Panel axes tech school tuition freeze

Joint Finance Committee members buck Walker’s proposal

MADISON - The Legislature’s budget committee on Thursday tossed aside Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to freeze tuition at technical colleges and restructured a program for buying environmentally friendly buses.

The Joint Finance Committee also signed off on expanding a property tax break for Marquette University, potentially shifting the tax burden to other homeowners and businesses in Milwaukee.

In a daylong session, the committee also set the stage for the state Supreme Court’s chief justice to review decisions on unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and equal rights in the workplace. That could lead to changes in future rulings in those areas.

The committee’s actions made clear Republican lawmakers are willing to buck the GOP governor on some key issues. The panel is expected to spend the coming weeks working on the state budget before handing it off to the Senate and Assembly for their approval.

The budget committee voted 12-4 — with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats against — to drop Walker’s plan to freeze tuition at the state’s technical colleges, just as the state has for University of Wisconsin System campuses since 2013.

“We already believe it is a pretty good bargain,” said Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette), cochairman of the committee.

Democrats disagreed, arguing technical colleges should be made tuition free, at a cost of $555 million to taxpayers over the next two years. That effort failed 4-12 on party lines.

Property taxes. On a 12-4 vote, the committee gave Marquette University the ability to keep 150 acres exempt from property taxes, up from 80 acres.

Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) said the move would push the tax burden onto other property owners and make the city’s budget tighter.

“You’re just setting us up to be a Gary or a Detroit,” she told Republicans.

Rep. Dale Kooyenga (RBrookfield)

said Marquette helps the community in numerous ways, such as by providing free dental care.

“Ask yourself, can Milwaukee be stronger if Marquette is larger? And the answer is yes,” Kooyenga said.

Milwaukee buses. The committee shook up Walker’s plan to use a national settlement with Volkswagen to buy buses for Milwaukee County, making funding available to more transit systems.

Volkswagen violated clean air laws by equipping nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles in the United States with devices designed to defeat emissions tests, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Under a settlement, the company agreed to set up a $2.7 billion trust to pay for vehicle emissions reduction programs.

Wisconsin is to get $42 million in settlement money over the next two years.

Walker wanted to use $26 million of it to buy cleaner-burning diesel buses for Milwaukee County and the remaining $16 million to purchase new vehicles for the state.

On a party-line 11-4 vote, the committee instead opted to make $32 million available to transit systems around the state, with $10 million going for state vehicles.

Under the changes, Milwaukee County will still qualify for a share of the transit funds, but likely won’t get as much as it

would have under Walker’s plan.

All the transit systems would have to pay a portion of the bus money back to the state over the next decade.

Labor commission. The committee voted 12-4 on party lines to keep in place the Labor and Industry Review Commission, which resolves disputes over unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and equal rights claims.

Walker has tried to get rid of the commission by handing its duties off to other state agencies in an effort to make government more efficient.

The committee’s plan would have Chief Justice Patience Roggensack survey decisions of the commission and provide a report on it next year. Roggensack has signed off on the proposal, according to Nygren.

Tax credits. Many lowincome people would have to work to receive a longstanding tax credit under a plan the committee adopted on party lines. The proposal is part of a broader effort to make sure people who receive government benefits are moving into the workforce.

The plan would require those under 62 to earn money to claim the state’s homestead tax credit. The disabled and senior citizens would be exempt from that new requirement.

The homestead credit helps reduce income taxes for low-income homeowners and renters to offset what they pay in property taxes.

In 2015, the homestead credit provided about $98 million in tax relief to 191,500 claimants, who received $514 on average.