The Wisconsin State Legislature announced over the Thanksgiving holiday that it will not hold an extraordinary session this week to discuss more legislation.
The extended floor time was set for the legislature to consider bills that address Wisconsin jobs and the economy, which has been in poor shape this year.
Democrats, particularly Gov. Jim Doyle, has sharply criticized the Republican-led legislature for focusing too much of its time on social legislation, such as the concealed-weapons and marriage-redefinition bills.
“It’s disappointing that the Republicans have chosen to again delay action on important job-creation legislation,” said Doyle spokesman Dan Leistikow. “We hope that the Republicans are still serious about their pledge to make job creation their first priority, and that they will still return and address the needs of our economy, including regulatory reform, venture capital and worker training.”
However, Republicans at the Capitol argue that they have been working to improve the state job market and called the extraordinary session to appease concerns that they are committed to job creation.
“Job creation has been job one in the Legislature all year,” said Assembly leader John Gard, R-Peshtigo. “We’re on a roll, and if the Governor is willing to work with us to push a few additional reforms across the finish line before the end of the year, we’re willing to work overtime to do it.”
Gard said Democrats are the ones holding back job creation in Wisconsin because of partisan bickering.
“For Assembly Republicans, creating jobs is job one,” Gard said. “We are not going to let the Democrats’ love of partisan games stand in the way of our progress. We will use the power at our disposal to make sure these important jobs bills move forward.”
One of the “jobs” bills that Republican leaders introduced received sharp criticism last week from the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, saying it would lower environmental standards in 23 regulated activities. One provision would prohibit the state from adopting air-pollution regulations that are more stringent than federal rules.
Democrats argue that jeopardizing the environment for new jobs is not a solution to the problem.
“The Governor remains optimistic that an agreement can be reached to streamline regulations while maintaining our high environmental standards,” Leistikow said. “But regardless of what the Legislature does, the Governor is committed to implementing the most aggressive regulatory reform in the Midwest by the end of the year.”
Even with the poor status of Wisconsin’s economy, new employment figures from the U.S. Department of Labor show that Wisconsin is the only state in the Midwest to gain jobs in the last year. The Department of Labor statistics show that between October 2002 and October 2003, non-farm employment in Wisconsin grew slightly, from 2,781,600 to 2,785,900. In contrast, Michigan lost 69,000 jobs, Illinois lost 58,000 jobs, Ohio lost 66,000 jobs, Minnesota lost 6,000 jobs, and Indiana lost 32,000 jobs.
It is still uncertain whether the Legislature will meet for another floor session before the end of the year.
