Conservatively Speaking

2009-10 legislative session mercifully ends

Posted by Mary Lazich on April 23, 2010

Legislation

Results of the 2009-10 session show Wisconsin taxed more, Wisconsin spent more, Wisconsin was more hostile to business, and Wisconsin did little to create jobs and revive its sputtering economy.

A review of the disappointing session must begin with the 2009-11 state budget that increased spending 9.4 percent during a recession. The budget eliminated the QEO, the Qualified Economic Offer causing school property tax levies for 2009-10 to increase six percent according to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance that also reports the tax increases from the 2009 budget adjustment bill plus the tax increases in the 2009-11 state budget total $3.03 billion. Wisconsin’s current deficit according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau this biennium is $10 million. The next biennium, the structural deficit is $2.3 billion.

Jobs.  Getting the unemployed back to work should have been the top priority of the Legislature. According to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Wisconsin lost over 163,000 jobs since the start of the recession during 2007. Between January 2009 and January 2010, Wisconsin lost 113,600 jobs.  During the same period, the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis area lost 39,800 jobs. The Legislature did nothing to spur job growth or jump start our sluggish economy.

Global warming legislation. A study of comprehensive green policies in Spain noted they are “terribly economically counterproductive” and that the “green jobs” agenda “in fact kills jobs.” Spain’s experience pinpointed as a model by President Obama can be expected to result in a loss of 2.2 jobs for every job created, or nearly 9 jobs lost for every four created. The massive global warming bill before the state Legislature contained dramatic provisions that would have had serious ramifications for our economy and business climate. The good news is that the bill died.

Election system overhaul.  Problematic legislation that would have allowed on-line voter registration and automatic voter registration at the time of driver license registration, an open invitation to voter fraud, also died.

Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs). RTAs managed by members that are unelected and unaccountable to the taxpaying public enjoy wide powers. An RTA may operate a transportation system or provide for its operation by contracting with a public or private organization and impose a half percent sales tax. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has reported that a half-cent sales tax increase to fund RTAs would cost about $172 per household a year.I oppose the creation of boards or authorities with appointed members having taxing power.  This is taxation without representation. I was pleased RTA legislation died.

High speed rail.  During February 2010, the Joint Finance Committee voted along party lines to approve spending over $800 million in federal stimulus money to construct a high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee. The cost of the rail line is equivalent to two Miller Parks. You may recall the contentious debate about Miller Park took several months. Yet in less than one half-hour, the JFC debated and voted to approve a likely huge boondoggle. Because the federal allotment for the rail line is nearly $8-million short of expenses, there is a deficit to the project. Job creation claims made by proponents are dubious. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, “Only 55 permanent jobs would be created to operate and maintain the trains, tracks and stations, starting in 2013, the application says.”

Waste and fraud. A Pulitzer Prize winning series by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found rampant fraud in Wisconsin Shares, the state subsidized child care program. A Legislative Audit Bureau review found even more problems. Yet Wisconsin kept creating or expanding health care programs, making bold unaffordable promises. Making unreasonable pledges the state could not keep was a disturbing trend during the session. I called for an audit of the huge $6 billion Medical Assistance program.  Democrats blocked the audit at every turn.

Sex education.  Wisconsin enacted a law that guts abstinence education and paves the way for a radical expansion of the kinds of issues that can be discussed in human growth and development classes. Governor Doyle signed legislation into law that will require public schools that teach sex education to include instruction about the use of condoms and discussion about sexually transmitted diseases. The new law will be a dramatic departure from current procedures and is sure to anger and upset many parents. State government should not be telling local school districts and parents it knows best, especially about an issue as sensitive as sex education.

The true highlights of the session were actually the many lowlights. The message I heard loudly and clearly during the session was, how can the state keep taxing and spending at high levels during a recession?  We cannot tax and spend our way to economic recovery. We must put a stop to expanding current state programs and/or creating new ones until we get our fiscal house in order.  Wisconsinites that expected economic remedies from the Legislature were deeply disappointed by the general legislative session.