Rep. Knodl's E-Update

Twenty four months ago I was inspired to make a change for WI, today I feel a sense of accomplishment. The budget that we passed today kept within my goals of reigning in out of control spending, holding the line on taxes and eliminating the structural deficit. While having the bonus of putting Wisconsin on the path to being in the black for the first time in over a decade.

This budget protects the most vulnerable among us while making sure our overall tax burden stops hurting working families in Wisconsin. There are NO new taxes in this budget. We didn’t raise the gas tax, or cell phone tax, or any of the other taxes that were created in the last budget. How do you know that for certain? We created a law requiring a supermajority two thirds vote on ANY tax increases. We were advised by the independent Legislative Council that this bill did not need that number of votes. That guarantees there are no new taxes.

The most apparent example of this will be when property tax statements arrive for next year. If not for the actions taken in this budget the average homeowner would have seen increases of over $730 in the next two years. Now, property taxes have literally been frozen in this budget. This is how we are making sure we stop taxing seniors out of their homes. This is how we know we are helping the working families of Wisconsin. After seeing the increased taxes and fees($2.5 Billion) in the Doyle 2009-2011 budget we knew we had to offer some relief. Enough was enough.

With this vote, we made the tough choices that previous legislatures (both Republican and Democrat) failed to do. We dealt with the problems facing us instead of ignoring them. We paid off significant portions of debt which in turn saves money on interest payments. Past spending with the Wisconsin credit card means dollars we receive today will go towards interest payments that could have gone towards solutions to the problems in the present, no one in Wisconsin wins when that happens. That ends with this budget.

To put some of this in perspective our last state budget used Billions in federal stimulus money. What do we have to show for that money? Nothing but programs that are unsustainable at the levels that they were created at. It’s unfortunate promises were made to the people of Wisconsin knowing full well that once the federal money was gone, programs created with it would be in trouble. With that in mind, we are using Wisconsin tax dollars to keep as many of those promises as possible and have increased our overall spending in areas such as Medicare programs to do so. Any overall spending increase in this budget over the last budget was due to making sure we fulfilled the empty promises that were made so people wouldn’t suffer because of political games. In 2009, overall spending increased by 8% over the 2007 budget. In our budget we are less than 1% over 2009 spending.

In keeping with our strong message of bringing jobs to Wisconsin, we told manufacturers point blank that Wisconsin is the number one place to do business in the United States. These much needed jobs will generate a great level of growth in our state’s economy while the national economy lags behind. While Congress hasn’t been able to tackle the very same problems Wisconsin’s legislature has, we made sure to set an example with this budget and put us in the fiscally responsible direction. While the national economy teeters on a double dip recession Wisconsin took steps to make sure we won’t be hit hard again.

Instant gratification will not be achieved but I ask for patience and to please understand the positive impact this new path will take us. Have an open mind and watch carefully over these next two years to ensure that the changes made are good for Wisconsin. In time we all will come to understand that Wisconsin won with this approach of spending taxpayer dollars on great services in the most cost effective manner.

On the State of Wisconsin website, they have a service that notifies you of any changes to proposed legislation. Please go to http://legis.wisconsin.gov/ on this page there will be a notification service, click on the blue link and follow the instructions.

How does the Legislative Notification System work?

As a proposal moves through each step of the legislative process, entries are being made into a legislative database - from the initial drafting of a bill; its introduction; committee referral and action; amendment introduction; floor action in both houses; to the final action by the Governor. Many staffers from different legislative support agencies, as well as the committee clerks, enter this data as the proposal moves through this process.

As a subscriber to this service you can search and choose which legislation to track. Items can be tracked by bill number, author, committee or subject. You also get to select which activities will trigger your email notifications. By default, all activities are selected when your account is first activated.

Then each night, the Legislative Notification System searches the legislative data, and in accordance with the criteria you have chosen, creates a list of all of the proposals that had any action taken that day. It formats that information and groups the results according to your preferences, including the inclusion of a relating clause, so you can easily identify what the bill relates to. Then, an email gets sent out overnight to all subscribers who have the Daily email option chosen. If you have the Weekly email option selected, then you will receive only one email, over the weekend, with all the action according to your activities for all of the proposals on your list from the previous week.