Thursday, July 27, 1995
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date:
__________________
Read first time and referred:
Assembly Bill 495
Relating to: requiring certain tank vessels to have double hulls or tug escorts, the operation of motorboats for commercial purposes under the intoxicated boating law, prohibiting open burning on vessels operated for commercial purposes, inspecting vessels and providing penalties.
By
Representatives Johnsrud, Freese, Harsdorf, Gronemus, Wirch, Goetsch, Ott, Baldus, Kreibich, Black, Huebsch, Bock, Dueholm, Carpenter, Boyle, Robson, Cullen, Meyer, Owens, Gard, Klusman and Vrakas; cosponsored by Senators Rude, Cowles, Wineke, Burke, Clausing, Schultz and Moen
.
To committee on Natural Resources.
Assembly Bill 496
Relating to: the calculation of pupil enrollment for school aid purposes.
By
Representatives Baldus, Wilder, Meyer and Bell; cosponsored by Senator Clausing
.
To committee on Education.
Assembly Bill 497
Relating to: placing educational materials about the parking privileges of physically disabled persons on vehicles.
By
Representatives Brandemuehl, Harsdorf, Freese, Hahn, Kreuser, Dobyns, Ryba, Musser, Zukowski, Seratti, Brancel, Travis, Hasenohrl, Green, Schneider, Silbaugh, Schneiders, Lorge, Turner, Ward, Baldus, Grobschmidt, Notestein, Albers, F. Lasee, Baumgart, Duff, Ladwig, Bock, Ainsworth, Goetsch, Gard, Nass, Gunderson, Ott, Wirch, Grothman, Boyle, Cullen, R. Young, Linton, Dueholm, Owens, Olsen, Kreibich, Handrick, La Fave, Vander Loop, Coleman, Carpenter, Krug, R. Potter, Lazich and Morris-Tatum; cosponsored by Senators Buettner, Rude, Fitzgerald, Farrow, Zien, Jauch, Drzewiecki, Risser, Rosenzweig, Breske, Clausing, Schultz, Burke, Cowles, Moen, Wineke, Panzer, Moore, C. Potter, Chvala and George
, by request of Vietnam Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans and Wisconsin Paralyzed Veterans of America
.
To committee on Highways and Transportation.
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Executive Communications
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
Madison
July 27, 1995
To the Honorable the Legislature:
The following bill(s), originating in the Senate or the Assembly, have been approved, signed and deposited in the office of the Secretary of State:
Bill Number Act Number Date Approved
AB 150 (partial veto)27July 26, 1995
Sincerely,
Tommy G. Thompson
Governor
__________________
Communications
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Secretary of State
Madison
To Whom It May Concern:
Acts, Joint Resolutions and Resolutions deposited in this office have been numbered and published as follows:
Bill Number Act Number Publication Date
Assembly Bill 15027July 28, 1995
Sincerely,
Douglas La Follette
Secretary of State
__________________
Governor's Veto Message
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
Madison
July 26, 1995
To the Honorable Members of the Assembly:
I have approved
Assembly Bill 150 as
1995 Wisconsin Act 27 and deposited it in the Office of the Secretary of State.
A384
The signing of this budget marks the culmination of a long process that began last year with a bipartisan agreement to provide dramatic property tax relief by having the state fund two-thirds of school costs by the 1996-97 school year. When I signed last year's Budget Adjustment Bill enacting this commitment into law, I was asked how we would pay for it in the 1995-97 budget. My response was that we would do it by making state government more efficient and effective and reducing spending, and we would do it without a general tax increase.
Today I am pleased to sign a budget bill that does just that. It wasn't easy, but with the support of the Joint Committee on Finance, the Assembly and the Senate, the goal of having the state fund two-thirds of school costs will be achieved and my commitment to do it without a general tax increase will be honored.
I am also pleased to say that the budget I am signing today is balanced. There will be a positive ending balance in fiscal year 1995-96 and in fiscal year 1996-97, the two fiscal years in the 1995-97 biennium covered by this budget. There is no deficit in this bill, and I want to stress in the strongest terms possible that there won't be deficits in the future either.
We are required to balance the budget under our state constitution. We have balanced the books in this budget and we will continue to do so in the future. We have lived within our means in this budget and we will continue to do so. The skeptics who said we could not balance this budget and reach two-thirds state funding of schools have been disproved, and the critics who predict deficit spending in the future will be disproved as well.
Total spending under this budget will be $14.8 billion in fiscal year 1995-96 and $15.5 billion in fiscal year 1996-97, for a biennial total of $30.3 billion. (When projected transportation budget spending of approximately $3 billion for the 1995-97 biennium is added in, total spending for the biennium will be about $33.3 billion.) Net spending from general purpose revenue will be $8.3 billion in fiscal year 1995-96 (a 3.6% increase) and $9.1 billion in fiscal year 1996-97 (a 10.3% increase, which primarily reflects the increased support for schools), for a total of $17.4 billion. General purpose revenue spending in areas other than school aids will increase only 1.6% in fiscal year 1995-96 and 1.3% in fiscal year 1996-97.
The budget bill will significantly reduce the actual amount of property taxes paid by homeowners, farmers and businesses, and will further reduce the overall tax burden in Wisconsin. On the average home property tax bill received in December of 1996, school property taxes will go down by 26% and overall property taxes will go down by 10% compared with the December 1995 bill. The average homeowner will see a tax reduction of $222 from December 1995 to December 1996. School property taxes for all classes of property taken together will drop by 25% from December 1995 to December 1996 and overall property taxes will drop by 9%. Equally important, the budget bill contains no general tax increases to fund this property tax reduction. There is no increase in income tax rates, no increase in sales tax rates and no expansion of the sales tax to new classes of goods or services. Progress in reducing property taxes has not come at the expense of increases in other taxes.
I am signing this budget bill with a total of 112 vetoes. A number of these vetoes are technical in nature and clean up conflicting language or drafting problems. A number of them also reduce paperwork requirements for state agencies. The Legislature created over 100 new one-time or permanent reports, studies or legislative approvals for state agencies. These are time-consuming and come at a time when agencies are already being asked to do more with fewer resources. The most onerous of these additional new requirements have been vetoed out.
The partial vetoes I am executing will also improve the ending balance on June 30, 1997, by over $800,000. This will provide an additional cushion for the general fund which is prudent given our pledge to significantly increase state support for schools.
This budget is a very constructive plan for the future. It builds on the successful foundations of economic development and responsible taxing and spending policies that we have established. Among the highlights are the following measures:
Property Tax Relief, Spending Controls and Mandate Relief
• Provides increases in state aid to local governments.
-- Provides record increases in state aid to schools.
-- Increases total state aid and credits for K-12 schools by $248 million for school year 1995-96 and by another $964 million for school year 1996-97.
