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With a 50-47 vote, the Assembly approved the budget adjustment bill recommended by the conference committee that seeks a solution to the state’s $1.1 billion fiscal crisis.
The Assembly's approval moves the bill to Gov. McCallum for his veto review and a signature before becoming law. A budget repair bill was the last item on the Legislature's agenda before ending two-year legislative session.
Last spring, a committee of Senate and Assembly representatives was appointed to iron out differences between the budget bills passed by each house. It completed more than 160 days of deliberations before presenting a final budget adjustment bill to the Legislature.
The presentation came after the committee voted 6-2 in favor of recommending adoption of the bill. Both minority party representatives, Senate Republican leader, Mary Panzer (R-West Bend), and Assembly Democratic leader Spencer Black (D-Madison) voted against the recommendation. Each called the bill fiscally irresponsible.
The Senate approved the conference committee’s report with a 17-16 vote.
WEAC repeatedly called on the state’s legislators to keep education a top priority throughout the budget crisis by asking the conference committee to focus on several priorities as they negotiated the budget adjustment bill, including:
Highlights of the budget adjustment bill conference committee report
are available online.
Posted July 8, 2002; Updated July 9, 2002