Speaker’s E-Update

Here is an E-Update I received from Assembly Speaker, Mike Huebsch. I normally don't post his updates, but I think everyone in Wisconsin needs to read this one, as the future of our state depends on the Assembly. All sections that are bolded was done by me to bring attention to important information I did not want lost.

September 14, 2007
Inside Today’s Speaker’s E-Update:
It’s Time to Separate Motion from Progress

For previous issues of my Speaker’s Update and recent press releases, please visit my website at: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm94/news/Default.htm

It’s Time to Separate Motion from Progress

These days, statewide Editorial Boards and the Capitol press corps are draining ink from their pens deriding the Legislature for its inability to reach consensus on the state’s next two-year budget. They are quick to paint us all as part of the problem without delving into the reasons why the progress at the Conference Committee table has been limited.

Obviously, the primary reason for the lack of progress is the dramatic difference between the two budget proposals on the issues of taxes. The State Assembly adopted a no-tax-increase budget while the State Senate’s plan included $18 billion in new taxes. As I mentioned last week, there is a little common ground between no new taxes sand billions more, but that is not the only fundamental difference. That became clear today.

On August 9, my fellow Republican conferees and I made a conscious decision to offer a compromise proposal on state funding for local school districts. The logic behind this move was simple. K-12 education funding is the state’s top budget priority representing almost half the available revenues provided to the state by the taxpayers of Wisconsin over the next two years. It is the functional equivalent of a mortgage payment in the average family budget. After paying that bill, the rest is relatively straightforward.

In last week’s edition of this newsletter, I explained how the continuation clause in Wisconsin statutes authorizes state agencies and programs to operate at the previous year’s funding level in the absence of a new two-year state budget. There are, however, two budget areas that depend on increased state funding – local school districts and communities throughout the state: both of which operate on annual budgets.

Right now, local school boards as well as local town, village, city and county boards are starting to formulate their own budgets for 2008. In the planning process, school boards factor in state K-12 aid and counties and municipalities look to the state’s shared revenue program to determine how much money they will receive to help them meet their own obligations. In the absence of a new two-year state budget, they must operate from last year’s numbers. Well, we found out this week from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau the true impact on an ongoing state budget delay. Without an agreement on state aid to local school districts, property taxes will rise by nearly $600 million. For the average Wisconsin homeowners, that means an extra $200 in property taxes. To make matters worse, this property tax increase becomes inevitable unless the Legislature can reach agreement by September 28. Obviously, that’s not acceptable to my Assembly Republican colleagues and I.

With this looming deadline, we have been anxiously awaiting the Democrats’ counteroffer to our August 9 school funding proposal. It finally came today. It was my hope that our willingness to increase state aid to schools to the level requested by Governor Doyle - $85 million more than what was included in the State Assembly budget plan would lead to middle ground. It did not. The Democrat counteroffer accepted the $85 million increase and included an increase in school aids beyond what the Governor requested and beyond the level of funding for schools that they themselves approved in their budget to the tune of $7 million. Last time I checked the dictionary, “compromise” entailed a mixture a give and take. The Democrat conferees took and took some more without giving an inch.

It’s time for a reality check. It’s time to separate motion from progress and my fellow and Republican conferees and I will lead that effort. Next Tuesday, the State Assembly will be in session to take up two separate budget-related bills to address the needs of Wisconsin property taxpayers and our local government partners. The first bill will provide local school districts with more than $12.3 billion in state aid over the next two years, the highest level in state history and more than $543 million more than was in the previous budget. To demonstrate our sincerity, we have used Governor Doyle’s budget proposal for K-12 education as the basis for our compromise proposal and receded from our original position to reduce shared revenue payments to counties and four Wisconsin cities – Beloit, Milwaukee, Racine and Superior. I am pleased that our legislation has already received the support of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance.

The other bill that the State Assembly will take up on Tuesday restores the Property Tax Freeze. Here, again, we are trying to find common ground. Instead of going along with the Property Tax Freeze proposal adopted as part of the State Assembly budget plan, we are asking our Democrat colleagues in the State Assembly and State Senate to enact the same Property Tax Freeze that Governor Doyle signed into law in 2005. It’s not perfect, but it moves us in the right direction for the property taxpayers of Wisconsin.

Next Tuesday should be a very interesting day on the State Assembly floor. Rarely do we have the opportunity to pass two bills that will save Wisconsin homeowners nearly $600 million. I can assure you that my Assembly Republicans colleagues and I are looking forward to standing with the taxpayers. I was also encouraged by the comments of Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser (D-Kenosha) at the Conference Committee table. He gave some indication that the vote on these bills will receive bipartisan support. Stay tuned, I will definitely keep you in the loop as the week unfolds.