MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on state agency budget briefings (all times local):
6:20 p.m.
Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher is defending Republican Gov. Scott Walker against criticism that he has yet to visit a prison.
Walker hasn’t visited any prisons since he first took office in 2011. Democrats have been pushing him to visit the state’s troubled youth prison in Irma.
Rep. Gordon Hintz, an Oshkosh Democrat, asked Litscher during a briefing Tuesday in front of the Legislature’s budget committee if Litscher is having any luck convincing the governor to visit a prison.
Litscher said visiting or not visiting a prison isn’t the question. He says Walker has entrusted DOC to run the prison system and the agency’s operations are “well-communicated” to the governor.
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6:05 p.m.
The Legislature’s budget committee is questioning whether the state prison system can handle an expected influx of drunken drivers.
The Department of Corrections has requested about $40 million for 3,686 contract beds based on expectations hundreds of repeated drunken drivers will enter prison as a result of a new law that made fourth-offense a felony and increased sentences for subsequent offenses. Gov. Scott Walker’s budget provides the agency $17.3 million for 2,086 beds.
Joint Finance Committee members Rep. Gordon Hintz and Sen. Lena Taylor questioned Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher during a hearing Tuesday about the discrepancy between the agency’s projections and Walker’s estimates.
Litscher says expanded alcohol treatment for inmates will help prisoners earn early release and the agency hopes drunken drivers won’t enter the system as quickly as officials initially estimated. He says he can’t predict what the numbers will really be but he’s “comfortable” with the money Walker has provided and will leave it at that.
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5:35 p.m.
The leader of Wisconsin’s prison system is telling the Legislature’s budget committee that he supports having one person decide who gets out on parole rather than a commission.
The Joint Finance Committee questioned Department of Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher on Tuesday about changes Gov. Scott Walker wants to make to the agency through the 2017-19 state budget. One of the provisions in the budget calls for eliminating the state Parole Commission and replacing it with a parole director Walker would appoint.
Republican Sen. Leah Vukmir told Litscher that she was concerned about one person making parole decisions. Litscher said 420 minimum- and medium-security inmates are currently eligible for parole and he believes one person can handle the workload.
Vukmir continue to press on whether one person should have all the authority to make a parole decision. Litscher said he personally doesn’t have a problem with that.
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4:40 p.m.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Pat Roggensack is asking the Legislature’s budget-writing committee to reject Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to put the independent Judicial Commission under control of the court, saying that “creates the potential for conflicts of interest.”
The commission oversees ethics of judges in the state.
Roggensack on Tuesday also asked lawmakers to reject Walker’s call to eliminate Judicial Council. The council advises the governor, Supreme Court and Legislature on court-related issues.
She is also asking lawmakers to approve 2 percent salary increases for judges in each of the next two years that Walker recommended, but fund them differently than he called for.
Roggensack also says she doesn’t know what impact Walker’s call for eliminating the Labor and Industry Review Commission will have on courts, so the Supreme Court isn’t taking a position on it.
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3:50 p.m.
Wisconsin’s chief elections officer is asking the Legislature’s budget committee to pay for six positions that would be eliminated under Gov. Scott Walker’s budget.
Elections Commission administrator Mike Haas made the pitch Tuesday during a briefing before the Joint Finance Committee.
The commission has nearly 32 full-time staff and of those, 22 are federally funded. But federal money for 22 of those is going away and Walker recommended the state pay to continue only 16 of those. Losing those positions would result in a 28 percent reduction in staff over just two years.
Haas argues that 22 positions are needed to fulfill the commission’s core responsibilities under state and federal law, including providing training and support to local election officials, maintaining and improving the voter registration system, educating the public and assisting candidates.
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12:05 p.m.
Gov. Scott Walker’s top aide won’t promise that every state employee will be able to keep their current doctor under a switch to a self-insurance model.
Department of Administration Secretary Scott Neitzel was asked about the self-insurance move Tuesday during a briefing before the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee. Neitzel says he expects minimal disruption to current health insurance plans and only a small percentage would have to change doctors.
Both Republicans and Democrats on the committee are questioning the self-insurance switch and whether it would save the $60 million as Walker projects.
Under self-insurance, the state would manage health insurance for about 250,000 workers rather than having employees purchase it through HMOs.
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11:20 a.m.
A Republican state senator is questioning why Gov. Scott Walker tied an increase in K-12 education funding to compliance with the law known as Act 10.
Sen. Luther Olsen asked Walker’s budget director Tuesday at a public hearing about the budget provision. One part of the Act 10 law passed in 2011 required public workers to contribute more for their pensions and health insurance costs.
Olsen says he was trying to understand the logic of requiring schools to be in full compliance with the law to get more funding. Olsen says, “Are we sort of getting our nose in their business on how they manage their staff when they have managed the tools we have given them?”
State budget director Waylon Hurlburt says language could be tightened to make the intent more clear.
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11:05 a.m.
Republicans are questioning Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to move state workers into a self-insurance model.
The change is part of Walker’s two-year state budget that the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee began holding hearings on Tuesday.
Under the move, the state would pay, and assume the risk, of providing health insurance to about 250,000 state workers and family members. The state Group Insurance Board estimated the move could save $60 million over two years, money that Walker’s budget would direct toward K-12 schools and the University of Wisconsin.
Republicans question both whether the savings would be as high as estimated and why Walker tied that money to education.
Republican Rep. Mary Felzkowski says she felt like Walker was “backing us into a corner” on the issue and Rep. John Nygren called the proposal “one of our bigger concerns.”
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9:50 a.m.
Gov. Scott Walker’s top aide is defending his $76 billion budget proposal under questioning from lawmakers.
Department of Administration Secretary Scott Neitzel (NIGHT-soul) said Tuesday that the budget invests in the state’s priorities by sending more money to K-12 schools, cuts tuition at the University of Wisconsin and addresses the most pressing road and building maintenance needs.
But Republican Joint Finance Committee co-chair Rep. John Nygren is questioning whether Walker’s proposal to move to a self-insurance model for state employees makes sense. And Nygren is also questioning increasing borrowing to pay for roads and whether enough is being done to address maintenance and upkeep for state buildings.
Neitzel’s testimony is kicking off three days of agency briefings before the committee holds six public hearings over the next two weeks.
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7:55 a.m.
The Legislature’s public dissection of Gov. Scott Walker’s $76 billion state budget proposal is beginning.
Seven weeks after Walker unveiled his two-year spending plan, the Legislature’s budget-writing committee on Tuesday begins hearing directly from the state agencies affected. The three days of hearings kick-off the roughly two-month review of the budget by the Joint Finance Committee.
The biggest battles are expected over how to pay for roads and whether to go along with Walker’s $649 million increase for public schools.
The Republican-controlled panel will hear only from Walker appointees and other agency heads over the next three days. The public gets a chance to weigh in at six hearings throughout the state in April.
The budget committee is expected to begin taking votes to reshape Walker’s budget in early May.
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