Committee is set to wrap up work today on new state budget

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The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee is expected to make its final recommendations today on the proposed state budget.

It’s going to be a long day, as the panel will consider dozens of Gov. Jim Doyle’s most controversial proposals.

The committee canceled a public meeting Wednesday, after spending nine hours behind closed doors.

Co-chairman Mark Pocan said there were delays in drafting motions to consider.

But he said there’s a general agreement among the majority Democrats on the panel about the issues which are yet to be resolved.

Pocan says the committee will approve Doyle’s plan to reduce state aid to schools for the first time in years, slapping a new tax on oil company profits and cutting state spending.

The panel will also a higher income tax bracket for families making more than $300,000 a year, plus a 75-cent cigarette tax hike, a 75-cent monthly surcharge on all phones, early releases for non-violent prisoners, more lenient rules for the W-2 Welfare-to-Work program, a rating system for child care centers, and having just one license plate for vehicles instead of two.

Those measures and others would help cover an expected revenue shortfall of $6.6 billion over the next two years.

Twelve Democrats and four Republicans are on the finance panel and many budget measures have passed on strict party-line votes, with the GOP voting no.

Tags: state budget, joint finance committee, wisconsin