Policy items pulled from, then re-inserted into, state budget

Of course it was too good to be true. The new Wisconsin state budget is crammed with items that have nothing to do with state spending. That is a complete reversal from what members of the state’s budget committee promised back in April. We congratulated the Joint Finance Committee at the time for its announcement that it would pull all policy items out of the budget. But by the time their work was done, committee members put them all back. It was at the time a bold move. Republican leaders telling their Republican Governor they weren’t going to leave items that have nothing to do with state spending in the budget. They removed 83 items from the budget as the began work on the budget. Bu the budget now being sent to the Governor is again filled with non-fiscal policy decisions which have no business in a state budget, and should be put up for public debate and scrutiny. Among the items in the final budget, a requirement that the UW System track how much time their professors are actually teaching. It doesn’t matter if that is a good idea. It is a policy decision, not a spending decision, and shouldn’t be in the budget. If it is a good idea, it should be able to stand up to public scrutiny. It shouldn’t be crammed in a budget so that it can more easily become law. The budget should only be about state spending, just as the budget committee insisted before returning to business as usual.