Gov. Scott McCallum announced Thursday his final vetoes for the 2001-2003 state budget.
After McCallum’s vetoes, legislators expected the budget to look completely different from the compromise the state Senate and Assembly reached.
“The budget will be changed after the governor has it,” Senate President Fred Risser, D-Madison, said. “It was introduced by the governor, and it doesn’t look anything like the original.”
Vetoes include the billboard provision, a victory for environmentalists, the rent-to-own provision and the .78 percent leniency in state school budgets.
McCallum passed a version of the “do not call” list with slight changes from the original version. The changes include vetoes of certain parts of the “do not call” provision.
The “do not call” list will allow Wisconsin residents to put their name on a list that will forbid telemarketers from calling them. The list will be free of charge, and although McCallum may make some changes to the budget in this area, he is expected to include a version of the “do not call” list in his final plan.
McCallum would change the fines issued to violators of the list from $500 to $10,000 in the original to $100 per violation. He removed the stipulation that would double the fine for calling senior citizens and removed a prohibition saying affiliates of companies would be required to abide by the list. McCallum will also allow political parties conducting telemarketing drives to ignoring the list.
The billboard provision would have made it easier for outdoor advertising agencies to advertise with roadside signs. Environmentalists objected because it would obstruct drivers’ view of nature and could lead to tree destruction. McCallum has decided to veto this section of the budget.
The UW System has also been a hotly debated topic since the budget’s proposal in February.
Student groups have protested and pleaded for more funds to curb the increase in tuition. In the final budget, UW-Madison will receive $12 million and UW-Milwaukee will receive $11.7 million. Both amounts fall short of what the UW System was asking for.
In response to accusations that McCallum is not “university-friendly,” Debbie Monterrey-Millett, spokesperson for McCallum, noted that there are many important elements of the budget and that the university had to take a spot behind some other programs, including the SAGE program, children with disabilities and a prescription-drug plan.
Despite this, legislators and students are upset with the lack of funding to the UW System.
“The university is an important part of the state. Not only does it generate economic opportunities, but [it] educates students to enter into high tech-fields, which can also enhance Wisconsin’s economy,” Abbie Testa, UW junior, said. “The benefits that the university has warrant more funding.”
McCallum’s No. 1 priority is to balance the state budget and to limit further tax increases for Wisconsin residents.
Monterrey-Millett said that legislators could change parts of the budget during debate in the Senate and Assembly but also said that the governor would change things if the budget did not come out balanced.
“They can move around desk chairs, so to speak, but if they give money to one program, it has to come out of another program,” she said.
