NEW BUDGET SIGNED INTO LAW

After almost four months of deliberations, Gov. Jim Doyle signed into law a new 2009-11 state budget plan on Monday, June 29.

I have enjoyed communicating with you about the budget over the past number of months and I appreciate the input you have provided to me regarding various provisions and the proposal as a whole. After careful consideration of the overall budget plan and a review of the constituent input I received, I confidently voted “no” when the budget came to the floor of the state Senate.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will provide you with an overview of various aspects of the new budget. Today, I will start with an overall snapshot of the approved fiscal plan.

Overall, the new state budget, which will run from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2011, seeks to spend approximately $62 billion in state taxes, fees, borrowed dollars and federal funds. This amounts to a spending increase over the next two years of about $4 billion above the previous budget, or about 6.6 percent.

This increase in spending will be funded in large part by the assessment of more than $2.1 billion in state taxes and fees.

I look forward to providing you with more details about some of the specific tax increases that Wisconsin taxpayers and consumers can expect to see in the months ahead as this budget is implemented – many of which threaten Wisconsin’s ability to create, attract and retain good-paying familysupporting jobs.

In addition, the new budget increases state credit card borrowing by $2.9 billion and uses $2.2 billion of federal government jobcreation money. Even after all of this new taxation and borrowing, the 2011-13 will start in the “red” to the tune of $2.3 billion.

The new budget also implements a rash of non-fiscal policy items requested by Gov. Doyle and legislative Democrats. These are items that were included in the fiscal budget even though they have no financial impact on the state government. Again, I look forward to providing more specific information on these nonfiscal items in a Capitol Connection column in the weeks ahead.

Specific information on the new state budget can be obtained at: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/ lfb/LFBPublications_ButtonPages /2009-11_budget.htm.

I appreciated all of the constituent e-mails, letters, survey responses and phone calls that I have received throughout the budget process. Your input was very helpful as I worked to determine how I would vote on the final package. Again, based on the provisions in the budget and the overwhelming input I received, I confidently voted “no.”

As always, it has been a pleasure communicating with you. Please remember to communicate with me and share your input by calling (888) 295-8750, writing to me at P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882, or by e-mailing me at Sen.Leibham@legis.wi.gov. You can also logon to the 9th Senate district online office at www.leibhamsenate.com.

It is an honor representing the residents of the 9th district in the state Senate.