2003 to a ten-year term to the Court, defeating Barron County Circuit Court Judge Ed Brunner, 51% to 49%. She was the first Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge elected to the Supreme Court, and continues to be the only Supreme Court justice to have served on Wisconsin's intermediate appellate court.
Before joining the Supreme Court, Justice Roggensack was elected to the Court of Appeals in 1996 and re-elected in 2002. Prior to becoming a judge, Justice Roggensack practiced law for 16 years in Madison.
Vince Megna:
Milwaukee Attorney Vince Megna, the self-described "King of Lemon Laws," was the first candidate to annonuce his intentions to challenge Justice Roggensack. Menga has made a name for himself arguing and winning four lemon law cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Recently he has been in the news for posting satirical videos critical of Governor Scott Walker and Governor Tommy Thompson. In an interview in the Wisconsin State Journal, Megna described the perspective he will bring to the court in contrast to Roggensack. "I'm going to bring a completely different perspective to the court,. Justice Roggensack is a strict conservative. I would not be. I think everybody in the state knows me knows that I am not a conservative."
Professor Fallone:
Associate Professor of Law Ed Fallone has been a member of the Marquette University Law School for the past 20 years. His primary focus is corporate and securities law. According to an interview he did with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Fallone said he is motivated to run because he says the Supreme Court is not currently operating effectively due to personality clashes.
Judge Maryann Sumi:
Judge Sumi made news last year with her decision to halt Governor Scott Walker's collective bargaining law changes, ruling that Republican legislative leaders violated the state's open meeting laws when approving the change. Judge Sumi told the Isthmus newspaper in Madison that she is "seriously considering" challenging Roggensack in the Spring election and is working with a "nonpartisan group of people" who are helping her explore the possibility. Sumi was appointed to her position in 1998 by former Governor Tommy Thompson and was elected in 1999, and re-elected in 2005 and 2011. Her current term expires in 2017.
Key dates upcoming in the Supreme Court race:
- Saturday, December 1st, 2012- 1st day candidates can circulate nomination papers
- Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013- nomination papers due
- Tuesday, February 19th, 2013- Primary Election Day
- Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013- General Election Day
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