July 27, 2007 Volume #29, Issue #25
Budget Conferees Exchange Barbs; Talks to
Resume August 1
The eight-member budget "Conference Committee" held its first meeting
this week (Wednesday), with both
sides staking out their positions on the dueling Senate/Assembly versions of the state
budget. AFSCME
members in green t-shirts and Corrections blue shirts dominated the meeting room –
and took up most of
the seats – making a strong impression on committee members, staff, lobbyists, and
the media alike.
Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson (D-Beloit) opened the talks by urging the committee to
support
the Senate Democrats’ universal health care plan. Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch
(R-West Salem)
responded, arguing against the proposed government-run health plan and challenging
Democrats to
establish a fixed spending level before discussing budget details. Northern Senate
Democrat Bob Jauch
(D-Superior) said the Assembly GOP’s budget was "….devised without any
moral compass".
Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) urged the committee to give serious
consideration to
the health care plan known as "BadgerCare Plus", which was advanced by Governor
Jim Doyle in his
budget. Democrats pounced on this suggestion, asking if the Republicans would agree to
include
BadgerCare Plus in the Conference Budget. Speaker Huebsch refused, saying that Sen.
Fitzgerald’s
comments were not an offer, but merely a point of discussion.
Senator Russ Decker (D-Weston) next challenged Republicans to include in the Conference
Budget the
few areas that were agreed upon by all 16 members of the Joint Finance Committee, which
included a
veterans package, domestic abuse prevention funding, and money for a two-year effort to
combat infant
mortality in Racine, which has the sad distinction of having the highest infant mortality
rate in the nation.
Republicans, led by Huebsch, rejected Decker’s challenge and the meeting ended
without agreement.
It is likely that the next meeting of the budget Conference Committee will be Wednesday,
August 1. Look
for updates from your Take Back Wisconsin staff and on the SEPAC website: www.wseu-sepac.org.
The Conference Committee’s public deliberations
will be broadcast over Wisconsin Eye
http://wisconsineye.org/. The Committee
talks will be guided and staffed by the non-partisan Legislative
Fiscal Bureau, which has prepared a handy summary of the different budgets. Go to the LFB
website
www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb; click on
"publications" and look for the "Comparative Summary – Budget
Provisions of the Senate and Assembly" dated July 18, 2007. AFSCME also has produced
a handy list of
the items in the Assembly Republican budget (see the July 13 issue of the Legislative
Alert).
Keep up the Pressure, Legislators Tell AFSCME members at the Capitol
This week several Democratic Senators stopped AFSCME members keeping their vigil in
the Rotunda of
the State Capitol to tell us to keep up the pressure. Every week,
send an email, make a phone call or
send a letter to your Senator and your Assembly Representative and tell them to:
1. Support the
Governor’s budget, which provides new sources of money to pay for investment in
vital
services such as schools, courts, juvenile
corrections, public health, streets and highways, health
care, and much, much more; and
2. Reject the Assembly
Republican assault on collective bargaining and public employees.
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