WE NEED A MASSIVE EMAIL/CALLS EFFORT TODAY AND TOMORROW (SENATOR EMAILS AT END OF THIS POST):

Senate poised for swift budget passage

By Steven Walters
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - The state Senate plans to draft its version of a state budget quickly, after the Assembly vote to approve a $62.2 billion, two-year spending plan early Saturday.

"We will be busy over the next few days reviewing the changes the Assembly made to the budget so we can have the budget on the floor of the Senate as soon as possible," Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said in a statement Saturday.

That set up a timetable that could put the budget on Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's desk by July 1: a Senate vote Wednesday or Thursday, reconciliation of Assembly-Senate differences over the next few days, and votes on the final budget deal in the Assembly and the Senate the week of June 22.

Only Democrats would work out the final details, as they control the Legislature and the governor's office.

Republicans are refusing to vote for the budget, saying it includes a record $2.1 billion in tax and fee increases that will hurt families already struggling financially.

All 46 Republicans, and two Democrats, voted against the budget when it passed the Assembly. The 50 votes - the minimum required - to pass it came from 49 Democrats and independent Rep. Jeff Wood of Chippewa Falls. One Democrat was absent because of a family medical emergency.

Assembly members said the vote handed the budget over to Decker, an 18-year Capitol veteran. He persuaded fellow Democrats to elect him as their leader two years ago after complaining that the former leader, Beloit Sen. Judy Robson, wasn't pushing hard enough for Senate Democratic priorities in budget negotiations.

Decker is seen as a tough, wily negotiator who will try to assemble the 17 Senate Democratic votes needed to pass the budget. Democrats control the Senate by an 18-15 margin.

Starting Monday, Republican Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald of Horicon told the Assembly, "It's Senator Decker's budget."

But officials said there might be only a few major issues that Senate and Assembly Democrats will have to resolve on the 2009-11 budget:

Oil company tax: To generate $224 million for highways and other transportation programs, Doyle and Democratic legislators want to tax oil companies. But Assembly Democrats dropped a provision saying that oil companies couldn't raise gas-pump prices to cover the tax.

Instead, Assembly Democrats voted to let pump prices go up 3.2 to 4.4 cents per gallon to offset the tax, according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau summary. Decker and other Senate Democrats might want to go back to Doyle's original no-pass-through proposal, despite warnings that it will be challenged in court if it is signed into law.

Decker is a champion of highway and transportation programs, so he is expected to make sure that overall spending for that purpose does not suffer in whatever final deal is negotiated.

Low-income housing: Decker has repeatedly pushed to resolve a five-year controversy over which low-income housing projects should be exempt from property taxes, the "Columbus Park" issue.

Assembly Democrats dropped the latest compromise on that subject from their budget, after complaints from local government leaders that it would have unfairly exempted from taxes condos owned by wealthy seniors. Decker is expected to make a new attempt to resolve the controversy.

Justice Department: When members of the Joint Finance Committee recommended a budget with spending cuts for the department, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen went on a statewide public relations crusade against them, saying that they would jeopardize public safety, and that his agency was being hit harder then others because he is a Republican.

The public relations blitz worked; Assembly Democrats added $5.4 million to the department budget. But before they did so, Decker issued a statement saying that the committee had treated the department and Van Hollen fairly.

If Decker, who was not available for comment Saturday, still believes that, he might try to dial back some of the $5.4 million more the department got in the Assembly budget.

The Assembly vote means that half the Legislature and Doyle now agree on these tax and fee increases, which would affect almost all families:

-Making residents with taxable incomes of $225,000 for a single person and $300,000 for married couples pay $287 million more in income taxes the next two years. That would be done by creating a 7.75 percent tax rate.

-Raising income taxes on capital gains, costing some investors an estimated $170.4 million.

-Raising the $1.77 state tax on a pack of cigarettes to $2.52, costing smokers an estimated $310.4 million.

-A 75-cent monthly fee on all phone lines, which would cost customers $102 million. The money would go to protect local police, fire and other emergency services.

-Requiring vehicle owners to buy more liability insurance coverage, which the state insurance commissioner has said will raise premiums.

Lawmakers want to put the final budget on Doyle's desk this month. If he signs it by July 1, an estimated $15 million more in federal highway funds would be directed to Wisconsin as a reward for letting law enforcement officers stop vehicles if they suspect occupants are not wearing seat belts.



Senate Chief Clerk's Office

Senate Chief Clerk Robert Marchant Robert.Marchant@legis.wisconsin.gov
(60 266-2517 Capitol B20 South

http://www.legis.state.wi.us/w3asp/cont ... use=senate

Wisconsin State Senators Email Addresses (SLAM EMAIL THEM TONIGHT AND TOMORROW MORNING):

Sen.carpenter@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.coggs@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.cowles@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.darling@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.decker@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.ellis@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.erpenbach@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.fitzgerald@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Grothman@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.hansen@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.harsdorf@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Holperin@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Hopper@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.jauch@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.kanavas@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.kapanke@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.kedzie@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Kreitlow@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.lasee@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.lassa@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.lazich@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Lehman@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.leibham@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.miller@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.olsen@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.plale@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.risser@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.robson@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.schultz@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Sullivan@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.taylor@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Vinehout@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.wirch@legis.wisconsin.gov

Senate Chief Clerk's Office


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