Although the governor and legislature were of the same party, the 2015-17 state budget’s road to enactment was at times bumpy. The two branches were at odds over U.W. funding and control, K-12 school aids, as well as the future of transportation finance in Wisconsin. Among the budget’s most significant changes, it makes permanent both statewide school choice and a major technical college funding change. Among scores of nonfiscal items were changes to town incorporation and prevailing wage laws.
When it comes to Wisconsin government, no bill is more costly, more closely watched, and more debated than the state budget. One reason is that it is the only bill that must be enacted.
In recent decades, legislative consideration of free-standing bills has declined, as budget bills have grown to thousands of pages. Their scope extends far beyond immediate tax and spending issues that once characterized budgets.
The 2015-17 budget, now part of state law as Act 55, is illustrative. One of the governor’s proposals, set aside by the legislature, would have fundamentally changed how the University of Wisconsin (U.W.) System was governed. He and the legislature collaborated on making statewide school choice permanent. They also made permanent a major policy change begun last year that shifts the bulk of technical college funding from local property to state income and sales taxes.
At the same time, no issue was too small or too local for the new budget. A few examples: It provides a new way for towns to incorporate; alters prevailing wage law for public construction projects; and expands the powers of the Milwaukee County Executive.
An interesting departure of the 2015-17 budget from deliberations during 2011-14 were differences between the governor and legislature, even though they were of the same party. In addition to U.W. funding and control, they disagreed over the future of transportation finance in Wisconsin: Should debt service on borrowing rise to unprecedented levels? Should gas taxes or vehicle fees be increased? Should major highway projects be delayed? No common ground was found on the first two options, leaving only the third option.