Recently, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) announced it was pulling 83 policy provisions out of the Governor’s budget proposal. JFC is the group of legislators who have ultimate control of the final version of the budget that the Legislature votes on.
The state budget should be just that – a budget. Unfortunately, over the years it has become a vehicle to introduce policy that lawmakers don’t want to discuss on their merits, or that may not have enough support to pass outside of the budget. That means we end up with controversial ideas getting passed without discussing the substance of the issues. I came to Madison to have these hard discussions, not hide from them. Pulling these policy motions out of the budget is a wise choice that allows us to focus on the fiscal condition of our state while discussing the policy issues separately.
Some of the most controversial issues that were pulled out related to education. Issues related to school choice have been especially controversial. Whether it’s requirements for virtual charter school enrollment, hours of instruction required for school choice programs or public schools, or school accountability reporting, these issues need to have a fair hearing.
Another set of policies that have been pulled out of the budget relates to professional licensing. As a member of the Assembly Committee on Regulatory Licensing Reform, I look forward to a healthy debate over a wide range of regulatory reform. We should make sure that Wisconsin is not running hard working citizens out of business with red tape and overly burdensome regulation. But the committee is the proper place for that discussion, not the budget.
Finally, the roads funding portion of the budget will be dealt with in a different manner than the rest of the budget. For most issues, JFC begins their discussion using the Governor’s proposal as their starting point. They may believe he spends too much in one area and not enough in another, but they agree that his proposals are a good baseline.
However, for the roads funding budget, JFC is starting from scratch. This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of our budget. The Governor’s approach – borrowing millions of dollars without addressing the underlying problems and funding needs – is simply not enough. So JFC will be working from the ground up on a proposal that should satisfy everyone’s concerns and address the issues we know exist. Ensuring that rural areas have the funding sources we need to maintain our infrastructure is my absolute highest budget priority, and I’m glad to see JFC addressing it.
We cannot and should not skip a robust debate because it’s the “easy way out.” I look forward to having these debates in the proper committees, and I hope you will take the time to contact my office to let me know what you think about these policy proposals or any legislation that concerns you. My office phone number is (888) 534-0075, and my email address is Rep.Quinn@Legis.Wisconsin.Gov.
Last Update: Apr 26, 2017 4:15 pm CDT
