State Budget

The Joint Finance Committee has begun deliberations on the budget bill, as indicated in the following report by Susan McMurray, which details the actions of the committee this week.  The JFC is now in recess until Tuesday, 5/3.  As Susan indicates, we urge any members having an interest in any of the issues before Joint Finance to contact their state legislators and express their opinion.

Wisconsin AFSCME Legislative Report‬‪

Wednesday, April 27, 2011‬‪‬‪

Joint Finance Committee begins painstaking process of voting on the Walker budget‬‪

On Tuesday, April 26, the Joint Finance Committee held its first executive session on the budget.  This week was the first of 4-5 weeks of intensive debating and voting on the Walker budget plan.‬‪‬‪

Earlier this week, Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, told WisPolitics that legislative Republicans will make several changes to the Walker budget.  Those areas include modifying the Governor's recommendations to cut SeniorCare, state recycling grants, local road aids, income maintenance and school funding.‬‪

Darling also told WisPolitics that if the collective bargaining changes sought by Walker are not in place by June 30, lawmakers may amend the budget to include the collective bargaining changes "to make the ledgers balance." ‬‪‬‪

Sen. Darling and committee co-chair Rep. Robin Vos (R-Caledonia) have issued a memo outlining procedures for the committee's budget process. That document lists several non-fiscal policy proposals that the co-chairs have decided will be cut from the budget. Those proposals include the proposed repeal of the cost-benefit analysis law, the proposed repeal of the insurance contraceptive equity law, the repeal of residency requirements for MPS teachers, and the proposed repeal of the 180 school instruction requirement and other changes. See the memo at: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/jfc/Procedures.pdf. ‬‪

The co-chairs' memo did not propose the removal of all of the non-fiscal policy items identified by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) that are in the Walker budget, prompting a heated debate Tuesday among committee members on Tuesday.  Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) and Rep. Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) offered a motion to remove the remainder of the non-fiscal policy proposals (such as making the UW-Madison a public authority) but that motion failed 6-10 (with Senators Harsdorf and Olsen supporting).‬‪ Here is a summary of Joint Finance Committee action taken April 26. The committee voted to:‬‪

1.      Approve the Walker recommendation on child support enforcement funding, which means counties will receive $12.5 million less than they had anticipated   The committee also approved a motion to prohibit the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) from distributing the money until after August 1, 2011, when DCF must submit a plan to the Joint Finance Committee to create process for allocating child support funding, including the level of efficiency and each county's performance on child support enforcement. See LFB paper #226 for details: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/2011-13%20Budget/Budget%20Papers/226.pdf.‬‪

2.      Shift and split funding of the state's two mental health institutes, Mendota Mental Health and Winnebago Mental Health Institutes (see LFB paper 375).

3.      Transfer sexually violent patients and funding from the Wisconsin Resource Center to Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center (LFB paper 376).‬‪

4.      Modify the Governor's proposal to authorize the DOA Secretary to unilaterally abolish FTE positions and, instead, authorize the DOA Secretary to recommend abolishing positions and require Joint Finance review of the recommendation.‬‪

5.      Reject a motion by Democrats on the committee to address a shortfall in funding for private bar attorneys who provide legal services to indigent defendants.‬‪

6.      Approve a motion by the co-chairs that establishes a public defender indigency standard permanently linked to 2011 federal poverty levels.‬‪

7.      Reject a motion by Democrats to restore collective bargaining rights for the Wisconsin State Public Defender Association, the Association of State Prosecutors and the Wisconsin State Attorneys Association (the motion would have rescinded the provisions of 2011 Act 10).‬‪

8.      Eliminate the Judicial Council as an independent agency.  The Judicial Council is statutorily charged with identifying, studying and recommending methods to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Wisconsin court system.‬‪

9.      Reduce funding for the car-killed deer program administered by the DNR as part of 10% budget reductions in most budget appropriations. ‬‪

10.     Extend funding through November, 2013, for three DNR transportation liaisons who do environmental reviews on state roadway projects.

The Joint Finance Committee is expected to finish its deliberations on the budget by the end of May. The committee will meet on Tuesday, May 3, and Thursday, May 5.  Papers for those meetings will be posted on the website of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. To view the papers: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/LFBPublications_ButtonPages/Budget_Papers.htm.  To observe the committee's proceedings, go to Wisconsin Eye:  www.wiseye.org, or read written accounts on the WisPolitics budget blog, http://budget.wispolitics.com/.‬‪

AFSCME members are encouraged to voice their opinions about the budget at budgetcomments@legis.wisconsin.gov.
Or attend one of the town hall meetings on the Walker budget – see www.wiafscme.org for details on those meetings.‬‪

Other Legislative Committee Work Underway‬‪‬‪

In other legislative action this week, several legislative committees held hearings on bills of interest to AFSCME Members 7 – the voter ID requirement bill – was the subject of a lengthy hearing by the Assembly Election and Campaign Reform on Wednesday, April 26.  AFSCME opposes the legislation.  For more information on why voter ID is bad for Wisconsin, go to www.onewisconsinnow.org. To voice your opposition to the voter ID bill, send an email to the committee chair, Rep.Tauchen@legis.wisconsin.gov.‬‪‬‪

AJR 31 – is a proposal to amend the Wisconsin Constitution to require that revenue collected from taxes or fees for licensing motor vehicle operators, vehicle titles and registration, aviation, railroad and other taxes, such gas tax revenues, be deposited in the state's Transportation Fund, and that funds in the Transportation Fund may be used only for vaguely-defined transportation-related purposes. See the proposal online at  http://legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/data/AJR-31.pdf. ‬‪

AFSCME historically has been reluctant to support restrictions on the use of transportation revenues and considers this resolution a distraction rather than a solution. Instead, AFSCME has lobbied for diversifying streams of revenue, such as reinstating gas tax indexing and imposing a tax on oil company profits, and using the revenue to support road maintenance and repair, none of which are mentioned in the proposed constitutional amendment. 

‬‪For more information, contact AFSCME's Susan McMurray at smcmurray@wiafscme.org, or call the AFSCME office at 608-836-6666.‬‪
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