This week's survey

Earlier this session, Senator Andre Jacque and I introduced Assembly Bill 205/Senate Bill 225, related to preparing the state budget using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Currently, our state budget is prepared using a more narrow method known as "cash accounting."

Bob Lang, the director of the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, explains the difference. Cash accounting is "basically the revenue we take in and the expenditures we make over a twelve-month period. It is sort of like doing your checkbook over a one-year period of time--how much comes in, how much goes out" (Quoted in Mitchell, 2020, P.1). 

According to Lang, the difference between the two accounting methods is the approach used to account for expenditures. "Using GAAP, commitments are incurred when they are made, while cash accounting does not identify those as expenditures until they are actually paid." 

Using the example of a computer purchased on a credit card at the end of the year, the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum explains the difference this way:

"Under GAAP accounting, the expense [computer] would be booked in December because the couple has purchased the computer and the store will not allow them to return it. Using cash accounting, the expense would not be recorded until January when the bill is actually paid, which means a year-end look at the couple's checking account would make their finances appear better than they really are" (Quoted in Mitchell, 2020, P. 2). 

Under current law, there is no requirement that the executive budget bill be prepared according to generally accepted accounting principles.

Assembly Bill 205 stipulates that executive budget bills must be prepared using both the traditional "cash accounting" and GAAP accounting principles.

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Survey Results

This you for answering this week's survey question regarding the expansion of workforce housing in our communities. In total, ninety-eight individuals responded, with forty-four percent opposed to the building of workforce housing in their communities. The breakdown of the remaining answers was as follows:

• I support workforce housing with smaller lots and higher density:17 percent
• I support fewer requirements by local governments: 17 percent
• I support increased funding through TIF or TID: 6 percent
• Government-subsidized housing is a more effective tool for reducing housing costs: 3 percent
• Additional workforce housing is unnecessary to address the housing shortage: 5 percent

Seven percent of respondents voted "other." Responses included: 

"Funding through TIF and TID districts should be limited to actual blighted areas or for projects that meet the requirements for workforce housing."

"There are many factors causing this issue, such as mandated fees, lot size, high cost of utility infrastructure, etc. The need for additional workforce housing is prevalent everywhere and ignoring the issue is short-sided."

"Allow for more mixed-zoned neighborhoods, allowing multi-use houses such as duplexes to be built alongside single-family homes."

2021-2023 budget

This week, the legislature passed, with bipartisan support, the 2021-2023 budget and sent it to Governor Evers. The budget invests in the people of Wisconsin, as it avoids massive tax hikes, spending increases, welfare expansion, and bureaucratic growth. The budget is a win-win for taxpayers. 

The 2021-2023 biennial budget:

• Provides historic tax relief to families and businesses.
• Includes two-thirds funding for Wisconsin schools.
• Increases funding for local roads and state highways.
• Reduces transportation bonding.
• Invests hundreds of millions of dollars in the state's healthcare system.
• Increases funding for broadband grants by nearly $130 million.

Tax relief and reform

The budget, as passed, will save the typical family around $1,200 and provide relief to Wisconsin businesses. With regards to tax relief and tax reform, the budget:

• Provides $3.4 billion in tax cuts to Wisconsin families and businesses. 
• Saves the typical Wisconsin family around $1,200 in income taxes.
• Provides $650 in property tax relief.
• Invests $200 million to eliminate the personal property tax for businesses.
• Amends the 6.27 percent tax bracket to 5.3 percent.

Healthcare issues

Despite rejecting federal Medicaid expansion, Republicans increased reimbursement rates for nursing homes, personal care workers, home-health workers, and FamilyCare. Overall, legislative Republicans invested more than $440 million in long-term care facilities and the long-term care workforce. 

The following is a breakdown of healthcare-related spending: 

• Removes welfare expansion, which would have added an additional ninety-thousand Wisconsinites to Medicaid, including forty-five thousand who already covered under the federal exchange.
• Invests $100 million in disproportionate hospital funds.
• Invests of $100 million in nursing home reimbursement.
• Directs an additional $104 million in funding for direct caregivers in Family Care.
• Increases funding for personal care workers by $78 million.
• Provides a $3 million increase for home health skilled nursing services. 
• Increases dental reimbursement by forty percent or $46.2 million. 
• Invests $23 million in mental health and substance abuse services.
• Increases funding for autism services by more than $14.5 million.
• Increases local government transportation aids by more than $270,000 each year of the biennium. 

Transportation

Governor Evers' proposal was status quo, if not a step backward, as it was devoid of a long-term plan for transportation. 

The budget passed by the legislature, on the contrary, invests more in the local road improvement program and in state highways than Governor Evers' proposal. What is more, the legislature's budget calls for less bonding than the Evers proposal. 

With respect to transportation, our budget:

• Funds the local supplement grant program at $100 million.
• Approves state highway rehabilitation funding that is $60 million higher than what Governor Evers proposed.
• Included $300 million less in bonding than Governor Evers' proposal. 
• Enumerates the Interstate-94 east and west project.
• Funds and keeps all major highway projects on time.
• Increases general transportation aids by $19 million.
• Provides $1.3 million in bonding for harbor assistance.
• Provides more than $700,000 for body cameras for state patrol.

Broadband expansion

In the last budget, legislative Republicans provided an additional $44 million for broadband expansion grants. According to a November 2020 report by Forward Analytics, more than twenty-five percent of rural residents lack broadband access.

Earlier this session, the legislature passed a bill to invest $500 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds over four years into high-speed broadband; Governor Evers vetoed this legislation.  With regards to broadband expansion, the Republican budget:

• Provides $125 million for broadband coverage.
• Invests $4 million in broadband expansion grants
• Makes broadband a priority for those residing in underserved areas.

Department of Military Affairs

Wisconsin has two major pieces of critical emergency response and public safety infrastructure that are in need of an upgrade and rebuild: The Wisconsin Interoperable Systems for Communication (WISCOM) and Next Generation 911. I worked closely with my colleagues on the Joint Finance Committee to ensure these two programs were funding priorities.

WISCOM, as it is commonly referred to, is a statewide radio network which enables first responders from different jurisdictions to communicate with each other during daily operations, natural disasters, and large-scale events. The Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs indicated that the current WISCOM needs to be replaced. Our budget proposal:

• Invests $6.5 million to start the build-out of a new statewide interoperable radio network. 
• Includes $19 million for Next Generation 911 infrastructure
• Provides local units of government with $7.5 million to upgrade their 911 infrastructure and equipment. 

Next Generation 911 will allow for better communication with the individual calling 911 including accurate location detection, texting, video messaging, telematics capabilities, and enhanced communication for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Furthermore, Next Generation 911 will enable the transfer of 9-1-1 calls between geographically dispersed Public Safety Answering Points, increasing sharing of data and resources to improve emergency response and collaboration among first responders. 

Department of Natural Resources

The budget provides certainty for communities planning stewardship projects. For example, it includes:

• $33.35 million annually with a four-year reauthorization for stewardship.

Our stewardship plan is more fiscally responsible and responsive to the needs of the state than the one introduced by Governor Evers. The Republican budget decreased bonding by one-third by using money from the forestry account.

In addition to stewardship, the natural resources budget:

• Increases County Forest Acreage Share payments from thirty cents to sixty-three cents.
• Appropriates $1 million for clean-up of PFAS in firefighting foam.
• Spends $2 million over the biennium for the Well Compensation Grant Program.

District Attorneys, Public Defenders, and Courts

The pay progression plans for ADAs and public defenders exist to increase employee retention by creating a path for experienced attorneys to move from the minimum salary to the maximum salary. Retaining experienced attorneys in these positions is crucial to providing appropriate representation for Wisconsin citizens. Our budget includes:

• The creation of 5.5 additional ADA positions, including one in Ozaukee County. 
• A half-step pay progression for ADAs.
• A half-step pay progression for SPDs. 

K-12 education

Federal funding for schools has to be part of the conversation when discussing the K-12 budget. On top of the historic increases for in-person schools, we are continuing to invest in mental health and special education funding. Over the past year, Wisconsin has seen students struggle as they were forced to shelter at home. Now, more than ever, investment in student mental health is of paramount importance. The budget doubles mental health aids for students, provide a fifty percent increase for school-based mental health services collaboration grants, and reaches thirty percent of costs for special education funding. 

The education section of our budget proposal:

• Achieves two-thirds funding for Wisconsin schools.
• Increases state funding for K-12 public instruction by $700 million.
• Provides a minimum of $781 per pupil from federal COVID aid for each district if they were in person for at least fifty percent of the 2020-21 school year. 
• Increases special education spending by $86 million.
• Increases high-cost special education spending by $4 million. 
• Provides $12 million more for mental health categorical aids, a doubling of the program.
• Increases per pupil transportation aid. 
• Sets aside $350 million in the state rainy day fund for K-12 education. 

Workforce Development

The youth apprenticeship program is immensely popular and successful, but underutilized. Only around six-thousand students statewide were enrolled in the year prior to the pandemic. Some large districts like Madison and Milwaukee have few students enrolled. The budget:

• Provides $1 million annually for the Youth Apprenticeship Program, quadrupling Governor Evers' proposal.
• Increases the per pupil youth apprenticeship payment from $900 to $1,100 per student.
• Increases the vocational rehabilitation program by $1 million. 

If you have any budget-related questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office. 

Events

The following events will be held this week in the 60th Assembly District. If you have upcoming events you would like included in my weekly e-update, please contact my office.

Independence Day celebration, July 4, Saukville

Saukville Fireworks, July 4, Saukville

Port Washington Outdoor Farmers Market, July 3, Port Washington

Lakeside Beer Garden, July 3, Port Washington

Independence Day celebration, July 3, Port Washington

4th of July Parade and Hometown Celebration, July 4, Cedarburg

Open Saturday at the Luxembourg American Cultural Society and Center, July 3, Belgium

Live on the Lawn: Barbecue and Blues, July 11, Port Washington

Stay up to date

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