5.
Child Care Subsidies – Child care assistance is one of the key priorities for use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding. However, we must not forget that the top priority for TANF funding is the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program. I am concerned that we may not always be able to fund growth in child care subsidies at the expense of the W-2 contracts and other related W-2 programs. In order to set priorities, the Legislature will, at some point, have to adopt the language I proposed allowing the administration to control child care expenditures through administrative means if the need arises.
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6.
Recycling – The budget bill increases the state recycling tipping fee to $3.00 and provides $24.5 million annually for municipal recycling grants in the 2001-03 biennium. At this level of support for local recycling programs, Wisconsin has the most generous subsidy in the country. While I do not believe that tipping fees are the best funding source to support recycling costs, I am concerned that many out-of-state communities neighboring Wisconsin view our state as a dumping ground. A review of the average total tipping fees at out-of-state landfills located near Wisconsin's borders point to these landfills using tipping fees to discourage the dumping of Wisconsin waste. Wisconsin's average total tipping fee is $38 per ton, and ranges from $16 per ton to $80 per ton. Average total tipping fees in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan landfills near our state lines are $54, $44 and $63 per ton, respectively. The range of tipping fees in Illinois varies from $25 to $152, with many of the higher cost landfills close to our border. I have retained the increase in the tipping fee to discourage other states from viewing Wisconsin as a dumping ground for their garbage.
However, I am not convinced that increasing expenditures for the current recycling programwill automatically lead to improvements in the amount of waste being recycled. Several other states have produced better results with less state support. I encourage the Department of Natural Resources to carefully review the recycling program here, and in other states, and develop a proposal for the 2003-05 biennial budget that will lead to better results without increasing expenditure levels.
7.
Light Rail – The budget bill contains an extension of the prohibition on use of state or federal Interstate Cost Estimate (ICE) funds for costs related to light rail to June 30, 2002. I am not vetoing this provision, but I expect that the extension of this sunset will not affect the completion of the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis study that is being undertaken by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. The use of the federal ICE funds allocated to several of the local governments in southeastern Wisconsin is governed by an agreement signed by those local governmental units. The state is not a party to those agreements and should not prevent implementation of those agreements.
I also want to commend the Legislature for improving its timeliness in completing a budget, limiting growth in spending and adopting measures I proposed to improve the state's fiscal stability. However, there is much more we can do to improve the budget process to ensure taxpayer dollars are used more efficiently to grow our economy, improve educational quality and create high skill, high wage employment. I will carefully consider such changes in my next budget.
Our state is rich in so many ways: abundant natural resources, a world class higher and elementary education system, a burgeoning technology economy, and an excellent quality of life. Wisconsin citizens also provide considerable resources to support programs at the state and local level. The bill I am signing seeks to ensure that we use those resources wisely now and in the future.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott McCallum
Governor
2001-03 BUDGET VETO MESSAGE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HIGHER EDUCATIONAL AIDS BOARD
1. Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant Program
2. Study on State Payment of Two Years of Postsecondary Education
3. Academic Excellence Scholarships for International Baccalaureate Degree Students
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN
4. Domestic Abuse Training Requirements
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
5. Delay of $115,000,000 of School Aids to July 2003
6. Revenue Limit Flexibility
7. Four-Year-Old Kindergarten Membership
8. High School Graduation Test
9. Calculator Use on Statewide Fourth-Grade Examination
10. Study on School Financing
11. Special Education Study
12. University of Wisconsin Special Education Study
13. Minority Group Pupil Scholarships
14. Wisconsin Educational Opportunity Program Study
15. Aid to Public Library Systems
16. Library Service Contracts
17. Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
18. Base Budget Reduction
TEACH WISCONSIN
19. Museum Eligibility for Telecommunications Access Program Services
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM
20. Nonresident Student Tuition and Base Reduction
21. Transfer of Credits Between the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Technical College System
22. Sex Offender Notification
23. Resident Tuition for Certain Undocumented Persons
24. Provide Full Fringe Benefits to Certain Limited Term Appointments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
25. Tribal Logo Development
26. Domestic Abuse Training Requirements
27. Study of Postsecondary Education Commission
28. Aquaculture Demonstration Facility
WISCONSIN TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM
29. Funding for Assistive Technology Grants
30. Funding for Grants for Additional Course Sections
31. Funding for Additional Incentive Grants
32. Modify the Composition of the Committee that Appoints the Milwaukee Area Technical College District Board
33. Domestic Abuse Training Requirements
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B. ENVIRONMENTAL AND COMMERCIAL RESOURCES
AGRICULTURE, TRADE AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
1. Telephone Solicitation Regulation
2. Arsenic in Wood
3. K-12 Integrated Pest Management
4. Pet Regulation and Inspection Positions
5. Johne's Disease Testing
6. Drainage District Funding
7. Tobacco Minimum Markup Violations
8. Food Advisory Council
9. Producer Security Effective Date
10. Producer Security Payment Schedule
COMMERCE
11. Minority Business Certification Program
12. Joint Committee on Finance Zone Approval Process
13. PECFA Interest Cost Reimbursement
14. PECFA Rules for Arbitration and Mediation Recommendations
15. Brownfields Grant Program
16. Gaming Economic Development Earmarks
17. Wisconsin Development Fund Earmarks
18. Minority Business Finance Program Earmark
19. Community-Based Economic Development Earmarks
20. Grant to Westby Fire Department
21. International Division Audit
22. Office of Economic Strategy Report
23. Fire Suppression Grant Program
24. Certified Capital Companies Administration Lapse
25. Certification of Crane Operators
26. Fire Dues Distribution
27. Storage and Handling of Ammonia
28. Milwaukee Development Opportunity Zone
LAND USE
29. Land Information Board and Land Council Changes
30. Wisconsin Land Information System
31. Release of Smart Growth Data
32. Comprehensive Planning Grants
33. Property Development Rights
34. Dane County Regional Planning Commission Sunset