Although the governor signed four bills within his first month in office, political experts expect the State of the State address tonight to deal less with the governor’s successes and more with the economic challenges Wisconsin will be facing.

Gov. Scott Walker will talk about jobs and the economy, spokesperson Cullen Werwie said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

“The governor will be realistic about the challenges facing the state and optimistic about our future,” Werwie said.
Walker’s recent successes include passing legislation federalizing health savings account taxes, reforming lawsuit litigation, increasing tax credits in the economic development fund and providing tax incentives to businesses locating in Wisconsin.

But his audience may not be hearing too much about the goals he has recently met.

“He’ll share a list of done deals, but it’s my guess that it would make more sense to highlight briefly what Walker’s done,” said Peter Carstensen, a University of Wisconsin political science professor. “But he’ll then go into what needs to be done.”

During the State of the State, political experts expect to hear about the state’s $3.3 billion budget deficit, which could be even larger, according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo sent to Joint Committee on Finance chairs Monday.

The report analyzed Walker’s recent special session bills and determined the general tax fund collection will be $202.8 million lower than past estimates. Half of the new figure is a direct result of three of Walker’s new bills – the health savings account tax, relocation tax and tax for new employees.

“The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has estimated that the law-making contributions to medical savings accounts deductible and the law providing tax breaks to small businesses that increase employment will reduce state tax revenue over the next biennium,” said Andrew Reschovsky, a political science professor at UW.

UW political science professor Charles Franklin said Walker will not go into detail about his plans to correct the deficit in his speech, choosing instead to wait until the budget is due in February.

“The speech will paint a picture of the future, but in much broader brush strokes than the budget will address on [Feb. 22],” Franklin said.

Despite National Weather Service reports warning of six to 12 inches of snow for the Madison area, Werwie said the State of the State will go on as planned.