Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee announced Tuesday it will recommend the 2005-07 biennial budget not include a provision introduced by Gov. Jim Doyle aimed to expand University of Wisconsin System employee benefits to domestic partners.
Committee co-Chair Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, said the cut is due to financial reasons. Wisconsin currently has a $1.6 billion deficit, and state legislators disagree along party lines about how the budget should deal with the lack of funds.
“This is a fiscal issue, plain and simple,” Kaufert said in a statement. “It is impossible to think of extending employee benefits to a whole new demographic of people at the same time we are watching the UW System struggle to cover their current set of bills.”
Joint Finance Committee member state Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, does not support the governor’s budget provision because of the scarcity of state funds and also because of the ramifications the approved legislation would have for other state employees.
According to Leibham, this would set a precedent for all state employees to follow, costing the state a lot of money.
“There are other areas where we should prioritize the scarce funds for the UW System,” Leibham said. “We need to keep our basic and regular programs going, and it just isn’t right for us to be exploring new programs at this time.”
Doyle’s proposal included a total of $1 million during the next two years to the UW System to offer health-care benefits to same-sex couples. UW is the only school in the Big Ten currently not offering domestic-partner benefits, and proponents of Doyle’s provision say the provision is needed to attract employees.
UW College Democrats Chair Liz Sanger said she is very disappointed with the committee’s decision to exclude Doyle’s proposal.
“I think this reflects badly on the state of Wisconsin, especially because [Wisconsin] has been known for so long as a progressive state,” Sanger said. “We made such headway in the past; to see us falling behind is disappointing.”
Sanger said although she understands the state must deal with the budget deficit, the proposed money was “really not a lot” in comparison to other programs the state supports.
This is going to adversely affect the state economically because the university will have difficulty attracting state employees who will positively contribute to Wisconsin, Sanger added.
State Rep. Mark Pocan also voiced his concern immediately about the denial of state funds for domestic-partner benefits. Aside from saying “right-wing” Republicans indiscreetly omit the gay community from receiving comparable health-care benefits, Pocan also insists the new provision would make the UW System lose money.
“There’s a $3 million cost to the UW System for every faculty member [leaving because domestic-partner benefits aren’t offered]. We lose that much for the lost revenue that member brings and the [search and screening for a new staffer],” Pocan said, adding a $500,000-per-year provision is a small financial burden. “We sneeze at amounts like that.”
Pocan also said domestic-partner benefits would not necessarily need to be extended to the rest of state employees because Wisconsin is “surrounded by other states that offer this to their university faculty but not to the rest of employees.”
The Joint Finance Committee will continue to make suggestions for the biennial budget until it will be approved by the state Senate and Assembly by June 30.
