Legislators in the state Senate and Assembly are pushing two separate resolutions to calm pressure facing them as they try to pass a new budget.

The first, announced Tuesday, will be proposed next week by Rep. Frank Boyle, D-Superior, if the budget still has not passed by that time.

Boyle's plan calls for replacing the eight members of the budget conference committee with new members: four Democrats, three from the Senate and one from the Assembly, and four Republicans, three from the Assembly and one from the Senate.

"We're going to hurt a lot of people very soon," Boyle said. "The entire government is at a standstill, and the amount of bills that we have passed (in the Assembly) is the lowest number in history."

To curb the existing standoff in the committee, Boyle is also pushing a second proposal that will create an arbitrator who will attempt to bridge party lines.

"We need to get these talks off the table," Boyle said. "[Arbitration] can really expedite the process in an impasse, such as the one we're dealing with."

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, along with other Republicans, is not in favor of making the change.

"[Huebsch] doesn't feel it's necessary to replace the members of the conference committee; it would serve no purpose," said John Murray, spokesperson for Huebsch. "The speaker is committed to getting the budget passed, and a new conference committee doesn't serve that purpose."

Some state officials believe families will pay the price if Democrats and Republicans can't agree on a budget.

According to Patrick Gasper, communications officer for the Department of Public Instruction, State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster said if a budget is not passed by Sept. 28, the DPI will have no choice but to use last year's numbers, which would result in millions of dollars lost for students throughout the state.

Property taxes in the state could also face a hike as local governments will likely attempt to make up the difference.

"We need a budget that supports education," Gasper said.

To fund K-12 education, Murray said the Republican Assembly would attempt to pass a series of bills on the floor next week that would separate funding for education from the rest of the budget.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, who is in Asia on a trade mission until Tuesday, is opposed to separating budget elements, according to his spokesperson Carla Vigue.

"To break apart a budget is not the way you do a budget. You have to know all of your revenues and all of your expenses. You can't just take one piece out and call it a budget," Vigue said. "You have to have a total look at everything that's coming in and what your expenses are."

Despite Doyle's opposition to the plan, Mike Mikalsen, spokesperson for Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, said the governor never came out completely against it.

"The governor issued strong words but never once said he would veto those bills," Mikalsen said.

Mikalsen said Democrats are playing games and not working on the important issues that would be resolved with the bills they plan to pass next week.

"We strongly support [the proposals]. Frankly, we are not again going to be blackmailed into voting for $10 million in new taxes in fees," Mikalsen said. "The Senate Democrats seem interested in playing games instead of solving the important issues."

However, Boyle, a Democrat, agrees with Doyle.

"He is absolutely correct; it would push the rest of the budget into oblivion,” Boyle said. "We would get nothing else done. The pressure would be off."

The state budget was supposed to be passed by July 1, and Wisconsin is now the only state in the nation that has not passed a new budget.