Madison School City Council / BOE Liason Committee: Recent news Archives

November 28, 2005

We Can Make Health Care Affordable

Wisconsin families and businesses are being priced out of health care coverage. It doesn't have to be this way. We can turn things around.

Every day brings new evidence that we are in the middle of a health care crisis.

The Wisconsin Realtors Association released a poll earlier this month that showed 66 percent of Wisconsin residents are worried that health care costs will soon become unaffordable.

By Wisconsin State Senator Judy Robson (D-Beloit), a registered nurse, from WisOpinion.com, November 21, 2005.

Perhaps the biggest wake-up call was the report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that showed eight of the nation's 10 most expensive cities in terms of physician costs are right here in Wisconsin.

It doesn't have to be this way. Many bright minds have put forth proposals to significantly bring down the costs of health care and insure more people. We aren't saying we need to spend more money on health care. We're saying we need to spend smarter.

One in every three dollars spent on health care in the United States is spent on administrative overhead. Not doctors, not nurses, not medicine. Anyone who had done battle with the health care bureaucracy knows how much time office workers spend figuring out the proper insurer to bill, the co-payment, the deductible, referral procedures, and whether the procedure should even be covered.

As a nurse, I have seen how much money and resources are expended on paper shuffling and marketing rather than direct patient care. I saw that the business model for health care was not working. Managed care was not bringing down health care costs. In fact, the expansion of managed care and market-based competition has coincided with the upswing in administrative costs over the last 30 years.

Jobs With Justice, a coalition of labor and faith-based organizations, calculated that we waste $94 billion nationwide due to our patchwork system of private insurers. That would be sufficient to insure 55 million people who are currently uninsured. If we also stopped drug manufacturers from overcharging for prescription drugs, we would have more than enough money to insure everyone in this country.

Of course, the pharmaceutical industry and other powerful special interests oppose any reform measures that would cut into their profits. That's why we can't wait for Congress to act. As we did with welfare reform and SeniorCare, Wisconsin can show the rest of the nation the way.

A group of state legislators has made a commitment to making health care affordable here in Wisconsin. Thirty-seven Democrats and one Republican have introduced the Action Plan for Affordable Health Care. The Action Plan requires both parties to come together to develop a plan that brings down health care costs by 15 percent within two years of enactment. The plan must also ensure that 98 percent of Wisconsin residents have health coverage. A working group could use the groundwork laid in existing proposals or develop entirely new approaches.

Any legislator who has spent any time talking to constituents knows that the cost of health care is at or near the top of their concerns. It's time for all of us to come together to develop a solution. The Republicans in control of the Legislature must change their can't-do attitude to a can-do attitude. We must stand up to special interests who oppose reform.

The Action Plan for Affordable Health Care sets the goals and the timeframe. It will be up to legislators of both parties to work out the details. The first step is for the Legislature to make affordable health care a priority.

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)

November 11, 2005

Wisconsin Assembly Passes Two Bills Expanding Charter School Opportunities

This week the Wisconsin Assembly passed two bills that could expand charter school opportunities in this state. The Legislative Committee of the Madison School Board will review these bills on December 5.

Assembly Bill 730 proposes to amend current law to allow 5 UW-System 4-year universities, in addition to UW-Milwaukee and UW-Parkside, to each sponsor not more than 5 charter schools. The vote to pass was 56-36.

Assembly Bill 698 would amend current law to raise the student enrollment cap from 400 to 480 for the elementary charter school (21st Century Preparatory School) sponsored by UW-Parkside. The vote on this bill was 62-29.

In a related development earlier this week, the Senate Higher Education and Tourism Committee recommended passage of Senate Bill 96 (i.e. Senate companion / identical bill to AB 730) on a vote
of 4-1.

A new ECS Issue Brief entitled "A State Policymaker's Guide to Alternative Authorizers of Charter Schools" provides information about the rationale for allowing multiple agencies to authorize charter schools at the Education Commission of the State's website -- http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/64/69/6469.pdf

The State Legislature's current floorperiod has ended.The next two-week floor period is scheduled for December 6 - 15, 2005. Then, the legislature will recess through the holidays and resume floor sessions in 2006.

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)

November 2, 2005

TABOR foes encouraged by Colorado

Sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment to limit state and local tax increases today sought to put a positive spin on a key vote in Colorado to exceed similar limits there.

"I think this shows that TABOR is working," said Rep. Frank Lasee, R-Bellevue, using the acronym for the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights. "The voters there had their say. When the people decide to tax themselves, that's how government should work."

But opponents of the proposal called it a death knell for Wisconsin's proposal.

By David Callender and Anita Weier
November 2, 2005 from The Capital Times

"This proves that robotic formulas don't work, especially when they are spliced into a state constitution," said Rich Eggleston, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities. The Alliance has opposed Taxpayer Bill of Rights efforts in Wisconsin on the grounds that local governments need flexibility to meet local needs.

"We know from public opinion polls that support for a TABOR in Wisconsin is waning. And I hope this is another nail in the coffin," he said.

Wisconsin Republicans have been pushing for the proposal for almost three years. They contend that voters - not elected officials - should decide when and how much to increase state and local taxes.

Because Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle has threatened to veto any bill imposing such limits, the Republican plan would impose the limits under a constitutional amendment. Constitutional amendments are approved by voters and are not subject to the governor's veto.

But Republicans in the Senate and Assembly remain split over just how the plan would work. Republican leaders said recently that they hope to have a plan ready for legislative action by next spring. The earliest the plan would likely come before voters is 2007.

In Colorado, voters agreed to suspend that state's spending caps for the next five years, thereby giving up more than $3 billion in taxpayer refunds to help the state bounce back from a recession. Voters ignored fiscal conservatives who argued that the government doesn't need more money to spend.

But Lasee noted that voters rejected another ballot measure that would have allowed the state to borrow an additional $1.2 billion immediately for economic recovery.

The vote was closely watched in states around the nation. Californians are scheduled to vote on state spending limits next Tuesday, and Kansas, Ohio, Maine, Nevada, Oklahoma and Arizona are considering spending caps.

"Colorado is still in a world of fiscal hurt. Its school system is at the bottom of the country. Its roads still need way more help than yesterday's referendum will provide. Legislators who can't do their jobs - to run the state budget the way taxpayers want - shouldn't rely on a TABOR for Wisconsin," Eggleston said.

Supporters of the referendum said Colorado simply could not afford to vote no, not with higher education, health care and transportation already suffering from millions of dollars in budget cuts.

"It was a tough election for all," said Republican Gov. Bill Owens, who stunned his own party by joining Democrats in crafting the measure. "Everyone cares for Colorado, and I understand why others feel differently."

The referendum approved Tuesday lets the state keep an estimated $3.7 billion over five years that would otherwise be refunded under its TABOR, a constitutional amendment that is considered the nation's strictest cap on government spending.

With 98 percent of the expected vote counted statewide, 559,006 voters, or 52 percent, had approved the plan, compared with 516,808, or 48 percent, who voted against it.

Voters rejected a second ballot measure that would have let the state to borrow up to $2.1 billion for roads, school maintenance, pensions and other projects. With 98 percent of the expected vote counted, 543,521 people were opposed, 529,293 were in favor.

One opposition group was already threatening legal action Tuesday night over voting problems that cropped up late in the day.

In the traditional conservative stronghold of El Paso County, anchored by Colorado Springs, some voters waited in line well after the polls should have closed because a higher-than-expected turnout had created a ballot shortage. Some people left in frustration, clerk Bob Balink said.

In Greeley, heavy turnout had voters at one library waiting in line for 40 minutes to cast their ballots.

"My job depends on it. Without it, we're toast," said Laura Manuel, who works at Metropolitan State College in Denver and supported suspending the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. "People want a free lunch - they want roads and sidewalks but don't want to pay for it."

The 1992 constitutional amendment, dubbed TABOR, has been celebrated by fiscal conservatives across the country. Until this year, Owens was among them, but he said he backed the change because Colorado faces a fiscal crisis.

Randy Wood, a 45-year-old PTA member with two daughters in Denver's public schools, said he voted in favor because he worries about more cuts in education after seeing music and the arts suffer.

Patricia Kropf, a retired dental office manager from Denver, said she voted against it.

"We don't trust the government, and we don't know what they would do with the money," the 62-year-old Republican said.

The vote capped a bitter, $8 million campaign.

Supporters argued that without the change, Colorado would be forced to close state parks and cut funding for health care and universities and community colleges.

Opponents branded the measures a tax grab by politicians too gutless to make tough decisions on spending.

"We have some people running around saying the sky is falling. Others say this is the opportunity we have been waiting for, that we can do government with less," said Jon Caldara, leader of the opposition group Vote No; It's Your Dough. Caldara said the ballot shortages Tuesday were inexcusable and he threatened legal action.

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 10:19 AM

October 28, 2005

MMSD Legislative Committee Recommends Joining Statewide Coalition

On October 17, the Legislative Committee of the Madison School Board voted unanimously to recommend that the district join the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES) The organization is a diverse, statewide coalition working for comprehensive school-funding reform.

Partners in the coalition believe in the following core principles that serve as "membership criteria" and the rationale for a school-finance reform proposal based on the Adequacy model, the Wisconsin Adequacy
Plan.

The four core principles are

1.
Sufficient resources

Wisconsin’s public schools need a system of funding that provides all children with the resources needed to provide them with the equal opportunity for a quality education guaranteed by the Wisconsin Constitution, the Supreme Court and federal and state statutes.
2.
Resources should be linked to high standards

A new system of funding should guarantee a base amount of
resources to educate regular students to high standards and also
provide enough resources to give the same opportunity to meet high
standards to children with special education needs, those who live in
poverty, students with limited English skills, and those with special
needs determined by the size, location, and/or demographics of their
school districts.
3.
State tax reform

New resources as part of school-funding reform should come from
statewide — rather than local — taxes in a way that lowers property
taxes while increasing fairness to all taxpayers.
4.
Local control

A new system should build on Wisconsin’s successful tradition of local control by trusting individual communities to decide how
additional funding will be utilized and by assuring accountability and improved student performance.

More information about the organization is available at http://www.excellentschools.org.

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 6:44 PM

Colorado Referendum Targets Revenue Cap

To some Colorado residents, Referendum C is the best chance to spare the state’s schools from deep budget cuts. To others, the ballot measure—which will go before voters Nov. 1—represents a steep tax increase and gives lawmakers too much power over how state revenues are spent.

Referendum C is a proposed five-year suspension of Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR. TABOR is a voter-approved 1992 constitutional amendment that imposed a formula-driven cap on state spending and required the state and local jurisdictions, including school districts, to give back to taxpayers any revenues in excess of the cap.

“It is by far and away the most restrictive tax and spending limitation in the country,” said Wade Buchanan, the president of the Bell Policy Center, a think tank in Denver. “It really is a measure that gives fiscal decisionmaking powers almost exclusively to the voters.”

"Colorado Referendum Targets Revenue Cap: Easing restrictions would free up more tax dollars for schools and colleges" by Linda Jacobson from Education Week, October 18, 2005.

With efforts to get TABOR amendments passed in other states, including Wisconsin and Kansas, policymakers are closely watching the outcome of the vote in Colorado.

Because Colorado’s formula limits spending growth to the rate of inflation, plus annual population growth, Mr. Buchanan explained, the state’s spending limit was permanently lowered when the economy went sour in 2001.

“When you have a recession, [TABOR] essentially moves the cap down,” he said. “It’s like not being able to refill the reservoir after a severe drought.”

As the economy improved, rebates to taxpayers grew larger and larger, reaching a total of about $1 billion out of an $8 billion general fund in fiscal 2005.

That’s why Mr. Buchanan’s group and education associations in the state are supporting the referendum, which was placed on the ballot following a bipartisan agreement struck in March between Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, and top Republicans and Democrats in the legislature.

In his March letter to the state, Mr. Owens wrote: “I have never been one to shy away from spending cuts. But we have cut what we can responsibly cut.” He added that he thought residents would rather forgo their rebates than see more cuts to important programs.

If it passes, Referendum C will set a new cap at the highest level of state revenue reached between now and 2011, and allow those extra tax dollars—roughly $3.7 billion—to be spent on schools, higher education, and health care.

“This will help us keep the status quo,” said Jana Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Englewood-based Colorado Association of School Executives, which includes principals and other administrators. “If it fails, we’re really going to be hurting. We are estimating that districts can plan to lose 3 to 5 percent of their current budget.”

In an effort to protect K-12 schools from TABOR, the voters also passed Amendment 23 in 2000, which requires per-pupil spending and funding for special “categorical” education programs to increase annually by at least the rate of inflation, plus 1 percent.

If Referendum C passes, Colorado will be able to fully fund that formula, which lawmakers have not yet done because of a dispute over the formula.
A Tight Race

If the K-12 system is hoping for the measure to pass, then higher education officials are desperate for its approval. Since 2001, spending on higher education in the state has declined from 20 percent of the state budget to 10 percent, even though enrollment has continued to increase, according to the Colorado Office of Planning and Budgeting.

Hank Brown, a former Republican U.S. senator from Colorado and now the president of the University of Colorado, has said he supports Referendum C and has warned that if it doesn’t pass, serious cuts are likely.

A companion ballot measure—Referendum D—would authorize the state to issue $1.56 billion in bonds to repair and maintain public schools in poorer school districts, build roads and bridges, and make facility improvements at state colleges and universities. Gov. Owens and education groups back the measure.

Observers presume that if one measure passes, the other is also likely to pass. But if C passes and D does not, the legislature will have more say over how the additional revenue is spent.

Recent polls have shown that the votes on referendums C and D will be very close, and that those who are portraying the adjustment to TABOR as a huge tax increase are also getting their message to the voters.

In an op-ed essay that appeared in The Denver Post on Sept. 4, former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who co-chairs a conservative Washington-based organization called FreedomWorks, wrote: “If the people vote ‘yes,’ TABOR will change and the government will collect and spend $3.7 billion more in taxes than is currently allowed. That’s a tax increase—no matter how much political spin supporters try to put on it.”

FreedomWorks is one of the organizations pushing for TABOR amendments in other states.

Colorado’s Independence Institute has also been a leading opponent of both measures. The institute’s president, Jon Caldara, argues that Colorado taxpayers need the money more than the government does.

Pamela Benigno, the director of the Golden, Colo.-based institute’s education policy center, said that the condition of school funding is not as dire as some claim. In an e-mail message, she said, “Even if Referenda C and D pass, school districts will continue to demand more money.”
Easing restrictions would free up more tax dollars for schools and colleges.
By Linda Jacobson

With efforts to get TABOR amendments passed in other states, including Wisconsin and Kansas, policymakers are closely watching the outcome of the vote in Colorado.

“When you have a recession, [TABOR] essentially moves the cap down,” he said. “It’s like not being able to refill the reservoir after a severe drought.”

As the economy improved, rebates to taxpayers grew larger and larger, reaching a total of about $1 billion out of an $8 billion general fund in fiscal 2005.

If Referendum C passes, Colorado will be able to fully fund that formula, which lawmakers have not yet done because of a dispute over the formula.
A Tight Race

Observers presume that if one measure passes, the other is also likely to pass. But if C passes and D does not, the legislature will have more say over how the additional revenue is spent.

FreedomWorks is one of the organizations pushing for TABOR amendments in other states.

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2005

Rep. Black: Democrat to Offer Constitutional Amendment to Limit Governor's Veto Power

Representative Spencer Black will introduce a constitutional amendment that would limit the power and scope of the Governor’s veto.

Black said “This amendment is an attempt to move beyond the partisan gridlock and political game playing that has stymied efforts to reform the partial veto power for more than three decades. Amendments to our constitution should not be political footballs – they should be thoughtful attempts to improve the functioning of state government.”

Black said the constitutional amendment he will offer is based on the recommendation of the bi-partisan Legislative Council Study Committee on Improving Wisconsin’s Fiscal Management. Black’s proposed amendment to the State Constitution provides that the Governor may not use the veto to create new laws not passed by the Legislature. It would also prohibit the Governor from increasing appropriations beyond what was approved by the Legislature.

“This amendment would eliminate so-called ‘creative vetoes’ that have allowed Governors to single handedly write new laws and make new appropriations. The amendment would restore a true partial veto. The veto was originally intended to be a negative power, a check on the power of the Legislature,” said Black. “Instead, because of the State Supreme Court interpretations, the Wisconsin partial veto now allows the Governor, by creatively deleting words or digits to write new law, to raise taxes or make appropriations without legislative approval.”

“What was originally intended as a check on the power of one branch of government (the Legislature) has instead become an excessive grant of power to another branch (the Governor). The current veto power of Wisconsin’s Governor far exceeds that of any other Governor in the country or of the President,” Black noted. “The Wisconsin partial veto is a deep infringement on the separation of powers designed by our founding fathers,” stated Black.

Black noted that attempts to reform the partial veto have been considered by the Legislature for at least three decades, but dropped as the party control of the Governor’s office has changed. “In the mid seventies, Tommy Thompson led the charge to amend the constitution, but he dropped his support when a Republican (Lee Dreyfus) was elected Governor. Likewise, as Attorney General, Jim Doyle supported reform, he has now dropped his support for an amendment. Interestingly, the Republicans who are now sponsoring an amendment were silent when Tommy Thompson vastly expanded the use of the partial veto in the 80’s and 90’s. I suspect that if a Republican were to win the Governor’s race in 2006, some of the Republican legislators would drop their support for a constitutional amendment like a hot potato.”

Black said three factors that may allow the amendment to move beyond the usual partisan bickering are:

1. It is sponsored by a legislator from the party of the Governor.

2. It is the wording agreed to by a bi-partisan committee after much study and discussion.

3. It would not be effective until a new Governor is sworn in 2011. Otherwise, since an amendment would have to receive second consideration and a referendum vote in the 2007-08 session, the amendment would affect the sitting Governor and become a partisan battleground.

The proposed amendment would add the following language to Article V of the state constitution:

“In approving an appropriation bill in part, the governor may reduce the dollar amount of an appropriation as shown in the bill, but may not increase it.

In approving an appropriation bill in part, the governor may not approve any law that the legislature did not authorize as part of the enrolled bill.”

From Press release, Rep. Black's office, 8/24/05
State Capitol P. O. Box 8952 Madison, WI 53708 (608) 266-7521

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 2:46 PM

August 19, 2005

"Clean Bus" Bill Signed by Gov. Doyle

With strong bi-partisan support, a bill providing that Wisconsin school districts may use federal funds to cover the difference between the price of standard diesel fuel and the price of biodiesel for school buses recently passed the Wisconsin state legislature. On August 17, Governor Jim Doyle signed the bill into law.

The "clean bus" bill, aka Sentate Bill 39/Assembly Bill 67, had unanimous support in both houses of the legislature. Representative Jerry Petrowski (Marathon), who authored the bill, said that the new law "helps our children breathe cleaner air on buses, helps our farmers, and reduces our dependence on foreign oil".

Biodiesel is a cleaner-burning fuel that reduces toxic emissions and pollution. It can be derived from used vegetable oil or soybeans.

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 1:04 PM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2005

Republican View on State Budget: Cutting Taxes a Priority in State Budget

Folks in Wisconsin have diverse views. Yet there seems to be one issue we can all agree on, and that’s the need to finally bring our taxes in line with the peoples’ ability to pay.

When Republicans won the majority in the state Assembly in 1994, we made a commitment to cut taxes each session in an effort to control our state’s tax burden. That commitment continues and is reflected in this budget with a number of tax cuts designed to give some relief to Wisconsin’s working families.

First, this budget contains a real property tax freeze.

It freezes the tax levy for all taxing units for three years, and recognizes that controlling property taxes requires controlling spending at all levels of government. Earlier this year, Governor Doyle looked Wisconsin taxpayers in the eye and told us that he supported a property tax freeze. The property tax freeze passed by the legislature allows the Governor to keep his commitment to Wisconsin taxpayers. If local governments feel they need to spend more, they may take requests for additional spending to the taxpayers in the form of a referendum.

A recent article in Bloomberg pointed to our tax climate when ranking Wisconsin as the worst state in America to retire. We need to reverse that trend, so we’re phasing out the state tax on Social Security pension income—a $100 million dollar tax cut for Wisconsin’s seniors. People who have worked hard all their lives deserve to spend their golden years here with their families, rather than be forced to look to other states to escape our tax burden. Families shouldn’t be split up due to our tax climate, and this tax cut can go along way toward ensuring that doesn’t have to happen.

Also included in the budget are tax cuts designed to help make health care insurance more affordable. This budget contains a full deduction for health insurance premiums paid by people whose employer does not provide insurance. And to help families save money for health care costs, contributions to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) would no longer be taxable income in Wisconsin. HSAs have been shown to help reduce our state’s uninsured population, and are an affordable option for small businesses and farmers who are trying to provide health insurance for their employees.

The legislature cut the gas tax for the first time since 1994 and stood up for Wisconsin taxpayers by rejecting a number of Governor Doyle’s proposed tax hikes, including a vehicle registration fee increase of nearly 20%.

We rejected the Governor’s HMO Health Care tax which would have increased costs for Wisconsin residents, said no to his proposed hike of the Nursing Home Bed Tax, and reduced his Daycare Tax—saving Wisconsin taxpayers an additional $140 million.

Recognizing the importance of Wisconsin’s sporting heritage, we also substantially reduced the 60% increase in gun and archery licenses called for by the Governor.

Finally, stronger families build a stronger Wisconsin. That’s why we supported an Adoption Tax Credit to help families give hope to children in need of better lives.

In all, the Republican budget spends $300 million less and borrows $600 million less than Governor Doyle. Not only are we cutting taxes, the state will be in a much better shape financially than it would have been under the Governor’s budget.

Some people will argue that tax cuts should not be a priority during tight budgets, but just the opposite is true. Tough economic times are when tax cuts can be most effective in getting our economy and our state moving again.

Now more than ever, Wisconsin Republicans are committed to cutting taxes on working families, and we’ll keep cutting taxes until they are finally brought in line with our ability to pay.

By Mike Huebsch, Republican state Rep from West Salem.

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 9:47 AM

July 11, 2005

Budget crafted as state slept, Night-owl Legislature makes critics uneasy

Madison - Dave Warren was asleep when Wisconsin legislators voted to spend the $9,888 in taxes, fees and federal funds that make up his per capita share of the $54 billion state budget.

All but a handful of other Wisconsin residents were asleep, too. Continuing a Capitol tradition of all-night haggling and deal-making, the Assembly passed its version of the two-year budget at 5:01 a.m. on June 22, and the Senate followed suit, passing a similar budget at 5:15 a.m. on July 1. The Assembly gave final approval of the Senate's amended version at 8:21 p.m. on July 5.

A business owner who attended one of the Legislature's budget hearings, Warren says he doesn't understand - or appreciate - the manner in which lawmakers build and adopt a spending plan.

"I'm just a hardware-store guy. I don't know the (Capitol) ins and outs," said Warren, who owns Dave's Ace Hardware in Milton.

"Things were changed in the middle of the night. I was disgusted by the whole thing."

It was a "vampire budget," said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, a non-profit group that monitors the Capitol.

Voting on a budget is the single-most important action lawmakers take, Heck said. Doing so in the middle of the night "undermines public confidence in the Legislature - which currently enjoys very little public confidence as it is," he said. "Did they hope no one was noticing?"

The process that delivered a 1,050-page state budget to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's desk last week is a biennial ritual that runs on secrecy, in-your-face partisan politics and 2 a.m. amendments that mysteriously appear without sponsors.

For example, no senator has publicly claimed responsibility for a 2:45 a.m. idea to begin making 31,000 non-union state workers contribute toward their pensions. The proposal never got a public hearing but was added to the budget by Senate Republicans.

Sleepless in Madison
That's the way the Legislature often must work, insisted Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee.

The committee met 18 times and took more than 450 votes over a two-month period, and Fitzgerald said sometimes marathon sessions were necessary to get the job done. The committee worked all night before finishing its work at about 6 a.m. on June 10.

The all-nighter was a necessity, Fitzgerald said. He noted that Democrats used the same tactics when they ran the Legislature.

"If you break and allow people to regroup, and sleep, and eat, and recharge their batteries, what you end up with is another debate on another day and a whole different set of dynamics," Fitzgerald said.

There is no other way to explain middle-of-the-night Assembly and Senate votes to spend billions of dollars in tax funds over the next two years, and to set priorities touching the lives of all of Wisconsin's 5.5 million residents.

To the average person, the process can be confusing, and frustrating.

Citizens often have to wait hours to testify at public hearings. When they finally get to talk, half the chairs of legislators may be empty, or lawmakers present may be signing mail to constituents back home.

Time is relative
Individuals try to follow debate personally, on the Internet or by sitting in Capitol galleries, only to give up because in the Legislature, the trains rarely run on time.

Joint Finance Committee meetings often are scheduled to start at 10 a.m., but the committee may not convene until 3 or 4 p.m., or later. Such loose scheduling might work for lawmakers, but average citizens with jobs and children to pick up at school, soccer practice or day care centers work on much tighter timelines.

Warren joined hundreds of Wisconsin residents at a March 9 public hearing in Watertown, waiting 75 minutes before he and other hardware store owners addressed lawmakers. The store owners asked that Wisconsin join a national push to ensure that Internet retailers collect Wisconsin's 5% sales tax. The Legislature refused to jump aboard, however.

"All I need is a level playing field," Warren said, explaining that the same cordless drill set he sells for $199 can be bought on the Internet for the same price, with free shipping and no sales tax charged.

Because Internet buyers of goods and services are not paying Wisconsin's 5% sales tax, state government is not collecting millions of dollars, Warren said. "I think that's unfair."

Warren's experience wasn't much different from that of Jim Heerey of New Auburn, who waited 3 1/2 hours to testify about forestry funding at the Finance Committee's hearing in Menomonie on March 14.

Heerey said he appreciated the opportunity to be heard, but since then has had trouble learning how forestry actually fared in the final product.

Dominating the six-month process of introducing, debating and passing the 2005-'07 budget were:

• Secrecy: It starts with the governor, who received state agency budget requests last fall, huddled in private for months with his top aides and advisers going over cash flow, tax and political-risk issues before giving his budget to the Legislature on Feb. 8.

A first-term Democrat elected with just 45% of the vote, Doyle is focused on getting re-elected in November 2006.

Republicans, who control both the Assembly and Senate, then took up where Doyle left off, meeting behind closed doors to make tentative spending decisions, craft complicated packages on thorny issues such as health care, and then ratifying those closed-door deals in public sessions.

Former Senate Majority Leader and former Supreme Court Justice Bill Bablitch said such meetings may violate the state's open meetings law.

Bablitch was among a group of Democratic lawmakers who in the 1970s routinely crafted the budget behind closed doors - until reporters and editors protested and the open meetings law was written. In the 1980s, Bablitch wrote a Supreme Court opinion on the issue.

"The basic premise is the public has a right to know," Bablitch said.

Fitzgerald defended the process, however. Often, he said, lawmakers need time before the Finance Committee convenes to be sure they agree on an issue before taking an official vote.

Privacy breeds candor, he said, with committee members "much more willing to talk about senators' personalities, and quirks and problems than they would be in the open."

The Republican caucuses left Democrats cooling their heels, waiting to hear from GOP leaders what direction the committee was heading.

Rep. Pedro Colón from Milwaukee, one of four Democrats on the budget committee, said he often felt "helpless" while waiting for the majority to release omnibus motions, giving him little time to be briefed and respond with his own motions.

Colón also said he often found out about what would be included in the budget when lobbyists came to his office seeking a Democratic vote.

"As soon as they are in trouble, they are in my office," Colón said.

• One-committee clout: Legislatures in most states have two or more committees that draft a state budget. Commonly, appropriations committees supervise spending, and ways and means committees handle tax policy.

That's not true in Wisconsin, where the Joint Finance Committee is among the most powerful legislative committees in the nation because it has both taxing and spending authority. For lobbyists and legislative leaders, it offers one-stop shopping.

Fitzgerald said the committee doesn't work without support from leadership, and it is ultimately accountable to the majority party in each house.

The bottom line: Before the Joint Finance Committee can act on any issue, dozens of people - party leaders, legislators and key lobbyists - have to sign off on a decision.

And that takes time.

• Winner-takes-all politics: Republicans made the most important budget decisions without consulting Democrats. That's one reason none of the 53 Democratic legislators cast a final vote for the budget at any point in the process.

Republicans "never talked to us," said Senate Minority Leader Judy Robson (D-Beloit).

But Fitzgerald and fellow Joint Finance Committee co-chairman, Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), said this year's committee may have produced more bipartisan work than ever before. Kaufert told the Assembly that of the 450 votes the committee took, more than half of them were unanimous, reflecting Democratic votes.

• Non-stop fund raising: Between the time Doyle introduced his budget and the Legislature passed its version, 30 different lawmakers held fund-raisers. And since last November's election, Doyle has held five fund-raisers of his own.

Heck said the non-stop fund raising is "more disturbing" than the middle-of-the-night votes, because it turns the budget process into a "campaign cash shakedown period."

This year, Heck noted, Doyle has been raising as much money as he can for re-election in 2006, and Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) is doing the same to stake his run for the U.S. House next year.

From the July 11, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By STEVEN WALTERS and STACY FORSTER
swalters@journalsentinel.com

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 4:13 PM

July 8, 2005

Doyle vows to find money for schools

MADISON — Gov. Jim Doyle pledged Wednesday to use his partial veto authority to find more money for schools in the budget Republican lawmakers crafted.

If he can’t, he may reject the entire thing.

The Assembly voted Tuesday night to put the finishing touches on a budget that would fix the state’s $1.6 billion shortfall while phasing out state taxes on Social Security benefits, cut the gas tax by a penny and strictly limit property tax increases over the next three years.

The Republican plan also would give schools an additional $458 million in state aid over the next two years on top of the almost $5.3 billion a year they now receive.

But Doyle, a Democrat, originally proposed giving schools $938 million more for the two-year budget, saying the huge increase was needed to meet rising costs while eliminating the need for school districts to hike property taxes.

Republicans have argued the increase was all the state could afford while trying to fix the deficit. State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget committee, said the problem with Doyle’s pledge to find more money for schools in the $52.9 billion budget is simple: Doing so would mean cuts elsewhere.

“If he finds enough money for schools, there’s a hole somewhere else,” said Fitzgerald, R-Juneau.

From The Post-Cresent, July 7, 2005

Posted by Ruth Robarts at 9:50 AM

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