Advertisement Leaders postponed debate on the 2009-11 spending plan from today until Thursday because Rep. Ann Hraychuck, D-Balsam Lake, is traveling because of the death of her mother-in-law.
The delay shows just how difficult it is for Democrats to muster the 50 votes needed to pass the two-year, $62.2 billion budget bill. The proposal closes a $6.6 billion budget shortfall by raising taxes by $2.1 billion and cutting state programs and local government aid by $905 million.
“They’ve got a razor-thin margin for this budget and they may have a few people who are wavering,” Ed Miller, a UW-Stevens Point political scientist, said of Assembly Democrats. “If it wasn’t close, they wouldn’t delay.”
Democrats hold a 52-46 majority in the Assembly, with one independent.
No Republicans are expected to vote for the budget, and one Democrat has said he likely won’t vote for it. That means 50 of the remaining 51 Democrats, or 49 Democrats and the lone independent, must vote in favor to pass it.
Democrats are facing pressure from business groups and others over the budget. Sticking points include:
• A tax on oil companies, which some lawmakers say could hurt local cooperatives that sell gasoline and pass on profits to members. The provision includes language preventing the companies from passing the tax to consumers, which some lawmakers say may be unconstitutional.
• Changes that could make it easier for plaintiffs in negligence lawsuits to collect full damages from individuals or businesses when more than one person or group is being sued.
• School aid cuts and other changes that effectively fall harder on some low-income districts.
In votes behind closed doors late Tuesday night, Assembly Democrats voted to make several changes to the budget, said Rebekah Sweeney, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Mike Sherdian, D-Janesville.
The changes would delete budget provisions that would have:
Democrats voted not to make changes to a controversial provision that would require private projects that receive public money to pay workers the prevailing wage, Sweeney said. She said no vote totals were available.
Also Tuesday, the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office reported that of the eight cities in Dane County, seven, including Madison, would see a cut of 15 percent in their state aid under the bill. Stoughton would see a cut of 10.2 percent.
For Madison, the cut amounts to $1.1 million; the total cuts for Dane County cities and the county itself equal about $1.8 million, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau found.
Statewide, the cuts to local government aid average 3.5 percent but the decreases are bigger in Dane County because of the way the state aid formula treats the relatively wealthy communities here.
The Fiscal Bureau also reported Tuesday that the 2009-2011 budget proposal would leave state leaders with a $2.26 billion budget hole to fix in the 2011-2013 budget — the largest since the $2.87 billion shortfall lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle faced going into the 2003-2005 budget. That’s because the state will need to make up for the huge amount of federal stimulus money that has flowed into the state — money that will not be available again unless Congress acts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
