Disability Budget Proposals

Budget Status

Budget Shortfall Update (June 16, 2008)

Because revenue collections have not kept up with the rate of spending, the current 2007-09 state budget had an estimated shortfall of about $527 million.  Governor Doyle sent the legislature a bill to repair the budget shortfall.  It was amended by both the Assembly and the Senate.  Leaders in the Assembly and Senate agreed to a compromise bill and sent it back to Governor Doyle, who vetoed some provisions.  \

The following are some of the details of the bill signed into law:

• Unspent funds transfer:  Requires state agencies to cut $270 million in unspent funds and transfer it to the general fund.  This is in addition to the $200 million already cut in the 2007-09 budget.  About $100 million of the new cuts would come from the Department of Transportation which would be made up with an increase in federal funds.
• Medical Assistance program:  Reduces funding for MA by $10 million in state funds and $14.4 million in federal funds to reflect savings expected to be generated in the program.  This should not affect current benefits.
• Tobacco securitization:  Generate $209 million by bonding future tobacco settlement funds and use it for the Medical Assistance (MA) program.
• Tobacco use control grants:  Increase funding for the grants by $250,000 in 2008-09.  (Current base is $15 million annually).
• Four-year-old kindergarten:  Requires the program to be available to all eligible pupils if a school district chooses to offer the program.  Allows existing programs to phase-in over the next five years.
• Child care subsidies:  Provide $18.6 million for direct child care subsidies under the Wisconsin Shares program.  The money fills an anticipated shortfall in the program.
• Statutory balance:  The amount remaining in the state’s “rainy-day” fund is about $106 million.

The bill does not include a tax on hospitals which was favored by the governor. More detailed information about the compromise agreement can be found on the Wisconsin Council for Children and Families web site.

Budget Shortfall (April 1, 2008)

Governor Doyle introduced his 2007-09 state two-year budget in February 2007. The budget is for the period from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2009. After much debate and delay the budget bill, Senate Bill 40 (SB 40), was signed into law by Gov. Doyle on October 26, 2007.

The Legislative Audit Bureau recently announced that the budget is out of balance and will experience a shortfall of about $527 million before June 30, 2009. The Wisconsin state constitution requires that the budget be in balance.

The legislature ended their regular session on March 13, 2008. But since this budget situation needs to be fixed, Gov. Doyle called the legislature back into special session to address it. Gov. Doyle and both houses of the legislature have proposed ideas on how to fix this budget shortfall. A new budget bill has been introduced, SS AB 1. There is some agreement among the plans but there is much disagreement too. Some plans find more revenue sources through a hospital tax and closing tax loopholes on businesses. Others cut state spending and delay payments to schools.

An agreement will have to be reached soon between the various plans or else the budget shortfall will probably get worse.

You can access the current budget information under the "Issue Summary" section and read how the budget changed through the process and what the "Final" result turned out to be.

Biennial Budget 2007-2009

• Issue Summary Of The 2007-2009 State Biennial Budget
• Survival Coalition 2007-2009 Budget Paper
• QEC Conference Committee Memo
• QEC Budget Recommendations
• Joint Finance Budget Hearings
• Overview of the Buget Process
• Autism Society of Wisconsin Budget Position
• Family Voices of Wisconsin
• Wis. Council on Children and Families Budget Essentials

Please  see this page for informatoion about the 2005-2007 budget.