The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (File photo: WRN)
Members of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee are holding the first of four public hearings on the state budget today.
Lawmakers are taking public testimony in Brillion, located just south of Green Bay. JFC co-chair John Nygren (R-Marinette) says it’s a chance for people to offer their thoughts on Governor Scott Walker’s proposed biennial budget, rather than an opportunity for politicians to “drone on and on, or pontificate about how they support issues in the budget, or oppose issues in the budget.”
The Finance Committee will hold three more public hearings, which will take place in Milwaukee on Thursday, and in Rice Lake and Reedsburg next week. Nygren says this follows what the panel has done during the past three budgets by holding hearings in the four corners of the state.
Many lawmakers are also holding listening sessions in their own districts and Democrats have announced a series of additional public hearings they will be holding. Nygren says all of that information will help guide lawmakers as they begin rewriting the governor’s budget later this spring.
You can watch the hearings live at wiseye.org