Story originally printed in the Onalaska Life or online at www.onalaskalife.com

Published - Friday, May 16, 2008

Doyle to act on budget repair bill Friday

Gov. Jim Doyle will move swiftly to act on a bill to repair the $527 million hole in the state's two-year budget, his office said Thursday.

Doyle is expected to take action on the legislation Friday morning at the Capitol. The bill cleared the Legislature on Wednesday but has drawn harsh comments from the Democratic governor, who has already hinted he'll veto parts of it.

Doyle opposes a plan to borrow $209 million against promised future payments to the state by tobacco companies, as well as a plan to delay $125 million in payments to schools until the next budget.

Doyle has also said he opposes a plan to use $22 million in newly increased driver's license fees to help balance the state budget.

Doyle said part of that money could be used to balance the budget but transferring the entire amount leaves no money to comply with the federal Real ID act, a federal mandate tightening the rules on state-issued driver's licenses. The governor has said he'll explore reworking all of those provisions through his veto pen.

A recently passed constitutional amendment limited some of the partial veto authority Doyle has to rework state budgets, but his veto powers as governor remain among the most expansive in the country.

All stories copyright 2006 Onalaska Life and other attributed sources.