Category: State news

Because of the budget impasse, the Governor warns that we could see a partial shutdown of state government.

Just one day after the state Assembly voted against his new budget proposal, Governor Jim Doyle says a partial shutdown might be needed in order to “plan for the disaster” caused by the inaction of the legislature.

MADISON â?? Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle warned Tuesday he might have to partially shut down state government unless lawmakers break their impasse over the state budget soon.

University of Wisconsin System campuses might not be able to open for the second semester because theyâ??ll run out of money in April, Doyle said. State employees might be temporarily laid off, he said, among many other possibilities.

Gov. Jim Doyle today warned of plans to possibly shut down parts of state government if lawmakers can’t reach a budget agreement.

“My administration is preparing for serious consequences of not having a budget. I am reviewing options to deal with this emergency,” said Gov. Doyle. He said he’s asking his cabinet secretaries to tell him what services are essential, and what can be frozen

A day after Assembly Republicans rejected his “compromise” state budget proposal, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle today warned that “the threat of a government shutdown remains very real.”

During a press conference this afternoon, Doyle alternated between warnings of dire consequences if lawmakers don’t pass a budget soon — including the possibility of a partial government shutdown and closing University of Wisconsin campuses — to more cautious appraisals of the situation.

The budget impasse remains, with the Democrat-controlled state Senate having passed Gov. Jim Doyleâ??s budget Monday, and the Republican-controlled state Assembly having rejected it.

The Wisconsin Legislature will convene in a special session today in an attempt to pass the 2007-09 Wisconsin state budget.

The Wisconsin Legislature failed to pass the 2007-09 state budget Monday after spending eight hours in a special session at the Capitol.

The path ahead for the stalled state budget was left in the dark Monday night as two Democrats and all but one Republican in the state Assembly voted to reject a compromise proposal by Gov. Jim Doyle, defeating the plan on a 53-44 vote.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s revised state budget passed the Senate but died in the Assembly late Monday, casting the Capitol impasse over taxes into a 108th day today.

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosseâ??s request to charge more for tuition in order to hire more faculty and increase student enrollment has had a tough time from legislators.

Senate Democrats didnâ??t like it. Assembly Republicans were cool to it.

MADISON â?? An attempt to end the budget impasse that has left Wisconsin as the only state without a new spending plan failed Monday night when the Republican-led Assembly rejected the so-called compromise offered by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

The Democratic-controlled Senate passed the bill earlier Monday on a partisan vote. But opponents in the Assembly said the bill had about $1 billion in new taxes and was unacceptable.

The Wisconsin Legislature will convene in a special session today in an attempt to pass the 2007-09 Wisconsin state budget.

Dear Editor: I have written to Rep. Steve Nass to request that he desist in his campaign against the University of Wisconsin System. I believe he should respect the competency and professionalism of his fellow state employees as well as the students.

We “leftist” students, faculty members, and administrators are one of the great symbols of Wisconsin. The last thing we need is another Joe McCarthy blacklisting people he doesn’t agree with.

Expect the political fireworks to be audible all the way from Madison as the Wisconsin legislature convenes in special session Monday to deal with the state budget.

But itâ??s also possible white smoke will appear later in the week.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, have different expectations about what will happen in the sessionâ??s opening days, and how they might reach a budget compromise.

Two prominent University of Wisconsin System officials issued a statement Thursday analyzing Gov. Doyleâ??s proposed budget.

Madison – Both houses of the Legislature are scheduled to vote on Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s revised budget Monday, but probably with opposite results.

In a surprise move Thursday, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) announced the vote by his house on Doyle’s new budget – a spending plan Huebsch and many of his fellow Republicans plan to kill.

As lawmakers gear up for a special session of the legislature on Monday, the details of the governor’s new budget are still unclear.

Black River Falls Republican Terry Musser says he still hasn’t see the plan, and he certainly can’t read the estimated “1700 pages” in an hour and then turn around and vote.

Governor Jim Doyle has been trekking around the state discussing some of the contents of his new budget plan. Musser, who is the Chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs committee, says Doyle is telling veterans groups that “extreme Republicans” want to dramatically cut veterans programs.

MADISON, Wis. â?? The most prolonged budget impasse in the country boils down to how much smokers should pay for a pack of cigarettes and whether hospitals should have to pay a new tax.

There are other differences between what Democrats and Republicans want, but the latest GOP proposal shows that the two largest are the cigarette and hospital taxes.

Madison – Gov. Jim Doyle’s revised state spending plan will include no new aid to local governments and will delay some tax cuts Doyle campaigned on in last year’s re-election bid.

Aides to the Democratic governor said he was dropping those and other proposals he had earlier championed in hopes of breaking a three-month deadlock over the budget. Wisconsin is the only state without a budget.

Relations between Senate Democratic and Assembly Republican leaders trying to cut a final state budget deal are becoming increasingly toxic.

During dueling press conferences Tuesday, each side accused the other of bargaining in bad faith and refusing to yield on key points, which they claimed has led to the current impasse.

The accusations marked the first time the two sides — which have sought until now to portray the negotiations as cordial but marked by serious policy differences — suggested that they no longer trust each other in the talks.

The Wisconsin Legislature is closing in on a record for stubborn ineffectiveness.
The state budget is now more than 100 days late, with no deal in sight.

Madison – Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday that he would introduce a revised budget next week to try to spur stalled negotiations, as legislative leaders blamed the governor and each other for failing to pass a budget that is now 101 days overdue.

MADISON, Wis. â?? Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday he would try to force action on the overdue state budget by calling lawmakers into a special session next week.

Doyle said he would ask lawmakers to consider a plan on Monday that increases the cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack, starts a new tax on hospital profits and cuts spending across state agencies $430 million from his original proposal.

Despite Doyleâ??s call for a special session, lawmakers do not have to act. Democrats in the Senate said they were ready to pass Doyleâ??s plan as early as Monday but Republicans who control the Assembly dismissed it as a political ploy.

When Gov. Jim Doyle made plans to come to the University of Wisconsinâ??s Madison campus for a Tuesday press conference about the need-based Wisconsin Higher Education Grant (WHEG), campus officials sent an e-mail to students whose aid awards have been blocked by a statewide budget standoff to see if they might want to participate. â??The governor is looking for a few UW-Madison students who are WHEG-eligible for the 2007-08 year but who have not been awarded WHEG because they are â??wait-listedâ?? due to the budget impasse,â? says the e-mail, sent by the student financial services office to 33 Madison students identified as having received the grant in the previous academic year.

Gov. Jim Doyle says he will call a special session of the Legislature next week to try to break a stalemate over the state budget if it is not passed by Friday.

Doyle said at a news conference today at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus that he believes Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and some other Republican lawmakers do not want a new budget. He said the special session is needed for moderates in both parties to strike a deal.

State employees do it. Teachers do it. Even cops who have beats do it. “It” is collective bargaining, negotiating with employers with the power of numbers behind them.

The state budget conference committee is considering a proposal that would extend this right to University of Wisconsin faculty and academic staff.

MADISON â?? Bucky’s buddies are begging for a bigger budget.

Students, alumni and other backers of the University of Wisconsin System are asking lawmakers to include big spending increases for higher education in the budget.

They want enough money to continue academic programs, keep tuition relatively low and expand enrollments and research programs on some campuses.

The UW System Board of Regents joined the lobbying blitz Thursday by calling on lawmakers to end their budget stalemate and invest in higher education.

With the Wisconsin state budget still unsettled, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will meet today and Friday to talk about what steps to take next.

Your state lawmaker has earned more than $12,000 in salary since July 1 for failing to produce a state budget.
Wisconsin senators and representatives continue to collect their government paychecks — as well as daily allowances — even when they fail for months on end to do their most important job.

After a week of closed-door negotiations at the governorâ??s residence, state legislators are back to wrangling over the budget in the state Capitol. They are closer to a compromise but still have work ahead of them.

One important key to faster growth is brain power. Madison has benefited from the intellectual gold mine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the nations third-largest research university. Some of the states fastest-growing companies grew out of UW research, including TomoTherapy, which went public in May, and NimbleGen Systems Inc., which was acquired by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG. Then, there is Cellectar, which develops technology that tracks and destroys tumors. It is run by a UW-Madison professor and a former executive at GE Healthcare.

State workers could face temporary layoffs by the end of the year if the Legislature doesn ‘t pass a new two-year budget, Gov. Jim Doyle warned Monday.

Workers in all state agencies could be affected, but the threat could be most acute in the Department of Corrections, which faces a $370 million shortfall without a new budget, Doyle said in a meeting with the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board.

Doyle on Monday asked all state agencies to develop contingency spending plans if lawmakers are unable to reach a budget compromise. And he said furloughs are just one of many consequences if the 3-month-old budget impasse continues.