Notes from the West Wing
By
State Representative Garey Bies
The Next Step for the Budget
Hello from Madison. I hope everyone is enjoying the start of summer. With the start of summer here in Madison, the legislature has moved into the next phase of the budget process, so for this edition of Notes from the West Wing, I’d like to give an update on the budget concerning where we are and what happens next.
First, if you were not aware, the Joint Committee on Finance completed its review of the state budget last week. With the state legislature split between the two houses, the Democrats controlling the Senate and the Republicans controlling the Assembly, the Committee was also split in its membership. On the Finance Committee, an attempt to modify the governor’s budget requires a majority of members to agree, an 8-8 vote means that an attempt to modify the budget fails. For practical purposes, what this means for the legislature is that the budget passed by the Finance Committee is largely what was proposed by the governor. If you have followed my other columns on the budget, you know that I do not support the governor’s budget which includes $1.7 billion in tax and fee increases along with $1.2 billion increase to the local property tax. If you would like more information about these proposed tax increases from the governor and the Democrats, please see my April 13th column which can be viewed on my web page at: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.
As I mentioned above, the Finance Committee has finished its work on the state budget. What happens next is the budget goes before the State Senate for review where its members now get the opportunity to modify the budget bill. However, because the Democrats control the Senate, I do not expect that house to reduce the included tax increases or the spending. In fact, indication from the Senate’s controlling party is that additional spending, potentially totaling in the billions of dollars, will be added.
Once the Senate completes its work on the budget, the bill will then come to the Assembly for consideration here. With Republicans in control of the Assembly, I fully expect major changes to be made to the Democrats’ budget. The Assembly Republicans will be working to develop our own version of the budget that will not include the massive tax increases proposed by the governor. In the Assembly we will be working on a budget that will get Wisconsin out of the top ten heaviest taxed states.
After the Assembly finishes with its version of the budget, the leadership of the two legislative houses will form what is known as a Conference Committee. This will be the final step for the budget before the legislature and is where some very intense negotiations will take place as the two sides lay out their priorities. Honestly, it has been a while since the two parties have been so far apart on tax and spending issues. With the split legislature, each side is going to have to compromise if a budget is to be passed. The Republicans are not going to pass all of the Democrats’ $3.9 billion in tax increases, and the Democrats aren’t going to pass a budget without any of their new spending initiatives. In the news you will start to see articles about how the Republicans are “blocking” the budget process. This is of course just spin by the Democrats and media. Remember that with a split legislature each side has an agenda it wants to push through and will cry foul of the other “blocking” its budget. But the bottom line is neither side is going to get all it wants and if a budget is going to be passed, both will have to be willing to negotiate.
Well, that is all for today’s “Notes.” If you have questions or comments about this column or any other issue, please feel free to contact me. I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.