Familiar issues will resurface in next session of state Legislature

There are a couple of things you can count on next year from lawmakers.

Little of substance will get done, while some of the groundwork for the 2008 campaign will be laid.

Beyond that, various business groups have modest goals for the Legislature next year, focusing efforts on proposals they hope will have bipartisan support -- the only chance for success with Republicans in control of the Assembly and Democrats running the Senate.

"You need to line up the votes to get your stuff done on noncontroversial things, or it's going to be a grind," said Jeremey Shepherd, director of legislative affairs for the Wisconsin Bankers Association. The group hopes to persuade lawmakers to approve new disclosure requirements for trigger leads, when credit bureaus run checks on consumers and then sell information to brokers.

With the budget now done, lawmakers have largely wrapped up their work for the year. By the time they return in January, November will already be on their minds. Typically, that means a lot of legislation to satisfy their core supporters and little compromise on big issues.

Familiar themes

There are several themes likely to re-emerge as lawmakers try to bring back issues that didn't make it into the final version of the budget Gov. Jim Doyle signed at the end of October. Democrats appear to be locked in on health care with new Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, promising to bring back a universal health-care plan. Republicans seem intent to stay on their message of lower taxes, especially after using the various increases proposed by Doyle and Senate Democrats as a rallying cry in their budget stand off. Considering the difficulties the two sides had in trying to reach a compromise on the budget this year, few expect any real compromises on such big issues.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing for businesses.

"Sometimes, for businesses, certainty provides stability," said Jim Pugh, spokesman for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. "To the extent that the two parties don't agree on policy, it provides a modicum of certainty on which businesses can operate."

Looking to elections

Democrats won back control of the Senate last year and now have an 18-15 advantage, while Republicans saw their majority in the Assembly shrink to 52-47, the smallest margin in that chamber in a decade. Both sides are already trying to size up their chances to control both houses of the Legislature after next fall's elections, and some of those efforts are likely to spill over into the legislative agendas next year.

That means roll call votes on controversial topics that each side can use in campaign ads and mailings. It also means legislation that can help vulnerable members by giving them something to brag about back home.

But that is a formula for electoral victories, not legislative success.

Brandon Scholz, president and CEO of Wisconsin Grocers Association, said organizations like his will have their own parochial interests they hope will pass the Legislature next year. For his group, that includes legislation to increase the penalties for organized retail theft -- those who target items to steal from retailers and later resell -- as well as fending off heavier regulations on gift cards.

The dominant issue

But Scholz, a former executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said the dominant issue next year will likely be health care.

"This is probably one of those defining issues for the Democrats to say we're taking care of a big problem and here's our solution, and for the Republicans, they're going to have to say here's our solution," said Scholz, who added his group plans a closer look at Democrats' universal health-care plan dubbed Healthy Wisconsin.

"Everybody is going to have to talk about how to deal with the cost of health care or providing health care."

Democrats laid the heart of their approach on the table in the Senate version of the budget, which included a new payroll tax to fund Healthy Wisconsin. They argued the tax was less than what Wisconsinites pay in health-care costs each year, but Republicans rejected it as the largest tax hike in state history and Doyle didn't exactly jump on board, either. Still, lead sponsor Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, went on the road this summer to sell the plan, and some Senate Democrats remain committed to it.

Republicans have been pushing a market-oriented approach to health care, arguing that consumers need more information and more responsibility to help drive down costs. Democrats rejected that notion as unrealistic, but the GOP has been pushing many of those ideas for years and remains committed to them as well.

The GOP agenda this session has also included a number of proposed tax cuts -- a recurring theme for the party -- while Democrats have often talked about tax fairness. The Senate included combined reporting in its version of the budget, a proposal that would increase corporate taxes by an estimated $90 million a year. Assembly Republicans have also assumed the roll of legislative goalies, considering themselves the last line of defense against such proposals.

Still, there are several wild cards that could alter expectations for next year. The presidential campaign could drive an issue that could force its way onto lawmakers' agendas. Doyle also could use the bully pulpit in an attempt to force lawmakers to take up one of his pet causes.

WMC's Pugh said the group will continue its agenda of regulatory and "common sense" health-care reforms. The group's agenda is also like to include:

• Lowering the tax burden,
• Dealing with workers and unemployment compensation,
• and affordable energy.

"The business community, like every other group in the state, is aware you have the two houses controlled by two different parties, and it may make it difficult to get people rally around those issues," Pugh said.

JR Ross is the editor at WisPolitics.com.