June 1, 2007
Volume
#29, Issue #17
JOINT COMMITTEE ON FINANCE KEEPS MOVING AHEAD - The legislature’s
budget writing committee
continued to work this week on the Governor’s proposed budget. Highlights of the
committee’s action on
Wednesday included adoption of a series of recommendations to increase oversight of State
Information
Technology projects and the addition of positions to the Department of Justice for DNA
analysis.
Scheduled for Thursday is the entire Department of Transportation budget. AFSCME has
lobbied the
committee to preserve the 2.5% Oil Company Assessment and the provisions that prevent oil
companies
from passing the assessment on to consumers. In addition AFSCME is asking the committee to
preserve
the Governor’s recommended increases in programs that aid local governments, such as
General
Transportation Aids, Local Roads Improvement Program and State Highway Maintenance
Program.
In a recent analysis of the Oil Company Assessment it was projected that the assessment
would generate
an additional $68 million above what the Governor had originally projected. Governor
Doyle, in a memo to
the committee in March, requested that a portion of revenues collected beyond what he had
originally
budgeted for be allocated to various programs to support local transportation efforts.
UPDATE ON JFC ACTION ON NURSING HOMES AND FAMILY CARE - Last week the
committee
adopted the Governor’s proposed funding for the expansion of Family Care. However,
due to initial cost
estimates for the expansion far beyond the levels projected by the Department of Health
and Family
Services last year, the committee increased legislative oversight of the expansion.
Also last week, the committee postponed taking a vote on the Governor's proposal to
provide a 2%
increase for nursing homes. The committee can't agree on how to pay for the increase,
which the Governor
recommended paying for by increasing the nursing home bed tax. AFSCME supports a
5% increase
whether it's funded with new bed tax revenue, a hike in the cigarette tax or with general
tax dollars known
as GPR (general purpose revenue).
Please contact your legislators and members of the Joint Finance Committee, and urge them
to support
the 5% increase for nursing homes. If you don't know who your representative and
senator are, go to "Who
Represents Me?" at http://waml.legis.state.wi.us/.
A NEW ATTEMPT AT AN OLD ATTACK ON COLLECTIVE BARGAINING - The Assembly
Labor and
Industry Committee held a hearing on Wednesday on Assembly Bill 110. AB-110 would
allow local
governments to switch health care plans for local employees to a plan "substantially
similar to" a plan
offered by the state outside of the collective bargaining process. Under the bill, the
expenditure of any
savings would be left to the discretion of the local government. No vote by the committee
has been
scheduled as of today.
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