March 28, 2008
Volume #30, Issue #9
WHERE
THINGS ARE ON THE BUDGET “REPAIR” BILL - The Senate and Assembly budget plans
represent the vastly different policy priorities of the houses
- On March 11,
Governor Doyle offered a plan
to repair the deficit while carefully protecting key services such as schools,
Shared Revenue, the state
employee compensation reserves and health care. His plan relies upon a
combination of borrowing, fund
transfers, and a proposed assessment on hospital profits, which has been
embraced by the Wisconsin Hospital
Association and the state’s largest business associations.
Assembly Republicans passed a substitute bill that drops the
hospital tax, eliminates fund transfers and orders
state agency officials to make $250 million in unspecified cuts that would
endanger public services in
Wisconsin.
Senate Democrats cast aside the Assembly GOP plan, built upon what the Governor
had recommended, but
added a new, critical element: they closed several corporate tax loopholes.
Their plan will generate about $130
million in much needed revenue to balance the budget and, more importantly,
create an ongoing source of
revenue.
The Governor and the Senate Democrats are doing the right thing by considering
new revenue sources to fund
public services. Their plans are not just one-time fixes, but they offer a more
lasting solution and the money to
help dig Wisconsin out of this deficit and protect against future shortfalls.
AFSCME strongly supports the
Governor’s budget fix as well as the plan offered by Senate Democrats.
The different budget scenarios are the true expression of the priorities of the
different houses and the parties
that control them. If you want to know more about the Senate or Assembly budget
plans, go to the website of
The Wheeler Report (www.thewheelerreport.com)
or the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb).
WHAT’S NEXT?
- At this writing, the
Assembly and Senate have not resolved the differences between the
dueling budget
repair plans. It’s impossible to predict how things will play out, and we hope
it’s not going to be
like the protracted budget battle of the summer and fall of
2007. It is likely that Senate and Assembly leaders
and representatives of the
Doyle Administration will choose to hammer out a budget repair compromise
informally rather than through the official “Conference Committee” process.
However and whenever a compromise is reached, legislators will have
to return to the Capitol to approve the
final bill product. Lawmakers are also
likely to return to the Capitol sometime to deal with other business such
as
approving the state employee contracts. There has also been speculation about
addressing the legislation
to approve the Great Lakes Water Compact as well.
KEEPING TEEN OFFENDERS
IN THE JUVENILE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
- Legislation to return
17-year-olds to the juvenile (instead of the adult) correctional system died
when the legislative session ended on
March 13, but interest in the fate of teen
offenders continues. A study released by the nonpartisan Legislative
Audit
Bureau on February 1 shed light on this issue and revealed that teens in the
adult system do not fare well.
A legislative committee has scheduled a public
hearing on the audit of teen offenders. That hearing will be
Thursday,
April 10 at 10:00 a.m. in the State Capitol.
TREATING ADULTS
WITH MENTAL ILLNESSES IN THE WISCONSIN CORRECTIONS SYSTEM –
HEARING APRIL 10
- AFSCME supports a
request by Rep. Joe Parisi (D-Madison) to have the Legislative
Audit Bureau
examine the incidence of adult inmates with mental illness in the correctional
system. The Joint
Legislative Audit Committee will hold a hearing on the Parisi
request on Thursday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. in
the State Capitol.
AFSCME will ask the Committee to expand the scope of the audit to include a
review of inmates with
developmental disabilities as well as those who are
dually-diagnosed (that is, with mental illness and DD).
We also will ask the
Committee to focus on female offenders at Taycheedah Correctional Institution
and to
determine whether the State is providing adequate resources to treat
female inmates.
LEGISLATIVE WEBSITES. . .For those "online", here are some good info spots:
Wisconsin State Legislature: www.legis.state.wi.us/
"Who Are My Legislators": www.legis.state.wi.us./waml/
State of Wisconsin: www.wisconsin.gov/state/home
Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau: www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/
Wisconsin Legislative Council: www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/
Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau: www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/
Wisconsin Ethics Board: http://ethics.state.wi.us