Tax Cut, Brewers Aid Top Legislative Agenda

100 Dollar Bill. Photo by Dave Reid.

Time to preview the “to do” list for Republicans who control the fall legislative session, which will start next Tuesday.

Can we finally cut an income tax-cut deal with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers? How much state aid should we give the Brewers – yes, the first-place Brewers – to make sure they stay in Milwaukee past 2030? Should Senate Republicans trigger a court fight with Democratic Atty. Gen. Josh Kaul by firing Elections Administrator Meagan Wolfe? How can we help child-care providers?

Those are the questions being asked in the Capitol, part of an agenda that touches all Wisconsin residents. And it doesn’t even include how Republicans could respond to rulings by the new four-justice liberal bloc on the Supreme Court.

Start with the issues Republicans will take up in Tuesdays-through-Thursdays work weeks planned to happen through mid-November.

First, GOP lawmakers promise to spend most of state government’s $4-billion surplus by putting another income tax cut on the governor’s desk.

They added a $3.5-billion tax cut to the state budget in June, but Evers used his item-veto powers to kill most of that, noting that most of the cuts would have gone to the wealthiest residents.

Last week, Assembly Republicans announced a $2.9-billion income tax that would also end taxes on pensions for retirees over 67, if a couple had an income of less than $150,000. Senate Republicans and Evers must agree for it to become law, however.

“Returning Your Surplus,” as Republicans have dubbed the proposal,  “will reduce the income tax rate on the third bracket from a rate of 5.3% to a rate of 4.4%, with the average tax filer seeing a decrease of $772 each tax year,” said Republican Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, a member of the Joint Finance Committee.

Evers questions whether a $2.9-billion tax cut would require repayment of federal pandemic aid. But the idea that the administration of a Democratic president seeking re-election would order the Democratic governor of a state that may decide the 2024 election to return federal aid seems unlikely.

Second, look for one popular phrase — “How about those Brewers?” — to be replaced in the Capitol by “How much help should we give those Brewers?” Leading their National League division, and headed for the playoffs, the team also has momentum in the Capitol.

In February, Evers surprised Republicans by asking that $290 million be spent maintaining and improving American Family Field, if the team signed a deal to remain in Milwaukee after its contract ends in 2030. Republicans removed the aid package from the state budget.

Republican Rep. Rob Brooks, chief Assembly negotiator, told Wispolitics that help totaling close to $700 million over 27 years was being discussed and it could be repaid by taxes on players’ earnings, the team and local governments.

But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos shrugged off those numbers. “We are still piecing together the whole package,” Vos told wispolitics.

Third, Republicans who run the Senate seem ready to oust Elections Administrator Wolfe. The term for which she was unanimously confirmed by the Senate expired July 1. But the three Democrats and three Republicans on the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), for which Wolfe works, split on whether to reappoint her.

Although a WEC majority supports Wolfe, Democrats abstained on that vote, citing a state Supreme Court ruling that allowed another appointee to a state board continue to serve beyond his term.

But Republicans say the WEC tie vote recommended her for a new term, setting up a potential Senate vote to confirm or dismiss her. WEC decisions Wolfe carried out angered conservatives eyeing a state law that says legislators can name a temporary elections administrator, if there is a vacancy caused by her dismissal.

Kaul, the Democratic attorney general, said Wolfe legally holds that office, so the Senate cannot vote to dismiss her.

A fourth potential issue is one Evers is pushing: the governor wants to spend $365 million helping child-care providers, warning that a crisis looms. Instead, Assembly Republicans offered a package that would create a child care reimbursement account, offer remodeling loans to centers and offer new rules for in-home providers.

Finally, will Senate Republicans allow a vote on a bill, passed 90-4 by the Assembly, that overhauls the state’s alcohol industry — a compromise between manufacturers, distributors and retailers?  Wedding barn operators oppose it because it would require them to obtain a Class B liquor license if they hold more than six events per year.

“A wedding barn is nothing like a tavern,” a coalition of seven conservative groups insisted.

It’s not quite everything from soup to nuts, but it’s certainly a varied — and important — legislative agenda for this fall.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com