Nonfiscal Items In The WI State Budget?

A quick little takeaway buried in one of the Medicaid articles that I used yesterday.

He (Assembly Speaker Robin Vos) said Republicans announced their plan as soon as they got a memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau about nonfiscal items contained in Evers’ budget. 

I think I’ve written about nonfiscal items in the state budget before. But in case I haven’t…or you haven’t seen it…I am totally opposed to it…Democrat or Republican or non-partisan. Nonfiscal items should be presented, debated and voted on for their own merit in open session.

But considering that nonfiscal items in the state budget seemed modus operandi of the Republicans in power during the Scott Walker era, this complaint seems a bit disingenuous. The proposed and discredited changes to open government rules and destruction of the FOIA via midnight budget sneaks come to immediate mind.

But really…if this is ‘an’ issue…as I agree it should be…let’s make it illegal (not just a legislative floor rule) and let’s enforce it. Open up discussion for any and all nonfiscal items as individual bills going forward. I don’t have any complaints around something like that. And then everyone will have to take an individual stand!

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