Gov. Tony Evers delivered his budget address late last week to rousing applause from Democrats. He included everything from a program that wouild provide drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants -- to a repeal of the lame duck laws that the Republican-controlled legislature passed in an attempt to weaken his powers.
GOP leaders indicated they'll ignore manuy of Evers' proposals, and craft their own spending plan, using the current fiscal year's "base" budget. JR Ross, of wispolitics.com, says that means they would work from the current budget, left over from when Republican Scott Walker was governor. It remains to be seen whether lawmakers would go through every single department line by line, or only focus on the major policy items that are in Evers' budget, such as taxes.
Ross says it's an interesting twist that Evers proposed in his budget, an 8 cent per gallon gas tax in exchange for dropping the state's minimum markup law. He thinks Evers is hoping elimination of minimum markup would make the gas tax more palatable. But, convenience stores across Democratic and Republican districts alike aren't happy about the idea of dropping minimum markup, so Evers' proposal may not even get support from some Democrats.
Will Gov. Evers veto the entire budget, if it comes down to Republicans crafting an alternative that he finds unacceptable? Ross says a full veto hasn't happened since the 1930s. Nobody at the State Capitol has lived through a full veto, so it's hard to say how that would play out.
