Therewere some progressive tax reforms and other very positive legislation passed inthe earlier months of the current term, but the final days of the session endedwith the Senate shutting down for the year in the middle of the afternoonwithout sweeping reforms or bills on controversial issues. Hours later, thestate Assembly followed suit, passing leftovers from the Senate, unable toamend any Senate bill that was passed and unable to initiate anything new tosend over to the already-adjourned Senate.
Sowhat happened? Here are some answers:
Lame-Duck Governor and SlimMajorities Lack Clout:Being a lame-duck governor explains only part of why Jim Doyle failed so badlyin his final year in office. After announcing that he wouldn’t run for a thirdterm, Gov. Doyle assured voters that he’d still be able to muscle through hisfavorite, high-profile initiatives. His attempted Milwaukee Public Schools(MPS) mayoral takeover legislation crashed and burned without enough supportamong Milwaukeelegislators or the public. And the governor’s Clean Energy Jobs Act was killedby Milwaukeestate Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee).
Popularlame-duck governors can often get things done because legislators want to helpa governor’s legacy. Let’s face it: Doyle was not only unpopular enough withthe public to deter him from trying to run for a third term, he was alsounpopular with many legislators. So Doyle lost his clout because he was notloved by the Legislature and, as a lame duck, he could no longer strike fearinto the hearts of legislators.
TheDemocrats in the Legislature hold very slim majorities in both chambers, andwhen you have Democrats like Sen. Plale and Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer continuallyvoting like Republicans when the chips are down, it is hard to keep thatmajority on difficult but necessary legislation. Furthermore, in the first fallelection after a new president is elected, the party of the president almostinvariably loses seats in various legislative bodies both at the federal andstate levels. So without a popular governor pushing his legislation by workingthe media and being out on the stump, it was very difficult for the majorityparty in the Legislature to hold their cowardly members in line. The Senatecould only afford to lose two votes and the Assembly three and still maintain amajority—very slim margins.
A Tax Increase Will Not Pass Beforean Election, Even If the Tax Has Been Requested: In the 2008 fall election,Milwaukee County citizens voted to increase the sales tax 1% to pay for masstransit, parks, cultural assets and emergency medical services; those entitieswould then be taken off of the property tax rolls. Technically, it’s a taxshift, not a tax increase, since property taxpayers would see some relief withthese items being completely removed from the property tax. Also, independentstudies showed that about a third of the sales tax would come from people wholive outside of Milwaukee County. Despite theaffirmative vote, a county cannot raise its sales tax without approval from thestate.
Sowhy didn’t the state follow the wishes of local taxpayers? The businessorganizations Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) and GreaterMilwaukee Committee (GMC) decided that they wanted transit to have a stablefunding source so that workers could get to their members’ businesses, butthese groups didn’t support the same for parks, cultural assets and emergencymedical services. They worked behind the scenes with their paid lobbyists todivide the issue. Doyle, as usual, quickly fell in line with the business communityby supporting a half-cent sales tax for transit only and worked against theexpressed wishes of the majority of Milwaukee County voters. Thiseventually derailed the legislation and Doyle could not get it back ontrack—not even for his transit-only proposal. To further complicate matters,the business community has spent millions of dollars over the years attackingany kind of tax increase so when they wanted their “tax shift” for transit,they couldn’t bring any of their typically friendly Republican legislators onboard.%uFFFD
It Takes Just One Wayward Legislatorto Block a Bill:Think the U.S. Senate is the only dysfunctional legislative body? Think again.Thanks to the efforts of state Sen. Jeff Plale, the Clean Energy Jobs Act neversaw the light of day in the state Senate. According to the nonpartisan PublicService Commission of Wisconsin, it would not only create jobs but eventuallylower energy costs. The bill’s opponents used short-term thinking and weresuccessful in describing the bill as a utility-rate increaser and job killer.Plale, who has the reputation as the best legislator a lobbyist can buy,managed to infuriate his own caucus by refusing to allow the bill to be takenup by his committee. And here’s the kicker: Plale served on the task force thatstudied and provided most of the bill’s provisions, and he helped to craft acompromise amendment in the final weeks of the session. In essence, Plalemanaged to oppose his own bill and deal a deathblow to his party’s hopes ofpassing a 21st-century environmental protection bill. Plale should just behonest and run as the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce candidate in thenext election, not as a Democrat.
Doyleclaims that he really cares about the Clean Energy Jobs Act, while others feelthat he is just going through the motions. If Doyle really cares, even with hislack of popularity he could call a special session on this issue, forcinglegislators back to Madison, and use the almost $2 million that he has sittingin his campaign account to run TV ads in the districts of recalcitrantlegislators to generate grassroots support for the bill from theirconstituents.
Smaller, Specific EnvironmentalMeasures Survived:Businesses looking to “go green” and utilize government loans and grants can tapinto the $100 million Green to Gold Program or Property Assessed Clean Energy(PACE) loans. In addition, a Plale-authored bill expands the definition of“renewable energy” to new technologies, some created by Wisconsinbusinesses. But the bill has a serious downside, too: It also opens the door tomuch riskier energy sources and weakens the renewable energy standardscurrently in place. So while businesses can tap into government funds to helpbecome more energy efficient and green, without the higher standards set by theClean Energy Jobs Act, it’s all carrot and no stick.
There Is No Magic Bullet for MPS: Secretary of Education Arne Duncancan make states compete for more money, and the governor and the businesscommunity can push for a mayor-led MPS, and once-dueling legislators can comeup with a small compromise that gives the state superintendent more power infailing schools, but none of those efforts will be the solution to MPS’slong-standing problems. Why? Because Milwaukeehas decades-old issues that wind up in the classroom, like poverty, teenpregnancy, racism, segregation and low expectations. Add in the damage done toMPS by the experimental voucher school system and you’ve got a school districtthat’s in serious need of support.
Whilewe applaud legislators for trying to find a legislative fix for MPS’s problems,the answer is more likely to be complex, long-term and difficult. Incoming MPSSuperintendent Gregory Thornton and the democratically elected MPS board shouldbe supported by the city and the state Legislature, not hindered from doingtheir work.
Dubious Behavior Has UnintendedConsequences: Whenit was revealed that Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan was having a personalrelationship with a payday loan lobbyist at the same time he changed his viewson the industry—from one that needs heavy regulation to one that isn’t so badafter all—it was clear that some payday lending reform would have to pass.Unfortunately, it wasn’t the bill that many wanted.
Thebest bill would have imposed a 36% interest cap on payday loans, the same ratecap that’s applied to payday lenders that loan to members of the U.S. military near U.S. bases, and one that had thesupport of almost half of the Wisconsin Legislature and a broad coalitionacross the state the minute it was introduced. While the resulting payday andauto title loan bill isn’t as strong as it should be, it is definitely a stepin the right direction.
The Safety Net Got a Lifeline: Although Republicans are trying toblock federal health reform from being implemented in the state, the majorityDemocrats found ways to help out folks who need health care and otherprotections. Both houses of the Legislature passed the BadgerCare Plus BasicPlan, which would help the 30,000 low-income childless adults who are on thewaiting list for the BadgerCare Plus Core Plan. In addition, all group healthinsurance plans will now have to cover mental health and substance abusetreatment at the same level as other medical conditions, thanks to theWisconsin Parity Act. And, lastly, a jobs act was passed that will helpbusinesses use more tax credits and grants for business development and workertraining.%uFFFD
