Notes from the West Wing
By
State Representative Garey Bies
Year in Review
I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season! I know I always enjoy this time of year as the time spent with friends and family is so cherished. With the holidays now over and 2008 underway, I thought I would pause to reflect upon 2007 and our achievements in the Assembly.
During the first year of session, the budget is always a major topic, but 2007 was unique and the budget seemed to dominate almost the entire year! A divided government always brings differences, but this time, that division was greater than ever before. In the past, Governor Doyle has campaigned and proclaimed to not raise taxes. When the Governor introduced his budget containing $3 billion in tax increases, everyone knew that this budget cycle would be different. Little did we know that this increase was to pale in comparison to the $18 billion tax increase proposed by the Senate Democrats. On the other end of the spectrum the Assembly Republicans proposed a zero-tax-increase budget. The budget debate was to be long indeed!
Ultimately, common sense prevailed and the legislature passed a budget that eliminated 98% of the proposed tax increases. But in addition to preventing these tax increases, we provided many new benefits to Wisconsin residents including income tax deductions for child care expenses and extended the income tax deductibility for health insurance premiums paid by employees. The bipartisan budget agreement also provides a $5,000 per person state income tax exemption on retirement/pension income for seniors age 65 and older. When these tax cuts are fully implemented, Wisconsin families, seniors and businesses will see more than $188 million in annual tax relief. Even in these times of tight budgets, we were able to keep our priorities and provide help to our residents where it is most needed.
While the budget certainly monopolized headlines this year, there were many other important achievements. Indeed, one of the first issues the legislature tackled was comprehensive ethics and election reform. The law establishes a new, non-partisan Government Accountability Board which has the authority to investigate criminal and civil violations of the state’s ethics, campaign finance and elections laws. To help the Board investigate and root out political corruption, the Board may initiate and fully fund investigations without prior approval by the governor or the Legislature.
Soon after the ethics reforms the Assembly approved with strong bipartisan support a proposed constitutional amendment ending the Frankenstein Veto. Two years ago, Governor Doyle vetoed 752 words of the budget to create a single 20-word sentence that removed $427 million from one of the state’s largest trust accounts and gave the money to an un-elected bureaucrat to spend elsewhere. For the first time in the state’s history, Governor Doyle used his partial veto authority to increase state spending. The Senate has yet to follow the Assembly’s lead on this issue, but hopefully will act soon.
Similarly, the Assembly also acted to end the sick leave benefit for legislators. Again, the Assembly passed this proposal with strong bi-partisan support, and again, the Senate has failed to act. The people of Wisconsin deserve to have the Senate act on these two issues.
Though the budget dominated our attention this past year, there was plenty else we accomplished. I expect this only to continue as we begin the second year of the session, which is always very busy. In my next column I’ll be talking about some of my own priorities for the remainder of the session. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please be sure 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/.