DISCLAIMER: The following are notes taken during the meeting and unless specified as a quote, should not be misconstrued as  such.

Steve Doyle

  • Child Welfare issues at the County level – counties are asking for another $30 mil to help with caseloads predominantly due to the opioid abuse. 119% increase in the past few years.
  • Two competing proposals for tax reductions for the middle class but what it looks like and how it gets paid for is important.

Jill Billings

Feb 28 = Governor will present his budget

Fiscal Bureau will receive

Listening Sessions by Joint Finance in regions

June = to Governor

July = signed by the Governor

If not signed, we don’t shut down, we continue with the budget we have.

Watch For

  • Middle Income Tax Credit
  • Transportation Funding – “We all know what the options are. This has been studied to death. It’s the will to do something. I believe it is a little bit of this and a little bit of that – a combination of things.” Nothing is perfect – gas tax won’t help with higher efficiency cars, tolls. Waivers are an option. Building that infrastructure takes a chunk and so the payout is longer on tolling

Jennifer Shilling

“I fell like the mood in Madison is like we’re heavy-weights sizing each other up. A few punches get thrown to see what lands. My other analogy is that we’re in an arranged marriage with a democratic governor and a republican majority so we need each other to move things forward.” This is gong to be messy. We need to work through the mess.

Watch for a long budget process.

Jennifer’s top priorities:

  • Tax reciprocity
  • UW-L Building Priorities
  • La Crosse Center Money protection
  • Sparta-Elroy Bike Trail – damage to the bike trail impacting tourism. DNR is short a little and move timelines around.
  • Ongoing Flood Recovery
    • Vernon County has the most earthen dams in Wisconsin
    • There is a bridge out since 2016
  • Juvenile Justice Centers
  • Clean Water – Governor’s Initiative from State of the State. SW WI study have 45% of wells contaminated. Clean water and water management. Governor is expected to announce a lead pipe replacement program. Phosphorous rules to be in place by 2020 – challenging for their water plants to comply.

Pre-existing conditions bills that passed in the Assembly may not be in alignment with ACA’s current offerings.

I fell like the mood in Madison is like we’re heavy-weights sizing each other up. A few punches get thrown to see what lands. My other analogy is that we’re in an arranged marriage with a democratic governor and a republican majority so we need each other to move things forward.

Jennifer Shilling

Senator