I want to thank everyone who took the time to fill out my Spring Survey either online or by sending in the mailed paper copy. As we continue to read all of your responses, we will be closing the survey so that we can get a final picture before budget deliberation begins. As always, if you have a comment related to state issues, you may email or call my office directly.

On Tuesday, June 4, the Joint Finance Committee held its final executive session on the Governor’s 2013-2015 budget proposal, Assembly Bill 40 (AB 40). Next, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau will incorporate all the JFC-approved changes into an Assembly substitute amendment to AB 40, which will supersede Governor Walker's original bill. It is this substitute amendment that the Assembly will vote on later this month. Some of the key changes made to the budget proposal in Tuesday’s executive session include:

• Education: an increase in K-12 funding of $150 per pupil will be added each year of the biennium from the general fund. The budget also increases general school aids by $41 million and categorical aids by $190.5; it also includes $10 million for high-cost transportation aid. Choice schools will be expanded statewide, adding 500 new students outside the Milwaukee/Racine programs in the first year of the biennium and 1,000 in the second year. No more than 1% of pupil membership in each newly eligible district may receive choice vouchers, and private schools must have been in operation on May 1, 2013, to be eligible. Special needs scholarships were removed from the budget. Additionally, a tuition deduction for families with students attending private school was added up to $4,000 per year for grade school students and $10,000 for high school students.

• Tax: Income taxes will be cut approximately $650 million over the biennium, condensing the five existing tax brackets into four (the third and fourth tiers will be combined). Tax rates within each bracket will also be reduced. Funding for the Earned Income Tax Credit will be increased by $2.4 million.

• Health Care: Governor Walker’s proposal to move those with an income above the federal poverty line (FPL) from Medicaid to the federal health insurance exchanges was approved, but with some caveats in place. Medicaid eligibility changes will be suspended if there is no qualified health plan offered by the exchanges offered in one’s county of residence. If the federal exchanges are not in place this fall, the state will continue to cover some of those currently on Medicaid but above 100% of the FPL. A combination of state and federal dollars will provide $73.5 million for disproportionate share hospital payments, which go to hospitals serving low-income and uninsured patients.

While I am not a member of the Joint Finance Committee, I have tried to keep all my constituents up to speed on the weekly proceedings on the budget. The budget will be coming up for an Assembly vote in the near future, so if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact my office.

Again, please remember that at the end of the day, I must either vote yes or no for the budget as a whole; I don't get to pick and choose. If I conclude the good in the budget outweighs the bad, I'll vote for it; if the bad outweighs the good, I'll vote against it. Once the approved budget bill goes to the Governor for signature, he may veto all or parts of the budget or sign it into law as is.