MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on the state agency briefings to the Legislature’s budget-writing committee (all times local):
10 p.m.
Gov. Scott Walker is tweeting his opposition to raising gas taxes while Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee is discussing doing just that.
Walker reiterated his opposition to a gas tax hike late Wednesday night as the Joint Finance Committee budget briefing focused on how to pay for road projects. Some Republicans voiced support for at least considering gas and vehicle fee increases as part of a long-term funding solution, rather than borrow half a billion dollars and delay projects as Walker proposed.
But Walker tweets, “Let’s be clear. I don’t support spending less on K-12 education than what’s in my budget and I will veto a gas tax increase.”
Republican Sens. Luther Olsen and Alberta Darling both say in the hearing that solving the roads funding problem will be the most difficult problem in the budget this year.
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9:05 p.m.
Republicans are pressing the head of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation about what the state’s long term plan is for paying for roads.
Sen. Alberta Darling is co-chair of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. She says the state has been “kicking the can down the road” and the time is now to figure out a funding plan. Darling says, “We cannot just keep putting off projects.”
And fellow Republican Rep. Dale Kooyenga says there needs to be a serious conversation about increasing taxes or fees to pay for roads.
But Gov. Scott Walker is steadfastly opposed to increasing taxes or fees to pay for roads.
Transportation Department Secretary Dave Ross says he understands anger about delayed projects.
Darling says finding a solution to transportation funding is “probably going to be the biggest challenge in this budget.”
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8 p.m.
Republican lawmakers are questioning Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to cap a popular historic tax credit program at $10 million a year.
Joint Finance Committee co-chair Rep. John Nygren asked the state’s chief economic development official Wednesday what the rationale was to limit credits under the program.
Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Secretary Mark Hogan says the cap was proposed “so we can get the best value out of those dollars.”
Walker called for the same limit two years ago, but was brushed back by the Legislature after a forceful lobbying effort by a coalition of development, municipal and historic preservation groups. The same coalition is regrouping for another fight this year.
Nygren is also raising concerns that only a handful of projects under the program were in the northern third of the state.
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7:15 p.m.
Republicans on the Legislature’s budget-writing committee aren’t showing much love for Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed sales tax holiday.
Two GOP senators during a Wednesday briefing referred to the proposed sales tax holiday as a gimmick.
Walker wants to forgive sales taxes on some back-to-school items for a weekend in August each of the next two years. It’s projected to reduce state tax collections by $11 million.
But Sen. Luther Olsen says he’s concerned about the loss of sales tax revenue for local governments. Both he and Sen. Howard Marklein say they’re worried about the hassle for small businesses to reprogram their cash registers for the temporary tax change.
Marklein says, “I think it’s a gimmick, totally, and not worth it.”
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7 p.m.
No more auditors.
That’s the message the co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee is delivering to Gov. Scott Walker’s Revenue Department secretary.
Republican Rep. John Nygren said during a Wednesday budget briefing that he is not in favor of the department adding auditors. Revenue Department Secretary Rick Chandler says the addition of 49 new positions will not be used for auditing Wisconsin businesses.
Republican Sen. Luther Olsen is also questioning the effect of a proposed sales tax holiday for back-to-school shopping. He calls it a “gimmick” that will hurt local governments that will also lose sales tax revenue. He says local governments should either be exempt or be reimbursed.
Olsen says the better move would be to cut the sales tax rate so everyone could benefit.
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6:50 p.m.
Gov. Scott Walker’s Revenue Department secretary is defending a manufacturing tax credit that’s cost far more than originally expected.
Revenue Department Secretary Rick Chandler told lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee on Wednesday that the manufacturing and ag tax credit has helped led to an increase of 31,000 manufacturing jobs in the state since 2011. The tax credit was passed in 2011 but took effect in 2013. It’s projected to cost $1.4 billion by mid-2019. It’s costing more than twice as much as originally estimated now that it’s fully implemented.
Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz pressed Chandler for evidence that growth in manufacturing jobs the past six years was due to the credit. Hintz says, “You can’t point to any evidence thins was remotely effective.”
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3:50 p.m.
The top health official in Wisconsin says the 64,000 adults who lost food stamp benefits because they didn’t meet a work requirement made a deliberate choice and “I don’t think we kicked anybody off.”
Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Linda Seemeyer made the comment Wednesday during testimony before the Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.
Seemeyer was being asked by Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz about the people who lost their benefits under the FoodShare program since April 2015. That’s when a state law took effect requiring childless adults to work at least 80 hours a month.
Walker wants to expand a version of that work requirement to adults with children. While 64,000 have lost their benefits the past two years, 21,000 able-bodied food stamp recipients have found work.
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2:50 p.m.
Gov. Scott Walker’s head of the state Department of Health Services won’t guarantee that the popular SeniorCare prescription drug program will continue beyond 2019.
Linda Seemeyer was asked about the future of SeniorCare during her testimony Wednesday before the Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. She refused to say whether the program would continue beyond the current two-year budget, which runs through the end of June 2019.
Seemeyer says “I would be irresponsible if I gave you a guarantee about something I don’t know is going to happen in the future.”
SeniorCare is one of the most protected programs in state government because of its popularity. Past attempts by Gov. Scott Walker to require participants to first enroll for less generous benefits through Medicare Part D have been rejected.
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2:20 p.m.
Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Linda Seemeyer says the state should be rewarded for rejecting federal money to expand Medicaid.
Seemeyer testified Wednesday before the Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. Gov. Scott Walker rejected the Medicaid expansion money and instead took a hybrid approach to make sure everyone at poverty level or below was covered.
Democrats have repeatedly called on Walker to accept the expansion money, but he’s said that’s too risky.
Seemeyer says the state has been a model and “Wisconsin should be rewarded for its behavior and we will continue to pound the drum.”
Walker has focused efforts on forcing some Medicaid recipients to be looking for work and be tested for drugs or face losing benefits.
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1:50 p.m.
Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Secretary Dan Zimmerman says the embattled King veterans home is a “gem” and has been unfairly maligned.
Zimmerman testified Wednesday before the Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. He clashed with Democratic state Rep. Katrina Shankland, saying that “morale is not low at King.” He says the staff has been unfairly criticized and they are passionate about addressing issues at the home.
Shankland says heard “some of the worst stories I’ve ever heard” from workers at King. She says their mental health is on the line as they are forced to work overtime on low pay.
Zimmerman promises that his top priority is increasing staffing at King and reducing forced overtime.
Around 700 residents receive care at King, which provides them with nursing, counseling and social activities. The facility has been plagued by allegations of mismanagement.
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11:20 a.m.
Democrats on the Legislature’s budget committee are ripping Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel for spending $10,000 to create coins emblazoned with “Kicking Ass Every Day.”
Schimel appeared Wednesday before the Joint Finance Committee to answer questions about the Department of Justice’s budget. Sen. Jon Erpenbach asked him if he thought it was a good idea to spend the money on the coins.
Schimel says the coins are given as gifts to boost employee morale. He says he wanted a catchy phrase and DOJ workers go above and beyond in their work. He says most of the feedback he’s gotten on the coins has been positive.
He did say he didn’t know the coins cost $10,000, however, and he’s putting what he called higher levels of approval before such expenditures are made. He didn’t elaborate.
Sen. Lena Taylor implored Schimel to lead and she doesn’t need $10,000 in coins.
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10:25 a.m.
A Democrat on the Legislature’s budget committee is taking Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel to task, accusing him of being soft on polluters and wasting taxpayer dollars challenging federal laws.
Schimel appeared Wednesday before the Joint Finance Committee to answer questions about the Department of Justice’s budget. Rep. Katrina Shankland criticized him for working with polluters rather than levying stiff forfeitures and issuing a legal opinion that state regulators lack the authority to consider high-capacity wells’ cumulative impacts on state waters.
She also chastised him for challenging federal laws, including Obama’s health care changes as his rules on immigration and transgender bathroom use.
Schimel countered that he has leveraged concessions from polluters that will make the state cleaner, concessions he couldn’t have gotten if he’d just slapped them with fines and his federal challenges were all approved by either Gov. Scott Walker or the Legislature.
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10 a.m.
Attorney General Brad Schimel is telling the Legislature’s budget committee that the state Department of Justice is sending 200 untested sexual assault kits to a lab per month.
Schimel appeared before the Joint Finance Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about DOJ operations and how Gov. Scott Walker’s 2017-19 budget would affect the agency.
More than 6,000 sexual assault evidence kits were sitting untested on Wisconsin shelves in 2014 for a variety of reasons. Prosecutors may have decided a case was too weak to justify testing or victims refused to cooperate. A USA Today Network investigation in 2015 found at least 70,000 untested kits nationwide.
Law enforcement officials see the kits as an avenue toward developing DNA profiles.
DOJ has sent in 450 kits for testing so far and is sending in batches of 200 per month. He says the receiving lab is one of only two in the country that perform such testing.
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8:30 a.m.
The Wisconsin Legislature’s budget-writing committee is tackling roads funding, tax cuts and Medicaid on the second of three days of state agency briefings.
The Joint Finance Committee on Tuesday was also to hear from Attorney General Brad Schimel and the new secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Roads funding is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in Walker’s budget this year, as some Republicans are pushing for tax and fee increases to be considered while Walker wants to borrow more and delay some highway projects.
Walker’s budget would cut income and property taxes and institute a sales-tax holiday for two days in August for back-to-school supplies.
The committee was also slated to discuss Walker’s plan to require parents receiving food stamps to get a job or be enrolled in job training.
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