Thread: WI-ACTION ALERT, NEED PHONE CALLS FAXES!!!

Jun 10, 1:40 PM EDT


THURSDAY, WISCONSIN BEGINS BUDGET DEBATE WHICH WILL ALLOW IN-STATE TUITION AND DRIVER'S LICENSE CARDS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS --PLEASE CALL, FAX EVERY WISCONSIN DEM LEGISLATOR...

Tax, fee increases, cuts mark Wis. budget

By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Faced with the largest state budget shortfall in Wisconsin history, lawmakers were prepared to start debate Thursday on a plan that would force smokers and anyone with a phone to pay more to help balance the books.

Democrats who hold a slim 52-46 majority in the Assembly were working to pull together the 50 needed votes to pass the budget. It will be a tough vote for many on a budget that raises taxes and fees $2.1 billion and makes cuts that could lead to 1,400 state worker layoffs.

The Democratic-controlled Senate, which must pass an identical plan before it heads to Gov. Jim Doyle, planned to take up the budget next week.

Republicans are expected to unanimously vote against it.

"The Democrats completely overreached," said state Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus. "I think the taxpayers are going to flip out when they see this. ... They've made it easy for the Republican Party to make the case that the Democrats have failed in the authority they were given."

The sweeping two-year, $62.2 billion spending plan crafted largely in secret by Democratic leaders also goes much further than simply ensuring there's enough money available to pay the bills.

Same-sex couples could get a host of legal rights now only available to married couples.

Illegal immigrants will get a special driver's license card that would allow them to legally operate on Wisconsin's roads, making it the only state other than Utah with such a system. And illegal immigrants who graduate from Wisconsin high schools could pay in-state tuition at the state's colleges and universities.

Prison inmates could earn time off their sentence for good behavior and some criminals up to age 25, instead of just 21, could have their criminal records expunged.

Gas taxes may increase under a new fee proposed for big oil companies and insurance companies are expected to raise rates under new higher minimum coverage requirements.

The budget also would allow Dane County to raise its sales tax a half cent to pay for commuter rail. A car rental fee in Kenosha, Milwaukee and Racine counties could increase from $2 to $16 to pay for commuter rail there.

Even after all the work to address the $6.6 billion budget shortfall, Assembly Minority Leader Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said he expects the Legislature to be back later this year taking more action to balance the books.

There are signs that the state's budget woes won't go away, even if the economy improves. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau projects the state will begin its next two-year budget cycle in 2011 facing a $2.2 billion hole.

"You think this one's bad, wait until you see the next budget," Fitzgerald said.

Despite Republicans' opposition, it will be hard for them to get traction complaining about a plan that cuts government and furloughs workers without raising general sales or income taxes, said Mordecai Lee, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

By raising income taxes on those earning over $300,000 a year and proposing to tax large oil companies, Democrats have put Republicans in the position of defending wealthy people and big oil, said Lee, a former Democratic state lawmaker.

Priebus, the Republican Party chairman, called that a "smoke and mirrors argument."

Doyle, who is expected to seek re-election to a third term next year, and Democrats who wrote the budget argue it's a responsible plan that protects middle class taxpayers in difficult times.

"This did avoid middle class tax increases," said Doyle's spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner. "That was the framework he set up. To do that, he had to make significant, deep cuts across state government but he did it in a way that did the least amount of damage to education and public safety."

At the insistence of Doyle, the budget proposal includes no general sales or income tax increases. But it raises income taxes on families earning more than $300,000 a year and lowers income tax exclusions on capital gains. It also increases cigarette taxes by 75 cents a pack to $2.52 and places a new 75-cent fee on cell phones, land lines and any other device that can call 911.

It also makes deep cuts, which account for a 3.2 percent drop in state tax dollar spending over the two year period. Overall, spending from all sources would increase 6.3 percent largely due to about $3.7 billion in federal stimulus money.

Most state agencies will be cut around 6 percent, state workers are being forced to take 16 unpaid days off, and unless unions agree to rescind a 2 percent pay raise, up to 1,400 state workers may be laid off.

State aid to schools would be cut 3.1 percent, while a law that has effectively kept teacher salaries in check would go away after one more year.

"There are a lot of sacrifices all across the board," Sensenbrenner said. "Clearly there are going to be cuts that people are going to feel."

The new budget takes effect July 1. Lawmakers and the governor hope to have it enacted by the end of the month.

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CONTACT INFORMATION : e-mail list is provided in post below for direct quick access tp Represtatives and Senators.


State Website
http://www.wisconsin.gov/

Governor
Jim Doyle
http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/
Madison Office
P.O. Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707
608-266-1212
Online Contact
http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/contact.asp?locid=19

State Senate:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/senhome.htm
Contact Information
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/w3asp/cont ... use=senate

House of Assembly:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/asmhome.htm
Contact Information
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/w3asp/cont ... e=assembly

Legislature in Process:
http://nxt.legis.state.wi.us/nxt/gatewa ... ist&jd=top


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/ ... TE=DEFAULT

Have these folks lost their minds?