Budget Committee Approves Several Walker Proposals, Introduces New Measures

The Legislature’s budget committee voted on a number of proposals in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget Tuesday, approving cuts to the state’s recycling program and an alcohol abuse treatment program.

Lawmakers also incorporated measures Walker hadn’t originally proposed into the budget, including ones to increase the pay of prosecutors and public defenders, and to restrict Dane County from making decisions about its own water quality standards.

The recycling program cut that Republican committee members voted through reduces funding for local governments from $20 million to $16 million in the first year of Walker’s budget. The funding would be restored in the second year.

“I think what we are really trying to do is make the decisions that are going to put us in a good position for the beginning of the budget next year,” said Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, who was among those who supported the measure.

Madison Democratic Rep. Chris Taylor, however, said any cut to recycling was shortsighted.

“Who’s saying ‘recycle less’? I have never heard that argument. Ever,” she said.

It’s not the first time Walker has cut recycling grants. The state used to spend about $30 million a year on the program before Walker was elected.

Lawmakers also voted down party lines to approve a $1.4 million cut to a Department of Transportation program that funds alcohol abuse treatment for people charged with a second or subsequent OWI. Taylor, as she did with the cut to the recycling program, argued against the plan, saying that cost was minimal compared to the high cost of drunken driving in Wisconsin.

“The cost to people who are injured. The cost to family members who are killed by drunk drivers. This is a critical, critical issue,” said Taylor.

Walker’s budget would not end the program itself, instead transferring it to the Department of Health Services. Committee Co-Chair Alberta Darling said DHS would find a way to pay for it.

“If the Department says, ‘Hey, we can’t do this,’ they can always come back to us and ask for more money when we have more money,” said Darling.

Not included in Walker’s budget proposal was the $1 million that committee members unanimously voted to set aside in order to give 2-percent raises to prosecutors and public defenders in Wisconsin.

District attorneys have argued that they’re both overworked and underpaid. Committee Chairman John Nygren said that the money addresses part of the problem.

“We didn’t have enough dollars to fund every single DA position that’s needed in Wisconsin. So rather than us picking winners or losers, we went with the pay progression,” he said.

Taylor said she supported it because at least it was something.

“But honestly, it’s a pittance. It really is,” she said.

The committee did agree with Walker’s plan to add 35 public defenders, a move that’s expected to save money since the state won’t be spending extra on private attorneys to represent the indigent.

Republicans on the committee also approved a newly introduced proposal to prevent Dane County from making decisions about its own water quality standards. The GOP plan would require the Department of Natural Resources to handle water quality management decisions that cover issues like wastewater and sewage treatment, while banning the department from working with Dane County.

Sen. Howard Marklein, whose district does not include Dane County, said the move was about speeding up decisions that affect economic development.

“In the economic development business, the unknown costs a lot of money. Waiting months and months and months for a decision is expensive,” he said.

The move caught Dane County lawmakers like Middleton Sen. Jon Erpenbach by surprise.

“For the big government legislators out there who say state government’s too damn big, this is why,” he said.

The proposal was added to the budget on a party-line vote less than an hour after it was made public.

The committee’s co-chairs also announced earlier in day that they wouldn’t support Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to turn the University of Wisconsin System into a public authority.