Here & Now; 747

June 19, 2009

Here and Now, budget in senate, Ted Kanavas soundbite - 'This is silly. It's a complete, huge mistake.' A war of words on the floor of the State Senate Wednesday. Later that night the Senate version of the budget passed. Now on to conference committee. , budget in senate,Dave Hansen soundbite - 'Did you want to cut public education by another 15% by not accepting federal money or not finding sources of revenue?' A war of words on the floor of the State Senate Wednesday. Later that night the Senate version of the budget passed. Now on to conference committee. , assembly compared to senate budget, But first, a-side-by-side comparision of the Assembly version of the budget versus the Senate version on some key issues. On the matter of taxing oil companies, Governor Doyle and the Assembly wanted to do just that...but assembly language allows the tax to be passed on at the pump. The Senate eliminated the oil tax altogether. Governor Jim Doyle re-iterates his desire for the tax with a no-pass-through provision, telling us: 'People question the legality of preventing big oil companies from passing this tax on to consumers, but no one has been able to explain what the legal challenge would actually be. In fact, Puerto Rico has a no-pass through provision that has been upheld by the U-S Supreme Court.' The Governor and the Assembly wanted to reduce the current 60-percent capital gains income tax exlusion to 40-percent. The senate voted to remove -all- capital gains exclusions, except for the sale of farm property...That, to raise more than 485-million dollars in state tax revenue over the next two years. . For his part the governor says: 'A marginal adjustment to the capitol gains exemption...is the most reasonable option--not dropping the exemption entirely.' Finally, money for the Justice Department. The Assembly version restored five-point-four million dollars that the joint finance committee had cut. But, the Senate plan also eliminates the money. , school choice accountability measures, Governor Jim Doyle's budget plan called accountability measures for the more than 120 private schools in the Milwaukee Choice program (requiring bachelor's degrees for teachers, to standardized tests, academic standards and academic audits.) Legislature has modified some of the governor's measures and awaits final budget passage. A man instrumental in the process and a national leader of the school choice movement joins us now. Former Milwaukee Public schools superintendent and current director at the Marquette University center for the transformation of learning, Howard Fuller. , W-2 update / changes, W-2 is short for Wisconsin Works, state's replacement for welfare. A decade ago, news organizations came from around the world to chronicle the program's creation...as the nation's model for welfare reform. And some of the early participants were near celebrities.Since W-2 is possibly in for some changes, In Wisconsin Producer Art Hackett, who covered the development of the program from the beginning, thought it was a good time to ask the question of what then, Governor Thompson called , the 'pioneers of welfare to work.' , W-2 update / changes, Proposed state budget provisions change the W-2 program in a number of ways -- including extending from two to five years the length someone can be in the program, potentially -eliminating- 'Learnfare', which cuts benefits of W-2 families if their children don't go to school, and there would be changes to sanctions for breaking program rules. W-2 costs the state more than 325-million dollars over two years. Wisconsin Works falls under the state's Department of Children and Families. The Secretary of the departmentjoins us now, Reggie Bicha. , shared revenue, You might wonder just how your own -local- government is faring under the budget knives at the capitol...Well, the aid that the state gives counties and cities and towns, is expected to take a three-and-a-half percent cut...other cuts to county human services are also in the mix. Local government is feeling the pinch according to Mark O'Connell. Executive Director of the Wisconsin Counties association. , limits on state investigations into corruption, Another item in the Senate version of the budget would strip the 'sum sufficient' or 'however much it takes' funding for state investigations into government corruption or wrong-doing. Instead, the Government Accountibility Board would be limited to $31,000 annually for such probes.Here's reaction to that from Jay Heck of Common Cause in WIsconsin. , Behind Closed Doors, Peter Leidy throws a musical pie at the Democrats for doing much of the state's budget work so far in private caucus. He re-works the 1970s Charlie Rich country hit, Behind Closed Doors.