Legislative Updates

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE GREEN SHEET
The Saga of Medicaid: Shortchanging Services for the Elderly and Disabled

If you are an AFSCME member who works in a nursing home, adult family home, state center for the developmentally disabled or other health care or long-term care setting, you are keenly aware of how budget battles in the state Capitol or Congress directly affect your job and your life.

Your daily workload, whether or not you are called for overtime, how many patients you are assigned to care for, all of these matters depend on how much state and federal support is made available for the services you provide. Simply put, the amount of money set aside for those services in the Medicaid budget directly affects your workload.

AFSCME represents some 7,000 people who work as direct caregivers, food service workers, groundskeepers, maintenance and administrative support staff in long term care facilities. We closely monitor and lobby to keep dollars flowing into Medicaid, also known as Medical Assistance or MA. This is the federal program that assists states in providing health care and long-term care services to people with limited resources.

To be successful, we rely on our grassroots strength – that is you- to help lobby for additional dollars for Medicaid. In August, many of you responded to AFSCME’s call to contact our federal representatives to urge them to vote for passage of the Medicaid extension bill. Thanks to you, the bill approved by Congress will bring at least $200 million to fund health care and long term care services to Wisconsin residents.

Last year, we asked you to help lobby our congressional delegation to pass the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which brought some $3 billion to Wisconsin for education, health and transportation services and helped us weather the worst economic times in memory.

The infusion of federal dollars helped to reduce the inevitable cuts in Medicaid, but by no means did Medicaid escape the across-the-board cuts adopted in services. Lawmakers and Governor Doyle were compelled to make cuts to balance the budget. They approved $3 billion in cuts, including $633 million in cuts in Medicaid-funded services.

To put this in perspective, the state budget is $62 billion dollars over the two-year cycle. Medicaid spending amounts to about $12 billion.

The cuts in Medicaid come at the expense of those who need services as well as health care providers, who have experienced reduced reimbursement rates. For example, before the budget became law, AFSCME lobbied for increased reimbursements to nursing homes, many of which serve individuals whose care is funded with Medicaid. We succeeded in persuading lawmakers to approve a 2% rate increase in each year of the two-year budget cycle. Unfortunately, with the mandated cuts in Medicaid, the nursing home increase is scaled back to 1.275% and .823%, respectively.

Nursing homes were not the only providers who experienced hardship because of the $633 million in Medicaid cuts. Other long term care providers faced reduced payments, forcing them to scale back on services, reduce staff or staff wages and benefits, or all three.

Even before the recession, nursing homes were facing a crisis due to chronic under-funding. An analysis of 2006 Medicaid rates found that 96% of nursing homes were not adequately reimbursed for serving residents on Medicaid. Nearly all county-owned nursing homes suffer financial losses that continue to prompt county boards to contemplate closure. In ten years, 39 nursing homes – more than one-tenth of all nursing facilities in Wisconsin -have closed because of Medicaid losses, among other pressures.

AFSCME members are well aware of the history of challenges facing nursing facilities. In 2009, our union was involved in campaigns to save four county nursing homes. We also worked to thwart the effective closure of Southern Wisconsin Center, which would have happened had AFSCME leaders not intervened and worked with Doyle Administration officials and state Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine).

When we make the effort, seek support from allies, and bring solutions to the table, we can make a difference. When we lobby and engage our grassroots activists with decision makers, we can make good things happen and stop or at least minimize the bad things. Our members made a difference in lobbying the U.S. Senate to approve an extension of Medicaid relief to the states. This fall, we can remember those successes and apply the lessons for the challenge we face in the first half of 2011, when we here in Wisconsin will be fighting to protect Medicaid when the next budget deliberations are underway.

State budget analysts looking at variety of trends estimate that, when comparing current spending obligations to estimated state revenue, there’s a gap of about $2.5 billion dollars after next year. This puts vital services at risk of even more cuts.

Our task is to band together and find ways to preserve services in spite of the budget challenges ahead.

AFSCME and our allies who provide vital services to citizens have decided to come together now, in anticipation of the budget debates ahead, to discuss ways to preserve services. We will be holding a series of town hall meetings on Medicaid services. The first will be held August 25 in Madison. The next will be held October 4 in La Crosse. Other meetings will be scheduled through the winter and early spring of 2011. We’ll meet with policy makers, legislators and candidates to discuss options. The goal is to build grassroots support for preserving vital services to the elderly and disabled, and to protect those services from any further cuts.

AFSCME will recommend that Wisconsin lawmakers consider a number of ideas to bring in more revenue to pay for services. These ideas were presented by Jack Norman in a report entitled “Wisconsin’s Billion Dollar Budget Gap”, and published by the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future.

Jack Norman suggests several courses of action to address the gap. First, the state should invest additional resources to catch tax cheats and support tax collection activity. Second, streamline the state’s tax rules by reducing the number of exemptions, deductions and credits. Third, state officials should review the tax rules on a regular basis to identify new trends and reasons for noncompliance and recommend solutions.

“Budget Cuts and Broken Promises” Forums Aim to Protect Long-Term Care Services and Caregiver Jobs

On Wednesday, August 25, AFSCME is sponsoring the first of a series of town hall meetings entitled “Budget Cuts and Broken Promises”, to call attention to how the chronic under-funding of Medicaid and the threat of more cuts will affect the elderly and disabled as well as direct care workers. The meeting will be held in Madison at the Alliant Energy Center from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The town hall meeting will begin with several presenters testifying on cuts that have already been made to Medicaid funding and more cuts that may be on the horizon. The speakers also will discuss the financial and programmatic difficulties that exist in long-term care programs today (e.g., Family Care) and, discuss their concerns with what cuts to Medicaid mean in terms of workforce implications, quality of care and quality of life issues for people who rely on Medicaid and Medicaid Waiver programs.

The meetings will be held structured as public hearings with a moderator. Candidates for state office will be invited to listen to the testimony provided. The goal of the forums is to encourage the next Legislature and the next Governor to make it a priority to provide adequate dollars for Medicaid, which is the main source of funding for long-term care services and the caregiver jobs. The next state budget deliberations (starting in February of 2011) are expected to be difficult, involving possibly even more cuts to Medicaid-funded services to the elderly and disabled and their caregivers.

Caregivers, people with disabilities, family members and concerned community members who want to protect services and jobs are invited. AFSCME encourages members to attend this meeting in Madison, as well as the next meeting in LaCrosse on October 4 at the Boot Hill Pub. Upcoming forums will be held in Green Bay, Eau Claire, Milwaukee, and possibly Beloit and Kenosha.

AFSCME represents some 7,000 caregivers employed in nursing homes, adult family homes and in the state centers for the developmentally disabled, so our union has a keen interest in working to secure more dollars for Medicaid.

All three AFSCME Councils in Wisconsin are sponsoring the forums. Other sponsors include: the Wisconsin Long Term Care Workforce Alliance, Access to Independence, Alzheimer’s and Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin, Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, Community Alliance of Providers of Wisconsin, Community Living Alliance, Lori Knapp Companies, Mental Health Center of Dane County, Rehabilitation of Wisconsin, Residential Services Association of Wisconsin, SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin, Wisconsin Assisted Living Association, Wisconsin Direct Caregiver Alliance, Wisconsin Health Care Association, Wisconsin Personal Services Association, Wisconsin Quality Home Care Commission.

For more information, go to www.brokenpromiseswisconsin.org or contact Susan McMurray at the AFSCME area office at 608-836-6666.

Auditors to Investigate State’s Record of Ensuring Health and Safety Standards for Public Sector Workers

State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) and State Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) announced last week that they have directed the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau to review the Wisconsin Department of Commerce’s record of ensuring

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the safety of public sector employees while they are on the job. Vinehout and Barca serve as co-chairs of the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee and have powers to order audits of state agency practices and law enforcement efforts.

The audit review was prompted by a situation in which union officers complained about shoddy conditions involving asbestos removal projects on the UW-Stout campus. The complaint resulted in a Department of Commerce report citing the university for 51 occupational safety and health violations. The university pushed the Department to rescind the report, which the agency did on Nov. 5, 2009.

AFSCME Council 24 strongly protested the Department’s decision, and contacted Sen. Vinehout and Rep. Barca to have the Legislative Audit Bureau investigate and report on the Department of Commerce’s record of enforcing public sector worker health and safety. This is a big victory for all public sector workers. AFSCME appreciates the leadership shown by Sen. Vinehout and Rep. Barca and looks forward to reviewing the findings of the Audit Bureau.

No decision –yet- on the future of Wisconsin’s male juvenile correctional institutions

Nearly two months after a select committee issued an inconclusive report on the future of the state’s two male juvenile correctional institutions, the Doyle Administration has made no decision with regard to the future of the Ethan Allen or the Lincoln Hills Schools for Boys. With the November elections just months away, some speculate that no decision will be made, leaving the matter of resolving the deficit in juvenile corrections to be addressed by Wisconsin’s next governor.

AFSCME has stressed to Governor Doyle, Corrections Secretary Rick Raemisch and interested legislators that the deficit in the juvenile corrections budget represents an opportunity to fix the out-of-date and dysfunctional manner of funding services to teens sent to the juvenile facilities. For too long, counties have been the sole payer of housing kid felons in the institutions, which few citizens realize have been recognized by the federal and state governments as schools.

As such, AFSCME has argued that this is an ideal time to press state officials to make a commitment to support services to teen felons and engage in a serious, concerted effort to provide state school aids and state breakfast and lunch program dollars, and to tap into funds to help pay for the health care and mental health care treatment costs of the youth. The juvenile schools have been under the threat of closure for several years, jeopardizing services to the teens housed there as well as wreaking havoc in the lives of those who work in Ethan Allen or Lincoln Hills.

For more information, contact AFSCME at 608-836-6666 or visit www.wiafscme.org.
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AFSCME Legislative Green Sheet
Collective Bargaining Rights For Public Employees
August 3rd, 2010

Wisconsin is the birthplace of our union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), now some 1.6 million strong. It is no accident that AFSCME was founded here – Wisconsin has one of the nation’s oldest civil service systems, a retirement system that is without equal and tradition of union activism that has resulted in landmark legislation to protect the rights of working people and public employees in particular.

The most important laws that protect public employees are the bargaining rights contained in Chapter 111 of the state statutes. Specifically, bargaining rights for county and municipal employees are conferred in Chapter 111.70 under the Municipal Employment Relations Act, or MERA. Bargaining rights for state employees are in Chapter 111.80 under the State Employment Labor Relations Act, or SELRA. These chapters set forth a framework for public employers and public employees (or their union representatives) to negotiate in good faith with the goal of reaching an agreement on wages, hours and working conditions.

In 1958, Gaylord Nelson sponsored legislation creating MERA, enacting collective bargaining rights for county and municipal employees. Over a decade later, in 1969, SELRA was introduced and became law. The 1969 law includes changes that specified how bargaining units were to be determined across the state. Units for local government were to be determined by the Wisconsin Employee Relations Commission, while units for state workers were to be set by state statute. In 1977, MERA was amended to include binding interest arbitration.

The implementation of binding arbitration was a major factor in instituting lasting labor peace in Wisconsin. Since 1978, Wisconsin has enjoyed labor peace between public employees and local governments. In the eight years prior to interest arbitration becoming law, there were 110 work stoppages related to unresolved disputes between labor and local governments. Since passage of interest arbitration there has not been one instance of local public service interruption due to contract negotiations in Wisconsin. In exchange for a prohibition on strikes, public employees and local governments were provided a fair and equitable system for resolving labor disputes, which, over time, has proven to be a better and less costly process to local governments and taxpayers.

Essentially, under binding arbitration, when the employer and employee reach an impasse in negotiations, the sides send their final offers to an independent arbitrator. The arbitrator reviews both proposals and considers a myriad of issues defined in statute related to the ability of the employer to pay, market conditions, comparable pay, etc. The arbitrator then makes a ruling and chooses the offer they feel is most fair given the parameters set out in the statutes along with the current economic and market conditions. The process gives both sides an incentive to compromise, as opposed to placing the decision in the hands of a third party, and creates a process by which a resolution can be reached to avoid a disruption of services during difficult contract negotiations.

In 1994 MERA was amended again, and greater and greatest weight factors were imposed on the process for all county, municipal and school district employees. These factors tipped what had been a balanced scale in favor of the employer. Arbitrators were now required to consider economic factors, such as increases or decreases in local revenue, above all other factors when making an arbitration ruling. The practical effect is that even if a local unit of government has large reserves, or sees a significant portion of debt paid off that would free up dollars in their budget, an arbitrator has to consider those factors secondary to the revenue stream for the local unit of government in a given year. Prior to greater and greatest weight factors being instituted, arbitration awards were favoring the employer 53% of the time, with employees, or bargaining units prevailing 47%. Between 1995 and 2006 that percentage shifted dramatically with employers wining 59% of interest arbitration cases.
In addition to the creation of greater and greatest weight factors, the 1994 changes to MERA included the adoption of the Qualified Economic Offer, or QEO. The QEO was placed only on teachers, and had damaging effects on their ability to fairly collectively bargain. Under the QEO, school boards had the option of unilaterally limiting pay and benefits for K-12 teachers so long as the combined increase was 3.8%. The law allowed school districts to avoid true collective bargaining regarding compensation and important school quality issues. During the 16 years in which the QEO was in place, rising health insurance costs ate up most of the 3.8% total compensation target. As a result teacher salaries in Wisconsin stagnated and even declined. As a result, Wisconsin teacher salaries fell 6.8% from 1997-98 to 2007-08, when adjusted for inflation. Many efforts were made to expand the QEO to all public employees during this time, with AFSCME and our allies able to defeat those attempts.
The most recent state budget made several changes to collective bargaining laws under Chapter 111. The QEO was repealed and greater and greatest weight factor was eliminated for school district employees. Collective bargaining rights were expanded for state workers, as nearly 20,000 UW faculty, academic staff and research assistants gained the right to collectively bargain. And AFSCME secured the rights of family child care providers to organize and form a union under the Wisconsin Labor Peace Act.

Collective bargaining rights are the cornerstone of our union, and our relationship with employers. Unfortunately, some lawmakers continue to propose legislation to eliminate the right of employees to have a seat at the bargaining table on key issues such as contracting out, choosing health care providers or cutting pension benefits for new employees. AFSCME has resisted these attacks in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

The best way to combat these efforts to undo over 30 years of labor peace in Wisconsin is to elect candidates to the state legislature and governor’s office that support collective bargaining rights in this fall’s elections. It was only two budgets ago a Republican controlled State Assembly attempted to undermine our collective bargaining laws by attaching anti-MERA initiatives in their version of the state budget along with cuts in pay and benefits for state employees.

That anti-labor budget put forth by Assembly Republicans triggered a strong and steady response from AFSCME members, who conducted vigils in the state Capitol through the summer and into the fall. Due to the activism of our members and the efforts of Democratic lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly who supported the public sector, we were able to defeat every one of the anti-worker initiatives in the Assembly budget proposal that year.

But we cannot rest on the success of victories past. It is our job to talk with candidates this fall, educate them on the history of Wisconsin’s bargaining law, and only support those who stand behind Wisconsin’s rich labor history. Only then will we be able to continue our focus on strengthening bargaining rights for working families across the state.

AFSCME Legislative Green Sheet
Privatization of Services and State Worker Jobs
This “Green Sheet” addresses AFSCME’s concerns with privatization of services provided by the state of Wisconsin and describes legislative efforts to rein in privatization practices by state government. The same arguments against privatizing apply to county and municipal governments as well so we will do a subsequent “Green Sheet” on privatization by local governments and provide an update on issues relating to that.
Privatization or the contracting out of services often is seen by managers as a way to save taxpayer dollars and stay within a budget. The temptation to contract out is even greater in these tough economic times both because of staggering budget cuts and because private contractors aggressively seek to do business with the state.
The tendency to contract out state-provided services has escalated over the years because it is easier to hire contractors than it is for an agency to ask for additional state employee jobs. Indeed, in this era of crushing budget deficits, agency heads have been ordered to reduce the state workforce. Many state employee jobs have been eliminated or ordered to remain unfilled over the years. As of July, 2010, there are some 4,000 vacant state positions. Long term, state government staffing has shrunk from 68,000 employees in 2002 to 65,544 in March 2010, a 3.6% cut. In the 2009-11 biennial budget the state cut general fund spending by $727 million, which included 16 days of furloughs for state employees, amounting to an across-the-board wage reduction of over 3%.
Recent U.S. Census Data (from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families) shows the following about state and local government employment in Wisconsin:

Yet even before the era of budget shortfalls, politicians took aim at state workers. Many politicians are more concerned about the public’s perception over the size of state government, despite the fact that government in Wisconsin is decidedly smaller than the vast majority of other states. As a consequence, the legislature often has made decisions that cater to the mantra of anti-government right-wingers and talk radio, instead of making sound decisions about what might be the best way to deliver good quality services in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
AFSCME has witnessed countless budget debates in the legislature’s budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance only to see decisions made to reduce funding and cut state employee jobs, but with the clear expectation that the services would continue to be provided. How has that turned out? Many state workers are doing the jobs that two or three workers had done in the past. We’ve seen management resort to hiring limited term employees (LTEs) as well as contracting for services with private vendors.
AFSCME maintains that when it comes to providing the basic services to citizens, it is usually more cost-effective to use state employees than it is to hire outside contractors or consultants.
The Perils of Contracting Services
Public managers often flirt with the idea of contracting out services to save taxpayer dollars, assuming that contractors are cheaper than using public sector workers. However, the promise of short-term savings often results in more spending, higher costs, poorer service, increased opportunities for corruption and diminished flexibility, control and accountability. Contracting out has been shown to compromise the security of personal information and public assets. In addition, the local economy and tax base suffer as decent jobs with benefits are replaced with low-wage, no-benefit jobs and private companies exporting profits to other parts of the country or even overseas.
Contracting out almost always costs more than its backers claim because indirect and hidden costs are ignored during the bidding process. These include the cost of contract monitoring and administration, conversion costs, charges for "extra" work, and the contractor's use of public equipment and facilities. The Government Finance Officers Association estimates that such costs can add up to 25% to the price of a contract.
Contracting for services also ignores a basic fact – that when it comes to service delivery, the contractors are in business to make a profit. They build profit into their bids. They do this by hiring low-wage workers without benefits, creating increased cost to the government for safety net services like Badger Care health insurance, food stamps, and child care subsidies. And they export state taxpayer dollars out of Wisconsin and many times, out of the country, by sending those profits back to the home office and the shareholders. In this way, both the state worker and the taxpayer lose.
The quality of service can deteriorate when profit is the prime motivation in service delivery. The profit motive can be an incentive to "cut corners," especially when contract specifications are vague or poorly defined. Flexibility erodes because public employees routinely perform tasks above and beyond their official job descriptions. Those duties usually are not factored into contract specifications.
Dependence on contractors increases as in-house expertise and capacity is diminished when state jobs are eliminated. We have seen this happen within the state Department of Transportation (DOT). This loss of leverage can lead to price gouging by contractors in future negotiations. Contractors often "low ball" their initial bids to persuade managers to award them the job. We have seen many times that once a contractor gets a foot in the door, they raise their prices and sometimes the manager in charge has little choice but to continue with a service provider when they have no place else to turn mid-project
Contracting also jeopardizes and diminishes public accountability. When citizens have complaints about a contractor, it is harder to have the complaints resolved because there is no direct connection between the service provider and the payer – that is, the taxpayer. Private companies can avoid public scrutiny, unlike government entities, which are required to operate in an open arena. These conditions create opportunities for corruption, such as bid-rigging, bribery and kickbacks.
Contracting out services usually results in higher costs to taxpayers and a loss of state employee jobs. It also does virtually nothing to help improve service delivery and find ways to save money. Innovative and responsible government leaders know that joint labor/management partnerships are the best way to truly improve service delivery and save money. Public resources are most efficiently and effectively deployed when front-line workers and managers - who have a stake in their communities - work together for the public good.
AFSCME Has Worked to Reform the State’s Contracting Practices
In 2005, AFSCME led the effort to unmask the hidden costs of contracting out of state services. An exhaustive review of state DOT contracts revealed the state was grossly overpaying for services, contracting for redundant services and making payments far exceeding the estimate of the original contract. Those revelations, along with information regarding state information technology projects and contracts that were coming in well beyond time and well above budget, led to a bi-partisan effort to review and reform the state contracting out process. That culminated in the passage of 2005 Wisconsin Act 89.
Act 89 requires state agencies to conduct a “Uniform Cost Benefit Analysis” (UCBA) before entering into any contract that exceeds $25,000. The law allows us to find out and compare the costs of using state workers compared to private contractor. Act 89 created a mechanism that accounts for all overhead, administration and other costs and compare the true “apples to apples” costs.
Five years after Act 89 was enacted, the law continues to confirm what we have long suspected. Last year, AFSCME Council 24’s Outsourcing Committee analyzed 23 state DOT contracts and UCBAs and found that in 22 of the 23 instances, state employees would have been more cost effective than the contractors who got the jobs. Considering that the DOT enters into hundreds of consulting contracts each year, it can be estimated the DOT’s contracting practices have cost state taxpayers nearly $23 million in over-priced consulting contracts alone.
We have sought every opportunity available to share the findings of the overview of DOT contracts with legislators. Our efforts gained traction and we helped persuade State Senator (and AFSCME endorsed congressional candidate) Julie Lassa and State Representative Andy Jorgensen to develop Senate Bill 447 and its nearly identical companion bill, Assembly Bill 792, which seek to reform Wisconsin’s contracting out practices.
SB 447 and AB 792 are comprehensive in scope and targeted many aspects and consequences of contracting out state provided public services. We were pleased that the legislation addresses many AFSCME concerns. For example, the bills prohibit state agencies from replacing vacant state employee positions with contracted work during hiring freezes or furloughs. The legislation also requires that, before entering into or approving a service contract, it must be shown that:

This legislation does not eliminate contracting for services. However, it specifies that, in order to contract for a service, an agency would have to meet two of the following three conditions:

SB 447/AB 792 also provide that the cost benefit analyses (UCBAs) consider all relevant costs, including
salaries and benefits, training requirements, liability insurance, overhead, facility costs and taxes. This builds upon and strengthens language that exists in current law (under Act 89).

SB 447 and AB 792 made it through three separate legislative committees earlier this year, but failed to make it through both houses before the legislature adjourned in April. The foundation we’ve created by sharing the quantitative data provided by Act 89, and expanded on in SB 447 and AB 792, has allowed us to build momentum and a very positive campaign for these bills that we will carry into the next legislative session. But it is up to us to hold legislators accountable as they run for office this fall to make sure that we remind them to support contracting reform legislation in 2011.

Crtical Fall Elections to Determine the Future of Public Services in Wisconsin

July 13th marked the filing deadline to officially declare candidacy in Wisconsin for a wide range of offices from Governor to Congress to the State Legislature among others. In order to make their campaign official candidates had to turn their nomination signatures in to have their names placed on the fall primary and general election ballots. While much of the focus of media coverage across the state will be on the hotly contested races for Governor, in which AFSCME has endorsed Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, and US Senate, AFSCME is now fully engaged in the process of reviewing the various candidates for legislative offices.

Wisconsin State Senators serve four year terms, and the elections are staggered so only half of the body is up for relection at a time. This means 17 of the 33 seats are up for re-election in November of 2010. In two of those seats the incumbent is retiring (Sen. Alan Lasee, R-DePere and Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit). There are expected to be at least a half a dozen highly competitive races for State Senate this fall, and with the Democrats currently holding a three seat advantage, control of the house is very much at stake.

Wisconsin State Representatives all serve two year terms, making each of the seats up for election this fall. So far, 18 members of the 99-member state Assembly are leaving for retirement or to seek other opportunities. The past two years the Democrats controlled this chamber with a five vote pro-labor majority. As a result, AFSCME saw many initiatives get passed and signed into law that never saw the light of day during the decade and a half Republican control.

Questionnaires have been sent to the hundreds of candidates running for the state Assembly and Senate. The questionnaire asks candidates their positions on a wide range of issues, including collective bargaining rights for public employees, to pensions, to contracting out of public services to tax fairness. Based on the returned questionnaires along with candidate interviews by AFSCME members around the state, the Wisconsin PEOPLE Committee and the State Employees Political Action Committee will make endorsements in many districts across the state. Come late summer and fall, we will provide information to AFSCME members throughout Wisconsin on the AFSCME-endorsed candidates through these bulletins as well as various AFSCME publications.

Election day this year is November 2nd, with primaries being conducted on September 14th. This will leave a short time frame for us to educate ourselves about the candidates running for legislative offices and their positions on issues that matter to AFSCME members and the public services we provide. With a looming $2.5 billion budget shortfall, much is on the line. Please get involved in spreading the word on pro-worker candidates to your AFSCME brothers and sisters, family and friends this fall.

When the legislature began working on the 2009-11 Wisconsin budget in the spring of 2009 it faced a record $5.9 billion structural deficit. This meant that the legislature would have to enact either increases in revenue or cuts in spending equal to nearly 10% of the biennial budget just to maintain spending levels and obligations carried forward from the previous year.

In February of 2009, lawmakers took action to fix the growing deficit by passing a bill (Wisconsin 2009 Act 2) that put into place new revenue streams that helped to stabilize the state’s fiscal situation. Unfortunately, around that time, reports came out indicating that the economy was getting worse, and that state revenues were falling dramatically – to the tune of an additional $1.6 billion. This created a total deficit in excess of $7 billion.
Lawmakers ultimately fixed the deficit, and passed a state budget by relying on three key tactics: the first was making an across-the-board 6% cut in every state service and program; the second was enacting new fee and tax increases and the third was relying on an infusion of some $2.2 billion in federal dollars- the critical federal stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

ARRA has been a huge success in Wisconsin, sparing us from economic catastrophe. ARRA created the “Making Work Pay” tax credit, which resulted in a 2009 credit of $800 for most married couples and $400 for others ($852 million), as well as one-time $250 “Economic Recovery Payments” to Social Security and SSI recipients, ensuring that that retirees and others not eligible for the Making Work Pay tax credit still received a benefit Overall it is estimated that ARRA saved over 59,000 jobs, supported health care for 1.3 million elderly, disabled and low-income families, and provided $153 million in support for laid off workers. However, all of those gains will be lost if federal support for states does not continue through the end of the recession.

Funds from ARRA served two main purposes. One was to pump money directly into the economy. Wisconsin received over $4.6 billion in ARRA funds, nearly $2.4 million of which was directed to private sector economic investments. Just as important to the economy, however, was the $2.2 billion that was used to partially offset the $7 billion state budget gap. Without these funds, cuts in state and local government would have exceeded $4 billion, putting further strain on an already depressed economy, and cutting off vital services to Wisconsin’s most vulnerable citizens at a time when those services were needed the most.

The ARRA money significantly reduced the burden on the state’s general fund in many ways. Medical Assistance and SeniorCare saw $1.26 billion of ARRA money, funds that would have had to been cut from other discretionary programs to pay for these entitlement programs. Nearly $800 million was put towards K-12 education, offering relief from the drop in revenues caused by the recession. Aids to local governments, through Shared Revenue and Youth Aids were bolstered by ARRA funds to the tune of $76 million and $11 million respectively. Child care subsidies received $30 million, critical funding to avoid cuts in the Wisconsin Shares program.

Wisconsin currently faces a structural deficit of at least $2.4 billion going into the 2011-13 budget (although some argue this number is higher depending on revenue projections). After this past budget enacted 6% across the board reductions, left 3,200 vacant positions in state government and made sizeable cuts in aids to local governments, there is little to no room for making further cuts to the state budget. In addition, approximately 82% of the state’s general fund is consumed by the following programs and line items:

School Aids                   37.9%               Shared Revenue            6.8%                Debt Service                         5.0%
Medical Assistance            8.6%                Corrections                   6.7%                Juvenile Corrections                   1.8%
UW System                  7.1%                Levy Tax Credits            6.2%                Judicial/Legal Services            1.8%

With such a large portion of the state budget being dedicated to these nine areas there is enormous pressure on the state budget. Further cuts to any of these areas would mean substantial harm to the services and tax relief that citizens depend upon. In fact, absent new revenues, eliminating the 2011-13 structural deficit would require cutting funding for all other general fund expenditures in half, even if these nine areas received no inflationary increase.

Despite modest revenue gains from implementation of some corporate tax fairness changes during the 2009-11 budget, state income and sales tax revenues continue to lag. The recession has depressed 2010-11 projections for state income tax revenue below 2006-07 levels, and sales tax revenue below 2007-08 levels.

These factors, combined with continued increases in the costs of Medical Assistance, construction inflation, health insurance and a myriad of other growing costs in the state budget show the clear need for the continuation of federal stimulus funds until employment numbers rise and the economic outlook for working families improves dramatically.

The federal House of Representatives recently failed to approve a much-needed extension of the enhanced Medicaid funding (called Federal Medical Assistance Percentages or FMAP). If the extension is not added back in when the Senate takes action on the bill, Wisconsin will lose out on over $300 million in Medicaid funding. Additionally, Congress is debating extensions of Unemployment Insurance and COBRA benefits through the end of the year. There will also be an effort to extend the federal emergency assistance for education, which could result in over $400 million to protect the jobs of teachers and school employees.

AFSCME continues to lobby for additional stimulus dollars to keep Wisconsin on the right track for the next budget cycle in 2011-2013. While Wisconsin’s 8.5% unemployment rate for April is still too high, it is over 1% lower than the national average. But all of the gains the state has achieved to create new jobs, to improve the state’s economy and stabilize services by state and local government will be undone if Wisconsin’s Congressional members don’t fight for additional federal funds to aid the state budget during the rest of this financial crisis.

AFSCME should endorse candidates for state and federal office who recognize that states will struggle to survive the recession without additional federal assistance. The inability of states to borrow funds to sustain them through a financial crisis of this magnitude demands that our elected leaders in Washington take on their responsibility to help sustain state and local structures until the economy fully rebounds.

Legislative Bulletin
Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The end of the 2009-2010 legislative session brings retirement announcements

This week veteran lawmaker Polly Williams, a Milwaukee Democrat from the 10th Assembly District, announced her retirement, marking the end of a 30-year career. So far, 18 members of the 99-member state Assembly are leaving for retirement or to seek other opportunities. Three state senators (of 33) have announced they will not seek re-election in November of 2010.

The deadline for filing notice of intent to run for state office is Tuesday, July 13. It’s possible there will be more retirements announced within the next few weeks, but the candidate landscape will be set on July 13.

Legislative session end also marks the appointment of legislative study committees

Each year, in the “off-season”, the non-partisan Joint Legislative Council establishes study committees aimed at providing more time for legislators to deliberate on complex policy issues. The study committees are comprised of legislators and members of the public – usually individuals with an expertise in the area under consideration. Here is a partial list of the study committees, and their charge:

Local Service Consolidation (to be chaired by Milwaukee Democrat Rep. Josh Zepnick and Port Washington Republican Mark Gottlieb): The charge is “to review current law and practice regarding the provision of services by local units of government in order to determine whether current law should be amended to facilitate methods by which local units can partner to efficiently and cost-effectively provide services, including police, fire and educational services to their constituents.”

Public Assistance Program Integrity (Poplar Democrat Sen. Bob Jauch and Oshkosh Democrat Rep. Gordon Hintz, co-chairs) “To study current laws, rules and policies relating to fraud prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution and the current fraud penalty structure in public assistance programs under ch. 49.”

Health Care Reform Implementation (Milwaukee Democrat Rep. Jon Richards, Middleton Democrat Sen. Jon Erpenbach, River Hills Republican Sen. Alberta Darling and River Falls Republican Rep. Kitty Rhoades, serving as co-chairs and co-vice chairs, respectively) “To study and make recommendations on what changes should be made to statutes and administrative rules in response to recently-enacted federal health care reform legislation. To study all aspects of the federal legislation that affect Wisconsin including insurance market reforms, coverage for uninsured persons, preventive care, taxation, quality improvement and health workforce issues.”

Criminal Justice Funding and Strategies (Milwaukee Democrat Sen. Lena Taylor and Racine Democrat Rep. Bob Turner) “To study funding of the criminal justice system and strategies to adequately and sustainably fund the criminal justice system. To include consideration of funding for prosecutors, district attorneys and courts and collection of fees and surcharges imposed on criminal defendants.”

Review of Records Access of Circuit Court Documents (Madison Democrat Rep. Kelda Roys and Wausau Democrat Rep. Donna Seidel) “To review how, and by whom circuit court civil and criminal records may be accessed through the Wisconsin Circuit Court Automation Project (CCAP). The issues include how long a record remains accessible; whether accessibility of a record should depend on how far a civil or criminal proceeding has progressed; and whether records of proceedings that have been vacated or dismissed or resulted in acquittal or other form of exoneration should continue to be accessible.”

These are but a few of the 16 total study committee recommendations which have been made by the co-chairs of the Joint Legislative Council and been submitted for approval by the full Joint Legislative Council. Most recommendations are approved. The committees will begin their work sometime in July and continue working through the fall. The goal of the study committees is to develop a package of legislative proposals that will be presented to the 2011-2012 legislature for deliberation and review.

AFSCME lobbyists will monitor the work of these committees (and others) throughout the summer.

For more information about legislative matters affecting AFSCME members, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666.

This week marks the deadline for the governor to take action on bills sent to his office by the state legislature. As of this week, he has signed into law some 400 bills. Many, if not most, of those bills, are not pertinent to the AFSCME world, but we try to monitor as much legislative activity as possible. This week the Governor approved the controversial payday lender legislation, but with some vetoes aimed at protecting consumers. For more information see The Wheeler Report – www.thewheelerreport.com.

Also signed this week was legislation that modifies the workings of municipal courts, municipal court elections and powers of judges. That bill, Senate Bill 383, contains a provision that makes negotiating certain aspects of employment for municipal court personnel a prohibited subject of bargaining. AFSCME had asked the Governor to veto SB 383. The legislative authors of SB 383 disagreed with our interpretation of how the bill affected the employment rights of municipal court employees. To read the bill, now 2009 Wisconsin Act 402, go to the Wisconsin Legislature’s website, http://www.legis.state.wi.us/, and look for the section entitled “request text and history of legislative proposals” and type in SB 383.

Wisconsin loses $1.2 billion every year due to the “tax gap”, according to a new report published by the progressive think-tank, the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF). The IWF study asked two key questions: Who’s not paying taxes, and what can be done to collect delinquent taxes?

The authors of the report note that “The tax gap is important because over a billion dollars is lost to the state revenue pot every year. This means less aid to cities, counties and schools. The reduced aid results in program cuts that raise class size, slow firefighter response time and deliver fewer meals on wheels to the elderly.”

AFSCME members have a lot to gain by paying attention to how tax cheats cost Wisconsin citizens. Our jobs, and the vital services we provide to citizens, are under attack because of a lower tax collections due to the economic recession and because of the tax gap. To read the report, prepared by former Department of Revenue tax analyst Dennis Collier and fiscal analyst Jack Norman, go to www.wisconsinsfuture.org .

The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a six-month extension of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increase as part of a larger jobs-tax credit extenders bill. We are hopeful of House passage, and that the US Senate will take it up next week. The six-month FMAP extension means over $400 million in federal dollars for Wisconsin. Thank you to all who responded to our call to action last week and contacted Congressman Ron Kind’s office asking him to support the extension.

We need your help to persuade Cong. Kind to support bringing $300 million in Medicaid dollars to our state

Although the national economy is improving, unemployment will remain high for some time. High unemployment and slow economic growth have reduced revenues here and in other states throughout the country. Wisconsin faces a $2.5 billion deficit going into the next biennial budget. Without further federal aid the next governor and legislature may be forced to close the budget gap with painful cuts to vital state and local public services.

Congress understood this when it passed the Recovery Act last year and provided states with important relief under the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) that was used to quickly meet the increased demand for services during these tough economic times. This was critical to closing Wisconsin’s over $7 billion budget gap, and help the state avoid even deeper cuts. Now the FMAP increase is slated to end on December 31, 2010, right in the middle of the upcoming fiscal year for most states.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote next week on a six-month extension of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increase as part of a larger jobs-tax credit extenders bill. We need your help to contact Congressman Ron Kind and ask for his support for this extension. Currently Congressman Kind has indicated that he is undecided this vote, a vote which means over $300 million for Wisconsin.

We need any and all AFSCME members to call Congressman Kind, whether you live in his district or not. Call his office, identify yourself as a constituent or AFSCME leader, and ask Congressman Kind to support the six-month extension of FMAP.

Governor Doyle will sign Senate Bill 429, authored by Senator Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa), into law today. Under current law, firefighters, public emergency medical services providers and law enforcement officers who die or become disabled due to heart or lung disease are eligible for benefits like worker’s compensation because it is “presumed” that they contracted the disease on the job. SB 429 adds infectious diseases to the list of illnesses for which a worker can get benefits. In addition, SB 429 includes state and local corrections staff will also be covered for exposure to infectious diseases.

In addition to signing SB 429 into law, the Governor is set to sign a number of other bills into law today that aim to protect worker rights and safety. Among them:

SB-520, Firefighter Insurance, Senator Hansen (D-Green Bay). The bill requires municipalities to pay health insurance premiums for survivors of a firefighter who dies, or has died, in the line of duty.

AB-314, Railroads Representative Molepske (D-Stevens Point) Places regulations on pesticides used by railroads.

AB-884. Unemployment Compensation Representative Sinicki (D-Milwaukee) Makes various changes in the states unemployment insurance law.

AB-929, Employee Classification Representative Pocan (D-Madison) The bill creates penalties for intentionally trying to avoid income tax withholdings, workers compensation or unemployment insurance by not claiming a person as an employee by an employer in the business of painting or drywall finishing of buildings.

SB-523, Collective Bargaining Senator Coggs (D-Milwaukee) This bill makes it illegal for the state or UW System to use any of the moneys they received for their operations to discourage employees from exercising their rights to bargain collectively.

SB-585, Religious Discrimination Senator Coggs (D-Milwaukee) This law will prohibit discrimination against an employee who declines to attend an employer-sponsored meeting if the primary purpose of the meeting is to communicate the opinion of the employer about religious or political matters.

SB-672, Employee Classification Senator Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie) This bill requires employers to comply with whose enforcement depends on the proper classification of employees. SB 672 aims to target employers who purposely misclassify workers to avoid unemployment taxes and payment of workers compensation premiums, vital benefits for workers.

Governor appoints public committee to look at future of juvenile correctional schools

On April 8, Governor Doyle announced he was appointing a “Juvenile Corrections Review Committee” whose mission is to “formulate a committee recommendation for the Governor regarding the best correctional environment for delinquent youth which will enable them to learn, grow and change their behavior for successful community integration.”

The committee will hold its third meeting May 7 on site at Lincoln Hills School for Boys near Merrill in northern Wisconsin. The committee, which toured Ethan Allen last week, is comprised of public members, including four judges, two ministers, a therapist, a county human service manager, a retired educator, the director of Rawhide Boys Ranch, and a representative of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. There are no legislators or union representatives on the committee.

AFSCME has been working with lawmakers and advocates for some time to call attention to the larger issues surrounding juvenile offenders. The central problem is how Wisconsin pays for services for teens that run afoul of the law, and how it treats those who are under 17. Generally, teens 17 and over who commit serious crimes are sent into the adult system, and the bill is paid by the state. Offenders under age 17 are handled by the juvenile courts, which have an array of options to deal with teens, including sending them to the three juvenile schools. If kids are sent to the schools, counties pay the price - $279 per day, or more than $100,000 per year.

AFSCME will continue to work with the DOC and committee members and urge them to look at how Wisconsin can do better to address the overwhelming needs of teen offenders, whether in the community or in the state juvenile schools. We will challenge the committee to look at the funding issues, which are at the core of the decline in the school populations, and urge the committee to take a stand in favor of raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction from 16 to 17.

The end of the legislative session does not mark the end of all legislative business. When the legislature passed the state budget last summer a provision was inserted directing the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to develop a proposal for a Quality Ratings Improvement System for Wisconsin child care providers. As a part of the provision DCF was required to submit their proposal to the Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) for final approval.

DCF submitted their proposal for a statewide program, dubbed YoungStar, to JFC in March. An objection has been raised by a member of the committee, extending the review period for YoungStar indefinitely. No time table has been set for JFC to take action on YoungStar, however, it is believed many members of the committee would like to resolve the issue at their June meeting. JFC has the ability to accept, reject or modify DCF’s proposal.

AFSCME-Child Care Providers Together continues to support the concept of a Quality Ratings System for child care providers in Wisconsin. However, AFSCME-CCPT is concerned about certain aspects of DCF’s proposal that are punitive to providers, whether appropriate recognition of experience and program are accounted for in the plan, and where the funding for the program will come from.

Wisconsin Legislative Bulletin – end of session wrap up edition
Wednesday, April 28, 2010: Workers Memorial Day

The dust is still settling in the state Capitol after a whirlwind of activity that marked the end of the 2009-2010 legislative session on April 22. Here’s an overview of action taken on many bills of concern to AFSCME.

“Truth in Contracting” legislation, SB 447 (and its Assembly twin, AB 792): An amended version of SB 447 made it through a standing Senate committee and the Joint Finance Committee, but died in the Senate because Senate leadership declined to schedule the bill. AB 792, which was introduced late in the legislative process, also made it through committee and was not voted on by the full Assembly in time before session expired.

Automatic, voluntary dues deduction for retiree members: Our efforts to make this idea become law took an excruciating path in 2009-2010. We succeeded in inserting this bill the budget last spring, only to see it removed by the Assembly during a long, late night, closed door budget caucus. We modified it and fine-tuned it to meet concerns raised by the state Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) and reintroduced the bill as Senate Bill 390. AFSCME worked with senators on SB 390, who sought another amendment in an effort to continue to address privacy and technical concerns. The bill was reported out of the Senate Labor Committee on March 10 on a partisan vote (3-2). Senate leadership declined to schedule SB 390 for a vote by the Senate.

Meanwhile, an identical Assembly companion bill, AB 916, was introduced and moved through the Assembly with lightning speed. AB 916 was approved on a voice vote by the full Assembly on April 20. AB 916 was immediately sent to the Senate, where the bill died when session ended April 22.

Presumption of eligibility of disability for certain public employees: This legislation (Senate Bill 429 and its Assembly companion, AB 644) made it through both the Assembly and Senate, and is on its way to the Governor’s desk. The Governor is expected to sign the bill into law in the coming weeks.

Limiting judges’ ability to interfere with an arbitrator’s decision: AB 609 was approved by the Assembly Labor Committee on a party line vote, and was not scheduled for a vote by the full Assembly. The senate twin, SB 436, did not receive a public hearing. Both bills are dead for the 2009-2010 session.

Right to know if an inmate has an infectious disease: Senate Bill 547 was given a unanimous recommendation by the Senate Public Health Committee on April 7; however, the bill was not scheduled for a vote by Senate leaders before the session expired. An identical companion bill, AB 762, remains in the Assembly Criminal Justice Committee. Both measures are dead.

Banning the sale or lease of the Milwaukee Water Works: The Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee voted March 30 to recommend passage of this legislation (AB 475). The bill did not get scheduled for a vote by the full Assembly in time. A Senate bill that addresses the Milwaukee Water Works but which is not identical to AB 475 was the subject of a public hearing on March 23. That bill, SB 398, does not ban the sale or lease of the water utility, but creates another step in the process before a sale or lease arrangement could be considered. SB 398 remains in the Senate Utilities Committee. AFSCME strongly supported AB 475, and gave only lukewarm support to SB 398.
AB 634, the protective status bargaining bill: This legislation ran into a brick wall otherwise known as the Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA) shortly after the bill was introduced in December 2009. The WCA argued that passage of this bill would result in an unaffordable increase in counties’ ability to pay for the cost of covering this benefit. This argument got traction with a number of legislators who are keenly aware of how state budget cuts have hamstrung county governments and county services.

The WCA played upon the utter lack of awareness among (some) legislators of how the bargaining process works, arguing incorrectly that both state and county workers who would be eligible would surely automatically qualify for protective occupation participant (POP) status benefits under AB 634.

Despite our efforts, AFSCME, and our labor allies, who banded together to get AB 634 introduced, didn’t stand a chance in getting AB 634 through the legislature given the misinformation and strong lobbying effort by the WCA. We will have regroup and rethink our plan for the next legislative session.

Milwaukee County parks, recreation and culture: In January, AB 504 was reported out of the Assembly Labor Committee on a partisan vote (6-4) and was referred to the Joint Committee on Finance for further action. AB 504 remains in the Joint Finance Committee. AB 504, which would have authorized Milwaukee County to impose a half percent sales tax and dedicate the revenue toward parks, recreation and cultural activities. AB 504 got caught in a thicket in the Capitol, both with legislators who are reluctant to authorize a sales tax increase in an election year, and with backers of the “regional transit authority” (RTA) legislation, who also eyed a sales tax increase to pay for transit services.

County highway funding shortfalls: AB 635, introduced in December by Milwaukee area state Representative Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) and Sen. Jeff Plale (D-Milwaukee), would have established a process in which Milwaukee County could request $1.2 million to meet the county’s street and highway maintenance shortfall, died when the session ended. No action was taken on the bill. However, there has been recognition among some lawmakers about the deficit that Milwaukee and many other counties are facing, but nothing has been done. The funding cuts were done as part of the across the board cuts made in the 2009-2011 state budget bill, which left some county highway departments facing a deficit of 10% or more. This, combined with two successive bad winters, roads which are crumbling, an increase in salt prices and the diminishing revenue in the state Transportation Fund, is a problem the Legislature and the next Governor cannot long ignore.

Volunteer fire fighters, EMTs, first responders gain protections under new law: Legislation that would require employers to allow workers who serve as volunteers to be late or absent from work if the lateness or absence is due to the employee responding to an emergency that begins before the worker is required to report to work. Senate Bill 308 and Assembly Bill 464 passed both houses of the Legislature and were signed into law as 2009 Wisconsin Act 140 by the Governor.

County nursing homes: a bill that would allow groups of counties to collaborate to provide nursing home care to residents from multiple counties has passed both houses and is on its way to be signed into law by Governor Doyle. SB 684 and AB 944 (companion bills) were strongly supported by AFSCME, which represents workers at the Clearview Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Center in Dodge County and the LaCrosse Lakeview Health Center in LaCrosse County. These two nursing facilities are on the cutting edge of moving toward a collaborative, multi-county nursing home model to stay in business, serve residents who need long term care and keep nursing home staff employed.

This is only a partial list of bills that AFSCME was lobbying on or monitoring. For more information, go to www.wiafscme.org or call AFSCME at 608-836-6666.
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The Legislature is in the midst of the final days of the legislative activity for 2009. Like college students in final exam days, lawmakers are scrambling to get their bills scheduled for votes by the full Assembly or Senate (or both houses) before the clock runs out April 22. There are literally hundreds of bills under consideration this week, but many bills will fail to make it through the legislative process.

To get a sense of the scope and the tone of legislative activity, check out some key web sites: www.thewheelerreport.com and www.wispolitics.com. To view the proceedings (even after the fact); go to Wisconsin Eye at www.wiseye.org. Here’s an update on the most recent legislation of interest to AFSCME members:

Retiree dues deduction: the Assembly has passed AB 916, the Retiree Dues Deduction Act. The bill now goes to the full Senate. As of this writing, it is not certain that AB 916 will be included on the Senate’s agenda for a vote on Thursday.

The Wisconsin Voter Protection Act, AB 895: this legislation, which modernizes Wisconsin’s voter registration laws, including allowing for electronic voter registration, was scheduled for a vote by the Assembly, but was removed from the agenda at the last minute and put on Thursday’s calendar. This action makes passage of the bill by both houses before adjournment unlikely.

Apprenticeship program to operate crane and heavy equipment: (SB 665 and AB 928): The Senate and Assembly Labor Committees were scheduled to vote on these two bills on Tuesday. That didn’t happen because AFSCME raised concerns regarding the impacts on local governments, and pointed out that the legislation does not account for training programs already in place for public employees. AFSCME worked with the bill authors to create an exemption for employees of local governments, but an agreement could not be reached, so the bills will not pass.

Prohibiting unfair labor practices: SB 523 would prohibit the UW System from using UW resources to discourage the exercise of collective bargaining rights. SB 523 was approved by the Senate and sent to the Governor for his signature, after Assembly passage, on April 20.

Strengthening Wisconsin’s thrower’s law: Under current law, a person who throws a bodily substance on a public safety worker and who intends to harm the public safety worker is subject to a Class I felony. AB 775 removes the element of intent to cause harm. (A Class I felony is a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed three years and 6 months, or both). AB 775 now goes to the Senate.

Unemployment benefits: A bill crafted by the state Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council was approved by the Assembly and Senate, and will be sent to the Governor. The legislation (AB 884 and SB 649) makes modest changes in UI benefits.

Regional Transit Authorities: AB 282, which creates RTAs, was scheduled for a vote on April 20, but was removed from the calendar and remains in limbo. A similar Fox Valley-only RTA bill, AB 723, also had been placed on the agenda and then was later held off.

Optional holiday for state workers: AB 467 requires state agencies to designate March 31 as an optional holiday for state employees that can be taken in place of receiving a paid holiday on one of the other established paid legal holidays. March 31 is the birthday of Cesar Chavez. AB 467 does not create another new state holiday. AB 46 passed on a party line vote and now heads to the Senate.

Green to Gold: Legislation to create a $100 million revolving loan fund that will enable Wisconsin’s industries to lower their energy costs, make products that support the green economy and create and retain jobs. The bill passed on a strong bipartisan vote of 78-20. SB 651 was approved by the state Senate, and now goes to the Governor, who is expected to sign it into law.

Using safe cleaning products: Legislation that would require the use of safe, environmentally-friendly cleaning products in all state and local government buildings, AB 578, was on the April 20th agenda. After considering many amendments, the Assembly decided to table the bill.

State School Superintendent: A bill that empowers the top school educator to intervene in school districts was approved by the state Senate, and is awaiting action by the Assembly.

Aging and Disability Resource Centers: Two bills affecting ADRC operations have been approved by the Senate and Assembly. One would allow nonprofits to operate ADRCs. The other, SB 494, would allow ADRCs to screen for individuals who choose to participate in self-directed long-term care services.

Also on the Legislature’s docket included legislation requiring training of foster parents, telephone land line deregulation, prohibiting the use of race-based nicknames, logos or mascots by schools and more.

Senate Bill 447 and Assembly Bill 792, legislation offered by Senator Lassa and Representative Jorgenson to reform Wisconsin’s state contracting out system, passed the Joint Committee on Finance on April 19th. The legislation has now received the support of two standing committees in each house of the Legislature, as well as the powerful Joint Finance Committee. It is unclear whether either bill will be scheduled for a vote by the full Assembly or Senate, but AFSCME is lobbying hard to make this happen.

The long-sought Worker Wage Protection bill has been scheduled for a vote by the state Assembly on Thursday. That bill, SB 2, makes payment of unpaid wages to workers a priority when a company goes out of business. This bill is a top priority for the AFL-CIO.

County nursing homes: Legislation to allow multiple counties to collaborate on the operation of county nursing home is moving at lightning speed. The bills, SB 684 and AB 644, were introduced last week, sent to committees in both houses, received public hearings, and are likely to be approved by both the Assembly and Senate this week. At this writing, AB 644 is scheduled for a vote by the Assembly. SB 684 is expected to be on the Senate’s calendar Thursday as well. This legislation, which was drafted at the request of the Wisconsin Counties Association with extensive input from AFSCME, removes barriers to allowing counties to accept residents from other counties and allows Medicaid payments to follow the residents. It allows counties to form commissions to run the multiple county homes.

Homeowner property tax break: A little noticed resolution, Assembly Joint Resolution 8, proposes to allow the primary homes of state residents to be taxed differently from other properties, such as farms or corporate-owned land. Due to tax breaks granted over time to special interests, homeowners have begun to pay way more than their fair share of the property tax. AJR 8 would allow future Legislatures to look at how the property tax responsibility is distributed among all payers. AJR 8, which proposes to amend the state Constitution, would have to be approved by the next Legislature and go before the voters before any breaks to homeowners could be considered.

Also on the Assembly’s agenda are AB 367, which prohibits employment discrimination based on credit history, and SB 585, which bans discrimination against a worker who declines to attend an employer-sponsored meeting or to participate in any communication regarding the employer’s religious or political views.

AFSCME will issue reports in the coming weeks on the outcome of legislation of interest to our members.
For more information, go to www.wiafscme.org or call the AFSCME office at 608-836-6666.
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Assembly Bill 916, which would allow retirees in the Wisconsin Retirement System to choose to have their union dues voluntarily deducted from their pensions, was passed by the Assembly Labor Committee this week. That makes AB 916 available for scheduling for a vote by the full Assembly. Identical legislation, Senate Bill 390, was recommended for passage by the Senate Labor Committee last month, and awaits scheduling for the floor by the Senate Organization Committee, Chaired by Senator Majority Leader Russ Decker.

Please call both your State Representative and State Senator and ask them to contact their Assembly and Senate leadership and ask that AB 916 and SB 390 be scheduled for a full vote by the Assembly and Senate for passage. With the legislative session coming to a close we need you to act now.

Sen. Jim Sullivan (D-West Allis) and Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee) are the primary authors of Senate Bill 429 and Assembly Bill 644. Under current law, firefighters, public emergency medical services providers and law enforcement officers who die or become disabled due to heart or lung disease are eligible for benefits like worker’s compensation because it is “presumed” that they contracted the disease on the job. SB 429 and AB 644 would add infectious diseases to the list of illnesses for which a worker can get benefits. Also, for the first time, state and local corrections staff would be covered under presumption, but only for exposure to infectious diseases. SB 429 passed the State Senate on an 18 – 15 party line vote, with the Democrats voting in favor on Tuesday. The Assembly has scheduled both bills for a vote on Thursday, with AFSCME believing the bill has enough votes to gain passage and get sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

The Assembly and Senate will end their regular sessions the week of April 19. This will be the last regular floor period for 2010. A more comprehensive summary of bills that have passed the legislature in the 2009 – 10 legislative sessions will follow.

Senate Bill 547, which would give corrections officers the right to know if an inmate has a contagious disease, received a unanimous vote of approval from the Senate Committee on Public Health this week. The Public Health Committee’s action now makes SB 547 available to be scheduled for a full vote of the Senate. AFSCME is lobbying Senate leadership to put the bill on the calendar.

Assembly Bill 916, which would allow retirees in the Wisconsin Retirement System to choose to have their union dues voluntarily deducted from their pensions, received a public hearing in the Assembly Labor Committee this week. Identical legislation, Senate Bill 390, was recommended for passage by the Senate Labor committee last month, and awaits scheduling for the floor by the Senate Organization Committee, Chaired by Senator Majority Leader Russ Decker. AFSCME is working diligently to get these bills passed before session ends.

Assembly Bill 887 and Senate Bill 642, companion bills that would revise the recently passed child care background check statutes, both saw action in the respective house committees in recent weeks. A hearing was held on AB 887 two weeks ago in which AFSCME child care providers testified in favor of the bill. The Assembly Children and Families voted on the bill the same day, recommending the bill’s passage to the full Assembly on a 7 – 0 vote. A public hearing was held on SB 642 in the Senate Children and Families committee last week, with AFSCME child care providers again offering testimony in support of the legislation. That committee has yet to schedule a vote on the bill.

If these bills were to become law, persons convicted of property crime, a background check violation, or public assistance fraud would see their bar from running a child care facility reduced from a permanent ban to five years. The bill would also allow providers to appeal some five year bars for people residing at their home to the Department of Children and Families if the provider can show that the person residing at their residence doesn’t pose a threat to the children in their care.

The Assembly and Senate will meet again the week of April 12 and the week of April 19. This is the last regular floor period for 2010, making time short to get these, and any other bills, passed into law before session ends.

For more information, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666. And for other AFSCME news, check out our new Council 11 website at www.wiafscme.org.

Milwaukee Water Works:
This week the Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee voted 7-5 in favor of a bill that would ban the sale or lease of the City of Milwaukee’s Water Works. All seven Democrats supported and all five Republicans voted against AB 475, which now goes to the Assembly Rules Committee, which schedules bills for action by the full Assembly.

Last week the Senate Utilities Committee held a hearing on a similar bill, Senate Bill 398, which allows for the sale of the Milwaukee Water Works if approved by the state Senate. AFSCME strongly supports AB 475, and has expressed less enthusiastic support for SB 398.

Truth in Contracting:
Pressure continues on lawmakers to rein in excessive state contracting out /privatization practices, especially in the wake of severe budget cuts. Senate Bill 447, and a nearly identical measure, Assembly Bill 792, are gaining traction in the Capitol. The legislation aims to strengthen the cost benefit analyses law which agencies are required to observe when contracting out services. SB 447 and AB 792 are making headway but still face an uphill battle.

A bill that AFSCME requested that would give corrections officers the right to know if an inmate has a contagious disease was on the agenda of the Senate Committee on Public Health this week. AFSCME will testify in favor of the legislation. An identical bill was introduced in the state Assembly. That bill, AB 762, was referred to the Assembly Corrections and Courts Committee.

The Assembly and Senate will meet again the week of April 12 and the week of April 19 and typically only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is the last regular floorperiod for 2010. There has been talk of a limited extraordinary session to take up the Democrats’ jobs agenda, but after that lawmakers will shift gears and start preparing for the fall elections.

Highlights of state legislative activity: Milwaukee Water Works, juvenile offenders, labor and hunting bills receive attention in committees

Milwaukee Water Works – Assembly Committee to vote on AB 475; Senate Committee Hearing on SB 398

The 12-member Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee is scheduled to vote on AB 475 on Tuesday, March 30. AB 475 would ban the sale or lease of the Milwaukee Water Works.

This week a Senate committee held a hearing on SB 398, the bill that would have the state Senate approve the sale or lease of the Milwaukee Water Works. Current law would allow a municipality to sell or lease a utility if approved by the state Public Service Commission. SB 398 would keep that process in place, and also require state Senate approval of the sale or lease plan. AFSCME indicated lukewarm support for SB 398, and told committee members that our union’s preference is for the Legislature to pass AB 475.

A bill that proposes changes in state law relating to carrying and transporting uncased weapons and allowing untagged deer to remain unattended for one hour will be the subject of a public hearing before the Assembly Fish and Wildlife Committee on Wednesday, March 31 at 1:00 in the state Capitol. SB 222 is a potential public safety and law enforcement nightmare. It does not facilitate gun deer group hunting and may encourage poaching and stealing of game. AFSCME-represented conservation wardens oppose this measure and will testify at the hearing. AFSCME members are encouraged to ask their legislators to oppose SB 222.

Members of the Assembly Labor Committee will vote March 24 on an amended version of the “Truth in Contracting Act”, Assembly Bill 792. This version raises the threshold from $25,000 to $50,000 for when agency staff must prepare “cost benefit analyses” to better equip state officials to decide whether or not to contract out a service. AFSCME has been involved in negotiations with legislators on the details of AB 792 but has raised concerns about a higher threshold, which will remove from oversight literally thousands of contracts.
The legislative backers of AB 792 and its Senate companion, SB 447, are seeking to streamline the cost benefit analysis process created in 2005 Act 89 to make the process work better, yield more useful information and, ultimately, help the state make better decisions about how best to deliver services to citizens.

It is likely that the changes incorporated into AB 792 will be included in SB 447. After the committee’s action, AB 792 is expected to be sent to the Joint Committee on Finance. SB 447 was sent to the same committee some weeks ago. AFSCME will continue to work with Joint Finance Committee members and legislative leaders in crafting a strong product.

Early in 2009, legislators in both houses introduced measures to raise Wisconsin’s minimum wage from $6.50 to $7.60. SB 1 was amended and approved by the state Senate and was sent to the Assembly Labor Committee. AB 41 was introduced and referred to the Labor committee in February of 2009. Both SB 1 and AB 41 will be heard by this committee on March 24, but it is uncertain if there will be enough political support in the Assembly to get the minimum wage increase legislation passed by the time the Legislative session ends on April 22.

It is worth noting that what is not on the committee’s agenda this week is the “Wage Protection Act”, SB 2. That bill was approved by the Senate last year and has been stalled in the Assembly. The legislation is strongly opposed by the banking and business lobbyists. SB 2 as amended by the Senate would increased to $10,950 the amount of unpaid wages and benefits that a worker is given priority to collect before the banks can collect. Assembly Republicans are seeking to cap the amount at $5,000. Assembly representatives need to be reminded to put workers before bankers!

AB 732, a measure offered by Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) to give more options to rehabilitate teen offenders, will be the subject of an informational hearing on Thursday, April1, in the state Capitol. The notice has not yet been issued, but it is likely to be a hearing with invited speakers only. AFSCME strongly supports raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction from 16 to 17. AB 732 is a sincere effort to put the needs of teen offenders on the agenda of lawmakers, but we prefer that this issue be addressed as part of larger budget discussions because of the $70 million-plus price tag, which will fall largely on the shoulders of county government, which can ill afford to be strapped with such costs. This is a complex issue that begs for a comprehensive solution. AFSCME will continue to advocate for a comprehensive approach to addressing the needs of juvenile offenders.

For more information, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666. And for other AFSCME news, check out our new Council 11 website at www.wiafscme.org.

Millions of people across the country wore the color green today to honor hard working AFSCME represented public employees. Many gathered in taverns, offering toasts of green-colored beer to recognize everything that public employees do for them and their communities. The outpouring of support was quite inspiring for any who witnessed it, and reportedly even brought a tear to President Gerald McEntee’s eyes.

“Truth in Contracting” Bill Gains Momentum in the wake of AFSCME Lobby Day

Since our AFSCME Lobby Day took place on March 3, another version of the “Truth in Contracting” bill was introduced in the state Assembly, and was on the agenda of the Assembly Labor Committee on March 10. AB 792. Offered by Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Fort Atkinson) the bill is an identical companion to SB 447, which has been shepherded by state Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point). SB 447 is in the Joint Committee on Finance. AB 792 is likely to be voted on by the Assembly Labor Committee next week. AFSCME is working feverishly with Sen. Lassa to fine-tune both bills to address concerns that state agencies officials have recently identified, and we are working to address those concerns without compromising the goal of the legislation.

Positive Hearing on Legislation to Prohibit the Sale of Milwaukee Water Works

Another highlight of AFSCME’s Lobby Day was the positive hearing on AB 475, the bill that would ban the sale or lease of the Milwaukee Water Works. At the hearing, concern was raised that the bill violates the principle of local control, but when AFSCME Council 48 Executive Director pointed out that the Milwaukee Water Works provides water not only to city residents but residents of some 18 suburban communities, legislators on the committee seemed to grasp the danger of privatizing this vital utility. AFSCME is pushing for a vote on the bill.

In a related development, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Utilities, Energy and Rail plans to hold a public hearing March 23 on another, different Milwaukee Water Works bill, Senate Bill 369. This bill differs from AB 475 in that it does not outright ban the sale or lease of the Milwaukee Water Works. Current law allows the sale or lease of any utility, subject to approval by the state Public Service Commission. SB 369 would add approval of the state senate as a condition of sale or lease of the utility.

Hunting measure opposed by AFSCME-represented Conservation Wardens moves on to Assembly

Senate Bill 222, which proposes changes to state law relating to uncased weapons and allowing hunters to avoid tagging and attending deer after the kill, was approved by the state Senate and is now before the Assembly Committee on Fish and Wildlife. A public hearing on SB 222 will be held on Wednesday, March 31. AFSCME opposes SB 222, which puts the safety of hunters, law enforcement and the public at risk. We are asking members to contact Assembly representatives to voice their opposition to SB 222.

For more information, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666. And for other AFSCME news, check out our new Council 11 website at www.wiafscme.org.

AFSCME members showed up in force last week to stage one of the most successful AFSCME Lobby Days in recent memory. Over 450 AFSCME members from all three Wisconsin Councils and all corners of the state descended on the State Capitol and turned the hallways into a sea of green. AFSCME members from all 33 State Senate Districts and 93 of the 99 State Assembly Districts lobbied their legislators on dozens of bills. The Lobby Day effort focused on three main themes.

AFSCME members reminded legislators that far too often policy makers look to privatize public services to find short term savings, while the long term costs are ignored. They pointed to the 2009 Legislative Audit Bureau Report on Construction Engineering in State Highway Projects that demonstrated once again the dangers of outsourcing and the need to reform the state’s contracting process. AFSCME members urged legislators to support efforts to create better standards for contracting out practices and restrict the privatization of vital public services.

Lobby day attendees explained to legislators that public employees have made numerous concessions over the years to secure the collective bargaining agreements in place today. In many cases they also put their health and well being on the line to protect the public on a daily basis. AFSCME members urged lawmakers to support legislation that protects the rights of public employees to organize and collectively bargain, as well as recognize the inherent danger of many of their jobs.

While the legislature and the Governor took steps to close corporate tax loopholes and implement tax fairness in the state budget, AFSCME members explained to legislators the work that must still be done. AFSCME urged legislators to find new ways to fund key services such as parks, transit and schools, as well as continuing efforts to close unfair tax loopholes that shift the tax burden to working families in Wisconsin.

With the legislative session coming to a close in April AFSCME will be working hard to push through the dozens of bills that members advocated for on lobby day. The ground work you all laid will go a long way toward accomplishing that goal. Thanks again to all who came to Madison and made this lobby day such a roaring success.

Both houses of the state Legislature met in full session this week and took on some high profile issues to start the final legislative push for the spring. Among the topics dominating the headlines is legislation to regulate the pay day lending industry, high speed rail, initiatives for green or clean energy jobs and bans on the production of BPA in products for children. But while the media are covering these stories, several other bills are working their way through the legislative process that may be of lower profile, but have profound effects on public services throughout the state.

With a limited spring legislative session, the time is now to advance AFSCME-supported legislation and stop bills we oppose. Among the issues in play are:

AFSCME is working diligently to voice the concerns of public employees across the state on these and other issues every day in the Capitol. But the time for AFSCME members to act on their right to have their voice heard by legislators directly is now. One of the best ways for AFSCME members to exercise that right is attend AFSCME Lobby Day.

Goals of AFSCME Lobby Day – Strengthening Power at the Bargaining Table, Fighting Privatization and Protecting Public Services
AFSCME Lobby Day 2010 will be held in Madison on Wednesday, March 3. This year’s Lobby Day will focus on three themes: increasing our power at the bargaining table, fighting the rush to privatization and adequately funding public services. This is a critical time for AFSCME Wisconsin’s legislative agenda. We ask you to join hundreds of AFSCME members from all three Wisconsin Councils and descend on the Capitol on one day to speak with one voice about the importance of public services.

To sign up for Lobby Day please contact either your Council, the Council 11 office at the number listed below, or your Take Back America Staff.

Senate Bill 447, authored by Senator Julie Lassa (D – Stevens Point), makes numerous changes to the state contracting out process. Among the changes are higher thresholds for state agencies to contract out public services, additional items that must be considered as costs of contracting out to make a more apples-to-apples comparison between privateers and state employees, standardized performance measures for contracts, penalties for false claims made by contractors and increased penalties for contractors that commit fraud against the state. SB 447 was passed by the Senate Committee on Ethics and Government Operations on February 10, and is ready for a vote by the full Senate.

Minimum Snowplow Following Distance Up for Vote in Assembly Committee
The Assembly Transportation Committee was scheduled to vote on Assembly Bill 552 on Thursday. AB 552, authored by Representative Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), would institute a minimum snowplow following distance of 75 feet when traveling at speeds less than 35 miles per hour when a snowplow is clearing snow. Current state law requires a following distance of 200 feet when traveling over 35 miles per hour, but places no requirements under 35 miles per hour. If passed, the bill would be available for a full vote by the State Assembly.

AFSCME Lobby Day – Strengthening Power at the Bargaining Table, Fighting Privatization and Protecting Public Services
AFSCME Lobby Day 2010 will be held in Madison on Wednesday, March 3. This year’s Lobby Day will focus on increasing our power at the bargaining table, fighting the rush to privatization and adequately funding public services. Lobby Day is critical to AFSCME Wisconsin’s legislative program, as each year nearly 500 AFSCME members from all three Wisconsin Councils descend on the Capitol on one day, and speak with one voice about the importance of public services.

To sign up for Lobby Day please contact either your Council, the Council 11 office at the number listed below, or your Take Back America Staff. We hope you will join us as AFSCME Green Power descends on the Capitol.

A bill that would allow retirees to choose to have union dues deducted automatically from their pension checks has been scheduled for a public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 9 in the Capitol. The Senate Labor Committee, chaired by AFSCME member Sen. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee), will hear testimony on SB 390, authored by Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay). Sen. Hansen and AFSCME representatives have been working for months to fine-tune the dues deduction legislation. In the spring of 2009, a variation of SB 390 was inserted in the budget, but was removed later in the budget deliberation process.

For two decades, AFSCME has worked to get lawmakers to grant protective occupation participant status for county jailers. This session, we worked with other unions to prepare a bill that would make protective status a mandatory subject of bargaining, for county jailers and those state employees who work in secure institutions.

Unfortunately, AB 634 is stuck in the Assembly Corrections Committee, without sufficient “yes” votes to get a positive report from the committee. If you have not yet called, emailed or talked to your own state Representative and your own state Senator to ask them to support the bill, the time to do so is now. We need to find out how all members of the Assembly intend to vote on AB 634. We are working on a plan to get it out of committee. In the meantime, we need you to contact your legislator. The message is: Please support AB 634, and tell me how you intend to vote on the bill, if and when it comes to the full Assembly (or Senate). Be sure to include your home address, and please refrain from emailing legislators other than your own area legislators.

Rep. Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay) is circulating a bill that would confer protective status benefits on county jailers throughout Wisconsin. The proposal has no bill number yet, but is temporarily known as LRB 4003/1. We will monitor this proposal and how it might affect our efforts on AB 634.

This week Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) introduced a bill that would keep 17-year-olds under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, rather than the adult system. While most agree this change is needed, few agree on how to pay the costs associated with keeping teen offenders in the juvenile system. Teens that end up in the adult correctional system are treated like any other offender – and the state of Wisconsin pays the costs, with general tax dollars.

However, the costs of treating teens in the juvenile correctional system (whether in the community or in the three state-run juvenile schools) are paid for by counties, with property tax dollars. Kessler’s legislation would partially fund the costs by tacking a surcharge onto traffic offenses. His legislation would make other changes in the way juvenile correctional costs are managed. AFSCME supports giving teens under age 18 a chance to remain in the juvenile system, but we cannot support any change in state law that would jeopardize the juvenile schools or put further constraints on already limited county resources.

Last session, some lawmakers proposed similar legislation, and would have partially funded it by imposing a surcharge on video games.

Update on SB 429/ AB 644: Worker’s Compensation Presumption for Infectious Diseases

On Tuesday, Feb. 9, the Senate Labor Committee is slated to take up SB 429, the Senate version of the worker’s compensation presumption bill. The Assembly companion, AB 644, got a unanimous vote from the Assembly Labor Committee on January 27. We have asked Assembly leaders to take quick action on AB 644.

Competing interests seek boost in sales tax for key services: Milwaukee parks, transit, schools

A bill that would authorize Milwaukee County to increase the county sales tax and use the revenue to pay for parks, culture and recreation was approved on a straight partisan vote of 6-4 by the Assembly Ways and Means Committee on Jan. 25. The committee amended the bill, AB 504, to specify certain parks and other services would be funded with the revenue. The amendment also would require an annual audit of the tax. AB 504 has been referred to the Joint Committee on Finance.

Another bill that is generating discussion about hiking the sales tax is Senate Bill 205, which would allow proposed regional transit authorities to increase the local sales tax to fund transportation services. The RTA legislation will be taken up by the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday, Feb. 4.

On a separate track, school finance reform advocates have long been calling for an increase in the statewide sales tax to provide additional resources for schools. The group has not developed a bill that lawmakers could act upon.

Vital services such as schools, parks and transit already were struggling with anemic resources before the economic downtown, which has made things worse. The grassroots efforts underway in each of these areas merits close attention and discussion among our ranks.

For more information, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666 or go to the Wisconsin AFSCME website, www.wiafscme.org.

Governor Doyle Warns of more cuts in services in his final “State of the State” address

Wisconsin’s governor this week warned that more budget cuts may be on the horizon, but he gave no details of what that could mean or how much might be needed to keep the state budget in balance. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) is expected to release a report on state revenues soon. The two-year state budget, Act 28, was developed with a decline in revenues in mind, but based on the best information available at the time. The soon-to-be released revenue report from the LFB will give the Governor and lawmakers a clear picture of whether or not a budget repair bill might be needed. Less than a year out from the November 2010 elections, legislative leaders would prefer not to have another painful budget review session. AFSCME will continue to monitor the situation.

The Assembly Labor Committee gave unanimous approval Wednesday to a bill that would amend Wisconsin’s “presumption” law so to provide duty disability and other benefits to certain public employees who are unable to work because of illness due to exposure to infectious diseases. AB 644 moves on to the full Assembly for consideration. An identical “companion” bill, Senate Bill 429, is sitting in the Senate Labor Committee.

In his speech this week, Governor Doyle urged lawmakers to act swiftly on legislation that would allow Milwaukee County to boost the sales tax by 0.5% and use the revenues to fund a regional transit authority. The Governor and lawmakers have not seen eye-to-eye on how and where to establish and fund RTAs. The disagreement erupted last summer over the Governor’s veto of a carefully crafted RTA package that lawmakers had inserted in the budget. The Governor’s Milwaukee RTA plan faces an uncertain future. Meanwhile, next week, the Senate Transportation Committee is poised to take up a bill to allow for the creation of RTAs anywhere in the state. The bill would authorize an RTA to impose up to 0.5% sales tax within the RTA’s jurisdiction. That legislation, Senate Bill 205, was developed by the Special Committee on Regional Transportation Authority, a bipartisan committee made up of legislators and members of the public.

With three months before the Legislature adjourns for 2010, there is not much time left for lawmakers to move bills through the legislative process. The Legislature will be “in session” (that is, voting on bills in the full Senate or Assembly) only few days between now and the end of April. Your AFSCME lobbyists are hunkering down to get our bills moving. You can help advance our agenda by joining us on Wednesday, March 3, for our annual tri-council Lobby Day. See www.wiafscme.org for details.

Protective Status Bill Moving Forward
The Assembly Committee on Courts and Corrections held a hearing on January 7 on Assembly Bill 634. The bill changes state law to make protective service status a mandatory subject of bargaining under both the State Labor and the Municipal Employee Relations Acts for all persons working in a secure institution. Protective service status means that due to the physical requirements of their work, and its relationship to the safety of themselves and their co-workers, some public employees are eligible to retire at an earlier age and after a shorter career than they would be without this status.
Legislators need to hear from AFSCME members in their districts about the importance of passing AB 634 and the integrity of this issue being a part of the collective bargaining process. Please contract your state legislators today and ask them to support AB 634, and then come to Lobby Day in Madison on March 3, 2010 to reinforce the issue in person. We need your support to get this bill passed out of committee and on to a vote before the full Assembly.
Contracting Reform Bill Introduced, Receives Hearing

Senate Bill 447, authored by Senator Julie Lassa (D – Stevens Point), makes numerous changes to the state contracting out process. Among the changes are higher thresholds for state agencies to contract out public services, additional items that must be considered as costs of contracting out to make a more apples-to-apples comparison between privateers and state employees, standardized performance measures for contracts, penalties for false claims made by contractors and increased penalties for contractors that commit fraud against the state. SB 447 was heard by the Senate Committee on Ethics and Government Operations on January 20th.

Assembly Bill 496, which would impose penalties for drivers caught texting while driving, passed the State Assembly 86 – 7 this week. Similar legislation, SB 103, passed the Senate last fall. The bills are not identical, and some of the minor differences will need to be worked out between the houses before they can be sent to the Governor for his signature. However, AFSCME is optimistic that this common sense safety measure will become law in the coming months.

For more information, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666. And for other AFSCME news, check out our new Council 11 website at www.wiafscme.org.

Protecting the Integrity of the Arbitration Process
The Assembly Committee on Labor held a public hearing on Assembly Bill 609, authored by Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee), on Wednesday, Jan.13. AB 609 would limit the ability of courts to overturn rulings by arbitrators in a mediation arbitration process. Currently, courts have broad powers to overturn an arbitrator’s decision, even when both sides in the dispute have agreed to binding arbitration. These powers weaken the arbitration process, and take the final decision out of the hands of an arbitrator experienced with the issues in dispute and place them in the hands of a judge who may or may not be familiar with labor/management negotiations. AFSCME testified in support of the bill and is asking the committee to schedule a vote in the coming weeks.
Presumption Bill Receives Hearing
Assembly Bill 644, authored by Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee) and Sen. Jim Sullivan (D-Milwaukee), also received a hearing in the Assembly Labor Committee on Wednesday, Jan.13. The bill creates the presumption, for purposes of determining benefits, that firefighters, emergency medical services providers, law enforcement officers and corrections officers who die or are disabled due to an infectious communicable disease, contracted the disease through their line of work. Under current law these protections extend to fire fighters for heart and respiratory issues they likely would have obtained as a part of their public service. This bill expands the people covered by this protection to cover diseases that can be spread by direct contact to many public employees who work with people who are at a higher risk of having such a disease.
AFSCME Lobby Day – Strengthening Power at the Bargaining Table, Fighting Privatization and Protecting Public Services
AFSCME Lobby Day 2010 will be held in Madison on Wednesday, March 3. This year’s Lobby Day will focus on increasing our power at the bargaining table, fighting the rush to privatization and adequately funding public services. Lobby Day is critical to AFSCME Wisconsin’s legislative program, as each year nearly 500 AFSCME members from all three Wisconsin Councils descend on the Capitol on one day, and speak with one voice about the importance of public services.

To sign up for Lobby Day please contact either your Council, the Council 11 office at the number listed below, or your Take Back American Staff. We hope you will join us as AFSCME Green Power descends on the Capitol.

or more information, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666. And for other AFSCME news, check out our new Council 11 website at www.wiafscme.org

Protective Status Bill Moving Forward
The Assembly Committee on Courts and Corrections is holding a public hearing on Thursday, January 7, on Assembly Bill 634. AB 634 changes state law to make protective service status a mandatory subject of bargaining under both the State Labor and Municipal Employee Relations Acts for all persons working in a secure institution. Protective service status means that due to the physical requirements of their work, and its relationship to the safety of themselves and their co-workers, some public employees are eligible to retire at an earlier age and a shorter career than they would be without this status. Various public employees are afforded this status, most commonly police officers and firefighters.
However, this status is not afforded to all persons working in secure state institutions, nor to most county correctional officers in Wisconsin. Under current law the ability to bargain for protective service status is prohibited for county and municipal employees, essentially denying access to protective status for many county correctional officers.
AB 634 would put this issue back on the bargaining table, where it belongs. It would also create an opportunity for other public servants, who also work in dangerous and physically demanding settings in our state and county institutions, to attain protective service status. AFSCME Council 11 Lobbyists and AFSCME members from both state and county facilities across the state, will be testifying in favor of this legislation on Thursday.
Gearing Up for Lobby Day
AFSCME Lobby Day 2010 will be held in Madison on Wednesday, March 3. Lobby Day has become one of the key components of AFSCME Wisconsin’s legislative program, putting nearly 500 AFSCME members from around the state in front on Wisconsin Legislators on one day, speaking with one voice about the importance of public services.

The timing of lobby day this year will allow the event to focus on issues at a key time in the legislative process. AFSCME is working on several bills in the legislature at this time, such as the Protective Status bill mentioned above, and this coming lobby day will be crucial to exert the final push on many of those issues for this session.

State lawmakers ended their fall legislative session November 6 by taking action on a number of bills of interest to AFSCME. Lawmakers enacted the “impartial justice” measure, which creates public financing for Wisconsin Supreme Court justice races (SB 40 and AB 65). They also passed bills that restrict who may become a provider of child care services (AB 462 and SB 331); require public disclosure of child welfare cases involving death or serious injury to children (SB 299 and AB 428); and change the method of selecting the DNR Secretary (AB 138).

On Friday, November 13, Governor Doyle vetoed AB 138. Lawmakers are talking about a veto override but it requires a 2/3 vote of those legislators present at the time the veto override effort would take place. AB 138 passed the Assembly on a vote of 61-32, and the Senate, 21-11, so it is possible that backers could garner enough votes to override. The last time the Legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto was in 1981.

Lawmakers now are hunkering down to advance other bills. Likewise, AFSCME is working with legislators to move bills of interest to our membership.

Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) and Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) are the lead authors of a bill that would make it easier for retirees to organize and maintain their union membership. The bill, Senate Bill 390, would allow retirees to choose to have union dues automatically deducted from their pension checks. SB 390 is now before the Senate Labor Committee, which is chaired by state Senator (and AFSCME member) Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee).

Another bill, AB 475, would ban the sale or lease of the Milwaukee Water Works. AB 475 was offered by Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) and is now sitting in the Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee. The committee has not taken action on the bill.

A measure, AB 504, would allow Milwaukee County to raise the sales tax by .5% and use the proceeds to fund parks, recreation and cultural activities. In exchange, the bill calls for a corresponding reduction in the property tax levy for parks-related spending. AB 504 is in keeping with wishes of Milwaukee County voters who, in November of 2008, approved a referendum to raise the sales tax to generate money to support county parks. In the wake of the county executive’s efforts to decimate staffing and funding for parks (among other things), getting this bill passed is of utmost importance to AFSCME.

Members of AFSCME Council 48’s Local 882 testified at the November 12 hearing to urge lawmakers to take swift action on AB 504. As Council 48 members told lawmakers: “Strong public parks are a cornerstone of a healthy and vibrant urban life, attracting families and young workers that we need to keep Milwaukee County strong. Milwaukee needs this bill to rebuild our
(more)
parks, keep them attractive, accessible and open to the public. AB 504 holds the promise of
injecting new life into the Milwaukee County Parks system.” We ask all AFSCME members to contact their Assembly representative and their senator to ask them to support AB 504.

An update on the protective status bargaining bill: AFSCME lobbyists continue to work with legislators to advance the bill to make protective occupation status a mandatory subject of bargaining. We need more legislators to sign their names onto this bill, which is known as LRB 3372. Please call your state senator and your Assembly representative to ask them to support this bill.

For more information contact your AFSCME Council or call the AFSCME area office at 608-836-6666.

A Call to Action: Future of Milwaukee County Parks to be discussed Nov. 12 at State Capitol

A bill that would authorize the Milwaukee County Board to impose a sales tax of up to 0.5% to be used for parks, recreation and culture has been scheduled for a hearing Thursday, November 12. AFSCME strongly supports the bill, AB 504, which was offered by Reps. Christine Sinicki and Jon Richards and Sen. Lena Taylor. The Assembly Ways and Means Committee is sponsoring the hearing, which takes place in room 300 NE of the Capitol starting at 11:00 a.m.

The future of Milwaukee County’s once-strong parks system is in serious jeopardy, due to the chronic underfunding of the parks system and the lack of attention by the county executive. This bill is critical to creating a dedicated funding source to keep the parks system strong. Last November, Milwaukee County voters approved a referendum to impose the 0.5% sales tax. This bill is in keeping with the wishes of the voters. Wisconsin all across Wisconsin should contact their legislators to ask them to support this critical bill. It will take the support of more than just the Milwaukee area legislators to get this bill passed. We need AFSCME members to show support for this legislation. Please call your legislators!

Bill aims to allow certain public employees to bargain for Protective Occupation Status:

Rep. Joe Parisi (D-Madison) is circulating a bill that would make protective occupation participant status a mandatory subject of bargaining. AFSCME has worked on this issue for more than two decades, and we believe this approach has the best chance of making it through the Legislature. The bill has no number yet but we urge all AFSCME members to contact their Assembly representative and Senator to ask them to (a) sign on as a sponsor of the bill and (b) ask that the bill receive a public hearing as soon as possible.

When calling your legislator, you can refer to this proposal as “LRB 3372/3” which is the number it was assigned by Legislative Reference Bureau, the official bill-drafting agency of the Legislature.

This week lawmakers are working feverishly on the mechanics of getting bills to become law: they’ve been holding committee hearings, working on fine-tuning bills with amendments, and scheduling “floor” votes on bills that have gone through the committee review process.

This week alone, committees held votes on the “impartial justice” bill, which is slated for action in the full Assembly on Thursday, November 5. That day the Senate is geared up to vote on the bill to change how the DNR Secretary is selected as well. On the docket are a number of bills that don’t directly affect AFSCME members, but which we keep a close eye on because the politics on any legislation always has the potential to spill over into our world.

One thorny area of concern to AFSCME is that both the Senate and Assembly are scheduled to vote November 5 on legislation (AB 462 and SB 331) that affects who can (and cannot) become child care providers, based on whether or not they have felony records. The overreaching bills would prevent someone with modest run-ins with the law that might have occurred many years ago from serving as a child care provider. We are attempting to bring some reason to lawmakers who are under pressure to fix the state’s child care subsidy program to give people who have cleaned up their act a chance to work in the child care arena. We also are working to prevent overly harsh penalties that some lawmakers want to impose on child care licensers and regulators who may fail to properly notify authorities of suspicion of fraud.

Lawmakers may be called into “special session” sometime within the next few weeks by Governor Doyle to deal with some specific topic areas. Otherwise, after this week, legislators have few weeks left in the 2009-2010 legislative session. The dates they are expected to be in regular session are:

Of course, between those time frames committee will hold public hearings on bills that are being advanced, and they (as well as your AFSCME lobbyists) will be working steadily on legislation. We will notify you via these legislative reports or emails generated from our new AFSCME Wisconsin website on issues of concern to members.

For more information, contact us at 608-836-6666 or go to the new AFSCME website: www.wiafscme.org .

The long fought battle to require the teaching of union, collective bargaining and labor history to school children is nearly over. AB 172 has been approved by both houses of the Legislature and is now heading to Governor Doyle’s desk. This bill got bipartisan support in both the Senate and Assembly. AFSCME and the AFL-CIO have been advocating for a labor history curriculum for more than a decade.

On November 5 the state Senate is likely take up AB 138, which makes a key change in how the DNR Secretary is selected. Under current law, the Governor appoints the Secretary. Under SB 138, the Natural Resources Board would choose who becomes Secretary. A Senate committee last week tacked on an amendment to the bill to require Senate approval of the appointee. AB 138 is likely to be approved by the state Senate. After that the amended bill would have to be approved by the Assembly before the bill could go to the Governor and be signed into law or vetoed. The Governor is on record in opposition to this legislation. AFSCME-represented DNR conservation wardens support AB 138. Contact Governor Doyle’s office at 608-266-1212 to urge him to sign AB 138 into law.

Legislation Prohibiting Certain Felons From Working in Child Care Facilities Moves Forward

The Joint Committee on Finance is expected to pass legislation next week that will explicitly prohibit individuals who have committed certain crimes from working in a child care facility, or living at the residence of a family child care provider. The prohibitions are either permanent or for a defined period of time depending on the offense. Current law allows for the Department of Children and Families discretion to prohibit people who have committed “serious crimes” from being a licensed or certified provider if the department deems those crimes to be related to the health, safety or well being of children.

The bill (AB 462 and SB 331) will direct the department not to allow anyone convicted of a series of crimes related to child safety (such as sex offenders or other violent felons) or of crimes related to fraud (such as credit card or insurance fraud) from being a licensed provider or being employed at a child care facility. AFSCME has sought numerous amendments to the legislation to allow persons convicted of some of the crimes listed in the bill (such as persons convicted of retail theft) to be rehabilitated after a period of five years after serving their sentence and again be able to work in the child care field. In addition, we have sought amendments to allow licensed or certified providers to have a period of time to remedy the situation if their employee or, in the case of family child care providers, someone in their household has been convicted of one of the crimes related to fraud, before the department is required to close the program down.

For more information, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666. And for other AFSCME news, check out our new Council 11 website at www.wiafscme.org.

A bill that would impose penalties for drivers caught texting while driving passed the state Senate this week. Similar legislation will receive a hearing this week in the Assembly Transportation Committee. Senate Bill 103 bans texting while driving for all motorists. Earlier this fall, a committee had approved a limited ban, which applied only to drivers under age 18. The full state Senate instead approved a version of the bill that bans texting for all drivers. Violators caught a first time will be subject to a forfeiture of $100-$400, but if caught a second time within one year, would be subject to a forfeiture of as much as $800.

The Legislature this week voted to strengthen state agency officials’ power to recoup taxpayer dollars from anyone who commits fraud against the state child care subsidy program. SB 280 also specifies that anyone with a 20% or more ownership interest in a child care business and who is found to have abused the state subsidy program could be held personally liable for penalties for committing fraud.

AFSCME supports SB 280 and is working with lawmakers and state officials to eliminate fraud and abuse in the child care subsidy program. At the same time AFSCME is very concerned about the lack of due process the Department of Children and Families has afforded providers before cutting off payments under the Wisconsin Shares program. It appears legitimate providers have had their businesses jeopardized by overzealous action by DCF. AFSCME is meeting with DCF representatives this week to protect the rights of law-abiding child care providers.

A bill that would have the state Natural Resources Board, instead of the Governor, appoint the DNR secretary is scheduled for a vote by a Senate committee Oct 22. The bill, AB 138, was approved on a bipartisan vote of 61-32 last month by the state Assembly. Opponents offered nearly a dozen amendments to kill or weaken the bill, none of which prevailed and bill came out of the Assembly without any changes. AB 138 now faces another hurdle in the state Senate.

AFSCME supports having the Natural Resources Board appoint the DNR Secretary, who oversees vital natural resource protection, hunting and fishing decisions in Wisconsin. Until the mid-1990’s, the NR Board traditionally appointed the secretary. Former Governor Thompson changed the rules to empower the Governor to select the DNR secretary.

Under current law, the Governor’s “Council on Offender Reentry” monitors the state’s reentry efforts, which some lawmakers believe is even more critical now that Wisconsin has adopted a host of sweeping criminal sentencing reforms. State Rep. Joe Parisi has authored a bill to require that the Council monitor and report to lawmakers on the following: any impact the council’s work has had on recidivism; the effectiveness of coordination and communication among state agencies; the implementation of a reentry strategic plan and recommendations on legislative initiatives and policy initiatives that are consistent with the duties of the council. Assembly Bill 364 was approved by the full Assembly October 20 and is now heading for action by the Senate, which is expected to approve the bill. An identical proposal was inserted in the state budget by lawmakers, but had been vetoed by Governor Doyle.

Mental health parity: Lawmakers seeking to improve insurance coverage of mental health care services are gearing up to formally introduce a bill to establish “mental health parity” in Wisconsin. Senator Dave Hansen of Green Bay and Rep. Sandy Pasch of Whitefish Bay are working with a broad coalition of advocates to advance the bill. The proposal has not yet been introduced, but it has the support of AFSCME.

School Finance Reform: This week Governor Doyle announced a package of reforms aimed at reforming Wisconsin’s educational system. Among the recommendations: exempting school districts from revenue limits, which have restricted the taxing ability of schools since they were created in 1994.A lengthy description of the plan can be found on the Governor’s website: www.wisgov.state.wi.us and look for the October 19th press release.

Among those criticizing the plan is the “ Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools”, which notes that lifting the revenue caps “doesn’t start the fundamental restructuring of our school finance laws that is so badly needed.” WAES also notes that the reforms don’t address the need to reverse the trend of declining public school aid, which began in the 2009-2011 state budget bill adopted by lawmakers last June.

For more information, contact the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666. And for other AFSCME news, check out our new Council 11 website at www.wiafscme.org.

The fall legislative session is in full swing, with loads of hearings and bills being introduced nearly every day. Lawmakers are expected to be “in session” only a few days this fall, and only a few days in the spring, so the pressure to get bills passed is on before the Legislature adjourns next spring. Here is another snapshot of recent activity at the Capitol.

Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) last week unveiled a package of legislative proposals aimed at saving money and improving the transparency and accountability in state government contracting. Her bill would affect contracts in all state agencies, although the reforms were inspired by extreme examples of the use of costly private contractors for state transportation projects. Lassa noted that state agencies have increasingly relied on expensive outside consultants and contractors to perform work that has, in many instances, cost taxpayers more than if state employees had done the work. AFSCME worked closely with Sen. Lassa in developing the contracting reform package that includes improvements to 2005 Act 89, which created the “cost benefit analysis” rule for comparing how much a service would cost by keeping work “in- house” versus hiring private contractors.

Milwaukee Child Welfare Case Disclosure Bill Scheduled for vote in state Senate

A bill to require quick release of certain information to the public when child abuse or neglect cases result in serious injury or death has occurred has been approved by Senate and Assembly Committees and has been scheduled for a vote by the full state Senate on Tuesday, October 21. The bills, SB 299 and AB 428, were drafted by lawmakers in response to last year’s tragic death of a toddler who was under the supervision of a private social work agency under contract with the state Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare (BMCW).

AFSCME strongly favors meaningful improvements in the system but is skeptical that these bills will do anything to help protect children in the child welfare system or improve operations at the beleaguered BMCW. We have raised concerns to lawmakers that the rush to enact the enhanced disclosure requirements in tragic child welfare cases could worsen an already highly tense climate within the Bureau and create even more stress on the child welfare case workers that we represent. Instead, we have asked lawmakers to work to address the high caseloads of BMCW staff and to better manage contract agencies.

Mandatory Overtime Ban SB 103 Ok’d by Senate Health Committee – Faces Uncertain Future

A bill that would prohibit health care facilities from requiring direct care staff to work more than 40 hours per week without the employee’s consent has been approved by a senate committee on a partisan vote of 4-3. The bill, SB 108, has been offered by Sen. Judy Robson (D-Beloit) and Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay). The bill would affect thousands of AFSCME members, including state employees who work for the Departments of Corrections, Health Services and Veterans Affairs, as well as county nursing home staff, and those who work for privately-owned nursing homes or hospitals. Leadership in the Senate has determined that SB 108 must be sent to the Joint Committee on Finance before it can advance. The bill faces steep opposition and its future is uncertain.

AFSCME urges all members to contact their legislators and ask them to co-sponsor legislation being circulated by Representative Cory Mason and Senator Dave Hansen to allow retirees to choose to have monthly contributions to public sector unions automatically deducted from their monthly Wisconsin Retirement System pension checks. Current law prevents WRS retirees from opting to have an automatic deduction taken from their pension checks to maintain their union affiliation after their retirement. AFSCME has long fought to change the laws in Wisconsin to allow retirees this basic right, and with pro-labor majorities in both houses of the state legislature now is the time to act.

Contact your legislators and tell them to stand up for the rights of all persons, regardless of age, to collectively organize. Tell your State Representative and State Senator to contact Representative Mason and Senator Hansen’s office today and sign onto LRB 3078/1, the Retiree Organizing Rights Act!

The deadline for legislators to sign on as a co-sponsor is very short. Legislators are in the Capitol this week, making it a prime opportunity to have your voice heard.

Representative Cory Mason (D-Racine) and Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) have issued a co-sponsorship memo for a bill that would allow retirees who are participants in the Wisconsin Retirement System to choose to have union dues automatically deducted from their pension checks. Similar language was originally passed by the Joint Committee on Finance during budget deliberations, but failed to stay in the final version of the budget. Legislators have until September 25th to sign on to the bill as a co-sponsor. Please contact your legislator and ask them to sign on to this very important bill.

Senate Bill 280, which would grant the Department of Children and Families more power to recover improperly obtained funds under the Wisconsin Shares Program is expected to pass out of the Senate Committee on Children and Families this week. Under current law it is surprisingly easy for individuals to commit fraud against the Wisconsin Shares Program and avoid prosecution by simply closing down their facility and dissolving their corporation or LLC. Individuals operating in that manner have greatly contributed to the fiscal stress on the Shares program, preventing, among other things, the availability of funds for rate increases for legitimate providers.

In addition to the Retiree Dues Deduction legislation, Representative Cory Mason is introducing a bill along with Representative Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) and Kim Hixon (D-Whitewater) titled the Wisconsin Jobs Initiative. The bill will provide training, education and financial aid to at least 40,000 Wisconsin residents statewide and put Wisconsin first-in-line to apply for at least $135 million in federal matching grants. The bill funds the initiative by implementing a greater degree of tax fairness by creating a Millionaire Tax Bracket, adding 1% to the state income tax rates for couples making over $1 million a year in Wisconsin.

For more information about AFSCME’s legislative program, contact the AFSCME office in Madison at 608-836-6666.

Teaching Labor History: A bill that would require schools to teach children the history of working people is scheduled to be voted on by the state Senate Education Committee Thursday, September 10th, and is likely to be taken up by the full Senate later this fall. AB 172, offered by Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Fort Atkinson) and Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), already has been through the state Assembly, which gave it a strong bipartisan vote of 61-38 April 28th. The bill would require the state superintendent to “incorporate the history of organized labor and the collective bargaining process into the model academic standards for social studies”.

AFSCME and the AFL-CIO have been working to advance this legislation for more than two decades. Call your Senator at 1-800-362-9472 to urge him or her to support the labor history bill.

DNR Secretary: Legislation that would change the process for appointing the head of Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has advanced and is likely to be taken up by the Senate and Assembly this fall. Under current law, the DNR Secretary is appointed by the Governor, subject to approval by the state Senate. The bills under consideration would have the Natural Resources Board -not the Governor - appoint the DNR Secretary. AB 138 and SB 113 would restore the DNR Secretary selection process to what it was prior to 1996.

Curbing Veto Powers of County Executives: Senator Tim Carpenter of Milwaukee has offered a constitutional amendment to limit budget veto powers of county executives. Sen. Carpenter’s resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 11, bars county executives from striking out individual letters or words to form new sentences and, therefore, new meanings. SJR 11 would impose on county executives the same type of budget veto restrictions that voters approved for the Wisconsin Governor. The state Senate has scheduled SJR 11 for a vote on September 15th.

State highway engineering projects: The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Audit will hold a public hearing September 30 in the Capitol on a lengthy report prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, which examined Wisconsin’s highway engineering practices. To read this report or to listen to the hearing, which will be broadcast live on the Internet, go to: http://www.wisconsin.gov/lab/JCAHearing.htm.

For more information about AFSCME’s legislative program, contact the AFSCME office in Madison at 608-836-6666.

Governor Doyle issued a 73-page veto message on Monday, June 29th, putting the final touches on the two-year, $62 billion state funding plan that has been the subject of legislative deliberations for five months. The 2009-2011 state budget begins July 1, 2009. This was the first time the state's biennial budget was done on time since 1977. This is something of an accomplishment against a backdrop of national economic distress that forced budget writers to close a funding gap of nearly $7 billion.

The Legislature’s Conference Committee completed its final report on AB 75 (the budget bill) Thursday, June 25th, with the Senate passing the bill the same day. The Assembly approved the unamendable Conference Committee report on June 26th, the day the budget was sent for final signature to Governor Doyle.

This AFSCME Legislative Report provides an initial reaction to the completed budget package and its impact on AFSCME members. This legislative report is not a comprehensive overview of the budget. For more details contact the AFSCME Government Relations Specialists at 608-836-6666 or your respective AFSCME Councils.

The budget plan makes nearly universal, across-the-board cuts ranging from 1% to 6%. Overall general tax dollar spending (of general purpose revenues) is reduced by $3 billion. Republicans are attempting to score political points by suggesting the state is increasing spending by 6.8% during this biennium. This is only true if you attribute federal stimulus dollars to state spending, a misleading argument as the state simply acts as a pass through for much of the stimulus dollars. In many cases the money stops at the state levels for as long as it takes to be allocated to the road project, building project or other qualifying expenditure in Wisconsin. In regards to the amount of money spent related to state income and sales tax, state government expenditures actually decreased this biennium, an important factor going into the next budget when federal stimulus dollars will no longer be available.

In addition to specific cuts in programs and services, agencies are ordered to return or lapse $360 million back to the state’s general fund. The Governor’s veto message directs agencies to find an additional $200 million to return to the general fund, as another budget saving measure. This is over and above the lapse requirements that were ordered for the 2007-09 state budget.

The budget also directs that Medicaid expenditures be reduced by a total of nearly $600 million in 2010 and 2011. It calls for the state Department of Health Services to work with Medicaid providers to develop strategies for making the cuts.

The budget calls for the layoff of some 1,100 state workers. This decision was prompted after the May 8th news that state revenue continues to decline. It overshadows the assumption built into AB 75 that 3,600 state employee positions will remain, or become, vacant due to retirement or job changes over the biennium. The vacancies and layoffs could potentially be worse depending on how the agency budget cuts and lapse requirements will be carried out.

State workers are to be furloughed for a total of 16 days between now and mid-2011. Details of the furloughs are being worked out by Council 24 and the state Office of Employment Relations (OSER).

Non-represented workers were required to give up the 2% pay raise that they expected in June of 2009. Represented workers will still receive the 2% raise. It is clear the state will come to the bargaining table in the next round of contract negotiations requesting that state employees make pension contributions and increase their share of health care costs. The budget is silent on this topic.

During these budget talks, lawmakers were poised to make cuts in agency spending on overtime in corrections and state health care institutions. AFSCME persuaded them to invest in staff to offset overtime costs. They agreed to authorize over 100 new positions for DOC and the state mental health institutions.

AFSCME supported the increases in staff positions for Taycheedah Correctional Institution and the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, which Governor Doyle had originally recommended in his budget. Those new staff positions were approved. Also, the Joint Finance Committee approved 31 new Department of Revenue positions to beef up the state’s tax collection efforts.

In the Senate budget deliberations, the caucus decided to eliminate $119,000 that was allocated for overtime expenses for DNR Conservation wardens. AFSCME was unable to get this provision restored during conference committee, placing further strain on the DNR budget.

The Governor’s plan to create domestic partner benefits for state workers was approved by lawmakers. In addition, while not mandatory, county and municipal employees that have bargained for domestic partnership benefits and participate in the state health insurance program will now be able to receive coverage for their partners under this change.

The budget repeals the qualified economic offer (QEO) which, since 1994, has limited raises for teachers. The budget also makes certain changes in collective bargaining for school district employees – for example, it repeals the “greater and greatest weight” requirement that arbitrators consider ability to pay. AFSCME had sought but was unsuccessful in applying the repeal to all municipal workers.

AB 75 does not change the state employee labor relations law or the municipal employment relations act, although there was intense pressure on lawmakers by local elected leaders attempting to use the economic downturn to weaken MERA.

AFSCME achieved major victories for child care providers in this budget. The first victory is that we gained full bargaining rights under Chapter 111 of the statutes, better known as the Employment Peace Act. AFSCME organized child care providers under an Executive Order issued by Governor Doyle. Unfortunately, Executive Orders can be easily rescinded by the next Governor, placing our rights to organize providers at great risk. However, under this budget that threat is removed, as a permanent bargaining law for Family Child Care Providers is now in place.

County and municipal aid, otherwise known as Shared Revenue, was reduced by 3.5% or $30 million in the budget act. The cuts would have been worse had lawmakers not opted to use federal stimulus dollars and revenue from a fee on telephone bills known as the “911 fee.” Legislators are keenly aware of how the budget cuts might affect local property taxes, so they made some decisions to keep a lid on tax hikes. They approved the Governor’s recommendation to reauthorize the levy limit at 3%, with an exception for declared emergencies, while allowing localities to recapture unused levy capacity dating back to 2007.

AFSCME also successfully lobbied for an increase to 3% in the minimum expenditures under which municipalities are eligible for funds under the Expenditure Restraint Program (ERP), which rewards localities for limiting spending increases. Under previous law, ERP was tied to inflation. For municipalities to get their share of the $116 million pot of local aid money, they needed to cap expenditure increases at a rate equal to inflation. Due to the recession, some areas of the state would have had to actually cut their expenditures to be eligible for this aid, since inflation is running at a very low rate. Without the change municipalities would have lost critical state aid.

AFSCME successfully worked to amend a provision that would have held harmless all county and municipal expenditures for emergency services, requiring at least the same spending at 2009 levels for police and fire. This provision would have forced local governments to implement all of their cuts on “non-emergency” services personnel, resulting in deep cuts for AFSCME members. AFSCME sought changes to this language to prevent cuts from falling on the shoulders of AFSCME members. The Senate and Conference Committee agreed to the changes proposed by AFSCME.

One area where we were able to avoid cuts was in aids to local governments for transportation. General transportation aids got a boost of 2% in 2010 and 3% in 2011.

The Governor vetoed a provision that would have limited counties from performing construction work on projects funded in part or whole by private entities.

The language vetoed was a variation on the privatization of public works provision that was inserted in the state budget by Senate leaders. The Senate amendment would have banned counties from performing construction work on public works projects by counties and municipalities. The ban would not have applied to public contracts costing less than $25,000; those in response to a public emergency; or to contracts in which materials and labor would have been donated.

An alleged compromise proposal was adopted by the Legislature. That proposal would have banned counties from performing “construction work, including road work, for a project that is directly or indirectly owned, funded or reimbursed, in whole or in part, by a private person.” AFSCME strongly opposed the compromise and kept working to persuade lawmakers to kill the language altogether. The Governor’s veto removes this issue from the budget, though we expect the same interests to work to advance separate legislation in the fall of this year.

The budget authorizes the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee to issue bonds to pay all or part of the city’s unfunded prior service pension obligations. This move helps the city manage its obligations on pension matters.

Milwaukee County was the focus of efforts by lawmakers in this budget in the area of county Income Maintenance services. In the midst of budget deliberations, AFSCME secured a major victory with passage of innovative legislation that preserved Income Maintenance/Economic Support services in Milwaukee County. Due to chronic under funding, under staffing and poor administration, IM services were failing miserably in Milwaukee, resulting in a lawsuit against the state and county for failing to serve low income people who were eligible for support services. In response to the lawsuit, state officials decided to take over Milwaukee County IM services. However, AFSCME Milwaukee County members stood to lose their jobs under the state take over, in the absence of some creative thinking. AFSCME joined forces with the Governor and the Department of Health Services to create a hybrid model in which the state would be in control of this vital service, complete with state employees serving as supervisors, while the front-line workers would remain as county employees and AFSCME Council 48 members. The budget implements the groundbreaking changes anticipated in the legislation signed on May 26.

On other Milwaukee-related topics, the budget bill contains a fair number of earmarks for Milwaukee County, the most notable being $500,000 for the Milwaukee Workforce Investment Board, while there are others for health and dental care clinics in the city as well.

The creation of a Milwaukee Regional Transit Authority (RTA) with its own taxing authority was vetoed by the Governor, with a request that the Legislature build on the creation on the Southeastern Wisconsin RTA that he did approve.

AFSCME worked successfully to increase the trigger amount for prevailing wage on public works projects from the $2,000 threshold offered by the Governor to $25,000 in the final bill.

In addition, the conference committee adopted language exempting "minor service and maintenance work" for municipal, publicly funded private construction, and state projects of public works. This included projects such as minor crack filling, chip or slurry sealing, minor pavement patching that will last less than five years, depositing of gravel to maintain roads, shoulder maintenance, cleaning of drainage/sewer ditches and other minor work.

This was major victory, as the definition clarifies that maintenance work our members perform is not governed by the prevailing wage law. It is broad and will allow us to do the maintenance work we do without any problems. Additionally, it is important to know that for work done by county employees on county systems the prevailing wage changes do not apply.

Finally, the prevailing wage will be applied on a county-by-county basis, or lacking enough data to calculate prevailing wages for an individual county, it will be done on a regional basis. Most importantly, the prevailing wage also includes the hourly contribution for health insurance benefits, vacation, pension and any other economic benefit. So while on a straight up hourly wage to hourly wage comparison our members may make less than prevailing wage, when all benefits are calculated in we are likely to be at or even above prevailing wage in almost all cases already.

In talking to Highway Commissioners, county lobbyists and the Wisconsin Counties Association, it was consistently estimated that in 95% of cases our county workers are at or above prevailing wage. In the 5% or so cases in which our members are not making prevailing wage, the difference is likely to be a few cents an hour. We will have to monitor closely to see if those predictions bear out as prevailing wage is implemented.

AFSCME attempted to get a provision in the budget that would exempt workers who were under a collective bargaining agreement from prevailing wage requirements, as a solution to the instances in which AFSCME members are below prevailing wage, but we were unsuccessful. However, we can work to achieve a remedy for this at the bargaining table for these instances by seeking language that would allow flexibility for counties to increase wages in order to pay prevailing wage on projects for municipalities or in other counties. And while at first blush one would assume counties would balk at that, if we really are within a few cents an hour they will definitely have an interest in taking a serious look at that option.

The Governor’s veto message requests that the legislature develop legislation to clean up the prevailing wage changes this fall. It is likely the legislature will take another look at the language dealing with limitations on construction work performed by counties during those discussions as well.

AFSCME worked with Senate leaders to draft and include in the budget several ideas to rein in state privatization practices. One amendment would have prevented the state from using contractors to replace state workers who were furloughed. Another AFSCME idea was to require state agencies report to the Joint Finance Committee the number of contractors used to perform services. We also sought to require agencies to seek to cut contracting by 1%. All of these ideas were vetoed, and replaced by a request by the Governor to state agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of all state contracting.

On a related anti-privatization matter, after AFSCME persuaded the Joint Finance Committee to reinstate six positions in the State Highway Patrol Radio Shop, language preventing the state from contracting with third party vendors to install and maintain equipment used by the State Patrol was added as well. While the positions remained, the additional language was vetoed.

AFSCME successfully lobbied for the Joint Committee on Finance to require the Department of Employee Trust Funds to allow annuitants to have deductions made from their pensions to unions and affiliated organizations. Despite broad support from the majorities in both houses for this provision, it was ultimately removed as the result of political crossfire. AFSCME will renew our efforts to get this legislation passed again this fall.

In addition to a substantial increase in general transportation aids, lawmakers spent much time deliberating over creating “regional transportation authorities”. The Joint Finance Committee approved RTAs in various forms in different regions of Wisconsin, but the Governor exercised his partial veto authority to reshape the RTAs language created by the Committee. Therefore, what remains in the budget is limited RTA authority for the following regions: Southeastern Wisconsin, Chippewa Valley, Chequamegon and Dane County.

After much deliberation over how to fund transportation costs, lawmakers decided against approving an oil company assessment. One of the sticky issues was the anti-gas tax “pass through” language that some thought would be possibly ruled unconstitutional. Transportation needs will be paid for with a combination of PECFA dollars, reducing tax exemptions for income derived through Capital Gains, borrowing and federal dollars. A long-term funding stream for transportation still needs to be achieved.

AFSCME succeeded in derailing the Governor’s initial recommendation to relocate dozens of residents from Southern Wisconsin Center and scored a victory by implementing strict reporting requirements so state decision makers are better informed of the status and whereabouts of individuals who are moved out of SWC into community settings. The Governor partially vetoed the reporting requirements, stating that the DHS “will be closely monitoring the transition of individuals from this facility and will work closely with the families and communities during this process”.

The Joint Finance Committee delayed opening a new 45 bed unit for women at the Wisconsin Resource Center from February until June of 2011, saving about half a million dollars.

The Governor’s budget recommendation delaying the opening of the new wing at Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center from 2009 until 2011 was adopted by lawmakers. AFSCME lobbied against this questionable move, which allegedly saves $2 million.

In the Governor’s original budget proposal, several county human services programs were cut by more than the 1% across the board reduction that was applied to other programs. Those included county economic support functions (income maintenance), Youth Aids, general Community Aids and the cost of sending individuals to state mental institutions.

AFSCME was able to restore all but a 1% cut for Income Maintenance. The Governor’s original budget proposed to cut funding for Youth Aids (funds sent to counties to offset the cost of juvenile offenders) by $11 million. AFSCME successfully lobbied to restore all of this funding with federal stimulus dollars. Community aids were cut by $20 million in the original version of the budget. During JFC deliberations approximately $6 million was restored.

The Governor’s budget had proposed to shift from the state to counties the responsibility for paying for individuals committed to state mental institutions, costing counties some $13.6 million over the two year budget cycle. AFSCME worked with lawmakers to secure $4.2 million in federal money to offset these costs. In addition, AFSCME convinced the legislature to invest another $2.5 million that counties will be able to use to capture more federal dollars. Finally, JFC adopted requirements of health insurance providers to cover mental health related illness (mental health parity). With all of these provisions in place, the impact of this shift from the state to counties should be minimal.

The Governor recommended doubling the nursing home bed tax from $75 to $150 for 2010 and raising it another $20 to $170 for 2011. Nursing homes were slated to get a 2% increase in each year of the biennium, with the rest of the money to be skimmed off to pay for other general Medicaid expenses. Additionally, county nursing homes, which are eligible to receive special federal supplemental payments known as Certified Public Expenditure dollars, were expected to return the CPE money to Medicaid. We had lobbied the Joint Finance Committee to approve a 3% rate increase for all homes, and to reject the skim off of the CPE money. The Committee went with the 2% rate hike but directed that CPE money remain with counties. The result was approximately $10 million in additional federal money for county nursing homes.

The state Senate went farther for nursing homes. Senators voted to prescribe that all federal supplemental monies to which homes are entitled would remain in nursing homes. The effect was to bring another $2 million annually for county facilities but the Governor vetoed $1 million annually of this funding. All told, however, county nursing homes should see $12 million more in state and federal dollars than they would have under the original version of the budget.

Nursing homes are likely to be the target of cuts with the directive that DHS find $600 million (all funds) in Medicaid and possibly with the 5% in cuts that DHS is expected to make per AB 75. AFSCME argued that homes already contribute to solving the Medicaid deficit with the excessively high bed tax, and should therefore be exempt from additional cuts. Unfortunately, we were not successful in that effort.

The Governor called for major reforms of criminal sentences and for early release of certain inmates. The Legislature modified some of the policy recommendations here but without changing the overall goal of reducing the number of inmates in Wisconsin correctional facilities.

As noted in the state employee section above, we secured many additional staff positions for Taycheedah and other correctional institutions for overtime-related expenses. It is worth noting that the Joint Finance Committee approved an additional 10.5 trained medical personnel positions to distribute medications, due to the April 2009 court order. The Committee also chose to require the DOC to develop a plan “where all controlled medications at all Department facilities be distributed by trained medical personnel with credentials equal to or greater than licensed practical nurses.

Also on the topic of health care, the budget calls for training all correctional officers to manage mentally ill inmates as well as having the DOC integrate into the prisoner intake and transfer processes appropriate screening tools for developmental disability.

On the juvenile side, once again, AFSCME successfully fought off an effort to close a juvenile correctional school. We asked the Joint Finance Committee to authorize a comprehensive overview of juvenile correctional services and funding, and to have DOC to issue a report on these topics. The report was vetoed by the Governor.

One of AFSCME’s most significant victories in this budget was generating billions of dollars in new revenue for the state by closing corporate tax loopholes and implementing tax fairness in Wisconsin. Among the changes:

Las Vegas Loophole (Combined Reporting) – Corporations will no longer be able to hide their corporate income generated in Wisconsin in other states.

Main Street Equity Act – Businesses will no longer be able to avoid state sales tax by operating online, and gaining an unfair advantage over Wisconsin retailers.

Capital Gains – With certain exemptions for investments directly tied to job creation in Wisconsin, individuals will be required to apply state tax rates to 70% of their income derived from capital gains, as opposed to only 40% under current law. (41 states apply their state income tax to 100% of capital gains).

Domestic Production Deduction – Corporations will no longer be able to get a corporate income tax deduction for purchasing parts manufactured by their own plants in other states, another loophole that helped corporations avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Top Tax Bracket – The budget creates a new tax bracket for the top 1% of wage earners in Wisconsin, or those making over $300,000. Their state income tax rate will increase by 1% under this budget.

All told, nearly $3 billion in new revenue will be generated by the state over the next two years through these and other measures. All of this was achieved while avoiding across the board sales and income tax increases. Yet, when the state economy turns around, we will have taken significant strides towards generating the revenue needed to provide government services in Wisconsin simply by making sure everyone is paying their fair share. The deficits of the past three budgets, exacerbated by excessive tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, would have been less severe had this revenue been available at the time. That, in turn, would have placed the state in a much better position to deal with the current budget crisis.

The Governor’s top stated priority is to protect education, but even school funding took a major hit in the final package. The overall budget allocates over $12 billion a year for schools, with about $200 million in cuts in each year.

AFSCME had lobbied in favor of a change in state law recommended by the Governor relating to the accrual of retirement credits for educational support personnel. Under current law, in order to be eligible for retirement credit under the Wisconsin Retirement System, staff had to work a minimum of one-third of the number of hours of a full-time employee over the course of a year, or 600 hours. However, one-third of the hours for a full-time employee in a school district is 440 hours. Under the budget, ESP will now be able to gain retirement credit for working 440 hours a year.

In addition to the bargaining bill, AFSCME lobbied furiously to defeat several provisions that would have caused a great deal of harm to our nearly 2,000 child care providers. Under a provision in the original budget, included at the request of the Department of Children and Families, providers would have seen their reimbursements for children they care for under the state child care subsidy program, Wisconsin Shares, cut by over $66 million. The provision would have allowed the state to deny payment to providers for time and space they allocated to care for children in the event that parents failed to bring their child to day care. This was the equivalent of taking money from school districts under the school funding formula for each sick day their students had over the course of a year.

AFSCME was able to convince the legislature and the Governor to invest over $57 million into Wisconsin Shares, to ensure that low-income parents would be able to find quality child care while they worked, and that providers would be able to operate their businesses by having predictable payments from the state. AFSCME negotiated a plan that will reduce the total number of hours authorized for children on a going forward basis. Under this new authorization policy, the number of hours a child is authorized for will be automatically adjusted if they fall below 60% attendance over a rolling six week time frame. This will save the state millions of dollars, while at the same time allowing providers to make adjustments to the number of staff they have on hand, supplies they purchase and children they care for in advance.

AFSCME also gained a major step towards addressing the lack of adequate health care for child care providers in Wisconsin. A budget provision, inserted at AFSCME’s request, requires the Department of Health Services to conduct a study to determine need, which could then be used as the basis to request a federal waiver to include Family Child Care Providers under Badger Care Plus.

This is but a snapshot from an AFSCME perspective on the final state budget bill, now 2009 Wisconsin Act 28. There are literally dozens of policy directives contained in this budget. The spending cuts and lapses called for in Act 28 will likely create a need for ongoing dialogue with lawmakers who may not be aware of how all the cuts are going to be implemented. AFSCME members, as front-line workers, will feel the effects of this budget for some time to come.

As we have stated for months, this budget sets forth a spending plan for 2009-2011, while fixing an historic deficit. It relies on a combination of spending cuts, new sources of revenue generated from closing tax loopholes, and an infusion of federal stimulus dollars. If not for the new revenue streams and the federal aid, the cuts would without a doubt have been much worse for public employees and for the vital services our members provide.

After a grueling week of budget deliberations, the state Assembly revised the 2009-2011 state budget and sent it on to the Senate, which is poised to vote on the massive bill this week. The Assembly voted to pass the budget with few amendments at 5 a.m. Saturday, June 13, after deliberating over more than 150 amendments. They adopted only one- a superamendment drafted by Assembly Democrats.

The budget as amended passed on a vote of 50-48, with Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer (D-Manitowoc) and Rep. Peggy Krusick (D-Milwaukee) joining the minority party by voting no. Independent Rep. Jeff Wood (I-Chippewa Falls) joined the majority Democrats in voting yes.

The Assembly’s budget changes two key features of the Governor’s budget. The first relates to Wisconsin’s contributory negligence or liability laws. The Governor had sought to make it easier for injured people to win judgments against companies for payment of their medical bills. The Assembly dropped those changes from the budget, sticking with current law. The other change relates to the proposed assessment on oil company profits. The Governor’s budget barred oil companies from passing on the assessment in the form of a gas tax to consumers; fearing a court challenge, the Assembly voted to allow the tax to be passed on.

The Assembly plan also modifies the Milwaukee School Choice program, invests more in technical colleges for worker training efforts, and excludes additional crimes from the Governor’s early release proposals.

Senate Democratic Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) announced this week that his caucus has issues with some of the Assembly’s actions, signaling that areas of disagreement will have to be worked out through a “conference committee”. Key legislative leaders insist that the final budget bill, which is due on June 30, will be done on time, unlike the experience of the summer of 2007.

AFSCME continues to monitor budget deliberations and use every opportunity to advance the interests of our union members.

Governor Doyle last week traveled to Waupun Correctional Institution to sign into law a bill that changes Wisconsin’s outmoded John Doe law to prevent it from being used to harass public employees and correctional staff in particular. Act 24 became law after countless hours of work on the part of AFSCME members across Wisconsin.

Legislators in the state Assembly met in party caucuses this week and held briefings on the massive two-year budget package drafted by Governor Doyle and reshaped in three months of work by the Joint Committee on Finance. The Assembly is scheduled to be in session on Thursday, June 11 to vote on the budget.

Assembly Democrats, who hold a 52-47 majority, need 50 votes to pass a budget. They’re not likely to get a single vote from Republicans, who have been highly critical of Democrats but largely silent on how to solve the state's dramatic decline in revenue. This means Assembly leaders will have to work hard to persuade caucus members to support this bitter pill budget.

While the governor and legislative leaders have strained to close a $6.6 billion gap caused by the national economic downturn, nobody is happy with the results. Across-the-board cuts are hitting almost every function of state and local government. While the budget includes long overdue reforms to close tax loopholes and end special tax breaks, these reforms do not raise enough revenue to close the gap -- but they do give opponents fodder for attacking the budget. Ultimately, this budget plan relies on a combination of spending cuts, revenue reforms and federal stimulus money to help weather the storm.

Many Assembly members are unhappy with the budget that has been handed to them and are likely to press for some changes. But, ultimately, Assembly leaders say they are confident they will get enough votes to pass the budget this week.

The state Senate is slated to take up the budget the week of June 15th. With an 18-15 edge, Democrats in the upper house expect a relatively easier time gathering votes.

Any changes made by the Assembly or Senate have to be reconciled either through a formal conference committee or through informal negotiations. The product of those final negotiations would have to go back to each house for a final vote. The budget bill is due on the Governor’s desk by June 30, which is the end of the 2007-2009 state fiscal year.

Assembly, Senate take up budget package that calls for cuts, furloughs, layoffs and some surprises

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance finished its work on the state’s two year budget plan after a marathon session that ended in the wee hours of the morning on Friday, May 29th. The committee spearheaded the Legislature’s review of the Governor’s 2009-2011 budget, and their marked up budget now moves on for consideration by the Assembly and state Senate.

The Joint Finance budget is the byproduct of a wretched economy and the worst deficit in Wisconsin history. The committee’s deliberations were short-circuited a month ago when news broke that the state’s revenues plummeted by another $1.6 billion. The news forced lawmakers and the Governor to regroup and work out new strategies to close the burgeoning deficit.

While Governor Doyle’s original proposal filled the hole in the budget with a combination of spending cuts, new revenue streams and an infusion of federal stimulus dollars, the revised plan makes deeper across-the-board cuts and calls for layoffs and furloughs of state workers. It creates $274 million in new revenue generated from enhanced hospital assessment and a new assessment on day surgery clinics, capturing additional federal dollars to pay for health care.

The revised budget fixes the deficit, but at a high price – it cuts critical services at a time when people need them most. There is no way to sugar coat this. AFSCME members will feel the cuts at the bargaining table and in the everyday services our members provide.

From a state worker perspective, this budget is as bad as it gets. Every state employee will be furloughed for a total of 16 days over the next two year .As many as 1,100 state employees could be laid off. This is in addition to the 3,600 state employee jobs that will be converted into vacant positions that eventually may be eliminated. The 2% pay raise for nonrepresented workers was eliminated last week by the Joint Committee on Employment Relations.

The Governor’s original plan called for a 1% across-the-board cut in all state programs and services. The revised budget makes even more cuts, totaling some $412 million, plus an additional $156 million in cuts in Medicaid cuts (which adds to the already $400 million in Medicaid cuts that are under consideration at this time). The budget plan directs agencies to cull out the savings and return the money to the state’s General Fund. The lack of specifics, accountability and transparency are deeply troubling, and will likely create unexpected ongoing challenges for us.

The Joint Finance budget also makes cuts in two heretofore sacred areas: State aid to local governments (aka shared revenue), which will be cut by a total of 3.5% ($29 million), and school funding is cut by more than half a billion dollars.

On a clearly more positive note, we scored a few victories in preserving funding in key areas. AFSCME helped restore the “Certified Public Expenditure” for county nursing homes ($10 million) and secured a 2% rate increase in each year, funded with a higher nursing home bed tax. The Committee restored $10 million (over the Governor’s recommendation) for county economic support services, including funding to fully implement the state takeover of Milwaukee county income supports. We successfully lobbied for the return of $11 million for counties for juvenile services (youth aids), and federal dollars to offset cuts in county human services. AFSCME worked to get an increase in general transportation aids (2% in 2010 and 3% in 2011).

We are glad to report that lawmakers have taken action to improve the state’s tax laws to benefit working people. Lawmakers voted to close the “Las Vegas” corporate tax loophole, enact the streamlined sales act (aka the Main Street equity act), impose a tax on oil company profits, and tax capital gains at a higher rate (from 40% to 60%). These tax changes were unthinkable even a year ago. AFSCME members have worked hard to make sure that lawmakers understand that Wisconsin’s deficit situation is due, in part, to loopholes in our tax code and years of tax giveaways that have eroded vital revenue streams. These new revenue sources are a big win for us and will put our state in a better financial position going into the next budget cycle.

AFSCME also scored some key victories on policy changes that we have long sought. We persuaded lawmakers to rein in contracting practices by requiring cuts in contract spending of 1% and to require full disclosure of state agency contracting practices. We got the committee to adopt automatic dues deduction for retirees through the WRS. AFSCME secured solid “resident choice” language for the developmentally disabled that reside in Southern Wisconsin Center, and prevented the layoff of nearly two hundred workers there. We made progress in getting lawmakers to take steps to address the needs of mentally ill and developmentally disabled inmates, to improve services and keep staff safe. At our urging, lawmakers agreed to fund 101 new state employee jobs as a tool to control high overtime costs at DHS and DOC.

Your union helped preserve additional social workers and services for the troubled Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare and hire more staff to provide mental health services and deliver medications to female inmates at Taycheedah Correctional Institution. We thwarted efforts to close a juvenile correctional school and instead called for a review of all current juvenile services and funding, in consultation with youth counselors (AFSCME members).

We argued for several exemptions to the levy limit, but lawmakers agreed only to allow localities to take advantage of “unused” levy limit capacity dating back to 2007.

These are areas of the budget of direct interest to AFSCME members, but there are literally dozens of major (and some highly controversial) policies included in the budget. Among those policy changes are:

From now to the end of June, lawmakers will grapple with and must vote on the budget. We don’t expect there to be many changes to the budget as adopted by the Joint Finance Committee, but there will be heated debate over parts of the budget and some changes are likely to be made, in the interest of getting enough votes to pass the bill. Assembly Democrats have a 52-46 majority (with one Independent). Democrats have an 18-15 hold on the Senate.

In these next few weeks, AFSCME will continue to lobby on behalf of our members and the services we provide to the public. We will work to impress upon the decision makers that our members understand that drastic action is necessary now because of the times, but that Wisconsin can and must do more to protect vital services going forward, as the economy improves.

The Joint Committee on Finance went back to the table last week and took action on various aspects of the budget. Meeting on Friday and Saturday, the committee has set an ambitious schedule that would have the budget passed out of committee by Thursday, May 28th.

That leaves a significant amount of work to be done, and a short time frame to do it. Among the issues the JFC will have to grapple with during that short time frame are:

AFSCME has numerous priorities and concerns under all of these topics, and will be actively lobbying and closely monitoring JFC as they move forward. A detailed account of the actions of JFC in regards to the budget will be covered in future Legislative Bulletins

State Takeover of Milwaukee County Income Maintenance Signed into Law, JFC Passes Funding
A bill that codifies an arrangement for the state to takeover income maintenance services in Milwaukee County was signed by Governor Doyle on Tuesday May 26. The bill, SB 161, is one part of a three part strategy that spells out how the transfer of IM administration from the county to the state will take place. The state Department of Health Services already has assumed control over some aspects of Milwaukee County IM under its current authority.

On Saturday, May 23, JFC voted to fund the takeover of Milwaukee County IM. With the Department of Health Services already getting the county’s Call Center up and running, all three parts of the plan laid out in February are nearly in place.

The additional $1.6 billion deficit the state found itself in a couple of weeks ago has stalled budget negotiations. The Joint Committee on Finance was set to cover a lot of ground this week, taking up state agencies and programs that expend a significant amount of money, but has been holding off on meeting while the full impact of the new revenue estimate is analyzed. The committee has not met since last Tuesday, and as of this writing had not scheduled a meeting for this week, although it is anticipated that they will still meet before the week is out. Committee members are still talking as though they intend to complete their work by the end of next week, so some long days may be ahead.

The Audit committee held a hearing on May 20th to look at factors contributing to overtime in state institutions. Many legislators are concerned about the cost of overtime, and its impact on the current state budget crisis. AFSCME has long argued that understaffing of 24/7 institutions is the leading contributor to the growing use of overtime, and if the state wishes to reduce overtime then more positions should be created and more staff hired.

AFSCME asked the committee to do the following in their review of overtime practices in 24/7 institutions

Last week the Governor announced that the state’s budget deficit has increased by as much as $1.6 billion, due to the declining economy and rapidly falling income tax collections. The Governor further announced that he would be invoking the state’s authority to implement furloughs of up to eight days per year as is allowed under the current state collective bargaining agreeements. The Governor also announced that other cuts were going to be considered in attempting to deal with the size of this deficit.

This week the focus shifted back to the state legislature, specifically the Joint Committee on Finance as they begin to deal with the looming crisis. The reaction by the budget writing committee has been to slow down and hold off on decisions affecting major chunks of state dollars until they have a better handle on the overall size of the deficit. After canceling action last Thursday, the committee took light action on Tuesday, and will again cancel their meeting for this Thursday.

Both Mark Miller and Mark Pocan, the co-chairs of JFC, said this week that all options are on the table, including increasing state revenue, to deal with the new budget deficit. While both Co-Chairs said further cuts are necessary to bring the budget into balance, they clearly expressed that further closing of corporate tax loopholes and other revenue options remained on the table.

While the calendar was light compared to the normal workload at this stage in the budget, a few items were adopted of significance. The committee took steps towards a plan that would consolidate most of the state’s Human Resources functions under the Office of State Employee Relations. Under the Committee’s action the Department of Administration Secretary will have to submit a plan for the consolidation for approval to the JFC. AFSCME believes that once this provision is enacted it should help create a more uniform implementation of state rules and regulations across various state agencies, as well as more cohesive understanding of collective bargaining agreements on the employer’s side.

Additionally, the committee adopted a provision to increase the number of tax auditors working for the Department of Revenue. It is projected that the 31 new auditors will help collect $68 million over the biennium of unpaid or under-reported taxes.

Senate passes John Doe reform
The Senate concurred in the Assembly version of John Doe reform.(SB#51) this week. All that’s left of this long journey is the Governor’s signature. We are working with his office to schedule the signing.

Wisconsin AFSCME Legislative Report
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
An Important Message to AFSCME members

Grim budget news prompts lawmakers to temporarily suspend budget deliberations and regroup

Warnings that the state budget shortfall for fiscal years 2009-2011 is likely to exceed $7 billion prompted key lawmakers Tuesday to cut short their budget deliberations until the revenue picture becomes clearer.

New state income projections will be released early next week, but key indicators point to a worse deficit than the $5.9 shortfall that policy makers had projected until now. High unemployment rates and a worsening national economy are shrinking the state’s income, adding between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion to the deficit.

The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has noted that state revenue was down by about 4% compared to a year ago, but the Bureau also reported that drops in transportation revenues, corporate income and real estate transfer fees are cause for concern.

Senator Mark Miller, co-chair of the key budget review committee, said the state’s fiscal condition is “very volatile right now”. The Joint Committee on Finance is not expected to resume its work on the budget until sometime next week after the actual revenue projections are released.

Doyle administration officials are keeping mum about how they expect to handle the shortfall, while members of the Joint Committee on Finance and other legislative leaders are huddling to figure out how to pass a budget that closes the shortfall without doing significant harm to vital public services.

Governor Jim Doyle had prepared a budget plan that aimed to fix a projected $5.9 billion deficit with a combination of spending cuts and new fees and taxes, while optimizing federal aid under the federal stimulus bill. The budget, known as Assembly Bill 75, called for across-the-board cuts of 1% plus some targeted cuts of 5%, affecting nearly every service, program and state agency.

With the news of the deficit reaching as high as $7.5 billion, it is clear that some very difficult choices and hard times lay ahead. As if a $5.9 billion gap isn't bad enough, the new projection is deeply troubling. It means that everything is on the table for consideration at this time.

Indeed, Joint Finance co-chair Miller has stated that the Committee may revisit some of the decisions it has made since its first budget meeting on April 16.

AFSCME leaders and lobbyists have been working these last several months to persuade lawmakers to protect vital public services in spite of the deficit. We also have been asking lawmakers to approve the new fee and tax increases in the budget, all with the goal of building new revenue streams to help get Wisconsin on a better footing now in anticipation of an improved economic situation and when federal stimulus money is no longer available.

We have told lawmakers that we accept, and begrudgingly understand, that some cuts are necessary to help the state weather the tough economy. However, we have been lobbying these last several months for lawmakers to approve new revenue sources above those that Governor Doyle recommended.

Specifically, we have been lobbying for taxing 100% of capital gains (instead of 60% as the Governor recommended). We asked for a repeal of the indefensible “ATM/computer property tax exemption.” AFSCME also has been lobbying to restore the estate tax on estates valued over $1 million. These three new revenue sources alone are estimated to bring in an additional $480 million in this biennium.

Legislators have heard our message, and agree that some of the budget cuts are especially harmful to working people, families and the elderly who will need services now more than ever. Many legislators understand that for too long, Wisconsin has been cutting services, while turning a blind eye to long-overdue discussion about the “revenue problem” that has persisted in our state for decades. Wisconsin’s tax code is riddled with exemptions and loopholes that benefit those who can exploit them at the expense of the rest of us average taxpayers, and more critically, at the expense of supporting vital services such as strong schools, quality care for our elderly and the disabled, good streets and highways, and health care for all.

We have been lobbying for tax fairness for working people and for public sector services, and we have been getting traction with key decision makers in the Capitol.

The news that state income continues to decline, contributing to a deficit that will exceed $7 billion, means that while we may get those new revenue streams in place, for now, the cuts that we are facing are going to mean some extraordinarily difficult times for state, county and municipal employees, child care providers, and nursing home workers.

The work we have done to protect state workers, protect aid to localities, to boost payments to child care providers and nursing homes is in serious jeopardy now because the deficit keeps growing and no one can predict when the economic engine will generate the kind of revenue needed to reduce the deficit in this biennium and beyond.

We are currently having discussions with legislative leaders and members of Governor Doyle’s staff to find ways to protect our members to every extent possible.

We will know more in a week or two how the deficit will affect our membership but our goal in this report is to provide some perspective on the seriousness of the situation in which our state, our elected officials and our union now finds itself.

JOHN DOE…After many years of lobbying, frustration, and cajoling, this week the Assembly passed a John Doe bill with some minor amendments which we believe are beneficial to our workers. We have an absolute firm commitment from the majority leader of the Senate and the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee that they will take up the Assembly version as an early order of business on their next session day, 5/13/09. We feel very confident about the bill, and are even in discussion with the Governor’s office about where to sign it. It wouldn’t hurt for everyone to make one last contact with your state senator to urge them to adopt the Assembly version of John Doe on their next session day.

STATE BUDGET… last week we hit a setback with an unsuccessful effort to restore the Tourist information positions. This week Joint Finance is taking up the budget dealing with Southern Wisconsin Center. We are working with members of Joint Finance to develop and provide more certainty and protection for the residents and their parents and guardians in terms of voluntary placement and monitoring of community placements. That amendment will be introduced late in the day on 4/30. We have every reason to believe it will pass through Joint Finance.

FIELD REP POSITION OPENING…We are accepting resumes for the position of Field Representative for the Madison/South Central District for Council 24. This district includes the following local unions in its service area: Locals 1, 68, 98, 145, 333, 973, 1131, 3021, and chapters of 1218 and 2748. Anyone interested in applying should forward their resume to lmegonigle@wseu-24.org before Friday, 5/8/09.

BOWLING TOURNAMENT…Last weekend we wrapped up another hugely successful tournament. We would like to thank everyone for their incredible participation and support of the Jim Boyd Memorial Scholarship fund. In these tight economic times, it is truly amazing how folks continue to go the extra mile to support these important causes. We cleared an even larger profit than last year for the scholarship fund. On behalf of the Executive Board and membership, we thank everyone involved in making this a tremendous success. Enclosed with this mailing is a listing of the team standings, as well as a listing of prize winners.

AUDIT OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AT CORRECTIONAL FACLITIES…The Joint Legislative Audit Committee met on Wednesday regarding the audit on mentally ill in Corrections. We testified at the meeting. The basis of our testimony was that correctional officers should not distribute medications - that this should be done by health care professionals. Last week’s federal court decision reinforced our position. The Joint Committee received and accepted our testimony well. There is a high likelihood that we are finally getting to a point of being able to resolve the issue of CO’s passing meds. It will take a bit more effort and legislative education. Now more than ever we may be able to make legislators understand the liability as it relates to CO’s distributing medication.

AFSCME’s NEXT WAVE…local presidents have received information about this new program directed toward members under age 35, and an upcoming training session in Chicago this June. We urge interested, eligible members to contact their local presidents for more information.

On Tuesday, April 22, the Joint Committee on Finance voted to amend the state budget to require the state Department of Employee Trust Funds (DETF) to allow annuitants to voluntarily select to have monthly union dues paid from their pension checks.

The proposal was authored by state Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) and Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay). AFSCME has worked for years to advance legislation to authorize an automatic dues deduction option for retirees. Obstacles we faced in the past were political as well as logistical. Rep. Mason and Sen. Hansen worked with AFSCME and others to craft a proposal that will enable retirees to select automatic dues deduction starting on January 1, 2010.

The budget amendment was met with strong opposition by minority party members on the committee, who attempted to derail the plan by offering amendments to the budget amendment, which were successfully fought off. AFSCME members owe thanks to Rep. Cory Mason, Sen. Dave Hansen, Rep. Mark Pocan, Sen. Mark Miller and Sen. John Lehman for their efforts to gain the dues deduction amendment for union retirees!

Also on Tuesday, the Finance Committee voted to adopt a budget proposal supported by AFSCME which expands eligibility for retirement benefits to school support staff.

Under current law, to be covered under the Wisconsin Retirement System, an individual must work for at least one-third of full time employment, which is defined as 600 hours per year. However, for teachers, one-third employment is only 440 hours per year. The Governor’s proposal would apply the 440 hour rule to school support staff as well.

The state agency which manages WRS benefits (the Department of Employee Trust Funds) estimates that there are 8,424 educational support staff workers who do not currently work at least 600 hours and are not eligible for the WRS. This proposal will go into effect when the budget becomes law, and would not be retroactive.

Assembly to vote on Labor Agenda April 28 – John Doe bill to be on the agenda

April 28th marks a day when Assembly will take up several pro-labor bills, including legislation to fix the John Doe statute to prevent its misuse against public employees. Please contact your Assembly Representative and ask him or her to support the John Doe bill without amendment. We are very close to getting this bill passed, but we need AFSCME members to weigh in now and ask their Representatives not to tinker with this bill at this critical time. Some lawmakers want to “improve” the bill with unnecessary amendments that could possibly delay action on this critical bill.

Budget Committee Decides that Cost Benefit Analysis law will stay on the books

Last week the Legislature’s budget-writing committee, the Joint Finance Committee, issued a report indicating that certain parts of the budget would be removed because the Committee decided they should not be addressed within the budget.

On the list of non-fiscal policy items dropped from the budget is the proposal to repeal 2005 Act 89, which requires state agencies to conduct “cost benefit analyses” for service contracts costing more than $25,000. The law provides for a comprehensive study to identify and compare the total cost, quality, technical expertise and timeliness of a service preformed by state employees versus private contractors.

AFSCME was instrumental in crafting Act 89 and in persuading lawmakers to keep the law on the books.

This week marks the beginning of six to seven intensive weeks of dissecting the Governor’s budget and voting on it, piece by piece. The 16-member Joint Finance Committee is charged with reviewing and modifying the budget where it sees fit. This is the time when AFSCME members have an opportunity to lobby in support of things we like in the budget as well as to lobby to have parts of the budget removed or modified.

As is typical in the first week of voting, the Joint Finance Committee’s agenda is relatively light in terms of our AFSCME interests. The Committee’s website contains the agendas, the working budget papers, and more, for those who wish to keep track of the Committee’s agenda and budget votes: www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/jfc.html

As indicated during Lobby Day, AFSCME is advocating for protecting aid to local governments, which take a big hit in this budget. We also are working to protect the Compensation Reserves so that state workers get a fair treatment in the next contract. AFSCME has an extensive agenda and this budget review time is the critical decision-making time for us to advance that agenda. We will keep members posted via these weekly legislative reports and through alerts from the AFSCME Take Back Staff and SEPAC.

Among other things, AFSCME is working to restore cuts in Shared Revenue, funding for juvenile corrections services (known as Youth Aids), economic support services, child welfare, restoration of position cuts in the DNR and Tourism, and more.

AFSCME members have a chance to help. Your union encourages you to call your state legislators and ask them to restore cuts in vital human services programs. Legislators need to hear from area voters and union members!

Audit finds 31% of inmates mentally ill; rate of mental illness among females twice that of males

A report by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau concludes that 31% of inmates in DOC and DHS facilities are in need mental health treatment. The LAB report finds that mentally ill offenders account for 80% of assaults on staff, and 90% of self harm incidents. The audit contains recommendations on improving services for and screening inmates for mental illness as well as developmental disability. The report noted that Wisconsin is the only state in which correctional officers deliver medication directly to inmates, but recommends that officers receive training in medication delivery. For more information, go to www.legis.state.wi.us/lab .

AFSCME will testify on points raised in the audit when the Joint Legislative Audit Committee meets on April 22 in the Capitol.

Teach Labor History: A bill to require the teaching of labor history was taken up by the Assembly Labor Committee this week. The AFL-CIO and AFSCME have been pushing for passage of the labor history bill for years. AB 172, authored by Rep. Andy Jorgenson (D-Fort Atkinson), is expected to be voted on by the full Assembly later this month. . Passing AB 172 will give our children a chance to learn the many other amazing stories about laws that came to be because of the activism of working people which continue to affect our lives, our working conditions and workplaces today. Call your legislator and ask him or her to support this bill.

Milwaukee County Income Maintenance Services: A bill that codifies an arrangement for the state to takeover income maintenance services in Milwaukee County is on the legislative fast track. The bill, AB 194, is one part of a three part strategy that to spell out how the transfer of IM administration from the county to the state will take place. The state Department of Health Services already has assumed control over some aspects of Milwaukee County IM under its current authority. The budget bill includes funding and more details for the proposed takeover of IM, while AB 194 spells out the labor arrangement and protects the rights of Milwaukee County employees who would affected by the takeover.

According to DHS, it is critical to secure quick passage of AB 194 to get the county’s Call Center up and running soon. The plan provides for state control with state supervisors but county employees will provide direct economic support services. It is a plan unique to Milwaukee County. State officials note that their intention is not to have this arrangement become permanent.

Nearly 600 people signed up to participate in AFSCME’s Lobby Day on March 25^th and descended upon the Capitol to talk to their respective representatives and senators about closing corporate tax loop holes and supporting the public sector. It was a great day of solidarity with members of all three Wisconsin AFSCME Councils. Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan (D-Janesville) and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) kicked off the event with remarks to a room full of “AFSCME Green,” before members marched to the Capitol to lobby their legislators. But AFSCME wasn’t conducting grassroots lobbying in Madison alone.

Five AFSCME members representing all three councils took off from Madison early on lobby day to present testimony to the Joint Committee on Finance at the public hearing held that day in West Allis. They were later joined by more than 60 of their AFSCME brothers and sisters who also left lobby day early. Those AFSCME members registered in favor or against various aspects of the budget affecting AFSCME members at the same hearing. While there State Senator Tim Carpenter climbed aboard the bus full of AFSCME members and thanked us for all our hard work and the public services we provide for the people of Wisconsin.

Just like the public services we provide, AFSCME members don’t fret about long days, we just keep going until the work gets done. Thanks to all who participated and we’ll see you next year.

For the last two weeks, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance heard testimony on Governor Doyle’s proposed 2009-2011 state budget from the public in six communities across Wisconsin. AFSCME members have shown up to testify or show the AFSCME green at these meetings, as a reminder to lawmakers to protect vital services and the “revenue streams” that fund those services.

AFSCME members testified on a variety of budget-related topics, including: caseload increases of county economic support workers, the chronic under-funding of child care subsidies and the extension of state-imposed levy limits on local governments. In addition, the Committee heard testimony on the cuts in state worker jobs, the proposed cut in state aid to localities, especially county government, to fund services for at-risk youth, foster children, abused children, transportation, environmental protection and more.

The Joint Committee on Finance is expected to begin voting on the budget, piece by piece, in mid-April. AFSCME has been lobbying lawmakers to support the provisions in the budget that close corporate tax loopholes and establish new sources of revenue, and to oppose the cuts in aid to local governments that are vital to support local services. AFSCME members are encouraged to contact their representatives and senators to urge their support for a budget that protects public services in these tough economic times.

For more information on the Governor’s budget, see www.thewheelerreport.com; or read the budget blog at www.wispolitics.com. Another resource is the website of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, where a user-friendly version of the budget can be found: www.legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb.

Wednesday, April 15 - the Special Committee on Justice Reinvestment Initiative Oversight will hear from staff with the Council on State Governments on Wisconsin’s correctional system. See www.legis.wi.us/lc for more information.

Tuesday, April 21 -the Assembly Committee on Education will hear from members of the “School Finance Network” on their school funding formula proposal. See www.sfnwisconsin.org for details.

AFSCME Lobby Day: Tell Lawmakers to Protect Vital Services During Tough Economic Times!

Next week AFSCME members will come to the state Capitol for our annual Lobby Day. Lawmakers are busy wrangling with the state budget bill, which Governor Doyle presented last month. The budget addresses a projected $6 billion shortfall by mid-2011.

AFSCME members understand that Wisconsin’s sour economy helped create the hole in the budget. That deficit threatens public services at a time when working families need them most.

Governor Doyle’s proposed budget bill eliminates the deficit by using a combination of spending cuts, new sources of revenue and optimizing federal aid under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. We think this is a sound approach to fixing the budget deficit. We accept that some cuts are necessary to get the state out of the red.

But union members also know that services have been under-funded for years because of shrinking revenues that can be blamed in part on the loopholes in our state tax code. Our members also understand that these loopholes cause working families to pay more than their share of the cost of public services.

We applaud Governor Doyle for making the tough choices in this budget to eliminate some corporate tax loopholes to bring in the much-needed revenue to help plug the deficit and put Wisconsin on better footing going forward. These new revenue sources are essential to preserve public sector services and to help achieve tax fairness for Wisconsin’s working families.

AFSCME members are encouraged to attend the legislature's hearings on the state budget. Come tell lawmakers of your concerns about how budget cuts affect the public services you provide. The location and times are listed below. These important meetings will set the course for funding vital services over the next several years!

AFSCME members have an opportunity to speak out about how the state budget affects public services and our jobs. The Legislature’s budget-writing committee (the Joint Committee on Finance) is hosting a series of budget hearings across Wisconsin to give all citizens a chance to comment.

AFSCME members are encouraged to attend these budget sessions. Come show support for a budget that protects vital services that citizens need during tough economic times. Contact the AFSCME area office at 608-836-6666 or your regional Take Back America staffer or go to the SEPAC website (www.wseu-sepac.org) for details. Join your union brothers and sisters at these important meetings that will set the course for funding vital services over the next several years!

The hearings will last from 10 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. The dates and locations are:

How to Find out How the Budget Affects Your Job and the Services You Provide:

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau will publish its user-friendly summary of the budget later this week. The “LFB 2009-2011 Budget Summary” can be found on the website of the LFB at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb. It contains useful, agency by agency summaries of the Governor's budget proposals. It is an essential document to understand what's in the budget.

The LFB budget summaries are the basis for Joint Finance Committee member budget briefings, which will be given by LFB staff and staff from the DOA state budget office from Tuesday, March 17 through Thursday, March 19. Go to www.wiseye.org to follow along, agency by agency, or view select briefings later.

Reminder, AFSCME Lobby Day is March 25! This is a fantastic opportunity to talk to your state legislators in person about the impact of the state budget on public services. Please contact your Take Back America staff or the AFSCME Council 11 office at 608-836-6666 to attend.

Closes the Las Vegas Loophole, also known as Combined Reporting for Corporate Income Tax

This is the first step, but a giant step, in the process of reforming Wisconsin’s tax code. The next step will be in the biennial budget, which the Governor introduced in February. The Governor’s budget contained additional tax reforms and tax fairness aimed at undoing the steady shift of the tax burden on property owners and working families in recent years. AFSCME will be working to gain passage of those measures in the coming months.

The state child care subsidy program, Wisconsin Shares, will undergo a comprehensive audit by the Legislative Audit Bureau, legislators announced last week. A recent series of articles in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called attention to some cases of fraud and abuse in the $340 million annual program.

AFSCME has a unique perspective on this issue as we represent state and county employees who administer and regulate of child care services and because we represent family child care providers who serve families which receive child care assistance. AFSCME will meet with the Legislative Audit Bureau to recommend ways to improve the subsidy program without harming vital services or hurting providers. The audit results are expected to be released this summer.

The Governor’s proposed budget recommends a 1% ($8.5 million) annual cut in Shared Revenue. Due to how Shared Revenue dollars are disseminated, the 1% cut does not mean each locality will have its Shared Revenue allocation cut by 1%. Some local governments will experience aid cuts of far more than 1%. For example, several counties, such as Vilas, Oneida, Door, Burnett and Adams, will see cuts in Shared Revenue of 15% or more. The difference is due to the complexity of the Shared Revenue distribution formula.

Scaling back on the state’s long-standing commitment to funding local services through Shared Revenue will have a major, negative impact on counties and municipalities. The cut in state aid, coupled with limits on local property tax levies, threaten vital local services. As the Legislature begins its budget deliberations, AFSCME will be lobbying to restore the cut in Shared Revenue, to ease levy limits, and to look for additional local revenue options to help pay for local services.

Legislation which aims to fix some of the flaws in Wisconsin’s John Doe law is moving steadily through the legislative review process. On February 25, the Senate Judiciary and Corrections Committee held a public hearing on Senate Bill 51. AFSCME members testified on the need for swift action to reform the law, which has been abused by some inmates to harass corrections staff. SB 51 has support among Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature.

An identical Assembly “companion” bill, Assembly Bill 78, has been scheduled for another public hearing by the Assembly Judiciary Committee for Tuesday, March 10 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 225 Northwest in the Capitol. AFSCME will testify at that hearing as well. We expect a vote in both the Senate and Assembly Committees sometime this spring.

AFSCME members are keenly aware of the factors that led the Governor to put together one of the toughest budgets of our time. The Governor intends to balance his budget with a combination of spending cuts, new sources of revenue and optimizing federal aid under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). AFSCME is analyzing the full impact of Governor Doyle’s 2009-2011 budget plan on our members.

The first impression of Assembly Bill 75 is that it is not as bad as it could have been. The Governor had to address an historic $5.7 billion deficit. Several of the options before him would have had broad devastating effects. Prior to the budget’s release, rumors of large cuts in state aid to local governments (aka Shared Revenue), significant cuts in state employee jobs and possible facility closures were running rampant. A look at proposals in other states fanned those fears. But it appears that Wisconsin has avoided sweeping cuts.

That is not to say that public services and AFSCME members escaped intact and unharmed. We will be aggressively lobbying the legislature to change some parts in the coming months.

This budget cuts Shared Revenue by 1% (approximately $8.5 million per year), and places local government levy limits at the greater of either 3% or rate of growth in property values. Local services have been suffering from the combined impacts of under funding Shared Revenue and local levy limits for far too long. AFSCME, along with local government allies, will be lobbying for changes in both areas.

The printed version of the budget bill calls for the closure of Southern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled. However, a new proposal by the Department of Health Services that will keep the center open was developed after the budget’s publication. We expect to see the full details of that proposal when the agency testifies before the Joint Committee on Finance in the coming weeks.

AFSCME has concerns over how much of the budget burden state employees are being asked to withstand. The Governor’s budget would keep 3,600 positions, or one in ten state jobs vacant. The Governor also indicated he will ask state workers to contribute more towards pensions and health insurance costs at the bargaining table.

AFSCME will ask the Joint Finance Committee to guard against the contracting out of public services. With a hiring freeze in place, and little to no money available for compensation increases after the scheduled 2% raise in June, AFSCME will seek a freeze on privatization for existing services and an end to automatic increases in state contracts. We will also work to defeat the Governor’s proposal to end the current requirement that requires agencies to engage in uniform cost benefit analyses for all contracts over $25,000.

We also are concerned about the proposed cut in state aid to counties for youth offender services. Last session we fought hard to maintain the $27 million increase in Youth Aids. This budget unravels some of that work. We expect juvenile corrections will get a lot of attention in upcoming budget debates.

The Governor’s budget slows the expansion of Family Care, which would expand home and community based long term care services for the elderly and disabled. AFSCME is working to gain a full understanding of what the delay will mean to various counties already working on implementation.

AFSCME supports the Governor’s efforts to encourage early release for offenders under strict circumstances. There are concerns over how this initiative might affect community correction services, so AFSCME will be working to ensure those questions are fully answered before the budget reaches final passage.

Income Maintenance and economic support services across the state remain underfunded. Chronic understaffing and a lack of resources in Milwaukee County economic support services led to a lawsuit against the state and county. This budget proposes a state takeover of the administration of Milwaukee’s call center, while keeping workers under county jurisdiction. Statewide, county ESS workers have ever-increasing caseloads. Ensuring adequate resources to handle increasing caseloads will be a top budget priority for AFSCME.

On a decidedly more positive note, we applaud the Governor’s commitment to tap more revenue sources which, until just a short time ago, were off the table. For years, AFSCME has been lobbying lawmakers to adopt the hospital assessment, close the Las Vegas corporate tax loophole, increase the tax on capital gains, impose the sales tax on digital downloads and computer software and more. Had past Republican majorities not blocked these initiatives, the budget problem we now face would not be of this magnitude. These new revenue sources are key to stabilizing future budgets and protecting public services going forward. A major portion of our grassroots lobbying efforts on the budget in the coming months will be to convince legislators to support these and other new revenue sources to prevent these types of budget collapses in the future..

The Legislature will spend the next 3-4 months holding budget briefings, hearings and caucuses. Budget votes by the Finance Committee will come by mid- to- end of April. After the Committee finishes its work, the budget will move on to the Assembly and Senate. Each house is expected to vote sometime in June. The budget is due to be completed before the July 1 start of the 2009-2010 state fiscal year.

AFSCME members will have opportunities to comment on the budget in two key ways. First is at the Finance Committee “Road Show” public hearings between the end of March and early April. Exact time and dates will be distributed once announced. Also, all AFSCME members are encouraged to attend the annual “AFSCME Lobby Day” on Wednesday, March 25. This is the only Tri-AFSCME Council event of the year. We encourage you to join your brothers and sisters from around the state as you march on the State Capitol to defend quality public services. Contact the AFSCME Wisconsin office at 608-836-6666 to register and get details on transportation.

AFSCME members are encouraged to attend budget training sessions hosted by the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families to talk about the impact of budget cuts and the need for new state revenue. Here are some of the upcoming dates.

Tuesday, March 3 – 12:00 - 1:30pm, UW-Parkside, Tallent Hall, Rm 201, 900 Wood Rd, Kenosha.

If you are interested in attending but need more information, please contact the AFSCME Council 11 lobbyists at 608-836-6666. Dates and locations of future trainings will be sent out as they become available.

AFSCME is in the process of identifying how the Governor’s two-year budget plan affects our members and public services in general. The budget (Assembly Bill 75) is more than 1,700 pages long. More details will be available in the coming weeks. A complete summary of the budget will be published by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau by early March.

The Governor presented a budget that will be balanced by mid 2011. He fixed the $5.7 billion shortfall and balanced the budget by using a combination of cuts in spending, new sources of revenue, and relying on federal stimulus money.

The following is a list of some items in the budget identified by topic area. It is not exhaustive. To read the Governor’s speech and read more about the budget, go the Wheeler Report www.thewheelerreport.com or WisPolitics www.wispolitics.com.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) budget summary is being written and will be published by early to mid-March. After that, the LFB and the Governor’s budget director will brief members of the Joint Committee on Finance. By the middle to the end of March, the Joint Finance Committee will travel to five or six communities around Wisconsin to give citizens an opportunity to comment on the budget. AFSCME takes advantage of the public hearings on the budget to highlight concerns or voice support with the budget in part or in whole. We will keep you posted on those hearings in the next few editions of the AFSCME Legislative Reports.

Lawmakers are circulating bills that reflect promises made during their fall campaigns. Some of the bills of interest to AFSCME include:

These are just a sampling of the many bills that lawmakers will address this session. AFSCME is supportive these and other bills to protect public employees and advance the rights of working people. The legislative activity runs concurrently with the state budget deliberations, which will begin in earnest after the Governor unveils his 2009-2011 budget plan next week. The presentation of the budget sets of months of debate and discussion. AFSCME lobbyists have been proactively lobbying lawmakers and the Doyle Administration to protect the public sector and the thousands of public employees our union represents.

This year’s AFSCME Lobby Day marks the fifth time members from all three Councils and from all across Wisconsin gather together for a day of solidarity and a chance to share our views with decision makers at the Capitol. This year’s budget battles make it even more critical to have a strong AFSCME presence in the Capitol. Contact AFSCME at 608-836-6666 or contact your AFSCME Take Back America staff for details.

AFSCME lobbyists regularly tell legislators about how years of “deficit budgeting” has harmed public services and put tremendous stresses on public employees. If you have a specific story how budget cuts have affected the services you provide, your workplace or your job, please contact Susan McMurray at smcmurray@wiafscme.org.

Governor Doyle on Wisconsin’s deficit: “Staying even is the new increase”

The comment made by the Governor during last week’s annual “State of the State” address to a joint session of the Legislature is aimed at readying the public for what is to come when the Governor delivers his budget plan next week. That speech marked news of an even higher state deficit - $5.7 billion by mid-2011, if no action is taken to correct the shortfall.

Doyle cautioned that his Administration is committed to protecting education and health care but noted that “everything is on the table,” and that sacrifices will have to be made across the board and across the state.

Gov. Doyle said his goal is to use whatever federal stimulus dollars that will come to Wisconsin under the federal Recovery Act now moving through Congress “strategically and effectively” to get people to work quickly and get building projects on line.

AFSCME has been in regular contact with Doyle Administration officials as they develop the budget package, in hopes of persuading officials to spare services from harmful cuts. Without a doubt we are bracing for our toughest budget challenge ever. It should be noted that the Recovery Act dollars will whittle down the deficit somewhat but won’t make it go away. The federal money will be invested in targeted areas aimed at providing jobs and strengthening our infrastructure, putting workers and our economy back on track. Our deficit problems are here to stay unless, and until, we find a new way to fund the services that everyone benefits from but for which not everyone pays their fair share.

This year’s AFSCME Lobby Day marks the fifth time members from all three Councils and from all across Wisconsin gather together for a day of solidarity and a chance to share our views with decision makers at the Capitol. Contact the AFSCME Area Office at 608-836-6666 or contact your AFSCME Take Back America staff for more details. Be sure to mark your calendars and put in for time off as soon as possible to ensure a strong presence at the Capitol as we fight for our share of the budget and other critical legislative matters.

AFSCME lobbyists regularly and tirelessly tell legislators about how the endless cycle of budget deficits affects public employees more directly than any other citizen or any other sector of our society. Deficit budgeting creates unfilled vacant positions, which create higher workloads, higher caseloads while forced overtime and short-staffing in correctional settings, puts workers and community members alike at risk. It also results in understaffed health care centers, keeping elderly and disabled people waiting for essential services. Additionally waiting lists for court appointments and other services, inspections that can’t be done in a timely way, compromised consumer protection, are all consequences of deficit budgeting. If you have specific information on how the current state budget has resulted in cuts that have affected your workplace or your job, please contact Susan McMurray at smcmurray@wiafscme.org.

AFSCME is working with a coalition of organizations to spread the word about need to protect vital public services during this economic crisis. This is a unique opportunity for AFSCME leaders to get a better grip on what is happening, how it could affect your community, your workplace, and what you can do about it.

These sessions are free, intended for a small audience, and will last about 90 minutes. There will be a number of sessions around Wisconsin. The training will be hosted by representatives of the Institute for Wisconsin's Future (IWF) and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF). They will explain the state budget process, the deficit situation, revenue raising options, and possible action steps.

The goal is to develop leaders who will, in turn, be willing to work locally to plan public forums on the budget in their communities. The hope is to have those larger budget forums take place before the Legislature’s budget-writing committee goes on the road to hold public hearings on the state budget. Usually, the Joint Finance Committee budget schedules five hearings across the state. These hearings are a great and important opportunity for grassroots lobbying before the Legislature's most powerful committee. AFSCME will let you know when the hearings will be, but in the meantime, attending those IWF/WCCF budget trainings will be helpful in laying the groundwork to understand the task at hand.

The IWF/WCCF have held trainings in Oshkosh and Milwaukee, and another one will be held Friday, February 6 in La Crosse. Other trainings will be scheduled soon.

For more information about when other trainings might be scheduled or anything else, contact your AFSCME lobbyists or the Take Back America staff.

A bill that seeks to prevent the abuse of the John Doe law will be introduced soon by state lawmakers. Currently under the John Doe statutes inmates at Wisconsin state correctional institutions are abusing loopholes in the law, and harassing officers by filing frivolous complaints directly to judges. The new bill comes as a result of our AFSCME member involvement in designing the changes needed in the law. It contains provisions for legal counsel or payment of legal bills for representation during a John Doe investigation and a mandate that a judge shall review all reports investigations and evidence prior issuing a criminal complaint.

This week the Democratic-controlled state Assembly met for the first time and took up several measures aimed at helping Wisconsin workers. The first bill (AB 5) provides extended unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs. That bill passed on a strong bipartisan vote of 96-1 with two absent. The swift action by lawmakers was prompted by an audit which showed a decline in the unemployment reserve fund, which would have been depleted by next month had no action been taken. The state Senate is slated to vote on the unemployment extension bill January 28.

The second bill, AB 1, known as the Buy America Act, requires that if the state is to contract for services, the work must be performed within the United States. The vote was 69-30. Another bill, AB 2, mandates that the state and local governments to try to buy at least 20% of materials, supplies and services from Wisconsin vendors. AB 2 sailed through 77-22.

Next week’s AFSCME legislative report will focus on the Governor’s speech, which will likely address the efforts his Administration is taking to help workers and our economy weather the economic storm. The speech will set the tone for the upcoming budget address, which will be on February 10. Both speeches can be seen live or after the fact on Wisconsin Eye. Go to http://wisconsineye.org/.

Doyle Administration Creates new state office to manage influx of federal stimulus dollars

This week Governor Doyle announced the creation of an Office of Economic Recovery and Reinvestment to oversee the purported $3 billion (or more) in stimulus money that Wisconsin may receive under the Obama Administration’s proposed economic stimulus package. U.S. Rep. Dave Obey has been instrumental in crafting that plan. To read more about the plan, go to Congressman Obey’s website at http://www.obey.house.gov/ .

LEADERSHIP TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES: in-depth trainings on Wisconsin’s budget deficit

AFSCME is working with a broad coalition of organizations such as AARP, the Wisconsin Counties Association, Institute for Wisconsin’s Future, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families and many others on the need to protect vital public services during this economic crisis. This is a unique opportunity for AFSCME leaders to get a better grip on what is happening, how it could affect your community, your workplace, and what you can do about it.

These sessions are free, intended for a small audience, and will last about 90 minutes. There will be more such sessions around Wisconsin. The training is hosted by IWF and WCCF, who will explain the state budget process, the deficit situation, revenue raising options, and possible action steps. There will be time for questions, discussion and action planning.

The budget trainings are intended for people who are willing to learn more about the crisis at hand. The goal is to train leaders who will, in turn, be willing to take the lead in working with other local activists to plan forums on the budget in their communities. The hope is to have those larger budget forums take place at around the same time as when the Legislature’s budget-writing committee begins hearings on the state budget.

For more information, contact your AFSCME lobbyists. Those interested in next week’s Milwaukee session should contact Joe Fahey at jfahey@wisconsinsfuture.org or Vicky Selkowe at vselkowe@wccf.org to register.

The Assembly Committee on Jobs, the Economy and Small Business, Chaired by Representative Louis Molepske, Jr. (D-Stevens Point) will be meeting this week to take testimony on two bills that are high on the new Democratic Majority’s agenda.

The first bill, ‘The American Jobs Act’, is authored by Senator Bob Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie) and Representatives Mark Pocan (D-Madison) and Ted Zigmunt (D-Francis Creek). The bill requires, with limited exemptions, all contractual services purchased with state taxpayer dollars by state agencies to be performed within the United States.

The second bill, authored by Representative Fred Clark (D-Baraboo) is titled ‘The Wisconsin First Act.’ The bill encourages our state and local governments to set minimum contracting goals directing that not less than 2% of a fiscal year’s purchases be made from Wisconsin-based businesses.

An example of the impact of this legislation is that for Fiscal Year 2007, state agencies and University of Wisconsin campuses combined to purchase approximately $1 billion worth of goods and services. Under the goals established by this proposal, this means that state agencies would be injecting nearly $20 million into the state’s economy.

Wisconsin’s state budget director, Dave Schmiedicke, estimated that Wisconsin could be in line to receive some $3 billion from the federal government. $2.5 billion of that aid is estimated to be in federal stimulus money for education and medical assistance programs, while an additional $575 million would be for transportation and infrastructure projects. While this is a significant amount of aid it is important to note that this would only solve part of the state’s fiscal problem. If these projections hold up in the final federal stimulus package Wisconsin would still face a nearly $2.5 billion deficit.

Assembly and Senate Leadership, as well as representatives from the Governor’s office, have made several public comments in recent weeks about the need to pass a state stimulus package. While details of the plan have not been made public, recent quotes from elected leaders indicate that the plan will build upon anticipated federal aid and may include “tax fairness” provision to ensure that some “special interests” pay their fair share under Wisconsin’s tax code. The package may also contain targeted tax cuts focused tied to job growth. It is expected that the Governor and the legislature will try to act on a package by the middle of February.

Starting in May retirees under the Wisconsin Retirement System will see a decrease in their state pension checks. The cut is expected to be between 2.5% and 3%. According to the State of Wisconsin Investment Board the state pension’s Core Fund lost 26.2% in 2008 while the more aggressive Variable Fund lost 39%. Retirees with money still in the Variable Fund can expect to see a 40% reduction in the portion of their pension tied to the Variable Fund.

While this is certainly unhappy news, the upside is that the strong nature of the Wisconsin Retirement System prior to the national economic downturn prevented the losses on Wall Street from bankrupting the system. AFSCME is currently in discussions on how to begin the restoration process to the pension fund going forward.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) announced last week the first three bills the Senate Democratic Majority will take up in the new year.

First among them is Senate Bill 1, increasing the minimum wage. SB 1 would not only increase the state’s minimum wage from $6.50 to $7.50 an hour, it would also index the minimum wage by tying future increase to inflation.

Senate Bill 2, the Employee Wage Protection Act, authored by John Lehman (D-Racine) is next on the agenda. SB 2 would prioritize unpaid wages among the debts to be met when a company goes out of business.

Senate Bill 3, authored by Judy Robson (D-Beloit), will require insurance companies to cover treatment for children with autism. Under the bill every individual and group insurance plan would be required to cover autism, Asperger’s syndrome and other developmental disorders.

Governor, legislators, justices join forces to make changes in criminal justice, corrections systems

Last week, Governor Doyle, the state Department of Corrections, and Senate Democrats issued a series of press releases relating to changes they will seek in the criminal justice system. A new legislative committee, known as the Special Committee on Justice Reinvestment Initiative Oversight, has been appointed and is comprised of legislators, judges, prosecutors, law enforcement and state DOC staff. The committee is working in conjunction with the nonpartisan Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center.

According to the press release issued by Governor Doyle’s office January 7, 2009, the goal of the committee is

“to develop and implement new strategies to improve Wisconsin’s criminal justice system, reduce recidivism and improve public safety.”

The Governor’s release further stated: “We must find more effective and cost-efficient ways to hold offenders accountable and reduce the number of repeat offenders, so that valuable resources are not spent on a growing prison population but instead on schools, basic health care for children and core services for our communities.”

Also last week, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections issued the “Ten Year Facility System Development Plan” which calls for an additional $1.2 billion in new construction, in addition to a request for $126 million for over 2,000 more beds. The report can be found on the DOC website: www.wi-doc.com.

For more information about CSG’s “Justice Reinvestment Initiative”, go to justicereinvestment.org or to justicecenter.csg.org

To keep track of Wisconsin’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative, go to the website of the Wisconsin Legislative Council at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/.

The direct committee link is: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/committees/study/2008/JRIO/index.htm.

The new 2009-2010 Legislature was sworn in on Monday, January 5 at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Democrats now control the state Assembly for the first time since 1994. They hold a 52-46-1 majority. Democrats also hold a three seat advantage (18-15) over Republicans in the state Senate. The new Legislature has set its timetable for legislative activity:

Between floor periods, lawmakers will engage in committee work. The new Legislature brings a whole host of new committees. AFSCME members are encouraged to see who chairs the new committees for 2009-2010. Find out your representative or senator chairs a committee that is dedicated to an area that affects your work, that legislator will have considerable influence on policy matters relating to that topic. For example, university members who live in the Whitewater area should be aware that Whitewater Democrat Kim Hixon now chairs the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee. Rep. Joe Parisi of Madison chairs the Assembly Corrections and Courts Committee. For more information, go to http://www.legis.state.wi.us/.

State Budget news stories: Ideas on how to slay the $5.4 billion deficit dragon

Governors band together to ask for federal aid - Over the holidays, several news stories surfaced about the state budget crisis and the tough economy. Governor Doyle, along with four other governors, is asking for $1 trillion in aid to the states over the next two years to help states address soaring budget deficits due to the weak national economy.

Gov. Doyle: restore gas tax indexing The Governor also called for Wisconsin to restore the automatic increase in the gas tax, which would bring in $30 million a year for the state’s Transportation Fund, which has taken a hit over the last several years, hampering street and highway maintenance and repair efforts. (see the December 31^st story in the Wisconsin State Journal). The automatic gas tax increase, known as “gas tax indexing”, was repealed by the Legislature in December 2005. In the past, indexing amounted to a 1 cent increase per year. The state gas tax currently is 30.9 cents per gallon.

A marked shift in tone coming from an unlikely source: A remarkably refreshing editorial appeared in the December 20^th edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which AFSCME members may wish to read in its entirety. The column, entitled “The big squeeze: property owners increasingly bear the burden of government. They won’t stand for it forever”, focused on the long-standing and unsustainable reliance on the property tax to pay for public services.

Written by two members of the Editorial Board, the column calls for Wisconsin to overhaul its tax system, and for “smoothing out” the property tax by shifting more regional costs such as transit from the property tax to a sales tax; require combined reporting of corporate income, while lowering the corporate tax rate; implementing user fees such as tolls; asking for more federal dollars; joining 22 other states by adopting the “streamlined sales tax” which would allow Wisconsin to collect more sales tax on catalog and Internet sales; eliminating some sales tax exemptions and some property tax exemptions; and more. For more, see www.jsonline.com.

Excerpts from an interview with Gov. Doyle: This week The Wheeler Report published comments made in an extensive interview by Gov. Doyle on the budget crisis. The Governor’s comments set the tone for the budget challenges facing our state. AFSCME members, take note.

“..I have two big jobs ahead of me as 2009 begins. One is to put together a state budget that brings us into balance but also protects our most important priorities and the other is to make sure the economic recovery package is doing what it is supposed to do...which is to get people to work, invest in projects and infrastructure that will have positive value for the state…”

“I will say, there are going to be some very, very deep cuts in the budget. It’s hard and harder to do that because by the end of this fiscal year, 10% of the positions in state agencies will be empty. That’s on top of about 3000 positions we actually eliminated a couple of years ago.”

“…we’re going to have to make...deeper cuts…everything is on the table…You’re looking at things like closing state institutions and other things that are very difficult to do.”

“On the other hand, there are clearly some things that we need to get done quickly that will help us if we don’t delay. The hospital assessment, for example, that brings in hundreds of millions of dollars of federal money. ….I think it makes sense to move early on the oil company assessment. As I’ve said all along it just makes common sense to me that the oil companies should help us pay for the roads..”

The interview was published in the January 5^th morning edition of The Wheeler Report, which is available by subscription.

AFSCME members should take heed that the budget crisis presents perhaps the most serious challenges for us ever. Public employees know better than any others how years of budget cutting has affected services. We can no longer accept state budgets that merely get us by, while ignoring the real material needs of the citizens we serve. Wisconsin needs new sources of revenue like gas tax indexing, the hospital assessment, the oil company assessment and more to fund the vital public services that have taken a beating over nearly a decade. We are determined to work with friends in the Senate and Assembly to build a sustainable budget, based on new sustainable revenues.

Many AFSCME members know how valuable it can be to cultivate working relationships with legislators, who are elected to make budget and policy decisions that can directly affect the services we provide as well as our jobs, pay, benefits and working conditions.

Sometimes it’s the personal contacts that can make the difference in how a vote turns out on an issue important to you and your union. For the 2009-2010 legislative session, we encourage you to reach out to your assembly representative and senator.

If they are newly elected, it’s a great time to inform them of our issues. If they’re veteran legislators, remind them of your workplace concerns. Invite them to a local union meeting or arrange to meet them for coffee in your neighborhood. Talk about your work and the vital services you provide to the public.

It’s also useful to know the specific legislative assignments that your legislator has been given or to find out which legislator chairs a committee of interest to you based on the work you do. To make that easier, the following is a list of the committee assignments for legislators for the 2009-2010 Legislative Session.

To contact your legislators or to find out who represents you, go to the Wisconsin Legislature’s website http://www.legis.state.wi.us/ and click on “Who Represents Me?”

Governor Doyle announced in late November that Wisconsin faces a $5.4 billion state budget deficit for 2009-2011. The deficit is determined based on agency budget proposals as compared to projected state income for that time period. He also announced that there’s a $350 million budget shortfall for the current fiscal year.

The magnitude of the deficit has been criticized in some corners as being “misleading” or exaggerated. Hardly. The deficit is based on the agency requests, and it is worth noting that those agency requests, with some exceptions, were drafted in compliance with the Governor’s orders to keep spending for 2009-2011 at the current levels, and to make an additional 10% cut in administrative operations.

Perhaps Wisconsin needs to rethink how the deficits are determined because for far too long the need to invest in key services has been ignored due to budget shortfalls.

If there is any doubt about this, consider nursing home funding, for starters. The meager increases approved for nursing homes have barely kept pace with inflation, and caregivers in those facilities struggle with a lack of resources every day. That directly affects the elderly and disabled people for whom they provide care. Another area to consider is corrections. Most institutions are overcrowded, which has huge ramifications on staff and therefore, security. Another key source of funding for local services, known as Shared Revenue, has suffered over the years, severely hampering municipalities and counties. There are endless examples of state and local services that have been scaled back over the years.

AFSCME members know better than most how the years of deficits have affected the services they provide to the public. The notion that the $5.4 billion deficit is “misleading” is ignorant and dangerous. If key services like nursing homes, Shared Revenue for localities, schools, and other services were even adequately funded, Wisconsin’s deficit would be much higher than this one is. It is clear that the cause of these chronic deficits is not excessive spending, but rather a tax code that is full of special interest loopholes that allow corporate interests to avoid paying their fair share for the public services they receive.

When lawmakers convene in January, they’ll have to deal with the shortfall for the current budget cycle, which ends on June 30, 2009, and the next budget cycle, which begins on July 1, 2009 and goes through June 30, 2011.

We will urge them to look at this deficit and beyond, and figure out a way to get out of the cycle of deficit budgeting.

AFSCME has been lobbying lawmakers to support passage of a bill early in the Legislative session, which begins January 5, 2009, to impose an assessment on hospital profits, as Governor Doyle had recommended nearly two years ago. The “hospital assessment” was dismissed by the Republicans in the Legislature at that time but the assessment is likely to pass in 2009 because Republicans are no longer in control of the Assembly.

Your union also is urging lawmakers to consider new streams of revenue for the General Fund to solve the deficit situation and provide a more stable source of revenue for vital services such as schools, nursing homes, transportation, child welfare, health care (Medicaid), corrections and child care.

Public employees have a lot at stake in determining how the Governor and Legislature fix Wisconsin’s deficit problems. After years of “deficit budgeting”, which has brought cuts in services, jobs, staggering workloads,

understaffing at institutions, skimping on resources needed to do our jobs, public employees can ill afford more cuts. During these tough economic times, people will need public services more than ever. Wisconsin can ill afford to continue down the path of cutting our way out of deficits. It is time to think about generating additional revenue for state and local services.

For more information about the budget situation, see the “Agency Budget Estimates” published November 20, 2008 by the state Department of Administration. The web link is http://doa.wi.gov/debf/pdf_files/November20Report-2008.pdf

Another document was published this week by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. That document, “2009-11 Wisconsin State Budget (Overview of State Agency Major Request Items)” can be found on the website of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau under “publications”.

We urge you to keep informed about the deficit situation and work with your AFSCME lobbyists this legislative session to persuade lawmakers to find a better way to pay for the vital public services that are the foundation of our economy and way of life.

Early March: Legislative Fiscal Bureau issues budget summary document describing major provisions of the Governor’s budget.

Mid- to late March: Joint Committee on Finance to hold hearings on the budget. In the past, there have been five hearings held across the state. Usually the hearings are at the state Capitol and at four other locations around Wisconsin.

March or April: AFSCME Lobby Day will be held. The exact date will be announced later.

Early April – end of May: the Joint Finance Committee votes on the budget, agency by agency. The committee will work off of documents prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau as well as separate amendments (motions) offered by committee members.

Early June – the budget, as revised by the Joint Finance Committee, is sent to the full Assembly,

Mid- June – the Assembly will send the budget to the Senate. It’s possible (although unlikely) that a conference committee will be appointed unless there is some breakdown between the Senate and Assembly and Governor.

June 30: end of the 2008-09 state fiscal year / the two year (2007-2009) budget cycle

July 1: beginning of the 2009-2010 fiscal year / the next two year 2009-2011 budget cycle begins / Governor signs budget into law

November 6, 2008

The New Wisconsin Legislature

State Assembly: 52-46-1 (99 total)
On November 4, Democrats captured five Assembly seats and secured majority party status for the first time since 1994. Democrats now hold 52 seats while Republicans control 46 with one seat held by an Independent.

Senate Democrats neither lost nor gained Senate seats in this election. Retiring legislator Senator Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh) has been replaced by Republican Randy Hopper. Former Senator Roger Breske (D-Eland) will be succeeded by Jim Holperin, Democrat from Eagle River. Democrats control the Senate 18-15.

The 2009-2010 Legislature will be sworn in on Monday, January 5 at the state Capitol.

It is unusual in Wisconsin for one party to control both houses of the Legislature and the Governor’s office, but that is now the case. This “trifecta” will have far-reaching and positive ramifications for our union.

What this election means for us

AFSCME members can expect more doors to be open to us now that pro-worker legislators control the Capitol. We will have an opportunity to advance a positive agenda for AFSCME members and we can expect to see legislation brought forth that seeks to protect workers’ rights and the right to organize.

The shift in power will change the way business is done in the Capitol

Until Jan. 5, lawmakers in both the Assembly and Senate will be busy working to determine leadership and how to advance their agendas. The shift in power in the Assembly will bring profound changes in that house. The Assembly Republican leaders we used to lobby will step aside as Democrats take over. Democrats will take control of all committees and it is likely we’ll see some committees disbanded and new ones formed. The shift in power in the Assembly due to the election results affects nearly every aspect of how legislative business is done.

The election changes the dynamics and the agenda of the Democratic-controlled state Senate. November 4 also enhanced the power of Governor Doyle who will be strengthened by dealing with a generally friendly Legislature.

We have friends in power in the Capitol but a fiscal crisis looms

While we celebrate the election of a pro-worker majority in the Assembly, the next Legislature will have to grapple with serious budget troubles. State fiscal analysts predict that the state is some $3 billion short in the next budget cycle. The Governor will unveil his 2009-2011 budget in February of 2009, and that is when the struggle will begin. AFSCME will work with our allies in the Capitol to build a budget that supports the public sector and protects working families. Future legislative bulletins will address the fiscal issues and our goals in more detail.

AFSCME member involvement in the elections was worth the effort

The other side of having a pro-worker majority in power in both houses and in the Governor’s office is that we can redirect our efforts toward positive outcomes for our members. For too long, AFSCME has been fighting back initiatives aimed at gutting our collecting bargaining law, weakening our pensions and scaling back on our benefits. With friendly lawmakers in control, we will have a voice in the Capitol. That’s why your union takes elections so seriously. As the saying goes, if you’re not at the table, you may be on the menu. We can look forward to having a seat at the table in 2009, thanks to your efforts!

Senate District 18 – Jessica King (Open Seat)
Representing the Cities of Oshkosh and Fond du Lac; parts of Winnebago and Fond du Lac Co.

Jessica King is a native of Fond du Lac and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She received her law degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. Jessica practices law in Oshkosh and serves on the Oshkosh City Council. She is the youngest member of the Council and is its only female representative. Jessica King is involved in the Rotary Club, the League of Women Voters, Legal Action Wisconsin and the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Senate District 30 – Senator Dave Hansen (Incumbent)
Representing the City of Green Bay; parts of Brown, Marinette and Oconto Co.

Dave Hansen was first elected to Senate in 2000 and was reelected in 2004. He serves as the Assistant Senate Majority Leader and is a member of the powerful Joint Committee on Finance. He has authored legislation to promote the rights of working men and women such as the Employee Free Choice Act. He also has sponsored bills to protect the environment and strengthen Wisconsin’s consumer protection laws. Dave has advanced legislation to reauthorize SeniorCare, the prescription drug assistance program for senior citizens in Wisconsin.

A lifelong resident of Green Bay, Dave and his wife, Jane, have been married since 1971. They have three daughters and seven grandchildren. Dave graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in 1971 and worked as a teacher for eight years. In 1981, he began working for Green Bay's Department of Public Works as a truck driver, a job he held until shortly after being elected State Senator. Dave also served on the Brown County Board from 1996-2002.

Assembly District 5 – Representative Tom Nelson (Incumbent)
Representing parts of Brown and Outagamie Counties; parts of the City of Green Bay and other localities

Tom Nelson is a graduate of Little Chute High School and Princeton University. He lives in Kaukauna. Tom was first elected to the state Assembly in 2004 and was reelected in 2006. Tom has authored legislation to make health insurance more affordable and accessible, support public schools, raise the minimum wage and improve Wisconsin’s business climate. Tom has developed a reputation as a hard worker, both on the campaign front and in terms of constituent service.

Assembly District 57 – Penny Bernard Schaber (Open Seat)
Representing most wards in the City of Appleton (Outagamie County)

Penny is making her second run for the Assembly, this time running in an open seat. Penny works as a physical therapist for the Oshkosh Area School District. She and her husband Dale have been residents of Appleton for 24 years. Penny holds bachelor’s degrees Northwestern University and Southern Illinois University as well as a degree in natural resources technology from Fox Valley Technical College. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil. Bernard Schaber is active in the Sierra Club and is a member of the Stewardship Advisory Council.

Assembly District 90 – Lou Anne Weix (Challenger)
Representing parts of the Cities of Green Bay and Howard (Brown County)

Under legislation creating Wisconsin Works (W-2), the state’s welfare reform effort in 1995, the child care subsidy program Wisconsin Shares was established. The program, operated by the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) in the past and now under the new Department for Children and Families (DCF), is run through local W-2 agencies and county human and social services departments.

Under the program, the state subsidizes the cost of child care for qualified families by making payments directly to the child care provider chosen by the parent. The parent is also supposed to contribute to the cost of child care. The parent's co-pay amount is based on income, family size, the type of child care selected, and the number of children in care.

Eligibility for the child care subsidy program is limited to families with gross income of no more than 185% of the federal poverty level. Once eligible, families retain eligibility until gross income exceeds 200% of poverty for two consecutive months.

Shares was considered a critical aspect for success under W-2. In order for the reforms of W-2 to succeed, and people to obtain and keep gainful employment, it was determined that parents needed reliable child care while they were at work or receiving training under the program. The legislature, and later the federal government as part of the federal welfare reforms of the 90’s, pledged to ensure adequate funding for child care subsidies to make the back to work welfare programs a success. For the early implementation of the program this occurred, times, however, have changed.

During the last budget cycle, citing shortages in federal dollars and climbing enrollments, DWD offered a series of administrative rule changes designed to fill a $69 million shortfall in Shares. Of these proposals $48 million fell directly on the shoulders of child care providers who provided services to families enrolled in the Shares program.

One measure, dubbed the attendance based pay policy, would have retroactively reduced payments for child care providers if the parent failed to bring their child in for care over a certain percentage of the time for which they were approved. Since licensed and certified providers are limited in the number of children they can care for, providers would have lost payments for time they had set aside in their program for that child, with no way to recover the costs.

Another measure would have increased co-payments for families participating in the program. In theory this would have required families to offset more of the cost of the care their children receive, saving the state money. In practice this results in a substantial financial loss for providers, as many absorb the co-payments that Shares families simply cannot afford to pay in the first place. Increasing co-payments essentially results in a rate cut for Shares providers.

These two rule changes were on top of another administrative rule that is now in effect freezing reimbursement rates for providers participating in Shares at 2006 levels. Under that administrative rule, in response to the tight fiscal conditions faced by the state, DWD determined providers will be reimbursed at 2006 levels through the 2008-09 biennia.

AFSCME, along with our early learning coalition partners, lobbied the legislature and the Governor to eliminate the harmful policies proposed by DWD and fully fund the Shares program. By the time the state budget was passed in October 2007, the $69 million shortfall was filled with general purpose revenue (GPR), and the punitive rule changes, which had been temporarily enacted by DWD under their emergency rule powers, were lifted.

However, due to greater than projected enrollment, the Shares program found itself once again under funded by January 2008, just a few short months after passage of the budget. This time the shortfall was $18 million. Once again DWD used their emergency rule authority to implement the attendance policy. During the budget adjustment bill AFSCME mounted another successful grassroots lobbying effort to fund the shortfall with GPR dollars, and end DWD’s rule changes.

AFSCME, and our newly organized child care providers, are working with the new Department of Children and Families to find other solutions to the challenges of funding the Wisconsin Shares program. It is important to remember that Shares is a very successful program that allows parents to maintain employment, or obtain training allowing them to remain contributing members of Wisconsin’s economy. Without Shares, many of these parents would be unable to find care for their children while working, and would end up relying entirely on state aid, drawing down on state resources significantly. Compared to this scenario Shares is a small investment, one very important to the economic vitality of Wisconsin and the overall health of the state budget.

This fall, when talking to candidates for state office, AFSCME encourages members to ask them to commit to fully funding Wisconsin Shares in the next budget. Also ask for their commitment to oppose implementation of the types of rules offered by DWD last legislative session. They should know that the responsibility to balance the books in the Shares programs lies with elected officials, not the people providing child care for families across Wisconsin. Let them know that AFSCME is working to bring in more federal dollars to the program, but that we need their commitment to support this vital program in the next budget.

The increasing cost of health care is one of the biggest challenges facing working families, retirees and employers alike.

The factors that drive up the cost of health care are many. Among them - a large population of uninsured (nearly 500,000) and countless under-insured citizens costs us all when they don’t seek medical attention until costly medical intervention is necessary. Inadequate Medical Assistance payments to nursing homes, hospitals and other health care providers result in higher service charges imposed on the rest of us. Insurance companies that overcharge for insurance coverage and out-of-control hospital building and spending on fancy “hospital boutiques” also contribute to high health care costs. These are but a few of the drivers of costly health care that we all end up paying for, directly or indirectly.

Public employees, who largely enjoy good health care benefits, also are affected by the high cost of medical care, both at the kitchen table and at the bargaining table. Time and time again, in bargaining, AFSCME members have given up pay raises to keep adequate health care benefits. A medical inflation rate of 10% a year far outstrips workers’ and employers’ ability to pay.

Severely constrained county and municipal budgets are hurting public employees, and the rising cost of health care is making a difficult situation even worse for us. Local officials predict that 2009 will present the toughest budget challenges in decades. The state budget picture is not much better – revenues are projected to fall short of commitments to the tune of some $1.6 billion in the next budget cycle (2009-2011).

To solve this problem and protect our membership, AFSCME has been looking at various health care system fixes that have been advanced by Wisconsin lawmakers and Governor Doyle. In addition, AFSCME is working with a coalition of like-minded organizations, such as the AFL-CIO, seeking health care reforms.

To their credit, the Governor and some legislators are trying to do something positive and different about the health care problem, with the goal of ensuring that all residents have access to affordable, good quality health care services.

Last year Governor Doyle initiated a series of health care reforms including an expansion of the popular “BadgerCare” program, which provides basic health care services to families with limited income, under 185% of the federal poverty level (FPL). His plan, known as BadgerCare Plus, expands access to families up to 200% of the FPL.

Many legislators back comprehensive reform as a solution to the rising cost of health care. Two distinct plans have been under consideration. One was drafted by the AFL-CIO and another was offered by David Reimer, former City of Milwaukee administrator and former state budget director under Governor Doyle.

The AFL-CIO plan, known as the Wisconsin Health Care Plan, would create an employment-based health care system for all working people. It would eliminate much of the costly bureaucracy built into our current health care delivery system. The WHCP would be funded with a tax on payroll. We won’t attempt to explain the details of this plan in this Green Sheet. You can go to www.wisaflcio.org for details.

The Reimer plan, known as the Wisconsin Health Partnership Plan, would cover all Wisconsin residents under the age of 65 but would maintain much of the infrastructure of the current system. It also would be paid for with a payroll tax. See www.wisconsinhealthproject.org for details.

Last summer, Democrats in the state Senate crafted their own plan, which they call Healthy Wisconsin, and inserted it in the 2007-09 state budget bill. It borrows from parts of both the Reimer and the AFL-CIO plans. Their plan proposes comprehensive coverage for all state residents and is also funded with a payroll tax. See www.wisaflcio.org details.

Healthy Wisconsin was not included in the final state budget but it was the subject of intense debate in the Capitol for months during the budget deliberations. The Senate held a public hearing on the plan last March and it is likely that the Senate will advance Healthy Wisconsin again next year.

Healthy Wisconsin is a bold initiative that Senate Democrats have been praised for and criticized for advancing. Supporters hail Healthy Wisconsin for its comprehensive health care reforms. Critics claim that it would be costly and impose new taxes on employers.

Like the Reimer and the AFL-CIO plans, Healthy Wisconsin relies upon a payroll tax. Opponents of health care reform in any form highly criticize the payroll tax as too costly for employers. Backers of health care reform say Wisconsin can no longer afford to do nothing about rising health care costs.

The fact is that employers, just like the rest of us, pay for rising health care costs, one way or another. Employers who currently offer health insurance to workers spend an average of 15% of payroll for workers’ health care premiums, which is more than they would be expected to pay under a comprehensive plan like Healthy Wisconsin. Employers who don’t offer health insurance to their workers pay indirectly for a health care system that is dysfunctional and costly.

The detractors of the AFL-CIO, Reimer or Healthy Wisconsin plans focus solely on the payroll tax component of these plans while dismissing the possible savings and other benefits of health care reform. They fail us all by criticizing plans that have been put forth while offering few solutions of their own to fix a health care system that is broken and falling far short of meeting the needs of our citizens.

Some legislators in the Capitol take a completely different approach to deal with rising health care costs. They support creating state tax breaks for health savings accounts, hoping that HSAs will encourage workers to save and make them better consumers of health care.

HSAs have serious drawbacks for working people. They pose long-term threats to the employment-based system of health insurance. HSAs don’t benefit workers who live paycheck to paycheck and lack the extra income to make contributions to a health savings account. They do nothing to improve the quality of health care or provide chronic disease management. HSAs don’t address skyrocketing health care costs. Fundamentally, however, HSAs benefit the wealthy with tax breaks while encouraging employers to slash benefits for lower and middle-income workers.

How some legislators manipulate the issue to weaken our collective bargaining laws

There is also another school of thought among some legislators about how to deal with rising health care costs as they affect local government budgets. These legislators support weakening Wisconsin’s collective bargaining laws to take away the ability of unions to bargain good health care benefits for union members. This approach does nothing to reduce the cost of health care and is nothing more than thinly disguised union busting. This misguided thinking blames workers for high health care costs and aims to take away good benefits from some instead of working to improve health care access for all.

AFSCME has vigorously fended off these union busting proposals, which were advanced in several different forms by Assembly leaders during the 2007-09 budget debates last summer. Governor Doyle and many lawmakers stood firmly with us in support of maintaining Wisconsin’s strong collective bargaining laws and these proposals were defeated.

When the next Legislature convenes in January of 2009, AFSCME will continue to lobby with our coalition partners and work with friendly legislators and the Governor to bring about changes in the system to ensure high quality, affordable health care. If we can achieve some systemic changes in our health system, things might ease up for our members at the bargaining table and improve health care access for us all.

This summer and fall, AFSCME members should ask candidates for state office whether they will pledge to work on comprehensive reforms to provide quality, affordable health care for all Wisconsin residents.

AFSCME Green Sheet
Nursing Home Funding and Related Issues
September 11, 2008

AFSCME represents thousands of people who work in nursing homes across Wisconsin so our union pays close attention to long-term care issues, including those affecting the state’s 373 certified nursing facilities.

Many nursing home residents have little income and few assets and they rely on Medicaid to pay for their care. Medicaid is the joint state/federal government program that pays for health care services for low-income people. AFSCME and our nursing home industry allies have lobbied for modest increases in Medicaid funding for nursing home care, but those increases barely keep up with inflation. Like other health care costs, long-term care costs are rising faster than inflation.

Funding for nursing homes is an extraordinarily complicated matter, with payments to facilities based on a formula based on patient care needs, labor costs, utilities, geographic region and more. When the state Legislature approved a 5% increase in rates for 2008, it might be assumed that each home would get a 5% increase, but that is not the case. The additional money was an increase in the overall allotment for nursing homes. The 5% increase will be distributed to facilities based on the nursing home Medicaid reimbursement rate formula, with some homes getting more than 5% and others, less.

Wisconsin state government is keenly aware of the inadequacies in nursing home reimbursements and skyrocketing Medicaid costs. The response to chronic nursing home deficits has been disappointing. Like other states, Wisconsin is experimenting with alternatives to long-term care to reduce Medicaid expenditures. AFSCME members who work in nursing homes are familiar with the state’s nursing home “resident relocation” and “Family Care” initiatives.

Both initiatives involve reduced nursing home care and increased reliance on community-based settings. State officials believe they can use scarce Medicaid dollars more efficiently and serve more people in community settings, such as group homes, community-based residential facilities, or at home.

AFSCME believes that the emphasis on moving people into community settings may work well for some individuals but not everyone. Our union has experience with relocations because the state has been moving residents out of the state centers for the developmentally disabled for many years, with mixed results. Like the centers, nursing home residents today, by and large, truly need the high level of care that these institutions provide. These individuals have complex medical needs or chronic conditions that merit the kind of 24/7 nursing care that is cost-effective in an institutional setting.

There are drawbacks to community-based care for the elderly and disabled. Current state regulations, staffing requirements and oversight of community settings are inadequate and could put residents at risk. Community settings ought to be held to similar health and safety standards as institutional settings and the regulations should be based on who is served, not the setting in which they live. That is why AFSCME supported a 2005 law that requires the state to report on the status of individuals who have been moved out of nursing homes and state centers for the developmentally disabled. The goal is to provide data to help policy makers assess whether or not the relocation initiative is fulfilling its promise.

Another drawback to community-based care is that it is largely dependent on private providers. The only way for them to make a profit is to cut back on services. This could have serious consequences for elderly and disabled people. Unchecked privatization of long-term care could pose harm to those least able to defend themselves.

There are other issues related to chronic under-funding of nursing homes. The Wisconsin Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (WAHSA), which represents county-owned homes and not-for-profit facilities, collects data on nursing homes and tracks their financial condition. Here are a few other statistics from WAHSA that paint a grim picture:

These statistics are not new and are hardly surprising to nursing home caregivers. Financially-strained facilities take a huge toll on residents and caregivers alike. Funding shortages create high staff turnover, forced overtime, long hours of work, stressed out staff, all of which can compromise care to residents. Deficits result in downsizing or closures, which create access problems for people who need care.

The situation is much worse for those who work in county-owned nursing homes. Most homes try to have a mix of Medicaid/private pay residents because private insurance pays more for care than Medicaid, and they rely on private insurance to offset Medicaid losses. County homes have few private pay residents and they run high operating deficits. County homes also tend to have residents that are costlier because they harder to care for, which adds to the county home financial problems. Over the years many counties have closed or sold off their homes because of the high costs of operation. In 2009, things could get worse for county homes because of the property tax levy limit, which limits increases at 2% (or the rate of growth).

Those remaining county nursing homes receive supplemental funds from local property tax dollars, but that is another unstable source of revenue given the whims of county boards. AFSCME recently lost the Manitowoc County Health Care Center to a private interest. This fall, voters in St. Croix County will decide whether or not to keep or sell that county’s nursing home.

Nursing home care is an essential public service that should be one of many long-term care options available to the elderly and disabled. There will always be a need for nursing home care and it should be properly funded. Nursing home residents and staff should not suffer with inadequate reimbursements because of the unchecked zeal to downsize institutions.

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN
AFSCME Green Sheet
Outsourcing
September 4, 2008

State and local governments looking for ways to balance their budgets too often fall victim to the siren song of outsourcing public services. However, privatization’s promised short-term savings often result in higher costs, poorer service, increased opportunities for corruption and diminished flexibility, control and accountability. Outsourcing has been shown to compromise the security of personal information and public assets. In addition, the local economy and tax base suffer as decent jobs with benefits are replaced with low-wage, no-benefit jobs and private companies exporting profits to other parts of the country or even overseas.

Innovative and responsible government leaders know that joint labor/management partnerships are the best way to truly improve service delivery. Public resources are most efficiently and effectively deployed when front-line workers and managers – who have a stake in their communities -- work together for the public good.

Outsourcing almost always costs more than advocates claim because indirect and hidden costs are ignored. These include the cost of contract monitoring and administration, conversion costs, charges for "extra" work, and the contractor's use of public equipment and facilities. The Government Finance Officers Association estimates that such costs can add up to 25 percent to the price of a contract.

The quality of service can deteriorate when profit is the prime motivation in service delivery. The profit motive can be an incentive to "cut corners," especially when contract specifications are vague or poorly defined. Flexibility erodes because public employees routinely perform tasks above and beyond their official job descriptions. Those duties usually are not factored into contract specifications.

Dependence on contractors increases as in-house expertise and capacity is reduced or eliminated. This loss of leverage can lead to price gouging by contractors in future contract negotiations. When contractors "low ball" their initial bids, governments are especially vulnerable to increased costs in the future when there is no place else to turn.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, public accountability is diminished because complaints from citizens cannot be directly and quickly addressed by the state or local government. In addition, private companies are not subject to the same public scrutiny as government entities, which are required to operate in an open arena. These conditions create opportunities for corruption, such as bid-rigging, bribery and kickbacks.

A few years ago, AFSCME led the effort to unmask the hidden costs of outsourcing of state services. An exhaustive review of state Department of Transportation contracts revealed the state was grossly overpaying for services, paying for redundant services and making payments far exceeding the estimate of the original contract. Those revelations, along with information regarding state information technology projects and contracts that were coming in well beyond time and well above budget, led to a bi-partisan effort to review and reform the state outsourcing process.

Wisconsin 2005 Act 89 implemented a system of Uniform Cost Benefit Analysis (UCBA) to be performed by all state agencies prior to entering into any contract that exceeds $25,000. The legislation was intended to create a system that compared the actual real cost of outsourcing, including oversight and administration as well as the use of state resources on an apples to apples basis with having the same work done with public employees.

After ACT 89 was signed, AFSCME went to work with state agencies on developing systems that reflected the intent of the legislation. While those systems are still a work in progress, reviews of UCBAs over the last couple of years have begun to shed light onto the problems with outsourcing.

One of the most glaring problems at the state level is that many of the UCBAs state that the reason an agency ultimately pursued a contract was the lack of state employees or positions to do the work. In some instances, it is apparent that it would be more cost conscious for state employees to do the work, but due to either previous cuts in state positions or the failure to create a position in advance of need, state employees are not readily available. In these cases, time restrictions almost force the state to contract out for the service, even though a state employee would be more cost effective and provide higher quality.

As noted, UCBAs are still a work in progress and AFSCME is working to ensure that administrators properly account for all the costs of outsourcing. However, ACT 89 provided a significant first step, and has created a tool that we hope will be used by elected officials to not only save taxpayer dollars, but also to improve the quality of state services.

While the centralized nature and scope of state government allows for a comprehensive approach to scrutinizing privatization schemes, the municipality-by-municipality and county-by-county nature of local government outsourcing makes analysis more difficult. However, it is clear that revenue caps combined with decreased state aid have left many local governments in Wisconsin looking for short term fixes from one budget to the next.

Legislators must be conscious of the impact their decisions are having on the quality of services that so many Wisconsinites rely upon from local governments. Once local services are outsourced, the competition for private vendors of public services is eliminated, turning those short term savings into even larger long term headaches.

Outsourcing is a risky way to address the many demands and challenges facing state and local government. As various jurisdictions have found, when committed managers and elected officials recognize that workers are a valuable resource — an asset to be developed rather than a cost to be cut — these demands and challenges can be met without introducing the risks of outsourcing.

AFSCME encourages members to talk to candidates for the state legislature this fall and explain to them the dangers of outsourcing. Ask them to commit to keeping public services public, and ensure that the high level of service provided by public employees is maintained.

In previous sessions, proposals have been introduced in the legislature to make Wisconsin a so-called “Right to Work” state. Unfortunately, the deceptive name of these bills creates confusion among elected officials, as well as the voting public. In all honesty, these bills should be called “Right to Work for Less.”.

Supporters of these bills have tried to make an argument that the laws governing labor unions in Wisconsin should allow someone to receive the full benefit of being a member of the union even if they are not a dues paying member of the union. In making their arguments, “Right to Work for Less” advocates attempt to undermine the validity of the democratic structure of unions, where members have the ultimate control of the organization, and whether or not they want to continue to participate in that organization, through their votes.

However, these simple and widely agreed upon concepts of democratic institutions and paying your fair share are not the only reasons to oppose “Right to Work for Less” legislation. In fact, there are many economic reasons states should avoid having these harmful laws on the books. Among them:

Lower Wages
In the most recent data available the average worker in a right to work state made on average $5,333 a year less than workers in other states. Weekly wages were $72 greater in free-bargaining states than in right to work states.

Health Care
Twenty-one percent more people lacked health insurance in right to work states compared to free-bargaining states.

Pay Equity
A 2002 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study showed union women earned $149 more each week than nonunion women. Also, union membership narrowed the pay gap for women with the national gap between men’s and women’s pay being 32 percent—but between all men and union women the gap was only 5 percent.

The same study shows that Latino union members earn 45 percent ($180) more each week than nonunion Latinos, and African Americans earn 30 percent ($140) more each week if they are union members.

Statewide Economic Effects
The impact of “Right to Work for Less” laws are not only felt by unionized workers. Protecting the free-bargaining status of a state elevates the income of workers across the state. More workers earning family sustaining wages means there are fewer workers who will work for less. This forces low-paying employers to raise wages to attract or keep employees.

Additionally, higher union wages mean more disposable income for consumers, helping stimulate the economy. This leads to more jobs and less unemployment.

Furthermore, “Right to Work for Less” reduces consumer spending. Because union membership means higher wages, higher unionization within a community means consumers have more to spend. That’s good for local companies, especially those in retail sales and services.

Finally, studies have shown that unions increase productivity by encouraging new technology, labor management coordination and increased training.

This fall AFSCME members should talk to candidates for Wisconsin’s State Assembly and Senate and make sure they understand what “Right to Work for Less” legislation truly does. Inform them of the harmful effects these bills would have on workers, employers and the state’s economy, and ask them to pledge to opposes and “Right to Work for Less” legislation should they be elected to the state legislature.

AFSCME Legislative Bulletin
AFSCME Green Sheet
Reforming Wisconsin’s “John Doe” law

Reform Wisconsin’s “John Doe” law to protect public employees

Under the state’s John Doe law, anyone who believes a crime has been committed may bring a complaint to a judge. The judge may investigate the allegations and the extent of the investigation is within the judge’s discretion. If the judge decides that a crime might have been committed, she or he must issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused.

It’s called a John Doe proceeding because it is carried out in secret. The accused is not informed and may not be aware of the complaint or the investigation unless or until it results in a warrant for his or her arrest.

Some consider the John Doe law obsolete because it is allows complainants to bypass the investigation process carried out by district attorneys. Critics of the law argue that it leaves the decisions about the scope of investigations and issuing arrest warrants completely in the hands of judges, effectively making judges the prosecutor, judge and jury. Indeed, the John Doe law was created back in the mid-1800’s, well before our modern courts and legal system were established.

The John Doe process is not often used by district attorneys or average citizens so few people are aware of it. The law drew attention back in 2001 when the high profile legislative caucus scandal broke as a result of secret John Doe investigations into alleged corruption by some former legislators.

More recently, the law has been discovered by inmates in Wisconsin’s correctional system. The “jailhouse lawyers” like the John Doe process because it allows them to avoid the scrutiny of district attorneys and take their complaints straight to judges. Offenders have begun filing John Doe complaints against correctional staff across various institutions around the state.

Inmates are not the only ones using the John Doe law to harass and intimidate staff. Individuals committed to the state mental institutions, secure sex offender treatment facilities and the Wisconsin Resource Center also have discovered they can use the law against staff. Even probation and parole agents have been the object of John Doe complaints.

Because of the secret nature of the process, we don’t know exactly how many cases have been filed or how many cases have been dismissed. To date, only one John Doe complaint has resulted in felony charges. It is worth discussing what happened in that case to understand why AFSCME is seeking changes in the John Doe law.

In 2007, a correctional officer at the Waupun Correctional Institution was charged by a Dodge County Circuit Court Judge with abuse of an inmate based on allegations filed by an offender. The judge freely admitted that he believes the statute compelled him to issue felony charges against the officer based solely on the word of the inmate. The judge argued that the statute does not allow him to investigate John Doe complaints and that any allegation requires judges to issue charges.

The Department of Corrections had investigated this case and determined that the allegations were baseless. In addition the Dodge County District Attorney refused to issue charges because of a lack of evidence. The judge likely knew about the previous investigations but went ahead anyway with the felony charges against the officer.

Thankfully, all charges against this officer have been dismissed. Nevertheless, much damage was done: the officer was forced to hire a private attorney to represent him, costing him and his family endless financial worry and personal hardship. In addition, the frivolous complaint by an inmate that led to felony charges against the officer sent shockwaves through Waupun and all of Wisconsin’s other correctional facilities. It signaled a new balance of power in these institutions, where correctional officers have to worry they may be financially devastated by a frivolous complaint filed by an offender seeking to intimidate them.

Staff who work in state institutions are now on the defensive. They go to work every day worried that some action they take in the normal course of doing their jobs could result in a John Doe complaint being filed with a judge, costing them money and their reputations.

The John Doe law was not intended to be used as a tool to harass people but that is what is has become. Public employees are and will continue to be the target of these unfair John Doe complaints from offenders unless something is done to change the law. The John Doe law must be reformed to protect public employees whose role is to protect us all from dangerous offenders. They should not have to worry about possible legal ramifications resulting from carrying out their normal, everyday job duties, which are stressful enough.

Incarcerated people have several appropriate legal and administrative avenues to air their grievances and seek justice, including internal grievance and review procedures, and the filing of complaints with local Sheriffs and District Attorneys. AFSCME members who work in institutions note that not one single incidence of inappropriate behavior by staff has ever been uncovered through a John Doe proceeding.

State law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to defend public workers in criminal proceedings. The Waupun officer charged with the felony did not have the benefit of legal representation by the state. Now that he has been cleared of all charges, he has the right to submit a claim for reimbursement from the Wisconsin Claims Board and he is likely to prevail in his request. However, that will be little consolation for this officer and his coworkers, who spent many sleepless nights worried about the outcome of this proceeding and the possible endless legal battles and legal bills he would be required to pay.

AFSCME supported efforts by lawmakers to change the John Doe law, to no avail. The one area that lawmakers could agree to was on the issue of paying legal fees. Legislators from both parties supported an amendment to allow payment of attorney fees for public workers charged under this statute if they act within the guidelines of their employment and if the attorney general determines the worker was acting in good faith.

AFSCME supports reforming the John Doe statute to prevent it from being used as a tool to harass public employees. Our union also supports requiring the state to provide for legal representation for workers against proceedings or charges that arise from the performance of their jobs.

This fall, AFSCME members ought to ask candidates if they will commit to working with our union representatives to bring about reforms to the John Doe law to create protections for public employees performing their jobs in good faith.

Wisconsin’s Juvenile Correction Institutions (JCI’s) are an integral part of the state’s corrections system. Wisconsin’s three JCI’s are Ethan Allen, Lincoln Hills and Southern Oaks Girls School (SOGS). They provide juvenile offenders with access to education and degree attainment, trade skills, AODA treatment, mental health counseling and mentoring opportunities, rehabilitating youth offenders and helping them avoid running afoul of the law in the future. In fact, the recidivism rates for youth in the Division of Juvenile Corrections system from 2000 to 2004 (the most recent time period from which data was available) consistently stayed below 20%. However, this success comes with a cost, and state government must address this ongoing issue in the next state budget.

The funding mechanisms for Wisconsin’s JCI’s, continues to put a strain on both state and county budgets. Unlike the state’s adult institutions, the majority of the revenue supporting Wisconsin’s three JCI’s, comes from the counties who send juvenile offenders to the institutions. Counties make payments based on a formula set by the legislature that determines the daily rate for each juvenile enrolled in the system.

For 2008 and 2009 this daily rate amounts to $259 and $269 respectively, for each juvenile offender a county sends to a JCI. This brings the cost for a county to send one juvenile offender to a JCI for a year to nearly $100,000 annually. With 51 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties placing an offender in JCI’s in 2007, and over 50% of juveniles in JCI’s coming from outside of Milwaukee County, this is very much a statewide problem.

About the only way to reduce the daily rate would be to use the facilities at a level closer to their full potential. All three JCI’s have closed housing units since 2001, as the number of youth in the system has decreased. While this has decreased some variable costs associated with housing and services, there are certain fixed costs that remain largely unaffected by a decrease in population. Costs such as security, maintenance, administration and utilities have not seen a significant decrease due to fewer juveniles at the institutions.

When judges exercise their authority to send 17 year old offenders to the state system it can save counties tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, many of these juveniles would be better served in JCI’s as opposed to adding to the overpopulation problem that exists in adult institutions across the state. However, while increasing the population and returning JCI’s to capacity may lower the daily rate, it obviously will not solve the problem faced by counties. Any savings counties may see under this scenario may be lost by sending more youth to the JCI’s.

That is why this past legislative session AFSCME supported AB 746, which would have limited the ability of judges to move 17 year olds to the adult system. To help offset the cost to counties for the increased number of juvenile offenders sent to JCI, the bill included a video game surcharge of $1.00 on every video game sold in Wisconsin. This surcharge would generate $3 million in revenue, (much of it from violent games marketed to youth and teen populations) to be used to aid counties in JCI payments.

Other ways counties have attempted to deal with rising JCI cost is to turn to the Youth Aids program. In 1981 the Youth Aids program was created, sending revenue from the state to counties, to remove the financial incentive for counties to send juvenile offenders to JCI’s. The program was designed to help counties fund alternatives to incarceration and reduce the JCI population. Today, counties are being forced to use Youth Aid funding to offset the cost of sending juvenile offenders to JCI’s, even as the JCI population has fallen in recent years. While additional state investment in Youth Aids is needed for many worthwhile alternative programs, the legislature must decide if this is the best way to continue defraying county JCI cost, or if a more direct method would serve the situation more efficiently.

Finally, the cuts to Shared Revenue and enactment of levy limits in recent budgets have only further hamstrung county governments as they attempt to balance their books. Eliminating the levy limits, and indexing Shared Revenue are two policy initiatives the legislature must enact if county governments are to have the revenue necessary to provide vital public services in tough economic times.

This summer and fall AFSCME is asking legislative candidates to commit to preserving Wisconsin’s high quality Juvenile Corrections Institutions, and the outstanding service they provide, while pledging to develop additional revenue or new funding mechanisms to reduce the cost on counties sending juvenile offenders to these institutions. When talking to candidates, take the time to explain to them how this issue affects the public service you provide, whether you are a state employee working in one of these institutions, or a county employee who has seen the strain tight budgets are having county services.

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN
AFSCME Green Sheet (No 3)
Collective Bargaining

Wisconsin is the birthplace of our union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), now some 1.4 million strong. It is no accident that AFSCME was founded here – Wisconsin has one of the nation’s oldest civil service systems, a retirement system that is without equal and tradition of union activism that has resulted in landmark legislation to protect the rights of working people and public employees in particular.

One of the most important laws that protects public employees is the Municipal Employment Relations Act or MERA. It sets forth a framework for employers and employees (or their union representatives) to negotiate in good faith with the goal of reaching an agreement on wages, hours and working conditions.

The law also establishes a process for resolving disputes between labor and management through the use of an independent arbitrator. Only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of contracts settled every year go to arbitration. Of those, slightly more than half of the settlements favor the employer. Decisions of the arbitrator are binding. MERA works because it is perceived as fair by both sides.

The law has worked well since it was created in 1978, after a decade of labor strife that resulted in the breakdown of public services. Between 1970 and 1978, there were 110 strikes or work stoppages. Passage of MERA eliminated the strife and commenced an era of labor peace that we still enjoy today. Since 1978, the law has been fine tuned, but always in a public and inclusive way that maintains a sense of fairness for both sides.

Unfortunately, there are some state lawmakers who have sought to change the law to give advantage to the local government employer at the expense of the county or municipal employee. These lawmakers have proposed legislation to eliminate the right of employees to have a seat at the bargaining table on key issues such as contracting out, choosing health care providers or cutting pension benefits for new employees. Advocating changes in MERA that would tilt the scales in favor of one side or the other is unwise at best.

AFSCME has been resisting consistent legislative efforts to undermine our collective bargaining laws. Last summer, Republican lawmakers in the state Assembly boldly attached anti-MERA initiatives to the two-year state budget bill. They also advanced a plan in the budget that would have cut pay and benefits for state workers.

The anti-labor budget put forth by Assembly Republicans triggered a strong and steady response from AFSCME members, who conducted vigils in the state Capitol through the summer and into the fall. Due to the activism of our members and the efforts of Democratic lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly who support the public sector, we were able to defeat every one of the anti-worker initiatives in the Assembly budget proposal.

We fully expect that unfriendly legislators will continue to devise clever ways to weaken MERA. When the next Legislature convenes in January of 2009, we hope not to have to spend energy fighting back anti-worker, anti-collective bargaining laws, but instead to focus our efforts on supporting the public sector and the workers who provide the vital services that our citizens depend on and which keep our infrastructure and economic system strong.

Lawmakers need to be reminded that their constituents have enjoyed 30 years of labor peace. Let’s not return to the bad old days of strife and strikes like Wisconsin suffered in the 1970s.

AFSCME LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN
AFSCME Green Sheet (No.3)
Shared Revenue

The concept of “Shared Revenue” goes back to the early 1900s, when legislators recognized that state tax dollars ought to be shared with local governments to help pay for services that the locals provide. It is a commitment the state made to localities decades ago to acknowledge that local governments are partners in government.

Shared Revenue (SR) helps localities pay for services that the public and our economy depend upon, such as public safety, recreation, sanitation, libraries, courts, public health, transportation and more.

Revenue sharing is based on the idea that every community and citizen deserves a basic level of public services, regardless of ability to pay. SR is vital to keeping the public sector strong, and it is an important funding source for local budgets. The 2008 budget for the City of Eau Claire, for example, relies upon the $7.5 million the state sends in Shared Revenue. That’s more than 14% of the city’s entire $51 million budget.

Wisconsin provides nearly $900 million per year in Shared Revenue for counties and municipalities. Shared Revenue is funded with general tax dollars (General Purpose Revenue or GPR) that come from the state’s General Fund. The GPR-portion of the state budget for 2008 is $13.8 billion. Our entire state budget for fiscal year 2008 is $28 billion (all funds).

While $900 million is no small change, the allocation for Shared Revenue has been faltering over time. Since 1997, funding for Shared Revenue has been cut by 5.5% - but when inflation is factored in, the reduction in the state funding for Shared Revenue actually is 26.7%! The following chart identifies the allocation for Shared Revenue made by the state Legislature since 1997:

Another way to see the decline in funding for Shared Revenue is to look again at the budget for the City of Eau Claire for 2008 compared to 1995:

                        Revenue Sources of the Budget for the City of Eau Claire
                                                            1995                             2008
Intergovernmental aid   *                  47.5%                           21.5%
Property taxes                                   26.0%                           49.3%
Licenses, penalties, etc.                    9.8%                           11.7%
Charges for service                          6.7%                         10.6%
Other taxes                                         10.0%                           3.3%

* This includes federal aid and other sources of aid, not only SR. Source: City of Eau Claire Budget

Back in 2000, AFSCME analysts figured that Shared Revenue had the effect of reducing property taxes by an average of $455 on a $100,000 home. That offset in today’s dollars is a mere $220 on the same $100,000 home. Property taxes have replaced Shared Revenue as the main source of revenue for most local units of government. This is not a sustainable situation, especially when property tax levy limits are factored in. (We will discuss in a future edition of our AFSCME Green Sheet how levy limits on local governments are choking public services).

AFSCME and others are concerned about the future of the Shared Revenue promise and Wisconsin’s commitment to the state/local partnership.

This fall we will be asking lawmakers to enact “indexing” for Shared Revenue – that is, a guaranteed increase in Shared Revenue based on the Consumer Price Index (which is now 3%). Had indexing been in effect in 2008, Shared Revenue would have been boosted by $26.97 million dollars (to $926.57 million, compared to $899.6 million).

Public employees have a strong reason to be engaged in this election season. We must elect candidates who will pledge to maintain and improve Shared Revenue in the next state budget. Wisconsin needs a state Legislature that recognizes the long-standing partnership between the state and local governments and the vital role that SR funding plays in supporting that partnership. The vitality of Wisconsin’s economy and the public sector depend on preserving Shared Revenue.

AFSCME Green Sheet (No. 2)
“Combined Reporting”
June 19, 2008

Wisconsin’s Revenue Problem: Combating Corporate Tax Avoidance by Enacting “Combined Reporting” for Wisconsin Corporations

AFSCME members surely are tired of dealing with the fallout of endless state budget deficits, which translate into unfilled job vacancies, staff layoffs, forced overtime, reduced funding for services and more. Deficit budgeting, in sum, means skimping on the vital services that make Wisconsin a great place to live.

Calls for cuts in spending to solve budget deficits are all too common but are short-sighted and overly simplistic. There is another way: Wisconsin should consider new revenue options to provide a fair, progressive alternative to service cuts that would affect the elderly, disabled, children and families.

One such option is to change our corporate tax filing laws to ensure that the corporations are paying what they should pay for the cost of services.

Our current corporate tax laws allow corporations to legally avoid paying income taxes. Here’s how they do it: parent corporations report their own income and expenses separately from their affiliates. Corporations such as banks and retailers take advantage of this separate reporting mechanism to place ownership of their affiliates in states that have no income tax.

On paper, therefore, these parent corporations show less income than what they actually earn. Thus they owe less in taxes. This is not fair to other taxpayers (such as small business owners and working families) who end up paying more for the services that corporations also depend on and enjoy. It’s also not fair to those who need services, which are chronically under-funded.

Some years ago, former Governor Tommy Thompson urged lawmakers to enact a law to implement a system of “combined reporting” of corporate taxes. The law would require combining the income of the parent company as well as all of the affiliates of a corporation to determine their whole tax liability. By combining the income of corporations, the state could hold corporations accountable to the same tax laws that apply to the rest of us.

Recently, Senate Democrats pushed for “combined reporting” law in Wisconsin. Fiscal analysts report that combined reporting could pump an additional $75 million a year into our state’s treasury. Imagine what $75 million could do for Shared Revenue or for financially strapped counties that struggling with skyrocketing juvenile corrections, nursing homes and court costs.

Combined reporting would eliminate a legal loophole that corporations exploit to avoid paying their full tax responsibility and for cost of services.

Combined reporting has been adopted by 21 of the 45 states that tax corporations. Close to home, our neighbors in Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota require combined reporting. Michigan is among five states that enacted combined reporting in the past three years to end the practice of corporations exploiting outmoded tax laws to avoid paying taxes.

Combined reporting would not raise tax rates, eliminate deductions, credits or exemptions. Simply put, it would erase an accounting trick that corporations legally but unfairly exploit at expense of the rest of us.

It is time for the Wisconsin Legislature to consider enacting “combined reporting” in this state not only to alleviate our chronic budget woes but to modernize the corporate tax filing system and bring us in line with our neighboring states.

AFSCME supports “combined reporting” legislation and will work to secure passage of this law in the 2009-10 legislative session. AFSCME leaders across Wisconsin should pressure candidates to take a stand in favor of implementing combined reporting here.

Last week’s legislative bulletin discussed several issues that AFSCME anticipates being at the forefront of the 2009-10 legislative agenda. Today’s bulletin provides the first in an ongoing series of position papers, or AFSCME Green Sheets, on those issues that will be rolled out over the summer heading into the fall. AFSCME will still provide updates on pertinent legislative issues when they arise (such as the Audit Bureau report on overtime discussed below), but the focus of this and future bulletins for the next several months will be on fundamental issues for public employees looking towards next session.

Recent news reports ballyhooed Wisconsin falling out of the top 10 “highest taxed” states in the nation, but those reports ignored the real story behind these suspect rankings, which are driven by ultraconservative think tanks with a blatantly big business agenda.

According to the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF), profitable corporations in Wisconsin have managed to shift more and more of the cost of providing needed services onto the shoulders of individuals. In the early 1970s, big business paid for roughly half the cost of keeping our state going. Today, they pay less than 30%, meaning that individuals have had to make up the difference. In the mean time, corporations have re-focused the anger resulting from their success at tax shifting by blaming public service providers for rising individual tax rates. Corporate interests have perpetuated the myth that Wisconsin taxes are out of line, when, in reality, Wisconsin spending levels are in middle of the pack, and our number of public employees is below the national average on a per capita basis. Instead of blaming public employees, citizens need to understand that they are paying more in taxes because clever corporations are paying less than their fair share.

Even more disturbing from IWF’s findings is that while corporations paid less and less in taxes they saw profits grow considerably during that same time period, even when adjusted for inflation. In fact, since 1978 nationwide corporate profits more than doubled when adjusted for inflation from $694 billion to $1.446 trillion. That Wisconsin has seen income taxes from corporations remain nearly flat, while corporate profits have increased so significantly, illustrates how corporations have avoided paying their fair share in Wisconsin over the last three decades.

The primary way corporations in Wisconsin avoid paying state income taxes is due to the proliferation of corporate tax breaks. These tax breaks, some that are specific to certain corporations engaged in a specific industry, others available to a wide swath of Wisconsin’s business landscape, result in what is called corporate tax leakage. Essentially, corporate tax leakage is the amount of money corporations would have paid in Wisconsin corporate income tax if they reported the same profits to the state Department of Revenue as they did to the federal government. In 2006 alone Wisconsin’s corporate tax leakage amounted to $643 million, an amount that was essentially shifted on to working families.

AFSCME, along with IWF and other partners, successfully lobbied for one of these corporate tax loopholes to be closed during the recent state budget adjustment bill. The “Wal-Mart” loophole, allowed corporations to avoid state income tax by placing ownership of the land their businesses operated on in Wisconsin into an out of state subsidiary. The subsidiaries, located in states with favorable corporate tax structures, would then charge high enough rent to their Wisconsin based stores to eliminate all profits earned in Wisconsin.

Closure of this loophole is expected to generate, at a minimum, $15 million in corporate tax revenues. That number may be significantly higher, as it is difficult to ascertain exactly how many corporations operating in Wisconsin are taking advantage of this loophole. Current state limits public disclosure of corporate income taxes in Wisconsin.

While this was an important victory, it was only step one in creating real tax reform in Wisconsin. There are many more loopholes that need to be closed in order to reach full tax fairness in Wisconsin, and a lot more information we need to find out how much tax is actually being shifted onto working families in the state.

That is why AFSCME is working to build support for the Corporate Tax Accountability Act (2007 Senate Bill 367), introduced by Senator Dave Hansen. This act would require corporations in Wisconsin to publicly disclose their total gross income and their state income tax returns. The act will allow a complete review of Wisconsin’s corporate tax structure, enabling us to determine how corporations are avoiding paying their share in the state, and what tax loopholes are most responsible for the tax burden shift to Wisconsin families.

This fall, when talking to candidates seeking legislative office ask them if they support the Corporate Tax Accountability Act and overall tax fairness for Wisconsin.

A 15% increase in overtime by workers employed at state institutions should come as no surprise, AFSCME notes in wake of a report on overtime costs by the Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB).

This week the LAB issued a report that showed that state agencies paid nearly $188 million in overtime, a 15% increase since 2005. Most of the overtime involves staff at the state’s mental health institutes and in correctional facilities, which require round-the-clock staffing.

The increase in overtime costs is a direct result of staff shortages. Since 2002, the state has been loath to advocate for staffing the mental health and correctional facilities at the levels necessary to run them safely, as well as to support the workers and keep the institutions safe. In addition, AFSCME notes, most lawmakers are reluctant to add staff and are skittish about committing to supporting the additional spending that more staff positions would require.

Until the state recognizes that additional staff is needed in the institutions where inmates and the mentally ill require 24-hour attention, Wisconsin is going to continue to grapple with ever-increasing overtime costs.

AFSCME notes that missing from the LAB report and the news stories about “excessive” overtime is the fact that many staff do not welcome overtime but are forced to put in long hours, causing burnout and resulting in others leaving their positions, putting our institutions at risk.

AFSCME will continue to work with lawmakers to address staffing shortages at Mendota, Winnebago, the Wisconsin Resource Center as well as Wisconsin’s many correctional institutions.

This week Governor Doyle signed into law the bills that mark the final legislative and executive action on the 2007-09 state employee contracts, including five of AFSCME Council 24’s bargaining units. The Governor thanked our state employee bargaining team members for their leadership on the contracts and in helping with the state budget.

The Undercurrent of Legislative Activity Will Continue in the Summer and into the Fall

The 2007-08 Legislative session now is officially over. While lawmakers and candidates have set their sights on the fall elections, there continues to be undercurrent of legislative activity, both inside the Capitol and outside of the Capitol. Within the Capitol, special legislative study committees will meet to carry out in-depth discussions on some key issues, including:

These committees, comprised of legislators and public members who are experts on the various topics, will meet monthly over the summer and into the fall, with the goal of developing a package of recommendations on the topics that will be brought before the next Legislature, which will return in January of 2009. AFSCME will be monitoring these committees and will provide input where appropriate.

From the outside of the Capitol, advocacy groups are organizing and preparing their agendas to bring to candidates in the fall and to elected officials next January.

AFSCME has been participating in discussions with allies on topics such as the future of transportation funding (with the Transportation Development Association and other allies), protecting state aid to local governments (Shared Revenue) and building support for repealing loopholes in our corporate income tax laws to ensure that corporations operating in Wisconsin and using services are paying their share of the cost of those services. We’ve also been holding discussions about how to break out of the endless cycle of deficit budgeting, and how to elect state and local officials who will truly work to protect the public sector.

Each of these topics merits greater attention which we intend to provide for you in future AFSCME Legislative Bulletins or in articles in your AFSCME Reports monthly newspaper. We are committed to giving you a taste of some of the issues brewing and which we hope will come before lawmakers in the 2009-10 session, but right now is the time to plant the seeds, both with our membership and with candidates running for office.

For more information contact your AFSCME legislative representatives at 608-836-6666

This week state lawmakers approved contracts with 15 state employee bargaining units, including the five AFSCME Council 24 units. All contracts were overwhelmingly approved by state legislators, with only a handful of naysayers. Here is the tally:

Administrative Support unit contract (see Senate Bill 574) -Senate vote was 31-1, with Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) casting the sole “no” vote and Senator Jauch (D-Poplar) not present. The state Assembly voted 93-3, with Rep. Robin Vos (R-Racine), Rep. Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) and Rep. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) voting against approval.

Blue Collar unit contract (Senate Bill 575)- Senate vote was 31-1, with Senator Lazich voting no. The Assembly vote was 92-4, with Rep. Frank Lasee (R-Bellevue) joining Representatives Kramer, Vos and Vukmir saying no.

Professional Social Services unit (Senate Bill 576) - Senate vote was 30-2, with Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) joining Sen. Lazich in voting no. The Assembly vote was 91-5, with Representatives Kramer, Lasee, Vos and Vukmir voting no along with Rep. Don Pridemore (R-West Bend).

Security and Public Safety unit (Senate Bill 577) - Senate vote was 31-1 (Sen. Lazich). Assembly vote was 91-5, with Reps. Kramer, Lasee, Vos and Vukmir being joined by Representative Terry Van Akkeren (D-Sheboygan) voting no.

Technical unit (Senate Bill 578) - Senate vote was 31-1 (Sen. Lazich). Assembly vote was 92-4, with Reps Kramer, Lasee, Vos and Vukmir dissenting.

Republicans in the state Assembly Wednesday also attempted to muster up 64 votes (that is, 2/3 of 96 legislators present) to override three separate vetoes made by Governor Doyle when he signed the ‘budget repair’ bill into law on Friday, May 16. Republicans sought to undo vetoes of legislative action on school funding, the SeniorCare prescription drug assistance program and transportation. It takes a 2/3 vote of legislators present in both the Assembly and Senate to override a gubernatorial veto.

This week the state Senate bid farewell to the long-serving Senator from the North, Roger Breske (D- Eland). Breske will serve as the new state Railroad Commissioner. The appointment of Breske means there are two open seats in the state Senate, the other being vacated by Sen. Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh).

For more information call AFSCME at 608-836-6666

After months of wrangling, the $652 million budget “pothole” has been filled, with the final patching work completed Friday through a series of vetoes issued by Governor Jim Doyle.

For months, lawmakers balked at the Governor’s repair plan, which relied upon a combination of new money raised from the proposed hospital assessment, accounting maneuvers and borrowing to fill the budget gap.

Earlier this week, lawmakers went into Special Session to approve their own budget fix which ditches the hospital assessment, takes less from the Transportation Fund, delays school aid payments, taps into the Tobacco Settlement money and closes a corporate tax loophole to pay the bill. It also includes some other completely unrelated policy items.

The lawmakers’ plan was passed by the Senate on a vote of 17-16, with Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) being the lone Democrat to break ranks and vote against the package. The Assembly voted 51-46 on a strange bipartisan vote with both Republicans and Democrats crossing party lines to vote for or against the package.

Governor Doyle had long-stated his strong opposition to delaying payments to schools and using more of the Tobacco lawsuit monies and Friday he issued his budget signing statement, which included some line-item vetoes that reshape the plan approved by lawmakers. Here are some highlights of the Governor’s vetoed budget plan:

Transportation Fund: The Governor’s vetoes result in the use of $103 million of Transportation Fund dollars, of which $39 million will be backfilled with bonding revenue. (In all, the $5.3 billion Transportation Fund will be cut by some $64 million in this biennium).

Funding for Transportation projects: In spite of the fund transfer, there is some good news for transportation budgets of local governments. The state Highway Rehabilitation Program is boosted by $56.9 million, and there is some $25 million in new money for the state Highway Maintenance program.

The plan to delay the state’s April transportation payment to counties remains in the final budget. Therefore, instead of quarterly payments of 25% being made in January, April, July and October, the change would result in payments to counties of 25% in January, 50% in July and 25% in October.

Revenue sources: The Governor signed into law the provision to close a corporate tax loophole. Under current law, corporations like Wal-mart have devised a clever scheme to claim ownership of the property of their stores in other states, charge the in-state branch excessive rent to under-report their in-state branch profits, resulting in lower corporate tax liability. The budget repair bill makes this scheme illegal, and nets the state treasury some $15 million over the next year.

Doyle also expressed deep disappointment with the failure to adopt the hospital assessment, which would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the state’s ever-growing Medical Assistance obligations while helping hospitals at the same time. He pledged to revisit the hospital assessment in his next budget bill in February of 2009.

Child care funding (Wisconsin Shares): The budget signals a major victory for AFSCME, with an $18.6 million increase in Wisconsin Shares, child care subsidies for low-income families. A deficit of $18.6 million had arisen in the program, leading the Department of Workforce Development to implement and emergency rule that balanced the shortfall on the backs of providers who care for children enrolled in Shares. Many of AFSCME’s newly-organized child care providers had been negatively affected by the rule, and AFSCME had been lobbying to get rid of it. With the increased funding, the Governor announced that he is directing DWD to drop the rule next week.

Reserve fund: Governor Doyle used his veto to restore the state’s reserve fund to approximately $100 million. The Legislature had sought to leave $25 million in the fund.

Property tax exemption for low-income housing: The Governor vetoed the Legislature’s plan to create a property tax exemption for certain low-income housing, stating that full public debate should happen on this topic and arguing that lawmakers ought not to include this proposal in a budget repair bill. There is widespread disagreement over how much property this could affect and what it could cost local governments - and, ultimately, the services that local governments -and AFSCME members - provide.

Budget Negotiations Continue – Governor, Majority Leader and Speaker Meeting

Rumors continue to circulate in the Capitol that Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch are close to an agreement on a budget adjustment bill. One sign that a deal may be imminent is that Governor Jim Doyle is now meeting with the two leaders, hopefully indicating that negotiations will soon come to a close and an agreement will be announced.

Most of the discussion appears to be focused on the mechanisms to generate revenue, either new or borrowed, to close the deficit, or which accounting tricks to use to make the books balance until the end of the biennium. This is a positive sign for AFSCME, as the drastic cuts offered in the Assembly Republican package appear to have been set aside for now in favor of more reasonable steps that will preserve public services. Of course AFSCME continues to lobby legislators to ensure public services are maintained in the final budget adjustment bill.

In election years, following the end of the legislative session the Joint Legislative Council creates special committees to study ongoing issues in Wisconsin. This past week a Joint Legislative Council Committee was announced to investigate issues surrounding high risk juvenile offenders. Among the many issues that will likely be on the table for this committee are; the cost of incarceration, impact on county finances, other state models and allowing judges to send 17 year old offenders to juvenile institutions.

Joint Legislative Committees are made up of legislators and members of the general public, with public members traditionally being individuals with first hand experience with the issue before the committee. AFSCME has already contacted the co-chairs of the committee about the inclusion of an AFSCME representative on the committee given the potential impact recommendations by this committee could ultimately have on our members working in the institutions and on county governments.

Spokespersons for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch say that they continue to make progress on the budget and could reach agreement as early as next week. However, no details of an imminent deal have released. It is tough to read the tea leaves on the mostly private budget negotiations. Meanwhile, AFSCME continues to lobby the Legislature to protect services and preserve the budget.
In an effort to bring about a conclusion to the budget talks, Governor Doyle this week began publicly discussing some of the consequences of not reaching a budget compromise soon. The governor suggested that one possible scenario might be that a delay or cutbacks in transportation projects beginning this summer.

State Budget Update

Legislative leaders continue to hold informal talks over the budget deficit situation, but no decisions have been reached yet and there is no news to report at this time. Rest assured we are in contact with lawmakers to make sure they are aware of our concerns.

Special Session on the Great Lakes Compact

A deal has been reached for legislative approval of the Great Lakes Compact, which sets forth rules restricting water diversions from the Great Lakes. Assembly Republicans had been opposed to the deal and had refused to vote on legislation to ratify Wisconsin’s participation in the Compact. The Great Lakes Compact had been negotiated by governors from eight Great Lakes states and had been approved by state Legislatures of seven states.

The deal will not affect the language of the Compact, but it involves compromises on the legislation that was drafted to endorse the Compact.

The Assembly is tentatively planning to be in Special Session on April 17 but the state Senate is expected to meet at a later date.

AFSCME does not have concerns with the Great Lakes Compact but we are closely watching this issue because the political dynamics could affect the outcome of the budget repair talks and legislative approval of the state employee contracts.

Military Service Credit Under the WRS

We are often asked about the status of legislation to grant veterans credit under the Wisconsin Retirement System for their military service. Year after year, these bills die, in part due to a lack of information about the cost to the WRS of creating this benefit. This year, AB 43 and its senate companion, SB 19, appear to have met the same fate as previous bills.

This year, however, backers of this legislation successfully persuaded the Joint Finance Committee to include in the budget an amendment that provides $15,000 to hire an actuary to do a study of the cost of AB 43/SB 19 to the WRS. Having this information is a big step forward. It means that next session (which begins in January of 2009), when AB 43 and SB 19 are reintroduced, lawmakers will be in a better position to decide whether or not to approve legislation to give veterans the credit they deserve for serving in our armed forces. There is no guarantee that that these bills will pass next year but having the actuary study will be helpful.

Leadership from the Assembly and Senate continue to meet informally over the budget adjustment bill. The two houses took very different paths to resolve the $400 million plus shortfall, with the Assembly making $250 million in unspecified cuts and the Senate finding new sources of revenue, including the hospital assessment and the closing of corporate loopholes, to fill the deficit. This round of budget negotiations is taking place primarily behind closed doors, with only a few select legislators involved in talks. AFSCME continues to lobby legislative leaders to protect services and find new revenue sources.

On March 30th the Department of Workforce Development issued emergency rule changes that balanced the $18.6 million shortfall in the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program on the backs of child care providers. These changes were identical to changes DWD implemented to deal with the shortfall during last summer’s state budget talks. At that time the Legislature chose to fund the shortfall rather than impose these harmful rules on providers.

All administrative rule changes are subject to review by the Legislature's Joint Committee on Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR). At a meeting prior to implementation of the DWD rules, the co-chairs of the committee publicly discussed their concerns with DWD reintroducing these changes, and stated they intended to hold a public hearing on the rule in the near future. Since that time JCRAR Co-Chair Representative Dan LeMahieu (R-Cascade) has refused to hold a public hearing on the emergency rule, despite repeated attempts by Co-Chair Senator Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) to get a meeting scheduled. AFSCME child care providers have been contacting Rep. LeMahieu's office urging him to hold a hearing so the Legislature can gain a full understanding of the punitive nature of these rule changes on the people providing care for some of Wisconsin's more vulnerable children.

On a positive note, the Democratic-controlled Senate included an additional $18.6 million in the budget to cover the Wisconsin Shares shortfall. AFSCME is lobbying members of the legislature to preserve this funding in the final version of the budget.

Legislative Hearing on Teen Offenders
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will meet Thursday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 411 South of the State Capitol to hear testimony on a comprehensive audit of how best to address teen offenders in the correctional system. AFSCME supports legislation to return 17-year-olds to the juvenile system (SB 401 and AB 746).

Treating Adults with Mental Illnesses in the Wisconsin Corrections System – Hearing April 10th
A legislative committee will take testimony next week on the need to do an in-depth examination of the incidence of mental illness in the adult correctional system. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will hold a hearing on this topic next Thursday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 411 South the State Capitol.

Where things are on the budget “repair” bill
The Senate and Assembly budget plans represent the vastly different policy priorities of the houses

On March 11, Governor Doyle offered a plan to repair the deficit while carefully protecting key services such as schools, Shared Revenue, the state employee compensation reserves and health care. His plan relies upon a combination of borrowing, fund transfers, and a proposed assessment on hospital profits, which has been embraced by the Wisconsin Hospital Association and the state’s largest business associations.

Assembly Republicans passed a substitute bill that drops the hospital tax, eliminates fund transfers and orders state agency officials to make $250 million in unspecified cuts that would endanger public services in Wisconsin.

Senate Democrats cast aside the Assembly GOP plan, built upon what the Governor had recommended, but added a new, critical element: they closed several corporate tax loopholes. Their plan will generate about $130 million in much-needed revenue to balance the budget and, more importantly, create an ongoing source of revenue.

The Governor and the Senate Democrats are doing the right thing by considering new revenue sources to fund public services. Their plans are not just one-time fixes, but they offer a more lasting solution -and the money to help dig Wisconsin out of this deficit and protect against future shortfalls. AFSCME strongly supports the Governor’s budget fix as well as the plan offered by Senate Democrats.

The different budget scenarios are the true expression of the priorities of the different houses and the parties that control them. If you want to know more about the Senate or Assembly budget plans, go to website of The Wheeler Report (www.thewheelerreport.com <http://www.thewheelerreport.com>) or the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb <http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb>)

At this writing, the Assembly and Senate have not resolved the differences between the dueling budget repair plans. It’s impossible to predict how things will play out, and we hope it’s not going to be like the protracted budget battle of the summer and fall of 2007. It is likely that Senate and Assembly leaders and representatives of the Doyle Administration will choose to hammer out a budget repair compromise informally rather than through the official “conference committee” process.

However and whenever a compromise is reached, legislators will have to return to the Capitol to approve the final bill product. Lawmakers are also likely to return to the Capitol sometime to deal with other business such as the approving the state employee contracts and there has been speculation about addressing the legislation to approve Great Lakes Water Compact as well.

Keeping Teen Offenders in the Juvenile Criminal Justice System

Legislation to return 17-year-olds to the juvenile (instead of the adult) correctional system died when the legislative session ended on March 13, but interest in the fate of teen offenders continues. A study released by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau on February 1 shed light on this issue and revealed that teens in the adult system do not fare well. A legislative committee has scheduled a public hearing on the audit of teen offenders. That hearing will be Thursday, April 10th at 10:00 a.m. in the state Capitol.

Treating Adults with Mental Illnesses in the Wisconsin Corrections System - Hearing April 10th

AFSCME supports a request by Rep. Joe Parisi (D-Madison) to have the Legislative Audit Bureau examine the incidence of adult inmates with mental illness in the correctional system. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will hold a hearing on the Parisi request on Thursday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. in the State Capitol.
AFSCME will ask the committee to expand the scope of the audit to include a review of inmates with developmental disabilities as well as those who are dually-diagnosed (that is, with mental illness and DD). We also will ask the committee to focus on female offenders at Taycheedah Correctional Institution and to determine whether the state is providing adequate resources to treat female inmates.

Plugging the Hole in the State Budget: Assembly Budget Targets State Workers - Again

The State Assembly took up the Governor’s budget adjustment bill late Wednesday night, just two days after the bill was released. Without any public hearing or substantive discussion, the Republican controlled chamber made a drastic departure from the solution offered by the Governor. The most troubling change was language in the amendment that essentially directs the Department of Administration Secretary to transfer or lapse $250 million in appropriations from the general fund to make up for the budget shortfall. No direction is provided where the Secretary is to find $250 million, just the charge to do so. In short, the Republicans in the Assembly simply punted their responsibility to DOA.

The Assembly budget is irresponsible and jeopardizes public services by failing to provide the administration with any tools to deal with the problem. If this version of the budget were to be enacted, DOA would be forced to carve up agency budgets, placing public services and employees squarely on the chopping block. The Governor’s original bill was essentially tossed aside by Assembly Republicans, a bill that protects public services and fills the budget shortfall with new revenues and state bonding.

One of the key pieces of the Governor’s bill is the State Hospital Assessment. Federal law allows states to place an assessment on the gross revenues of hospitals in their state. That money can then be used to capture matching federal Medicaid dollars to provide a Medicaid rate increase for hospitals throughout Wisconsin. By implementing the assessment, the state would free up $125 million in state general purpose revenue currently being used to support the Medicaid program to help manage the budget deficit.

Unfortunately, this common sense solution, that would allow the state to recover some more of the money that Wisconsin taxpayers are already sending to Washington DC, was ignored by the Republican controlled Assembly. It appears many members of the Assembly would rather revisit the draconian cuts they made to public services during the protracted state budget debate, rather than bring dollars the federal government is obligated to provide back to Wisconsin.

Another critical piece of the Governor's budget uses borrowing and transfers to fill the budget hole. Under the Governor's budget, $293 million is transferred from the transportation fund to the general fund. This transfer, along with a projected $40 million shortfall in the transportation fund, leaves a deficit of $333 million in the transportation fund. The Governor's bill replaces that money through three different mechanisms. First the state would issue a general obligation bond of $190 million and place the bond money into the transportation fund. This bond would be paid back with money from the general fund, not transportation dollars, to the tune of $20.5 million a year for the next 10 years. Another bond, of $67 million, that was originally planned to be issued in the next biennial budget, would be moved up and issued this year. This bond would be repaid by the transportation fund, through dollars generated by registration fees, at a rate of $5 million a year for the next 20 years. Finally, on a positive note, the state will be receiving $76 million more in federal dollars than was originally budgeted for last fall. These three sources of revenue completely replace the transfers out of the transportation fund, maintaining the levels of funding contained in the original budget bill.

All AFSCME members should contact their legislators and tell them to adopt the Governor’s budget adjustment bill, support the hospital assessment, protect vital public services throughout the state and reject the Assembly’s slash and burn approach to budgeting. The Governor’s budget protects state aid to local governments through the Shared Revenue program, aid to public schools, aid to county nursing homes, the state employee Compensation Reserves, critical funding to state agencies (including the increases made to the Department of Corrections budget last summer) and vital assistance to fix and maintain roads battered by this winter’s storms. Anything less than full funding of these priorities jeopardizes the health, safety and welfare of the people of Wisconsin.

The legislative session has ended, and lawmakers failed to come up with a comprehensive bill to reform Wisconsin’s outmoded John Doe law. Legislators could not, or would not, come to the table to negotiate an agreement on the two different and competing versions of the John Doe reform bills.

The two competing bills, AB 695 and SB 537, were approved by the Assembly and the Senate (respectively), but that is not enough to make a law. A bill must be approved in identical form by both houses, and sent to the Governor, before it becomes law. Assembly and Senate leaders failed to allow this essential negotiating process to happen.

The current John Doe process allows anyone to go to a judge and complain that a crime has been committed. Some judges argue that the current John Doe law compels them to conduct investigations of the complaint and even issue charges based solely on the word of the complainant. Inmates have been exploiting this loophole in the interpretation of the law to harass corrections officers.

It is unfortunate that our elected leaders failed to deliver the protections that state workers so vitally need to do their jobs without the threat of being subject to criminal investigations and charges. AFSCME will not give up the fight to right this wrong.

Senate Dems, Assembly Republicans at odds over path to reform "John Doe" law - Is there room, time for compromise before March 13?

Under Wisconsin’s “John Doe” law, anyone who believes a crime has been committed may go to a judge to ask for an investigation of the complaint. Inmates have discovered that they can use this law to harass correctional officers.

In response to a growing crisis in corrections over John Doe cases being filed against officers, two weeks ago, the state Assembly voted 84-13 on a bill that aims to resolve the problem. AB 695 takes judges out of the process for complaints filed by inmates. It requires district attorneys -rather than judges- decide whether or not to carry out investigations of inmate complaints.

The Senate has refused to take up the bill. Key senators argue that they cannot pass a bill that creates different John Doe rules for inmates compared with other citizens. While we don’t agree with this point of view, this is what we’re facing. Instead, Senators have offered their own proposal (SB 537) to revise the John Doe statute.

SB 537 keeps the decision-making power about John Doe requests in the hands of judges, but spells out new rules for judges to follow if the judge decides to proceed with an investigation of a person’s complaint. Some judges claim that the current John Doe law bars them from weighing all the evidence and witnesses relating to a request for a John Doe investigation. There is major disagreement among judges over this point and, therefore, there is disagreement over whether SB 537 is the proper solution to the problem.

The fact remains that we have a union brother who was charged by one particular judge who believes that current law barred him from considering all the evidence and hearing from witnesses. That same judge believes he was compelled to file the charges based solely on the word of an inmate, in spite of the fact that this inmate has a long history of unfounded, baseless complaints against correctional staff. (The case against this officer was thoroughly investigated by the Department of Corrections, local law enforcement, and the Dodge County District Attorney - all of which completely cleared the officer).

The Senate’s bill, SB 537, is intended to explicitly state that judges not only may consider all the evidence and hear from witnesses, but that judges shall consider these things. There are some problems with the way the bill was drafted (which AFSCME has been trying to fix). The intention of SB 537 is to beef up the responsibilities of judges and put more control on judges who are asked to convene John Doe proceedings.

On March 4, the Senate voted along party lines on SB 537, with 18 senators for and 15 against. Every Senator voted in favor of an amendment to the bill (requested by AFSCME) that would require the state to pay the legal fees of public employees who, through the course of doing their jobs, might get charged under this law. This amendment is a major victory for us.

However we won’t get payment of legal fees paid unless we can get a bill passed by both houses. Right now, we’re dealing with an Assembly that is digging in its heels in favor of AB 695 and a Senate that appears unwilling to budge from Senate Bill 537. So, while leaders of both parties may try to claim that they "delivered" for us, we must not be satisfied with current law, which is what they’re giving us now. We need lawmakers to draft a bill that can pass both Houses of the Legislature by March 13. It can be done if the legislators have the will.

As union members, we know that, in negotiations, nobody gets everything they want, that each side must give up a little, for the common good. Likewise, legislators need to come to the table to fashion a compromise between AB 695 and SB 537. Our union has supported AB 695, and we have supported an earlier version of what is now SB 537.

The failure of Republicans and Democrats to deliver bipartisan compromise on John Doe reform up to this point could result in more John Doe complaints filed against correctional staff. Legislators need to realize that their inaction could wreak more havoc in our correctional institutions and in the lives of every correctional employee.

AFSCME members need to put pressure on ALL legislators NOW to deliver a bill that fixes the John Doe statute. It's not enough for Assembly Republicans to say they've done their job by passing AB 695, and it's not good enough for Senate Democrats to say they've delivered by passing SB 537. We must hold them accountable, and we have very little time to act. Please call or email your state Senator and your state Assembly Representative today to urge them to FORGE A COMPROMISE ON JOHN DOE before March 13. It can be done.

If you don’t know who your legislator is, you can use the Action Center on the SEPAC web site (www.wseu-sepac.org <http://www.wseu-sepac.org>) or the Legislature’s web site (www.legis.state.wi.us <http://www.legis.state.wi.us>). Or call the toll-free Legislative Hotline between 9:00- 4:30 p.m. Please call the Hotline at 1-800-362-9472 and tell the operator that you want to deliver a message to your legislator.

If you have questions call AFSCME Council 24 at 608-836-0024 or the AFSCME lobbyists at 608-836-6666.

AFSCME’s Lobby Day is Wednesday, March 5
Join your AFSCME brothers and sisters at the state Capitol as we urge lawmakers to support community services and quality, affordable health care. Please contact your Take Back Wisconsin Staff or the AFSCME Wisconsin office at 608-836-6666 to let us know if you will be attending Lobby Day so we can coordinate visits with legislative offices. To sign up for Lobby Day or to inquire about transportation, call us at 608-836-6666!
Reforming the state’s outmoded John Doe law
A bill that would change Wisconsin’s John Doe law was approved by the state Assembly on a strong bipartisan vote of 84-13 Tuesday night. The bill, Assembly Bill 695, offered by Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon), is now before the state Senate. AB 695 would require inmates and other confined persons to bring their complaints to district attorneys (rather than judges). The district attorney would have the final word on whether or not an investigation of the complaint is warranted.
Another John Doe reform bill, Senate Bill 537, has been authored by Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee). It enhances the authority of judges to conduct more thorough investigations than are allowed under the current John Doe law, before deciding whether charges can be filed. It provides that, if a judge decides to proceed with an investigation of a complaint, the judge shall consider the credibility of witnesses (for and against the accused). The bill spells out the authority of judges to review law enforcement records, the records and case files of the district attorney and any other written records. SB 537 has been recommended by the Senate Judiciary Committee and is likely to be taken up by the full state Senate the week of March 4th.
Focusing in on Juvenile Offenders in the Adult Criminal Justice System
A bill to raise the age of jurisdiction of youth offenders from 17 to 18 is now before the state Legislature. Assembly Bill 746 and its Senate companion, Senate Bill 401, aim to keep teenagers in the juvenile justice system. Studies have shown that youth offenders in the adult system have higher recidivism rates and receive few vital services (such as education). AFSCME supports these bills. We are urging lawmakers to provide the funding needed to make this bill work. AB 746/SB 401 proposes to pay the bill in part with revenue from a $1 surcharge on video games.
One of the studies that revealed the higher recidivism rates for youths in the adult corrections system was released by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau on February 1. The Legislature’s “Joint Legislative Audit Committee” will hold a hearing on the audit on Wednesday, March 19 at 10:00 a.m. in the State Capitol.
Treating Adults with Mental Illnesses in the Wisconsin Corrections System – Hearing March 19
AFSCME supports a request by Rep. Joe Parisi (D-Madison) to have the Legislative Audit Bureau to examine the incidence of adult inmates with mental illness in the correctional system. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will hold a hearing on the Parisi request on Wednesday, March 19 at 10:00 a.m. in the State Capitol.
AFSCME will ask the committee to expand the scope of the audit to include a review of inmates with developmental disabilities as well as those who are dually-diagnosed (that is, with mental illness and DD). We also will ask the committee to focus on female offenders at Taycheedah Correctional Institution and to determine whether the state is providing adequate resources to treat female inmates.
Hospital Tax
Senate Democrats this week held a hearing on a proposal to tax hospitals’ gross receipts, which would bring into the state treasury about $400 million over a two-year period. The money would be used to offset part of the state’s Medicaid costs and would attract an additional $400 million in federal dollars.
The hospital tax would help close the alarming $650 million state budget deficit, which was announced recently by budget analysts who say the deficit is due to lower-than-anticipated revenue.
The hospital tax was brought up during last fall’s budget deliberations. Initially, the Wisconsin Hospital Association opposed the tax but the tax proposal has been modified but now the WHA supports it.
A note on the Legislative calendar
Both the Assembly and Senate will be in session the week of March 4th-8th; and it is likely that both houses will be in at least one day during the week of March 10th -14th, the last week of regular session for the Legislature. With lots of big issues outstanding, there is a tremendous amount of work to be done. AFSCME will be paying close attention to how this timeline will affect us, especially with the need for legislative approval of state employee contracts and the possibility that lawmakers will need to come back to Madison to deal with a budget repair bill.

Assembly Bill 695, which would prevent inmates from directly filing criminal complaints against employees in secure institution with a judge, under the state’s John Doe statutes, is scheduled to receive a vote on Tuesday, February 26th.

Senate Bill 282, which would allow participants in the Wisconsin Retirement System to have union dues automatically deducted from their pensions, received a hearing in the Senate Committee on Labor this week. AFSCME Wisconsin Retirees Chapter 7 officers Darold Lowe and Joe Kreuser testified before the committee, offering a detailed explanation of how the system works in 39 other retirement systems and the benefits of allowing dues check-off under WRS to Wisconsin. SB 282 will be voted on by the committee next week, on Wednesday, February 27. AFSCME is optimistic that a vote before the full Senate will be held before the legislative session adjourns in March.

Lobby Day is fast approaching, Wednesday, March 5th to be exact, and spots are filling up fast. If you haven’t done so already sign-up to attend with your area Take Back staff, through the SEPAC website (www.wseu-sepac.org) or by contacting the Council 11 office directly (608-836-6666).

With various pieces of legislation still pending before the legislature, and a budget adjustment bill still looming in the background, AFSCME’s Lobby Day couldn’t be better timed. So sign-up now to be sure that we can schedule a visit with your legislator, and join the AFSCME green machine on March 5th.

Budget Hole Pigeon Holed
This week state budget officials reported that tax collections are lower than expected, leaving Wisconsin short some $652 million before the two-year budget cycle ends on June 30, 2009. When lawmakers created the 2007-09 state budget last fall, they allocated funds based on the best information available. Since then, revenues have declined, leaving a hole in the budget that has to be filled somehow. Governor Doyle has directed agency officials to take administrative steps which will reduce the budget deficit to $416 million. However, legislative action will be required to close the remaining gap. We’ll keep you posted on news related to this new deficit. We have already been in contact with Administration officials to urge them to protect the budget areas affecting AFSCME members.

Senate Bill 282, which would allow participants in the Wisconsin Retirement System to have union dues automatically deducted from their pensions, is likely to be scheduled to receive a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Labor next week Thursday. Details of the hearing have not been finalized, nor made public. AFSCME will notify members as soon as details are available. This legislation has been an AFSCME priority for some time, so please plan on coming to Madison on Thursday to testify at the hearing if you are available.

Bills Increasing Penalties for Battery Against Public Employees Move Forward

Assembly Bill 525 and Senate Bill 278, two bills originally drafted to increase penalties for people assaulting Milwaukee public employees, are moving through the legislature.

AB 525 was passed by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice, on an 8-3 vote. AB 525 was amended by the committee to expand the bill beyond Milwaukee, and apply to assaults against local employees of every city, village, town and county in Wisconsin. AB 525 was also amended to only apply to situations where the victim is enforcing or conducting an inspection for zoning ordinance, building code, or other construction law. SB 278 is set to receive a hearing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Corrections and Housing on Thursday, Feb 14th. It appears that there is a chance that both houses could take action on these bills before the end of session.

Assembly Bill 650 was offered by Brown County-area legislators in response to a Court of Appeals ruling upholding AFSCME’s position that a sheriff’s decision to privatize jail food services was a violation of the Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA). The bill would make the decision about privatizing food service a prohibited subject of bargaining. AB 650 is before the Assembly Committee on Urban and Local Affairs, which may vote on the issue before the legislative session ends, but if this bill is sent to the Senate, it is sure to die. AFSCME opposes AB 650.

Assembly Bill 764 relates to protecting workers whose jobs may be shifted to new Family Care or Long Term Care districts. It will ensure that county human service workers, public health nurses and others who become employed by new Long Term Care districts remain covered under the Wisconsin Retirement System. We support AB 764.

This bill would allow teenage offenders to be treated in the juvenile correctional system. It would be funded (in part) by a $1 surcharge on video games. AFSCME is working with other organizations such as the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families to advance this bill.

Assembly Bill 47, legislation that would create a tax deduction for Health Savings Accounts, received a public hearing this week in the Assembly Committee on Health and Health Care Reform. It appears that this is the only significant policy issue that the Assembly Republicans are looking at for health care reform in what is left in the spring session.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats continue to discuss reintroducing Healthy Wisconsin in the coming weeks. If Healthy Wisconsin is offered as a stand alone piece of legislation, AFSCME hopes that public hearings will be held to talk about the need for comprehensive health care reform in Wisconsin.

The Senate Committee on Campaign Finance Reform held a public hearing on several campaign finance reforms bills this week. Among them was Special Session Senate Bill 1. SB 1 was the version of campaign finance reform introduced by Governor Doyle when he called the legislature into special session in December. No executive action was taken on any of the bills, and at this time it does not appear that comprehensive campaign finance reform is on the fast track this legislative session.

Senate Bill 108, authored by Senator Dave Hansen, requires schools to teach labor history. SB 108 is slated for a vote in the full state Senate next week. AFSCME strongly supports SB 108.

The Governor’s Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Justice System last week issued a report showing that Wisconsin leads the nation in racial disparities in the justice system. The Commission announced strategies for improving the justice system. The report can be found at www.EqualJustice.wi.gov. AFSCME member Senator Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee) served as co-chair of the Commission.

Join your AFSCME lobbyists in the state Capitol March 5 to talk to state decision makers (your legislators) about why they should support the public sector and public employees. This week’s snowstorm was a stark reminder that we are utterly dependent on city and county road crews to clear the streets and highways so we can get to work, school, the grocery store, etc. This is but one example of the vital services that AFSCME members provide.

At times like this it may seem obvious that local governments must fund road maintenance efforts, remember that it was just two years ago that state legislators voted to repeal the automatic gas tax increase, which was critical to paying for state and local highway maintenance costs. Come to Madison March 5 – tell your state legislators that Wisconsin must provide adequate funding for vital public services such as transportation, the courts, public schools, nursing homes, corrections, the University System, and more.

Join your fellow AFSCME sisters and brothers to remind our legislators that We Make Wisconsin Happen. Sign up through your Council, on the SEPAC website (www.wseu-sepac.org), with your Take Back Wisconsin staff or through the Council 11 office directly. Join the sea of Green and make you voice heard!

Just when we thought we were done with the budget, state officials announced recently that a shortfall in state revenue of anywhere from $300 to $400 million may be possible due to a slower than anticipated economy. If at anytime during a biennial budget, projected state revenues drop by 0.5% or more of the projected revenues, the Governor is required to introduce a budget repair bill to fix the discrepancy. The administration is waiting for January revenue projections to come through before deciding if legislative action is necessary. If the projected shortfall remains in the range of $300-$400 million, a budget repair bill will be introduced soon. AFSCME is already working with administration officials to shield vital services from any cuts that might be necessary.

A bill that would limit the ability of inmates and other confined individuals from harassing workers through the misuse of the John Doe law was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee 9-1 last Thursday. The vote took place after several AFSCME local union presidents testified in favor of the bill (Assembly Bill 695), and spoke of the risk to the safety, security and stability of the institutions if corrective legislation is not enacted soon. Representatives from the state’s Department of Health and Family Services and Department of Corrections spoke in favor of the bill. Committee members adopted one amendment to clarify that the bill also would cover offenders at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center.

AB 695 now goes to the full Assembly, which is slated to vote soon. Also, an identical bill has been introduced in the state Senate and is Senate Bill 432.

Assembly Bill 695, legislation that would prohibit inmates from filing frivolous lawsuits against persons working in secure institutions, is scheduled to receive a public hearing on January 31st. The hearing, of the Assembly Judiciary and Ethics Committee, will begin at 10:00 am, in room 225 Northwest of the State Capitol. AFSCME encourages members to attend and testify about the damaging effects these lawsuits have had on their fellow AFSCME members.

Assembly Bill 666 and Senate Bill 366 were both passed out of committees Wednesday on strong bipartisan votes. The companion bills would allow Milwaukee County to issue bonds to refinance the outstanding pension obligation facing the county. Both bills are now available for action by the full Senate and Assembly, and would provide a valuable tool that could possibly save the county up to $90 million over 30 years if adopted.

A bill that would allow municipalities to contract with private parties to enforce state required weights and measures provisions passed out of the Assembly Urban and Local Affairs Committee on Wednesday. The 5 to 4 party line vote, with Republican members in favor and Democrats opposed, means the bill is ready for action by the full Assembly. Currently municipalities that do not have municipal departments of weights and measures may only contract with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, meaning the enforcement will be done with state employees.

Lobby Day is a great opportunity to talk to your state-elected officials about public services and the contributions that public workers make every day to provide the essential services that are the backbone of this state. Whether you work in a school system, county courthouse, the University of Wisconsin, a highway department, a nursing home or hospital, you have a story to tell that lawmakers need to hear. Protect your job. Come to lobby day.

A bill to prevent inmates and others from abusing the John Doe law is moving quickly in the state Assembly. AB 695, offered by Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) and Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse) will get a public hearing by the end of the month, according to Assembly leaders. AFSCME supports reforming the John Doe process to prevent the intimidation and harassment of state workers who are merely carrying out the normal duties of their jobs. Those who work in state or county correctional facilities, state mental health institutions, and those who work in probation and parole would be protected from frivolous, harassing complaints under this bill.

The bill must also be approved by the full state Senate and be signed by the Governor before it becomes law. Please contact your state Assembly Representative and your state Senator and tell them that lawmakers have an obligation to protect public employees from on-the-job harassment. This is a worker’s right issue. Time is running out, and legislators need to hear from us NOW.

For years, people in need of mental health services or alcohol and drug abuse treatment have run up against high costs of treatment and limits on insurance coverage. A bi-partisan bill to require improved coverage of treatment of addiction and mental health disorders has broad support in the state Legislature. On January 17 a public hearing on Senate Bill 375, the so-called Mental Health Parity bill, brought out hundreds of supporters. AFSCME supports SB 375.

Tax Fairness and Tax Breaks… For Whom?

This week Assembly Republicans outlined a comprehensive economic development agenda which mainly involves tax breaks or tax credits and a 1% income tax cut. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker said Wisconsin cannot afford more tax cuts. Meanwhile, the Senate’s Tax Fairness and Working Families Committee is looking at corporate tax avoiders and omissions in Wisconsin’s tax system. They’re reviewing the 2004 Wisconsin “Tax Incidence Study” and a handy document called the “Summary of Tax Exemption Devices” to examine who is paying taxes and shouldering the cost of services. Check it out on-line at http://www.revenue.wi.gov/ra/07sumrpt.pdf.

The Senate Labor, Elections and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing on Wednesday, January 16th on SB 366, which would allow Milwaukee County to refinance the county’s unfunded pension obligation by issuing bonds on a one-time basis. This comes on the heels of the Assembly Urban and Local Affairs Committee holding a hearing on the companion legislation, AB 666, last week. AFSCME Council 48 Director Rich Abelson sat on a Governor’s task force that forwarded this recommendation as one tool to allow Milwaukee County to meet the unfunded portion of its outstanding pension obligations.

Legislation that would impose harsh penalties on inmates who participate in or cause riots in correctional institutions was approved 10-0 by the Assembly Corrections and Courts Committee. The bill, AB 92, is now before the full Assembly. We thank those legislators for supporting AB 92! Now it’s time to pressure legislative leaders to schedule AB 92 for a vote in the Assembly.

This week Senate Democrats approved an increase in the minimum wage from $6.50 to $7.25, along with a provision to index the wage for inflation. Senate Bill 130 now goes before the state Assembly, where it faces steep opposition.

Next week Gov. Doyle will outline his priorities for 2008 in his annual speech to the Legislature. The speech will be broadcast live in public television and on-line on Wisconsin Eye (www.wiseye.org).

The Governor will talk about the next phase of his “Grow Wisconsin” plan, an initiative he started when first elected to invest in our economy, train workers and stimulate development.

For some time lawmakers have been pushing for a bill that would give those with military service credit in the Wisconsin Retirement System. The bills never made progress because of a lack of funding and staff to do the necessary actuarial study that is statutorily required before any bill that has an impact on the WRS can advance. This year, however, several legislators decided to set aside $15,000 to hire an actuarial firm to do the study. The study has not yet been commissioned (things take time in the Legislature, unfortunately) but we remain confident that the study will be done and some action will take place, although it is likely to be sometime next year.

For more information contact the AFSCME legislative representatives at 608-836-6666.

AFSCME is working with lawmakers to bring an end to inmates abusing the loophole in the John Doe statute to harass correctional staff. We’ve met with Representative Jeff Fitzgerald, Senators Kathleen Vinehout and Scott Fitzgerald and representatives of Attorney General JB Van Hollen to craft a bill to solve the problem. We expect action on the legislation early in 2008.

Assembly Bill 207, legislation that would make the state, not local governments, responsible for regulating cable TV operators and entering video franchise agreements, is sitting on Governor Doyle’s desk. AFSCME successfully lobbied to change AB 207 so that municipalities could continue to get money for public access channels and for costs incurred by municipalities relating to maintaining rights of way.

While the amended version of AB 207 was better than the original form of the bill, it is far from perfect, especially as far as consumer protections are concerned. This week the Governor said he might use his line-item veto to improve the bill, but he did not indicate what those changes would be.

December marked a flurry of legislative activity. Legislators in the Assembly and the Senate were busy with committee hearings and executive sessions on bills that have been held up because the budget took so long. With merely six weeks left of regular floor activity, there will be little time to get legislation passed by both houses, so the race is on. The full Legislature will not meet again until January 15th and is scheduled to adjourn on March 13th.

Please check the weekly legislative bulletin to respond to any calls for grassroots action on bills important to AFSCME as we enter into the New Year.

For more information contact the AFSCME legislative representatives at 608-836-6666.

The Joint Legislative Council (JLC) met on Wednesday to receive a report from the Special Committee on Airport Authorities. The Special Committee met periodically from September, 2006 to July, 2007 to investigate whether or not the legislature should pass a bill to allow counties to create independent authorities to govern airports in Wisconsin. Council 48 Executive Director Rich Abelson was a member of the 13 person committee comprised of elected officials and public members.

The bill the committee ultimately drafted, which was opposed by Director Abelson, would allow for the creation of unelected, unaccountable Local Airport Districts by counties across the state. AFSCME, along with Milwaukee and Dane County among others, successfully lobbied JLC to oppose introduction of the bill on a 9 to 12 vote. Wednesday’s vote means the bill will not come forward with an endorsement from the 22 member JLC, making it very unlikely to pass the legislature this session.

With the Federal Deficit Reduction Act going into effect on October 1st, child support enforcement dollars for Wisconsin were reduced by $25 million. In anticipation of this action, the Governor and the Joint Committee on Finance set aside $8.25 million during the state budget to help counties offset the loss of federal dollars. On Wednesday, JFC released the funds on a 16-0 vote, providing additional aid to counties of $2.75 million for the remainder of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, and $5.5 million for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

The question on whether the constitution should be changed to limit the Governor’s line item veto authority passed the State Senate on a 33 to 0 vote on Tuesday. If adopted, the Governor would no longer be able to use his line item veto to piece together new sentences in budget and other appropriation bills. Tuesday’s vote cleared the way for the Assembly to take action on the so called “Frankenstein Veto” to place the question on the April ballot. The last time a constitutional amendment on the line item veto was adopted was in 1990, where the ability of the Governor to delete individual letters to create new words, or the “Vanna White veto,” was repealed by voters in a state wide referendum.

December 6, 2007
For more information contact the AFSCME legislative representatives at 608-836-6666.

Legislation to extend protective status benefits to all state employees who work in secured institutions was approved 8-2 this week by the Assembly Committee on Corrections and Courts. The bill, AB 354, would grant protective status to social workers, health and dental care workers, food service employees, teachers, psychologists and maintenance staff who work alongside dangerous criminals, sex offenders and the seriously mentally ill. AB 354 would cover those who work in correctional institutions, state mental health institutes (Winnebago and Mendota), the Wisconsin Resource Center, and Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Facility. The dangers of working in such settings were highlighted when a dental worker was taken hostage for several hours at Waupun Correctional Institution. Fortunately, the worker was released with no physical injuries.

Committee members who voted for the bill include: Rep. Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay), Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), Rep. Phil Montgomery (R-Green Bay), Rep. Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake), Rep. Joe Parisi (D-Madison), Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison), Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts (D-Verona), Rep. Sheldon Wasserman (D-Milwaukee). The “no” votes were from Rep. Carol Owens (R-Oshkosh) and Rep. Dan LeMahieu (R-Cascade). Rep. Donna Seidel (D-Wausau), another committee member, was obligated to leave before the vote took place, but it is clear she would have supported the bill.

AB 354 now moves on to be considered by the Legislature’s Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems, whose job is to evaluate any and all legislation that would affect the Wisconsin Retirement System. The Committee will not take action on AB 354 (or any other benefit enhancement legislation) without an actuarial study indicating the cost of the bill to the WRS. The problem, according to legislators, is that the committee has neither the staff nor the budget to perform the study.

Here’s how you can help: contact the Committee Co-Chairs, Representative Sue Jeskewitz (R-Menomonee Falls) and Senator Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha) and ask them to (a) find the money to arrange for the actuarial study and (b) to hold public hearing on AB 354 to give state employees a chance to make their case for protective occupation status.

You can also email, call or write to the other committee members to ask them to see that a study gets done so that a hearing can be held. The other committee members are: Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), Senator Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), Representative Tom Lothian (R-Williams Bay) and Representative Dave Travis (D-Madison).

Another group of AFSCME members - county correctional officers - also seeks protective status benefits. Currently, some counties offer protective occupation status, some do not. Unfortunately, this is benefit that can no longer be gained at the bargaining table. Protective status is now a prohibited subject of bargaining, thanks to an unfavorable decision in LaCrosse some years ago. AFSCME therefore supports legislation to require all counties to offer COs protective status. It’s a question of fairness and of recognizing the dangers that COs in county jails face every day. AFSCME Council 40 recently formed a County Correctional Officers Advisory Committee to advocate for protective status and to do the legwork that will be necessary to advance the cause.

Fixing John Doe: AFSCME Seeks to Curb Abuse of Baseless Complaints Against Correctional Staff by Inmates

Legislation to close a loophole in the John Doe complaint filing process is being considered by lawmakers. The problem is that the John Doe law, as interpreted by a court ruling, allows anybody to file a complaint against another person in court without any investigation of the merits of the complaint, and it requires the judge to convene a proceeding to determine if the complaint has merit. This loophole in the law has been exploited by inmates seeking to harass and intimidate correctional staff. One officer in Waupun is now facing criminal charges relating to John Due case. Due to the intense grassroots activism of AFSCME members, legislators are keenly aware of the problem and are working on solution. Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma), Senator Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh) and Representative Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) are working to address this serious situation.

A bill requiring schools to teach the history of working people was considered by the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. SB 108, authored by Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) and Rep. Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee) would give children a chance to learn how Wisconsin’s unemployment, worker’s compensation, retirement system and other laws came to be - from the sheer willpower and activism of union members. Call your legislator and urge him or her to support SB 108. Ask them if they know how a Capitol cleaning woman, Ingeborg Sidwell, convinced Governor Walter S. Goodland to support the creation of the Wisconsin Retirement System.

This week several news stories featured lengthy articles about the perils of sending youth offenders into the adult correctional system. On December 1st, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story highlighted the problem, and concluded that putting kids into the adult correctional world puts them at high risk of future crime. AFSCME is working with a coalition of groups seeking to change state law to keep 17-year-olds in the juvenile system. Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) and Rep. Don Friske (R-Merrill) will unveil a bill next week on this topic. Their proposal calls for a surcharge on video games, a $10 billion industry.

The Capitol was abuzz with legislative hearings this week on many different bills. Two separate committees heard hours of testimony on legislation to eliminate the practice of paying Milwaukee police officer salaries after discharge. Another committee took up a bill to change the definition of indigency for purposes of qualifying for a state public defender. A Senate committee held a hearing on legislation to change the laws relating to protective placements and guardianship services to the elderly and disabled. The Assembly Criminal Justice and Public Safety heard testimony on a bill to create a penalty for battery of City of Milwaukee employees, and lawmakers on the committee expressed impatience with bills that carve out special penalties for battery of certain groups of public employees.

The intense committee activity is due to the fact that most bills lingered while lawmakers were focused on the budget and now the pressure is on to get bills out of committee so they can be voted on by the Senate and Assembly. While it may not seem possible there are actually only a handful of legislative session days in 2008 before the campaign season begins.

On Tuesday, December 11th, lawmakers will return to Madison to act on legislation brought forth by Governor Jim Doyle to reform Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws. The Governor’s proposal will be based on Senate Bill 12, which is a blueprint for comprehensive campaign finance reform that has bipartisan support and Senate Bill 171, which provides for fully public-funded Wisconsin Supreme Court campaigns.

The legislature’s Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JOCER) met this week and took the necessary steps for the bargaining of state contracts to move forward. Despite passage of the budget with the compensation reserves in tact, the Office of State Employment Relations (OSER) still needed JOCER to act to move ahead in negotiations with state employees. The action taken by JOCER at this week’s meeting was a positive step in the bargaining process.

Collective Bargaining Attack Passes Assembly Labor Committee

Assembly Bill 110 passes the Assembly Labor and Industry Committee on a 5 to 3 vote on Wednesday. AB 110 would allow county and municipal employers to change health care coverage for employees outside of the collective bargaining process. All five Republicans on the committee who were in attendance voted for the bill, with the three Democrats voting against. The bill is now available to have a vote by the full Assembly.

Last week the Department of Administration issued their Contractual Services Purchasing Report for the fiscal year 2007. According to the report Wisconsin reduced state contracting costs from $498.8 million to $419.6 million, or by over $70 million, in the last year. This represents a 14% reduction in contracts under DOA oversight.

While this is definitely a positive development, this report tells only part of the story. The report does not take into account engineering projects entered into by the Department of Transportation, leaving a significant portion of the total contracting picture out of focus.

The report also provided a thumbnail sketch of the impacts of Wisconsin 2005 Act 89, which requires a cost benefit analysis of all state contracts over $25,000. Act 89 was adopted to create a system that made a more apples to apples comparison between the costs of contracting versus the costs of work being done in-house with state employees. The information provided in the report in regards to the implementation of Act 89 is insufficient to draw any significant conclusions.

However, AFSCME is compiling data from the individual cost benefit analysis that have been conducted since Act 89 was adopted, and the actual contracts the state is entering into. From this data we will be able to determine whether the state is properly entering into contracts based on the criteria outline in Act 89, or the extent to which excessive, unnecessary and costly contracting out is still occurring.

With the budget now well behind us, the legislature is getting to the large amount of bills that piled up during the stalemate. Several committees have already scheduled, or plan to schedule, public hearings and executive sessions over the next few weeks. The legislature has a one week session scheduled for the second week of December and will not meet again until the middle of January. Please watch for updates in this bulletin on important committee activity in the coming weeks.

John Doe Legislation Drafted
Inmates in the state’s correctional system have been filing complaints under the John Doe statute, alleging criminal conduct by correctional staff and other employees in correctional institutions. Under the John Doe statute, the mere filing of a complaint requires an investigation, even if a district attorney has already reviewed the case and chosen not to pursue the complaint. District attorneys around the state have cited numerous instances where individuals (not only inmates) have abused the John Doe statute by filing complaints in an attempt to harass or intimidate judges, former spouses, and other public officials.

AFSCME is supporting legislation to eliminate this abusive practice. There are two versions of the legislation being discussed in the capitol. Representatives Jeff Fitzgerald and Mark Gundrum have sent a co-sponsorship memo to legislators that would prevent inmates from using John Doe proceedings. The other version, that AFSCME is working with the Attorney General’s office on, is a bill that contains broader language to limit the use of John Doe proceedings, that we hope will be introduced soon in the Senate.

AFSCME will be working with legislators, judges, district attorneys, the Attorney General’s office and the Governor’s office to find the best way to solve this problem, and end harassment of public employees through this process.

Video Franchise Bill Passes Senate
Legislation to change how cable companies are regulated in Wisconsin passed the legislature last week. Assembly Bill 207 would place the regulation of cable companies under the Department of Financial Institutions. Currently cable providers negotiate with municipalities to provide service to communities. This allows municipal governments to negotiate fees and payments from cable companies to cover the costs of running public access channels and maintenance of right of ways among other things

AFSCME, along with the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities and League of Wisconsin Municipalities, among others, raised concerns over the lack of provisions in the original bill to protect municipalities and public access channels. Several amendments were adopted in both the Assembly and the Senate including;

Allowing municipalities to receive a fee of up to 5% of receipts from video providers to replace revenues lost due to turning cable regulation over to the state.

Allowing municipalities to charge cable operators for costs associated with maintaining rights of way.

Requiring cable operators to pay an annual fee of $2,000 to support DFI’s costs associated with regulating the industry.

After being amended and passed by the Senate, the Assembly concurred with the changes the next day. It now awaits the Governor’s signature. While the bill is far from perfect, and has many critics on issues such as consumer protection, it is a much better piece of legislation than it was when it was originally introduced in the spring.

By now AFSCME members know the Governor exercised his veto authority to scratch out the 2% limit on property tax increases, raising the allowable increase to 3.86%. This will take some of the pressure off of local governments as they put together their budgets. AFSCME had asked the Governor to veto the 2% cap.

What the Governor did not veto - contracting out pharmacy services at state DHFS institutions

Another issue of interest to AFSCME that was not vetoed was language in the budget requiring the state DHFS to issue a “request for proposals” and contract out the delivery of pharmaceutical services for residents at all DHFS institutions, including Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Facility, the Wisconsin Resource Center, Winnebago Mental Health Institute, Mendota Mental Health Institute, and all three state Centers for the Developmentally Disabled.

Two years ago, AFSCME fought - and successfully defeated - an attempt by some lawmakers to privatize pharmaceutical services to inmates in state correctional facilities. Wisconsin’s Central Pharmacy Services, located at Dodge Correctional Facility, which serves all of Wisconsin’s 22,000+ inmates, was the target of big pharmaceutical corporations angling for a contract. AFSCME’s own Cindy Zietlow, a pharmacy technician at Dodge, went on leave to join forces with AFSCME staff to fight the privatization attempt. Cindy unearthed vital information about privateers overcharging state and local governments for pharmacy services and documented the loss of accountability that happens when state or local governments contract out vital public services paid for with tax dollars. In addition, Zietlow showed the DOC and key lawmakers that state employees recommend a host of cost-savings measures such as pill splitting and recycling of medicine, which have saved the state thousands of dollars. Zietlow built such a strong case for keeping pharmacy services in-house that DOC rejected the bids.

Now the pharmaceutical corporations are back, and this time they’ve targeted institutions under the control of the DHFS. AFSCME will, again, fight this effort. We were disappointed that the Governor did not veto the RFP requirement, but we will work with the Governor’s office and DHFS to persuade them of the foolishness of handing over this important service to the private sector.

Now that the seemingly interminable state budget is over, lawmakers are taking up other bills and AFSCME is pushing our own agenda. This week the Joint Committee on Finance took up the so-called cable deregulation / video franchising bill, which supposedly will bring more competition and, presumably, better prices for consumers. Consumer protection advocates balk at this notion, which is largely being advanced by those who stand to benefit from the bill. The house of labor is divided over this legislation, with some supporting it on the hope of new jobs, and others opposing it. AFSCME opposes this bill largely because of how it might affect municipal employees who provide cable services.

Also on the legislature’s docket is a hearing November 14 on the “Frankenstein” veto legislation, which is a constitutional amendment that would limit the ability of the Wisconsin governor to essentially rewrite laws through the use of the veto pen. For example, Governor Doyle was able to strike the 2% and establish a 3.86%

WISCONSIN STATE EMPLOYEES UNION
Legislative Updates

Legislative Bulletin
Wednesday, May 26, 2010

“Truth in Contracting” Bill Gains Momentum in the wake of AFSCME Lobby Day

November 6, 2008

The New Wisconsin Legislature

What this election means for us

The shift in power will change the way business is done in the Capitol

We have friends in power in the Capitol but a fiscal crisis looms

AFSCME member involvement in the elections was worth the effort

WISCONSIN STATE EMPLOYEES UNION Legislative Updates

Legislative Bulletin Wednesday, May 26, 2010

“Truth in Contracting” Bill Gains Momentum in the wake of AFSCME Lobby Day

November 6, 2008

The New Wisconsin Legislature

What this election means for us

The shift in power will change the way business is done in the Capitol

We have friends in power in the Capitol but a fiscal crisis looms

AFSCME member involvement in the elections was worth the effort

WISCONSIN STATE EMPLOYEES UNION
Legislative Updates

Legislative Bulletin
Wednesday, May 26, 2010