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Michael Larson

Wrestling Match Over State Budget Drags On
April 18, 2008

Wisconsin legislators continue to tussle over ways to fix the remaining $527-million shortfall in the state’s 2007-2009 biennial budget.

The wrangling about the budget fix appears to be dragging on the same way that the battle over the original budget did. That original marathon wrestling match went on for nearly four months after the budget’s due date.

The Senate is controlled by Democrats; the Assembly by Republicans. Both houses have passed their respective budget proposals, which have to be blended into one final compromise proposal to present to the state’s governor.

Significant for the state’s transportation industry is the fact that both the Senate’s proposal and the Assembly’s have left intact the segregated transportation fund. In the past, money from that fund has been moved to the general fund to help pay for non-transportation projects.

Although a recently passed referendum has reduced the governor’s power to craft custom vetoes by stitching together pieces of sentences, the law still allows him considerable power to alter whatever budget proposal is finally laid on his desk.

The governor has proposed filling part of the budget shortfall with a special assessment on hospitals that would raise $400 million. The hospitals would then be reimbursed through a federal program. The net effect would be that the state would get $400 million of federal money.

No matter how the budget deficit is resolved, the solution has to come soon – and hopefully with the transportation fund intact.

Posted by Michael Larson on April 18, 2008 | Comments (0)