After a non-partisan governmental agency outlined a list of items in the governor’s budget that would have no impact on the state’s economy, lead members of the budget committee removed some of those items they felt should not be addressed in the budget process Tuesday.

Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, and Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, removed 21 of the 46 items described by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau as non-fiscal in nature. Vos spokesperson Kit Beyer said the decision to remove the policy-only items should show how serious the co-chair is about passing a budget unlike ones seen before.

“Our budget decision on what we’re including provides one more piece of evidence that this budget is different from past budgets,” Beyer said. “For the first time we’re showing we’ll balance the budget with transparency.”

The LFB memo found policy items in a number of state agencies’ budgets. Items that would have no economic impact if they were to pass included a provision allowing the Department of Administration to forgo a cost-benefit analysis when contractual services cost more than $25,000.

Other items removed from the budget bill involved educational policies Gov. Scott Walker proposed, such as allowing schools to determine the lengths of their school year and for charter school teachers to teach without Department of Instruction Certification.

Another policy item would repeal a statewide mandate on prescription insurance companies to cover contraceptives, which some Democratic JFC members had argued against during the committee’s agency budget hearings.

JFC member Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, had opposed repealing the mandate and was happy with its removal from the budget, according to Grigsby spokesperson Kevin Benish.

“We’re happy to see that Walker and the Republicans realized they overstepped their bounds and were exploring a radical right wing agenda,” Benish said. “We’re happy with one specific instance where Republicans have seen the light of day and realized something in their budget is not in line with Wisconsin values.”

However, Benish said the JFC co-chairs did not take out all the non-fiscal policy items, but let some proposals affecting the charter and voucher school system in Milwaukee to remain.

Non-fiscal items left in the budget by the co-chairs include changing the standardized test charter schools administer their pupils from a state to national test and a provision that would rollback Wisconsin regulations on phosphorus pollution.

– Casey Kennedy contributed to this report.