"All but certain" Bucks arena plan coming out of budget
After a five hour closed door budget meeting, some Senate sources are saying it looks like the arena funding plan is coming out of the budget. The AP reports Senator Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) said that's the case.
A separate Senate source tells CBS 58's David Ade “it's all but certain” the plan is removed and taken up as a separate bill. That source also says the intention is to vote on the bill before the fall, meaning a special or extraordinary session could be possible.
Monday, Joint Finance co-chair, Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette), said the Assembly is okay with plan in or out of budget, and is waiting on the Senate to decide how to handle it. Nygren said, \"We've seen press releases from a number of senators that say they want it out of the budget. I think the Assembly, as I said earlier; I think we're in a good spot either way but we'll wait to see what our friends in the Senate choose to do.\"
Budget Deadline
With several steps remaining, meeting the Tuesday night budget deadline is just about impossible. In Wisconsin a budget deadline isn't as meaningful as other states or a federal deadline. That's because if a new budget is not in place, then the state simply continues operating under the previous budget. There will be no type of government shutdown.
The director of the Wisconsin Budget Project, Jon Peacock, says people should be more concerned about what's going into the budget.
\"It's not a big deal that we don't have a budget yet. I think what is a big deal is that the legislature hasn't had any meetings in the public for 31 days now. They're meeting behind closed doors, and we're getting down to crunch time where they're going to be making some big decisions.\" Peacock said.
The last time a budget missed deadline was 2007, and this will be the first budget under Governor Walker to miss deadline.
According to a Senate source, the Joint Finance Committee intends to meet Thursday, and the Senate may vote on the budget next week.
Monday Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said his house is ready to vote and pass a budget.