I am happy to say that on Wednesday, July 1, Governor Walker signed into law Assembly Bill 99 (now Act 32), a bill I introduced with Sen. Terry Moulton that adds the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Chippewa Falls to the statutory list of veteran-related sites included on official state highway maps.  The list already includes the veterans homes at King and Union Grove and many veterans memorials.  This was a particularly special occasion for me because my wife and I were able to bring our granddaughter, who was visiting from Alaska, down to Madison and introduce her to Governor Walker.

After several weeks of negotiations, the Joint Committee on Finance met Thursday, July 2, to complete its work on the state biennial budget, Assembly Bill 21/Senate Bill 21.  The main sticking points were transportation funding and whether to include prevailing wage changes and a funding plan for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena in the budget.

The committee passed a number of omnibus motions that, with motions it approved at its previous executive sessions, will be merged into a single substitute amendment to Governor Walker's original proposal.  The transportation motion cuts the Governor's $1.3 billion bonding proposal down to $500 million, with an additional $350 million that would be subject to finance committee approval if requested by the Department of Transportation.  The resulting spending cuts will be spread around the state, including projects in southeastern Wisconsin so that rural and other non-Milwaukee projects will not bear the entire burden.  The transportation motion also removes the Bucks arena proposal from the budget; the arena will be the subject of standalone legislation, which is summarized in this memo prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. 

The committee also passed a tax motion that makes a number of changes to Wisconsin's tax laws, including increasing the standard income tax deduction for married filers.  The tax motion also phases out the ability of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to make loans; this is in response to concerns that have been raised about WEDC's performance since its creation a few years ago. 

Lastly, the committee approved a "catchall" motion (with an amendment) that includes a number of provisions that had not been fully fleshed out at the time the committee passed the motions covering their respective issue areas.  The catchall motion also deletes most of the language the committee had earlier approved that would have allowed school districts to hire anyone with a bachelor's degree to teach English, social studies, math, and science or anyone without a college degree to teach other subjects.

Right now, it appears the Assembly will meet to vote on the budget next week.  It may also take up a standalone proposal to partially repeal Wisconsin's prevailing wage law, exempting local governments from the law and making other changes to how the prevailing wage is calculated and administered.

It is unlikely that further amendments to the finance committee's substitute amendment will be adopted on the Assembly floor, which means that what the finance committee has approved over the past few months is essentially the final product, and I will have to determine whether the good in it as a whole outweighs the bad in it as a whole.  There are things I would have liked to see in this budget that weren't included, and there are things that were included that I wish were not (or were different), but ultimately I must vote yes or no on the whole thing - no picking and choosing.  As I have said before, no one is going to be 100% satisfied - not me, not Governor Walker, not the finance committee, not my other legislative colleagues, not any of you, but I appreciate all the feedback I have received so far and that I will continue to receive between now and the final vote.

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND!