Legislatively Speaking
By Senator, Lena C. Taylor
Lena C. Taylor
Governor Walker has a history of placing non-fiscal items in the state budget.
These are policy issues that should be routed through the regular legislative process but often lack public support.
Placing the items in the budget is a backdoor and sneaky manner for the administration to get things done.
Ironically, as a gubernatorial candidate in 2010, Walker pledged to “strip policy and pork (earmark) projects from the state budget.”
Walker broke that campaign promise within four months of being in office. He has submitted three budgets since becoming governor and all three have been bursting with non-fiscal items.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau identified 45 non-fiscal policy items in Walker’s 2011-13 budget, 58 policy items in his 2013-15 budget, and 49 non-fiscal items in this most recent budget.
It’s shameful that the Governor continues to say one thing on the campaign trail and do another once he is elected.
As a member of the Joint Committee on Finance, charged with the first review of the budget, my colleagues and I will work to remove these policy provisions.
This year it appears we will be joined by some Republican legislators, in particular Senator Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay).
In fact he was the first legislator to call for the items to be stripped from the budget.
Examples of the policy items include efforts to convert the Board of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to an advisory role only, changes to the state building commission’s authority, assignment of benefits for child support, changes to county, regional, and city assessment process, technical college tuition freezes for high-demand fields and the creation of a charter school oversight board, and policy changes to some aspects of worker’s compensation.
These are things that should be taken up by legislative committees assigned to deal with these issues.
The committees provide transparency, bring in experts to discuss the pros and cons of an issue, and afford community members an opportunity to weigh in on these proposals.
Sticking these items in the budget often is an attempt to silence these voices.
Additionally, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau released two memos on March 16th that shows how Governor Walker’s budget proposal raids segregated state funds and increases taxes on Wisconsin families.
The administration’s 2015-17 biennial budget spends over $302 million in segregated fund dollars for purposes other than those for which they were intended and raises taxes and fees by $48 million.
An example of the increased fee structure can be found with the proposed fees that impact a monetary fine for not wearing a seat belt.
Currently the fine is $10, but with added fees tacked on to this violation, the final ticket amount would skyrocket to nearly $56.
As usual, the budget requires us all to be diligent and hawkish in our review.
We have already railed against the cuts to SeniorCare, proposed changes to the Department of Health Service’s (DHS) long-term care system, including FamilyCare, IRIS, and Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRC).
These budget measures have faced harsh opposition by the public and the families served by these programs.
Upon close inspection, it became clear that the changes to the long term care system have no positive fiscal impact.
This is yet another example of the desire to include changes in the budget without consulting with the families impacted by these decisions.
To increase the opportunity for constituent engagement, Democrats are providing additional budget listening sessions around the state.
Please contact my office at (414) 342-7176 to learn about these sessions or to register your opinion or concerns on items in the budget.