Governor Walker’s slogan for his presidential bid is ‘Reform. Growth. Safety’. Based on his budget alone, the slogan should be Rollbacks. Cuts. Onslaught.
Luckily, the Joint Finance (or budget) Committee fixed some of the worst provisions of the budget, but they also threw in new causes for concern. In an effort to rush the passage of the budget to clear the way for Senator Frank Lasse to take a trip to Cancun and Governor Walker’s Presidential announcement, the full Senate and Assembly made very few changes and chose not to fix the broken budget.
What we ended up with was a hodgepodge of small improvements, over shadowed by numerous assaults on our air, water, and local control.
The Good:
· Natural Resources Board (NRB) Authority Rescued: Governor Walker had proposed reducing the authority of the NRB. The would have concentrated even more power within his administration, reduced the authority of the Conservation Congress and given the DNR Secretary, currently Cathy Stepp, sole authority over public land sales and purchases. Luckily, the Joint Finance Committee eliminated this proposal in the budget.
· Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program Saved: Despite Governor Walker’s proposal to freeze Stewardship land purchases until 2028, the Joint Finance Committee removed this moratorium and restored partial funding. This program has been an effective tool for protecting over 500,000 acres of land since it was enacted in 1989, including the protection of the 198 acres of forest, prairie and wetlands habitat adjacent to John Muir’s Marquette County boyhood home—a project the Sierra Club, Natural Heritage Land Trust, and other groups worked hard to protect. The Joint Finance Committee stated that any revenue gained by the sale of marginal land could be used to purchase new property. Governor Walker vetoed this provision and required the money be used to pay off debt.
· I-94 Expansion Paused: The Joint Finance Committee removed the ‘enumeration’ or green-lighting of the unnecessary I-94 expansion. Read the statement from our coalition here.
· Transportation Audit Ordered: The Joint Finance Committee added a recommendation that the Joint Audit Committee conduct an audit to explore how the Department of Transportation makes highway construction decisions, including traffic projection forecasting. Read more here. Governor Walker vetoed this; however, Audit Committee co-chairs have committed to move forward on the audit.
· Utility Watchdog Funding Saved: The Joint Finance Committee added a provision in the budget that eliminated funding for citizen watchdog groups to intervene and protect ratepayers. Luckily, Governor Walker vetoed this proposal.
The Bad:
· Cuts to Recycling: the budget cut recycling grants to local communities by 22%; these and previous cuts provide only about half the funding for recycling that was provided in 2008.
· Cuts to Wisconsin State Parks: The budget cuts funding for the state parks by almost 30% and increases fees and permits—and the burden on families to connect with nature. In this discussion, we also learned of the possibility of selling naming rights for our state parks.
· Elimination of cost-effective capacity grants to nonprofits: these grants include funding for groups like the Wisconsin County Forest Association and the River Alliance to support projects like maintenance of the Ice Age Trail. Though the Joint Finance Committee restored 90% of this funding, Governor Walker eliminated all funding with a line-item veto.
Elimination of Bike and Walking Funding: The budget removed all state funding for the Transportation Alternatives Program, or TAP, which funds programs like bike lanes, sidewalks, Safe Routes to School, etc.
Repeal of Complete Streets: this program requires all new state-funded roads be built complete with bike lanes and sidewalks. This ensures that all users are able to safely use the road.
· Attacks on Forestry Program: The budget reduces oversight of the Managed Forest Land program by cutting 4 full time staff and eliminating the requirement for DNR staff to approve cutting notices filed by Cooperative Foresters. It also undermines the Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) reviews to document rare or declining species, high-quality or rare natural communities, and unique or significant natural features prior to timber sales. The Joint Finance Committee also increased the number of acres open to forest production by 9%.
· Elimination of Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (WEEB): The WEEB was established in 1990 to provide environmental education programs in pK-12 schools and in communities across the state. This program helps provide funding for our state parks, proposing to fill that gap through user fee increases that have the potential to create real barriers for low income families seeking to explore the outdoors. The budget originally proposed eliminating the funding for the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education as well, but the Joint Finance Committee restored this.
The Disastrous:
· Enbridge Tar Sands Pipeline Give-a-ways: The secretive, last-minute ‘999 Motion’ snuck in two items that will pave the way for Enbridge to flow more and more tar sands oil through Wisconsin. One prohibits Counties from requiring insurance for pipeline operators and the other expands eminent domain authority to include Enbridge. Read more here.
· Staffing Cuts to Department of Natural Resources (DNR): The budget severely cut the DNR, resulting in 66 staff position cuts, with targets to the Bureau of Scientific Services and Communication and Education. These and other consistent attacks on science will be felt for decades to come.
· Clean Water Cuts: The budget included a number of provisions that impact our clean water, including: the elimination of the Fertilizer Research Council and funding for its innovative manure management studies; funding cuts to county Soil and Water Conservation Departments who work with farmers to reduce runoff pollution; and funding reductions for nutrient management plans. These cuts increase threats from water pollution caused by factory farms. Originally, the cuts to the county Conservation Departments were much larger, but the Joint Finance Committee restored some of those cuts.
· Attacks Local Control on Water: The Joint Finance Committee added a budget amendment that removed the authority for counties to adopt stronger protections than the state minimum on shore lands to protect water.
Additionally, the Joint Finance Committee removed Dane County’s authority to set their own water quality standards and prohibited standards from being more protective than state law. This was added without the single vote of a legislator from Dane County.
This budget will further Wisconsin’s backwards trend as the rest of the country moves forward. We will continue to keep you updated and fight for Wisconsin’s clean air and water. Our future depends on it.