Notes from the West Wing: A Budget that goes Bump in the Night
Posted on 24. Jun, 2009 by Garey Bies in News
Good afternoon to the people of the First Assembly District. It’s a hot day in Madison both with the air temperature and the rhetoric coming off the floor of the Assembly during session today.
Today’s Notes from the West Wing is just a brief update on the latest news regarding what is transpiring with the state budget. To be perfectly honest, as we continue to go through the massive spending plan we keep finding more surprises in the bill since the Democrats crafted it behind closed doors during late-night sessions. Even the media was kept in the dark. It is ironic that the party that bragged of openness and transparency has been anything but. They have been more like the party of the Budget that goes Bump in the Night. Did you know that in the budget bill the Democrats wrote a provision that will hamstring the Government Accountability Board’s ability to carry out investigations of campaign wrongdoing by state legislators? This unravels one of the most important campaign finance reform measures passed by the legislature in decades and is a dangerous step in the wrong direction.
I know in my last update I talked about a few of the Senate changes to the budget with the 100% Capital Gains Tax being the most significant but there are others. The Senate Democrats adopted a terrible measure for Wisconsin farmers and anyone who consumes their products. The provision would make land that is platted and zoned for residential, commercial or industrial use but used for agricultural purposes eligible for higher property taxes. Currently, the land is assessed based on the “use value” it would derive from being rented as farm land. Renting agricultural land is a common occurrence across our state and this change will force farmers to raise their prices, get rid of some of their land, or stop farming all together. No one in Wisconsin would benefit from this change in the law and it needs to be removed.
Another short-sighted Senate Democrat Budget provision would be to severely alter the language pertaining to public works contracts, such as road and bridge repair, and the way they are bid on. This new language would drastically change what types of projects need to be put out for bidding and also require your towns and counties to bid out all but the smallest projects instead of using existing county workers. This new process will end up costing taxpayers more money by not utilizing staff on hand and will result in the loss of county construction jobs. Our local county administrators and highway officials strongly oppose this expensive measure.
As for what is to happen next with the budget, I honestly do not know for sure. Legislative rules dictate that after the Assembly and Senate pass differing versions of the budget (which they have done) a Conference Committee is established to hammer out the differences. A Conference Committee consists of members from each house with the majority party in each dictating membership for their respective house. Because the Democrats control both houses, a Conference Committee would be under their explicit control. However, even though the Senate has voted, Senator Decker has not allowed the budget bill to complete the legislative process in the Senate thereby preventing the budget from being available for the creation of a Conference Committee. I have no idea what the Democrats are going to do next as we have strayed from proper legislative procedure.
It is amazing to me that with the Democrats controlling the Assembly, Senate and Governorship and thus controlling all three sides of the budget writing triangle, we are having such incredible budget difficulties. My guess is there are yet a few more things to go bump in the night.
As always, 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/.
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