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Doyle signs emergency budget bill
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by John Buchel
Friday, February 28, 2003
In an effort to hem spending for the current fiscal year, Gov. Jim Doyle signed an emergency budget bill Thursday.
Doyle called the bill the first step toward reasonable budgeting in state government.
He called the Legislature into special session Jan. 30 to consider the bill, which freezes much of state spending until the end of the current fiscal year in June and saves the state $170.5 million.
“This emergency budget bill not only represents a down payment on the size of our deficit but is the first step toward returning fiscal responsibility to state government,” Doyle said.
The Legislature passed the bill Feb. 20 after offering additional cuts to the budget. The bill passed through the Legislature with minimal partisan division in support.
Originally, the Joint Finance Committee notified Doyle of their displeasure that the emergency bill did not fill the $453 million hole the state faces for the current fiscal year.
“The governor asked us back into special session to consider a partial down payment on the fiscal situation,” said Rep. David Ward, R-Fort Atkinson. “But he only solved about half the problem.”
The Joint Financial Committee then reviewed and amended the budget, reallocating funds and offering additional cuts in order to increase the amount of money saved before June by $9 million.
The only sign of partisan bickering over the emergency bill came while considering one of the final cuts. Committee Republicans and Democrats split along party lines in a vote concerning $22 million in state transportation funds.
“Most of the votes on additional cuts were unanimous or nearly unanimous,” said Rep. Dan Schoof, D-Beloit. “The last motion sort of acted to restore spending. I ended up voting against it.”
Ward said Schoof and the Committee Democrats wanted to reallocate the $22 million and protested that if the money were moved from the state transportation fund to the state’s general fund, no money would be left for state transportation needs.
Ward said that although the Committee split 12-4 along party lines, the vote was not yet decided by partisan politics and that the Republicans’ intent of leaving $22 million in the state transportation fund was more in line with Doyle’s vision for the bill.
Assembly Minority Leader Rep. Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, said Doyle continued the Legislature’s spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship by not using any of his veto power to eliminate amendments offered by the Republican-controlled JFC.
“Republicans and Democrats alike worked together to get this job done,” Doyle said. “Now the tough work begins.”
The emergency budget bill still leaves a deficit for the current fiscal year of $282 million. Doyle has continually stressed that his emergency budget bill will act as a down payment. The remaining deficit will be included in the $3.2 billion deficit addressed by Doyle’s two-year budget bill currently under review of the Legislature.
