GOP senators propose leaner budget*

MADISON – State Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, and two other
Republican senators offered amendments Wednesday to remove all
nonfiscal policy items and earmarks from the state budget.

The amendments and other GOP efforts to alter the budget failed as the
bill passed on a 17-16 vote Wednesday night in the Democrat-controlled
Senate.

Harsdorf joined with Sens. Dan Kapanke of La Crosse and Randy Hopper
of Fond du Lac to introduce two amendments.

The first would have removed 88 items the senators said the
Legislative Fiscal Bureau has identified as nonfiscal policy in the
budget.

The second would have removed specific earmark items – essentially
spending for local projects – that legislators inserted into the
budget.

Those include things such as $50,000 for the Eau Claire Public
Shooting Range and $125,000 to help renovate the L.E. Phillips
Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire.

Differences between the Senate and Assembly versions of the budget
will have to be worked out in a conference committee before the
document is sent to Gov. Jim Doyle.

The new two-year state biennium starts July 1.