Legislatively Speaking
By Senator, Lena C. Taylor
Lena C. Taylor
Governor Scott Walker is a man of many words. Walker’s 2015-17 budget proposal is packed with terms like opportunity, freedom, prosperity, common sense, safe, community, working families, chance and growth.
His ability to string together all these sentiments created a sense of hope to those who listened to his 2015 budget titled “Freedom and Prosperity”.
But the real question is, freedom and prosperity for who?
Like a man selling a dream rather than having any real plan, Governor Walker stated that everyone will have ‘hard decisions to make’ in this budget.
After continued review of his proposals, it doesn’t appear that Milwaukee is included in Walker’s dream of growth, freedom and prosperity.
The cold, hard truth is the “American dream” is much harder to attain for communities of color. Recently ranked as the 2nd poorest city in the nation, Milwaukee’s bridge of disparities continue to widen at the hand of Walker.
In fact, as I listened to my Republican colleagues at this week’s agency briefings before the Joint Committee on Finance, you would have thought kids in our schools were doing great, unemployment and poverty were not factors in the achievement gap, and issues of incarceration were being addressed.
However, we know that the proposed plan to force seniors to accept Medicare Part D and limit SeniorCare is a wrong.
We know that underfunding our schools, ending the Chapter 220 program and handicapping our universities ability to thrive is wrong.
We know that borrowing $1.3 billion for transportation and not having a real way to pay for it is wrong.
Being saddled with debt does not sound like prosperity.
Being told that you can’t send your child to a 220 school or choose your own health plan, does sound like freedom to me.
I encourage you to learn about the budget process and attend one of many public hearings that will be held around the state.
So to get started, on February 3rd, Governor Walker delivered his 2015- 17 state budget proposal and officially introduced the budget as Assembly Bill 40 (AB 40).
The budget is available for your review on both the Governor’s and Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s website.
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC), which is composed of 12 Republicans and 4 Democrats is charged with doing the initial work on the budget.
I am fortunate to be one of the 4 Democrats working to make sure we get a budget that works for all of us.
The committee began holding a series of state agency briefings this week. In these hearings, leaders from each state department or agency, came before the committee to discuss the details of their individual budget requests.
Later this month or early April, we will host public hearings on the budget proposal around the state.
These hearings will provide an opportunity for the public to express their opinions and concerns.
Upon conclusion of these hearings, the JFC will go through the budget in its entirety and make adjustments based on public feedback.
At the conclusion of the Committee’s executive sessions, the JFC will pass along its recommendations to the full legislature for consideration and approval.
At this point, the Assembly and Senate will make additional changes to the JFC’s recommendations.
After approval in both the Assembly and Senate, the budget will move to Governor’s desk for signature sometime mid to late-June.
As we work to address an estimated, $2.2 billion budget deficit created by the Walker administration, we need to hear from everyone about the issues that are important to you and your family.
Many of the proposals we have heard so far are Wrong for Wisconsin.
Wrong Choices.
Wrong Priorities.
I encourage you to contact your legislators, at all levels of government, and exercise your freedom to have a say in crafting a path to prosperity, that will work for you.