Wisconsin 2015-17 Budget
The Legislature’s budget writing committee takes its first votes Wednesday on Governor Scott Walker’s proposed state budget.
After having had public hearings and agency briefings, it’s time for the Joint Finance Committee to start voting on Wisconsin’s two-year budget.
John Nygren (R-Marinette) is co-chair of the powerful panel. “The governor’s budget deals with hundreds of thousands of issues; I believe over 1,700 pages, documents, some of them big, some of them small.”
The committee will consider the most controversial budget items last, including the governor’s billion dollar borrowing package for highway construction and his $300 million funding cut for the University of Wisconsin System.
Among the first items on the docket is whether to continue winnowing down the Secretary of State’s limited powers and to eliminate the State Treasurer’s office. Lawmakers will also talk about what policy items they want to take out of the budget.
JFC will hold between 10-and-14 executive hearings, Nygren says, before finishing up by Memorial Day.
The final committee package will then go to the Legislature where some final changes could be made.