Last week, the State Assembly convened in special session to address the state's current $600 million budget shortfall for our fiscal year ending June 30. This effort is separate from discussions on the governor's 2009-2011 budget, which also was introduced this week. The current budget gap is the result of state government spending outpacing tax revenues. In response, the Assembly voted on a budget repair bill that was crafted by Governor Doyle along with Senate and Assembly Democrats.
At first glance, the budget repair bill does contain some positive components that would benefit our state and deserve bipartisan support. It includes provisions that would expand the Angel Investment Tax Credit, Dairy Manufacturing Facility Tax Credit, Meat Processing Credit, and other economic development tools. I believe strongly that both Republicans and Democrats have to work together to create jobs and get our economy back on track. When the entire budget repair bill was considered, however, there were too many harmful provisions in it to support the full measure. At the end of the day, the bill does not do enough to reform our state budgeting practices or to create increased efficiencies between the 3,120 units of government in Wisconsin, and would hurt our state's economy in the long run.
In an effort to offer solutions to help solve our fiscal crisis, I introduced two amendments to the legislation that would have forced the state to stop harmful budget accounting tricks and saved taxpayers money by creating more efficiencies in our government. Rather than raising taxes on Wisconsin residents and businesses by $1.2 billion as the bill did, we need to take a much harder look at the way government is doing business in our state. Families and small businesses across Wisconsin are being forced to do things differently because of the economic crisis we are in and state government should not get a free pass and continue to push off our problems onto future generations.
More specifically, my first amendment would have changed the way the state is required to budget. Over the past few years, the state has employed a variety of budgeting gimmicks that have resulted in a continuously growing deficit. In fact, Wisconsin is one of only two states (Illinois and Wisconsin) with deficits in each of the past 10 years. In an effort to fix this, I introduced an amendment to the bill that would have forced the state to stop these harmful accounting practices by requiring the budget to be balanced based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) as well as requiring every agency to begin with a zero-based budget every 10 years. Both of these provisions are from the Truth in Budgeting Act that I introduced earlier this session. If enacted, these provisions would put our state back on the fiscal road to recovery and get our budget balance out of the red. Unfortunately, the reformed budgeting principles in my amendment were defeated.
In addition to GAAP accounting, I also introduced an amendment designed to create a Government Efficiencies Task Force. This task force would have been composed of 10 individuals from private-sector businesses charged with the task of finding efficiencies that the government could implement to save money. It was designed to mirror the recently announced partnership between Wisconsin and Minnesota, which is forecasted to save the state millions of dollars. If approved, this measure would have provided part of the answer to closing the budget gap, but, unfortunately, it was not passed.
As discussion on the next state budget continues, we must focus on ways to create and retain jobs in Wisconsin. According to a recent Forbes Magazine article, Wisconsin was rated as the eighth worst place to do business in the nation. We can and must reform the way we operate state government, so that when the economy does turn around, we are well positioned to grow our economy better than other states. We need to restore honest budgeting and be as efficient as possible. I am hopeful that both sides of the aisle can work together to enact these common sense measures as we move forward. We have a golden opportunity to get our state back on the right track and make sure Wisconsin remains a great place to live, work, and retire.
I want to hear from you, so please feel welcome to express your thoughts or let me know if I can be helpful to you in any way by calling (888) 534-0080, e-mailing me at Rep.Davis@legis.wi.gov or by writing or stopping by 11 West, State Capitol, Madison, WI 53708.
- Wisconsin State Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, serves the 80th Assembly District, which includes all of Green County and portions of Rock, Dane and Lafayette counties.
At first glance, the budget repair bill does contain some positive components that would benefit our state and deserve bipartisan support. It includes provisions that would expand the Angel Investment Tax Credit, Dairy Manufacturing Facility Tax Credit, Meat Processing Credit, and other economic development tools. I believe strongly that both Republicans and Democrats have to work together to create jobs and get our economy back on track. When the entire budget repair bill was considered, however, there were too many harmful provisions in it to support the full measure. At the end of the day, the bill does not do enough to reform our state budgeting practices or to create increased efficiencies between the 3,120 units of government in Wisconsin, and would hurt our state's economy in the long run.
In an effort to offer solutions to help solve our fiscal crisis, I introduced two amendments to the legislation that would have forced the state to stop harmful budget accounting tricks and saved taxpayers money by creating more efficiencies in our government. Rather than raising taxes on Wisconsin residents and businesses by $1.2 billion as the bill did, we need to take a much harder look at the way government is doing business in our state. Families and small businesses across Wisconsin are being forced to do things differently because of the economic crisis we are in and state government should not get a free pass and continue to push off our problems onto future generations.
More specifically, my first amendment would have changed the way the state is required to budget. Over the past few years, the state has employed a variety of budgeting gimmicks that have resulted in a continuously growing deficit. In fact, Wisconsin is one of only two states (Illinois and Wisconsin) with deficits in each of the past 10 years. In an effort to fix this, I introduced an amendment to the bill that would have forced the state to stop these harmful accounting practices by requiring the budget to be balanced based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) as well as requiring every agency to begin with a zero-based budget every 10 years. Both of these provisions are from the Truth in Budgeting Act that I introduced earlier this session. If enacted, these provisions would put our state back on the fiscal road to recovery and get our budget balance out of the red. Unfortunately, the reformed budgeting principles in my amendment were defeated.
In addition to GAAP accounting, I also introduced an amendment designed to create a Government Efficiencies Task Force. This task force would have been composed of 10 individuals from private-sector businesses charged with the task of finding efficiencies that the government could implement to save money. It was designed to mirror the recently announced partnership between Wisconsin and Minnesota, which is forecasted to save the state millions of dollars. If approved, this measure would have provided part of the answer to closing the budget gap, but, unfortunately, it was not passed.
As discussion on the next state budget continues, we must focus on ways to create and retain jobs in Wisconsin. According to a recent Forbes Magazine article, Wisconsin was rated as the eighth worst place to do business in the nation. We can and must reform the way we operate state government, so that when the economy does turn around, we are well positioned to grow our economy better than other states. We need to restore honest budgeting and be as efficient as possible. I am hopeful that both sides of the aisle can work together to enact these common sense measures as we move forward. We have a golden opportunity to get our state back on the right track and make sure Wisconsin remains a great place to live, work, and retire.
I want to hear from you, so please feel welcome to express your thoughts or let me know if I can be helpful to you in any way by calling (888) 534-0080, e-mailing me at Rep.Davis@legis.wi.gov or by writing or stopping by 11 West, State Capitol, Madison, WI 53708.
- Wisconsin State Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, serves the 80th Assembly District, which includes all of Green County and portions of Rock, Dane and Lafayette counties.
