Wisconsin lawmakers will miss budget deadline as talks slow

MADISON - State officials have already missed their deadline to pass a budget — it's just that not everyone has realized it yet. 

GOP lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker can still make a respectable showing compared to the budgets passed by previous Legislatures and governors. But it's too late to pass a bill and get Walker to sign it before the state's current budget runs out on June 30 — a mere five days hence.

Senate and Assembly leaders have reached a general agreement on increasing funding for rural school districts with small budgets. But there's still no deal yet on other key disagreements such as transportation and taxes. 

"It's an artificial deadline," said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), who readily acknowledges that the budget will be late. "I'm not worried about it."

The good news for state residents: When a two-year budget in Wisconsin expires, the state keeps running on its old tax and spending provisions until a new one is passed. That means there's no reason for panic when the state finds itself without a budget on July 1.

The bad news: There's no final deal yet on the budget and the Legislature's budget committee didn't even meet last week. 

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When an agreement is reached, it typically would need two weeks of hard work to make it through the Legislature and be signed by Walker, according to a review of past budget timelines compiled by the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office. 

Over the past 10 budgets going back to 1997, three have passed by July 1, three have passed later in July and four have been late by two months or more. The long-delayed budgets, however, have come during a time of divided government between Democrats and Republicans, not during times when one party controlled the statehouse.

The motions in the budget committee have to be turned into the legislative language of an actual bill and then be analyzed by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Then the Senate and Assembly will have to vote on the bill. If their versions don't match, the budget would go to a conference committee to reconcile them. 

Then, Walker will consider whether to veto the bill in whole or in part — a process that usually takes several days, given the uniquely powerful veto pen held by Wisconsin governors. 

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Republicans have made progress on K-12 schools and that he still hoped to get a deal in the budget committee before July 4.

"I feel good about education," Fitzgerald said. 

Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, agreed there'd been progress on how to help the rural schools that spend the least on students. 

"We have a general agreement on low-revenue (schools)," Nygren said. 

Assembly Republicans had wanted to loosen state limits so low-spending districts can raise local property taxes. But Senate Republicans and Walker wanted to see a smaller state-funded increase that wouldn't drive up local taxes.

While state schools average about $10,400 in revenue per student under the limits, some districts can take in and spend only a little over $9,100 per pupil. 

Under the tentative agreement, low-spending districts would be able to raise up to $9,300 per pupil in state aid and property taxes in the first year of the budget and raise up to $9,400 in the second year. 

To hold down property taxes, the state would kick in an extra $4.6 million in aid to local schools in the first year and more than $17 million in the second year. 

No budget deal is certain until it's actually approved. But the agreement would help low-revenue schools as Assembly Republicans want and would also meet the property tax goals of Walker and GOP senators. 

But elsewhere in the budget, serious differences remain over how to pay for highway construction in the state. 

Walker and Senate Republicans oppose raising gasoline taxes to cover long-term shortfalls in funding. The governor wants to delay some projects and borrow $500 million to cover others, repaying the loans with money from the gasoline tax. 

Senate Republicans want to borrow an additional $350 million and repay that money using income and sales taxes normally used to pay for schools and health care. 

But GOP leaders in the Assembly are adamantly opposed to more loans for roads, saying the state needs to find a sustainable source of revenue for highway projects.

"I think that's going to be the biggest stumbling block going forward in passing a budget," Nygren said. 

Walker has pushed to get the budget done, holding events at schools around the state to tout his investments in education and lower property taxes. 

"Governor Walker’s message is clear: 'Get it done,'" spokesman Tom Evenson said. 

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said there's little harm in passing the budget a few days late. But letting it linger too long creates uncertainty for school districts working on next year's budgets, he said. 

"If it gets into late July, it's different," he said. "It's a big deal."