Talks to begin soon for state budget

Eliminating a cap on teacher raises, creating domestic partner benefits for state workers and allowing University of Wisconsin faculty to collectively bargain were all taken out of Gov. Jim Doyle's budget proposal under an agreement announced Friday.

The 48 policy items removed can be passed as separate bills, but that makes their path to becoming law much more difficult.

The agreement on which items to take out of the two-year spending plan announced by co-chairs of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee clears the path for that panel to begin taking votes on the proposal starting next week.

The items removed include nearly $18 million in fee increases, $42 million in fund transfers and $32 million in transfers out of the state's transportation fund, said Joint Finance Committee co-chair Rep. Kitty Rhoades, R-Hudson, who called the action a victory for taxpayers.

The other co-chair, Democratic Sen. Russ Decker of Schofield, said the agreement created a "fair and balanced starting point" for the committee to start crafting the $58 billion two-year budget.

Among the proposals taken out of the budget include:

creating a fund of an unspecified amount that could be tapped for public financing of campaigns.

extending domestic partner health insurance benefits for state workers.

eliminating the so-called qualified economic offer, a requirement that teacher salaries and benefits rise no more than 3.8 percent a year.

allowing faculty and staff at the University of Wisconsin the right to collective bargaining.

requiring high school students finish three years of math and science classes, instead of two, in order to graduate.

Items that remain in the budget include major Doyle proposals such as increasing the cigarette tax $1.25 per pack, a tax on hospital revenues and a tax on oil company profits, which critics argue will be passed along to consumers at the pump.

Doyle spokesman Matt Canter called the action a positive step and the governor is hopeful it is a sign of future bipartisan cooperation.

However, Doyle will continue to fight for passage of those items that were taken out of the budget, Canter said. Repealing the teacher salary cap, known as the QEO, remains a priority, Canter said.

Removing those items that remain in the budget bill will require a majority vote of the committee, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. If the vote is a tie, the items remain.

The committee's drafting of a budget plan is only one step in a long, and often prolonged process, that many expect to require a conference committee to work out differences. Resolution could take months and go beyond when the new budget is supposed to take effect on July 1.

In order to become law, an identical budget, likely to be worked out by a conference committee, must clear both the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled Assembly, and be signed by Gov. Jim Doyle. The governor also has broad veto power over individual items in the budget.