UPDATE: JFC will not be taking up Transportation Today according to the latest memo. JFC will meet at 2:30pm today to take up issues listed in the memo.
It appears the Joint Committee on Finance is finally ready to tackle the issue of the $1.3 billion of transportation bonding proposed in Scott Walker’s Budget. You can view today’s issue papers at the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s Site. You can watch the proceedings on Wisconsin Eye. I have been hearing from Transportation Insiders that the GOP wants to throw the state’s road builders a bone. The potential repeal of prevailing wage law could be part of the funding package. Rep Chris Taylor’s staff tell me the Republicans could turn up with some surprise legislation, so it should be interesting.
Issues of interest include:
- Approval of funding for highway expansion projects across the state.I filed an open records request with the Governor’s office, asking for documentation of a net positive return on investment for those projects. My review so far suggests there is very little direct evidence of a net benefit for the state. It will be interesting to see how Republicans rationalize borrowing for these projects without hard evidence of a net benefit. You can read the open records responses at the following links:Final Reply.docx
RECORDS PART 1
RECORDS PART 2
RECORDS PART 3
RECORDS PART 4a- p.1-5
RECORDS PART 4b
RECORDS PART 5
RECORDS PART 6
RECORDS PART 7
RECORDS PART 8
RECORDS PART 9
RECORDS PART 10
RECORDS PART 11
RECORDS PART 12
RECORDS PART 13
RECORDS PART 14
RECORDS PART 15 - Repeal of Complete StreetsApparently several municipal leaders complained about being forced to endure the construction of bicycle and pedestrian facilities as part of state funded projects. The complete streets law as written contains several ways a community can exempt themselves from this requirement. Not that the right-wing state media bothered to cover that.
- A possible $25 tax on new bicycle sales.This one came about as a request for funding options at the JCF Transportation hearing back in March. WISDOT seems to have done a quick web-search and found two proposals from other states that never passed into law. JCF Co-Chair John Nygren has stated this has a 50-50 chance of passing.
- Responding to the recent court decision barring the Highway 23 expansion from receiving federal funding.Conservative media is fuming over this,with the spin that a liberal judge is in cahoots with a Madison enviro-whacko group hell bent on reducing the safety of drivers. The meat of the case is that WISDOT failed to substantiate where their traffic projections came from in their environment impact statement. Highway 23 was a pet project of former Congressional Representative Tom Petri, and was added to the list of projects outside of the normal enumeration criteria. History suggests our GOP legislators on JCF are getting an earful from constituents who read the right-wing coverage – and those legislators will feel compelled to increase state funding for the Highway 23 expansion.
Interesting that saving taxpayer dollars is now a liberal cause. It’s also interesting that Hwy 23 – which DOT says is safer than average is now a “death trap.” I guess the far right can never go too far over the top.