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No date established for State of State

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Tuesday night the ears of the nation heard President Bush deliver his first State of the Union address. Now the state of Wisconsin is waiting for its annual address.

But Gov. Scott McCallum has not yet established a date for the 2002 State of the State address, which was tentatively scheduled for Feb 5.

The address has been pushed off because the governor’s state budget deficit proposal is in limbo, said a McCallum spokeswoman.

McCallum wants the Assembly to have more time to think about his budget proposal and to introduce the plan as legislation, according to an aide.

Although the governor has not rescheduled the speech, a spokesman said it is likely be held after President Bush’s Feb. 11 appearance at a fundraiser for McCallum.

Meanwhile, members of the state Senate and Assembly have been arguing about which house would see governor McCallum’s plan to repair the state’s $1.1 billion budget deficit first.

The state budget, passed last summer, was first debated in the state Senate. The governor’s office said the same house should act first on the budget-repair plan. This would mean the Senate would vote first on any plan that comes from the Joint Finance Committee.

In a special session, only four group committees are able to introduce bills. The governor does not have the ability to introduce his plan as legislation.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, said any budget proposal should be introduced as a companion bill in both houses simultaneously.

Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said no one is interested in introducing the governor’s plan as a bill.

Black and Pocan have said Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Brookfield, is in favor of the governor’s budget deficit plan, but Jensen has not announced plans to introduce the governor’s plan as legislation.

“I think it is a good sign there is something wrong with the plan,” Pocan said. “The governor developed it in secret and now we would like to have some public hearings on it.”

Pocan said Assembly Democrats plan to have public hearings across the state before they offer an alternate plan to fix the budget deficit.

Spokesman Tim Roby said the governor welcomed the Democrats’ proposed hearings and is planning a similar strategy. The governor will make public appearances in Milwaukee and Eau Claire on Saturday to build support for his plan.

“The teachers, the taxpayers, the neediest of the needy will have a chance to tell the Democrats how good this plan is,” Roby said.

Almost 60 statewide groups have signed on as supportive of McCallum’s adjusted budget.

The governor recalled his budget proposal yesterday to make some minor changes, but the plan was returned to the state Senate this morning.

Democratic leaders like Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Black said taking back the proposal for changes is a sign that no one wants to have their name attached to the bill.

But the changes to the plan were minor, said an aide for the governor, and were made to the wording in the bill and not to the content.

The controversial plan seeks to repair the state’s deficit by cutting into UW System funding, eliminating shared revenue and borrowing from the state’s tobacco settlement fund.