Conservatively Speaking

I have often written in my blogs about the National Tax Foundation in Washington D.C.

The Tax Foundation describes itself as a nonpartisan educational organization that has earned a reputation for independence and credibility. The mission of the Tax Foundation is to educate taxpayers about sound tax policy and the size of the tax burden borne by Americans at all levels of government. From its founding in 1937, the Tax Foundation has been grounded in the belief that the dissemination of basic information about government finance is the foundation of sound policy in a free society.

For 70 years, the Tax Foundation has been following and analyzing tax and finance issues and is now reporting that in those 70 years, it has never seen the taxing and spending that is contained in the budget approved this week by Wisconsin Senate Democrats.

The Tax Foundation calls the 50 percent hike in Wisconsin’s General Fund, the revenue generated by state income and sales taxes, “off the charts.” As you read the Tax Foundation’s account, you can almost sense the author’s breath being taken away.

Here is the report, Things We Thought We’d Never See at the Tax Foundation, But Thanks to the Wisconsin Senate ….complete with comparisons to what Senate Democrats adopted and other states.

The massive $66 billion state budget approved this week by Senate Democrats resembles the world’s largest pig roast. Senate Democrats loaded this budget with a record amount of pork and new taxes.

Here are some examples of goodies Senate democrats jammed into their Porky’s budget:


THE FOLLOWING MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

Building Program

• Provide $1 million in general fund supported bonding to make a grant in aid to the expansion of the Bond Health Center in the City of Oconto from four to 14 beds.

Dept of Health and Family Services – Family and Human Services

• Provide $168,000 to community organizations in southcentral and southeastern Wisconsin to provide outreach services relating to health, mental health, housing, assisted living, domestic violence and other services.

Dept of Health and Family Services – Health

• Provide $50,000 annually to the statewide poison control program to provide public and professional education services.
• Require DHFS to provide $100,000 FED as a one-time grant to the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin to provide HIV infection outreach, education referral and other services.

Dept of Public Instruction

• Allocate $35,000 annually from the current law pupil transportation aid appropriation to reimburse school districts for 75% of the cost of transporting pupils to and from an island over ice.

Dept of Transportation

• Require DOT to make a grant of $100,000 to Milwaukee County from the transportation enhancements grant program for construction of a pedestrian bridge and path at the Milwaukee Urban Ecology Center, if the department determines the project is eligible for federal aid.
• Require DOT to make a grant of $800,000 to the City of West Allis from the congestion mitigation and air quality improvement program for the construction of the West Allis Cross-Town Bike Trail, if the department determines the project is eligible for federal aid.


EDUCATION

Dept of Public Instruction

• Provide additional money for high poverty districts (Language in the document distributed will be revised.)
• Provide $250,000 annually and create a new annual appropriation for grants to school districts for nursing services.
• Delete provisions in the substitute relating to the school safety adjustment to revenue limits and provide a revenue limit increase in 07-08 equal to $100 per pupil or $40,000, whichever is greater to purchase school safety equipment or fund compensation costs for security officers.
• Provide a revenue limit increase for the salary and fringe benefit costs of school nurses employed by a school district, beginning in 07-08 school year.
• Provide $1,750,000 annually to create a new special education appropriation for supplemental education aid to school districts meeting certain criteria.
• Provide $18,000 to the Belmont Community School District for its school library.
• Restore the governor’s provision that would specify that a school board could construct or acquire, borrow funds to construct or acquire, operate and maintain a wind electricity generation facility.


HEALTH CARE

Healthy Wisconsin Plan.

• Incorporates Healthy Wisconsin Plan and creates Healthy Wisconsin Authority. (This is the universal health care coverage proposal).

Dept of Health and Family Services – Medical Assistance – Long-Term Care

• Increases nursing home rates; bed assessment increase. Reflects a re-estimate of the Governor’s proposal to fund nursing home rate increases by increasing the nursing home bed assessment and delays effective date of the increase to January 1, 2008. Increases funding for Wisconsin Veterans Home at King and the Veterans Home at Union Grove.

Dept of Health and Family Services – Health

• Health Care Quality Fund. Increase funding by $20,000,000 for tobacco use control grants. Increase amount of cigarette tax to be deposited in the fund.
• Provide $25,000 GPR annually to HealthNet of Janesville, Inc. to provide health care services to uninsured and low-income residents of Rock County.
• Provide $35,000 in one-time funding to the Community Connections Free Clinic in Dodgeville to expand the clinic’s capacity to provide dental services to low-income residents of Iowa County and surrounding areas.

Dept of Health and Family Services – Family and Human Services

• Provide one-time funding of $500,000 to fund the comprehensive early childhood initiative that provides home visiting and employment preparation and support for low-income families in Dane County in order to expand the initiative to one new neighborhood and provide on-going support for the current Allied Drive early childhood initiative.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

Dept of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection

• Provide $800,000 from the agrichemical management fund for a grant to the Wisconsin Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative for techn

In just one short sentence, Senate Democrats in their budget moved to increase property taxes beyond the rate of inflation, and possibly by double-digit percentages.

The Senate Democrat budget package includes a provision to do the following:

•Restore governor’s recommendations to repeal the QEO.

Eliminating the QEO (qualified economic offer) would tear the lid off of property taxes in Wisconsin that are already too high. Repealing the QEO would only send property taxes higher.

A quick history lesson is in order. The QEO was inspired by and created after a taxpayer’s revolt in the early 1990’s. Homeowners across the state had lost all patience with year after year of huge increases in property taxes and demanded the state Legislature provide relief. Relief came in the form of the QEO.

A budget provision to scrap the QEO is merely a political favor to a special interest group and has no regard for taxpayers who pay the bills. I do not believe taxpayers wish to return to the days prior to the QEO’s inception.

According to data from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) that used figures from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the average total teacher salary and benefit package increase in the years before the QEO was 8 percent during 1984-85, 8.4 percent during 1985-86, 7.7 percent during 1986-87, 7.4 percent during 1987-88, 7.1 percent during 1988-89, 7.3 percent during 1989-90, 7.4 percent during 1990-91 and 6.9 percent during both 1991-92 and 1992-93.

Under the QEO, the compensation package for teachers including salaries and benefits is to be limited to a 3.8 percent increase. In fact, many school districts do not stay within the parameters of the QEO. The WASB reports that the average total package of salaries and benefits was 4.29 percent during 2006-07, 4.25 percent during 2005-06, and 4.31 percent during 2004-05.

Wisconsin must keep the QEO intact to prevent massive property tax increases.

Fearing this development, I wrote about this subject in January. Here is my column on the QEO.

On Tuesday, I wrote the following in a blog about the details of the universal health care plan approved in the state budget by Senate Democrats:

The deeper you dig into the plan, the more questions you find. At my request the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) prepared an analysis of the plan. Here are some of the troubling aspects I found under the category of who is eligible.

The LFB writes this about teachers, with the key phrase in bold:

Municipal Employment Relations Law. Provide that the definition of economic issue would include "health insurance coverage of benefits not provided under the Healthy Wisconsin Plan."

Under current law, the definition includes the term "health insurance." Further, provide that, for the purpose of determining if a school district employer has maintained current fringe benefits requirements under current qualified economic offer (QEO) law, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) would be required to consider the employer to have maintained its health care coverage benefit if the employer provides health care coverage to its school district professional employees through the Healthy Wisconsin Plan and supplements that coverage, if necessary, to produce a health care coverage benefit that is actuarially equivalent to the health care coverage benefit in place before the school district professional employees become covered under the Healthy Wisconsin Plan.

Provide that, if a dispute arises concerning the employer’s determination of actuarial equivalence or what supplemental benefits are sufficient to achieve actuarial equivalence, the dispute must be resolved by a neutral person who is designated by WERC.

In other words, teachers are guaranteed to retain their current coverage. The rest of us will take the plan dictated by the government health authority.

Today, The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel picked up on the teacher angle of the universal health care plan and quoted me.

Here is the Journal/Sentinel article.

On Monday morning, the state Senate Health Committee that I serve on held a public hearing on the Senate Democrats’ universal health care plan. As a committee member, I first got word about Monday’s hearing late last Friday, and didn’t see sketchy details of the plan until Monday morning.

I asked some rather pointed questions of the chief sponsor of the plan, state Senator John Erpenbach at Monday’s hearing. Erpenbach seems to avoid the questions and there is an attempt to cut off my questioning.

You can see the entire hearing here.

The segment where I question Erpenbach begins about 22:40 into the video.

The Senate Democrat’s universal health care plan was included in the Senate version of the state budget approved Tuesday. I voted against the budget.

The state budget approved by Senate Democrats today that I voted against is not healthy for Wisconsin’s economy and families.

According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Senate Democrats’ budget increases spending by an eye-popping 23 percent. Wisconsin already spends to excess. A 23 percent increase is significant. And the 23 percent increase includes only six months of the Senate Democrats’ $15.2 billion annual universal health care plan.

The staggering increase in spending is a result of the Senate Democrats’ universal health care coverage mandate that will cost $15.2 billion annually. That is the largest tax increase in the history of the state of Wisconsin, and the $15.2 billion price tag is more than double Wisconsin’s tax rate.

Imagine how irresponsible this budget is. Governor Doyle proposed a package around $60 billion. Factor in the Senate Democrats’ universal health care plan at an annual cost of $15. 2 billion, and the budget now spends over $90 billion over the biennium. Senate Democrats have pumped in more pork so the total is over $100 billion.

Remember the contentious debate in Madison about one of the most controversial issues ever tackled by the Legislature, Miller Park? The Legislature considered a bill to build the new stadium that cost $250 million; $160 million of the total was public funding. At the price of the Senate Democrats’ universal health care plan, Wisconsin could build 95 Miller Park’s annually!

Yes, state residents do want measures taken to deal with health care costs. Implementing socialized medicine is not the solution. There is no groundswell of support from residents begging the state to adopt government-controlled, government-funded health care that will eliminate private insurance in Wisconsin.

Correspondence I have received from residents called universal health care unnecessary government intrusion, a program that aimlessly wastes taxpayer money, and a recipe for bankruptcy.
E-mailers tell me they can’t believe the state could develop a program that is as good as they currently have. It is their contention that free enterprise is the better solution.

Overall, the budget approved by Senate Democrats increases taxes by over $18 billion in a state that has some of the highest taxes in the nation. Spending increases by 23 percent. The exorbitant taxing and spending couldn’t come at a worse time. Incomes in Wisconsin are growing at the slowest rate in the nation. High taxes and low incomes are forcing too many Wisconsin residents to put up the for sale signs because they simply cannot afford to live here any longer.

Governor Doyle proposed a horrible budget. The Senate Democrats took the budget and made it even worse. Thank goodness there is an Assembly Republican majority to restore fiscal sanity in their version of the budget.

On its face, the Senate Democrats’ universal health care plan contained in the Senate Democrat budget is an outrageous boondoggle that at a cost of $15.2 billion annually is the largest tax increase in the history of Wisconsin. It will be funded by a payroll tax paid by workers and their employers.

The deeper you dig into the plan, the more questions you find. At my request the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) prepared an analysis of the plan. Here are some of the troubling aspects I found under the category of who is eligible.

The LFB writes this about teachers, with the key phrase in bold:

Municipal Employment Relations Law. Provide that the definition of economic issue would include "health insurance coverage of benefits not provided under the Healthy Wisconsin Plan."

Under current law, the definition includes the term "health insurance." Further, provide that, for the purpose of determining if a school district employer has maintained current fringe benefits requirements under current qualified economic offer (QEO) law, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) would be required to consider the employer to have maintained its health care coverage benefit if the employer provides health care coverage to its school district professional employees through the Healthy Wisconsin Plan and supplements that coverage, if necessary, to produce a health care coverage benefit that is actuarially equivalent to the health care coverage benefit in place before the school district professional employees become covered under the Healthy Wisconsin Plan.

Provide that, if a dispute arises concerning the employer’s determination of actuarial equivalence or what supplemental benefits are sufficient to achieve actuarial equivalence, the dispute must be resolved by a neutral person who is designated by WERC.

In other words, teachers are guaranteed to retain their current coverage. The rest of us will take the plan dictated by the government health authority.


Also under eligibility, the LFB writes:

In addition, designate the following persons as eligible to participate in the plan: (1) a person and the members of that person's immediate family, if the person is gainfully employed in Wisconsin and the person and the members of the person’s immediate family satisfy criteria (c) through (e); (2) a child under age 18 who resides with his or her parent in Wisconsin, even if the parent does not yet satisfy criteria (a), regardless of how long the child has resided in Wisconsin; and (3) a pregnant woman who resides in Wisconsin, even if the woman does not yet satisfy criteria (a), regardless of how long the woman has resided in Wisconsin.

Generally, someone over the age of 18, a college student for example, is covered under their parents’ private insurer. Under universal health care, private insurers would be eliminated. If the college student isn’t working, who pays for this coverage?

The LFB continues:

For an eligible individual who has no social security wages, 10% of federal adjusted gross income, up to the maximum amount of income that is subject to social security tax.

What about individuals who retire at age 60 but do not take Social security until age 65? They have very small incomes, and are relegated to living off their savings. Compounding the situation is the large influx of baby boomers who will be retiring. Who will pay for their coverage?


On another provision, the LFB writes:

Require the DOA Secretary, in consultation with the Authority's Board, to establish by rule a program to contain health care costs in Wisconsin during any year in which the Board determines that health care costs increase at a rate exceeding the national average of medical inflation.

An un-elected authority will be deciding pricing and rationing.

And finally, the LFB writes that the consulting firm, the Lewin Group estimates that state and local governments would save approximately $1.36 billion in the plan’s first year of operation.

In part, this savings is due to the fact that some of these individuals (employees, retirees and dependents) will assume a greater portion of their health care costs than is currently the case.

In other words, some Wisconsin residents will pay more under universal health care.

The devil is in the details, and the Senate Democrats’ plan to mandate universal health care coverage has more than a few devils.

Here is the document the LFB produced for me about the Senate Democrats’ plan.

The state Senate Health Committee that I serve on held a hastily scheduled public hearing today on a plan that requires the state provide universal health care coverage. Under this mammoth proposal, nearly every Wisconsin resident would be covered by the program funded by a payroll tax on workers and their employers. The state government would fund and administer health care in Wisconsin.

The cost would be astronomical. Senate Democrats who are pushing the mandate openly admit the price tag of their plan is $15. 2 billion annually. During fiscal year 2006-07, Wisconsin’s General Fund of income and sales tax revenue totaled $12.5 billion. Providing universal health care more than doubles Wisconsin’s taxes that are already some of the highest in the nation. Clearly this would be the largest tax increase in the history of Wisconsin. That is unacceptable. The $15.2 billion annual price tag is nearly two and a half times the $6.5 billion in state income tax revenue during 2006-07. Universal health care is a boondoggle state taxpayers cannot afford.

The cost is assuredly going to be much higher than anticipated, and the payroll tax will merely be passed on to consumers. It will be impossible for a payroll tax to keep up with the growing cost of health care.

Making matters worse, an un-elected, appointed authority lacking accountability will have the decision-making power to adjust benefits and the payroll tax. The authority will not be an elected body and will control $15.2 billion in taxes.

One also has to question if Wisconsin needs to take such a dramatic step by providing universal health care. Wisconsin was recently ranked number one in the country in health care quality by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Wisconsin’s hospitals were also ranked number one in the country. If Wisconsin is providing the best health care in America, it begs the question why we need to mandate costly universal health care coverage.

I also question the process used by Senate Democrats to push their universal health care plan. My office was notified late last Friday afternoon about this morning’s hearing. Details of the plan weren’t formalized until today, when I saw and heard about them for the first time. As a Health Committee member, I was given very little notice and the general public was given even less. A plan of this magnitude deserves much greater notice so the news media and the taxpaying public have time to analyze the specific details and then pose necessary questions. Senate Democrats rushed this proposal with little regard for process, giving the plan only one day of scrutiny before the state Senate is to vote on the state budget.

Universal health care coverage is too expensive and would actually reduce health care services for many consumers. It is also unnecessary. The state Senate is poised to include the plan in the version of the state budget they will pass Tuesday. I strongly urge my colleagues in the state Assembly to reject this fiscal nightmare.

In a business blog I wrote in February for the Small Business Times, I pointed out Wisconsin’s abysmal business climate is due primarily to our high taxes. Wisconsin’s business climate ranks number 38 in the United States.

In my blog I quoted a report by the Tax Foundation that ranked Wisconsin in the bottom third of the country:

The Tax Foundation reports, "Taxes matter to businesses. In a highly competitive global market, states need to make their tax systems friendly to business in order to facilitate the expansion and growth of business. A simple tax system that is fair to all businesses is the best way for states to have a competitive business tax climate."

Taxes affect the number of jobs retained and created. Taxes play a role in the location and construction of plants. The most important effect taxes have on business is a reduction in profits. When taxes bite a bigger chunk out of profits, the costs are passed on to workers and consumers. Workers bear the brunt of higher taxes with lower wages and fewer jobs. Businesses frown on setting up shop in a state with taxes that produce smaller profit margins.

Evidence of how critical the tax issue is to businesses comes from the annual survey of CEO’s conducted by The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC).

Fifty-eight percent of 24 chief executive officers who serve on the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce board and answered the unscientific survey contend the state is either somewhat or very anti-business. .

The 58 percent total is the highest negative response to that question since the WMC first started asking it in 2001. Last year only 32 percent said the state was somewhat anti-business, and none described it as very anti-business.

Over half of the respondents said the top issue facing the state is taxes, while the two most popular answers for how government could help businesses was to regulate less (36 percent) and cut taxes (31 percent).

Here is the WMC press release and the WMC survey results.

There is new evidence that Governor Doyle broke his promise to freeze property taxes.

Before I get to the evidence, let’s review the Governor’s own statements about freezing property taxes. When he signed the state budget into law on July 25, 2005, the Governor proposed his own freeze. He wrote the following in his budget veto message:

“My budget froze property taxes for the next two years. The freeze I am signing today means that the average homeowner’s property tax bill will be frozen this December.”

The Governor rejected the Legislature’s freeze and vetoed into the budget his own freeze, and by the Governor’s own definition, it was not a freeze.

“My freeze (allows) a minimum increase of two percent, or the rate of growth, whichever is higher. While the ‘average’ taxpayer will see taxes frozen, many people will see their bill go down. Some people may see their bill go up.”

A study by the non-profit, non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance revealed Wisconsin’s 230 largest cities and villages’ property tax levies increased by an average 4.1 percent in 2005-06, despite the Governor’s property tax freeze. When all Wisconsin municipalities were included, the results were exactly the same; property tax levies rose an average 4.1 percent.

I wrote about the Governor’s failure to freeze in August 2006 and December 2005

Now comes more evidence that the Governor failed to keep his property tax freeze promise. Once again, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance reports property tax levies statewide are on the rise. Analyzing figures that were finalized in May 2007 by the state Department of Revenue, the Taxpayers Alliance finds that municipal property taxes rose 3.5 percent this year to $2.095 billion.

The Taxpayers Alliance found that 10 municipalities raised their 2007 property tax levies by over 20 percent, 7 raised their levies by over 30 percent, 4 raised their levies by over 40 percent, 1 raised its levy by over 50 percent, 1 by over 60 percent, and in one municipality, the property tax levy shot up an incredible 94.9 percent.

Here is the Taxpayers Alliance’s press release.

If that is Governor Doyle’s concept of a property tax freeze, I surely would hate to see his idea of a property tax increase.

Consumers need to be aware that Wisconsin is now a huge target for sweepstakes scams. The United States Postal Inspection Service is working on several cases where phony letters are sent promising free prizes as soon as the letter recipients pay a small fee.

The latest scam involves a letter from a lottery company in Canada congratulating the recipient for being the winner of $250,000, a part of a $9 million sweepstakes. Enclosed is a check for $4,975 that appears to be from the Canada firm. The $4,975 was supposedly deducted from the winnings, and instructions are given to use $2,800 of that amount to pay taxes on the winnings before the entire prize could be awarded.

The winner is then told to call a claim agent for more instructions on how to claim the “big winning.” When you speak to the agent, he instructs you to send the $2,800 to a specific address in Ontario.

A couple from Baraboo, Wisconsin that got such a letter did call the agent, but then took a precautionary step and before cashing the check called the bank to learn if the account was on the up and up. The couple was informed the account had recently been closed, so they took the letter and the check to their local Post Office.

When the Baraboo News republic newspaper contacted the “agent,” he was not, as you might imagine, very helpful.

"This is the wrong number or something, you must have dialed the wrong number," the man on the other end of the line said. "I don't know why you're calling me and bothering me with this (expletive).”

Other scams involve mail or e-mail from individuals in foreign countries asking a person to reveal their bank account numbers so that money can be wired into it.

Criminals are becoming more sophisticated, using high-tech tricks that allow them to take authentic company logos from their web sites. They also use color printers to make legitimate-looking checks.

The good news is potential victims are getting smarter, and U.S. and Canadian authorities are cooperating to bring con artists to justice.

Consumers need to be suspicious of anything claiming they have won a contest or sweepstakes they did not enter or any requirement to pay a fee or reveal personal or financial information to receive a prize.

If you feel you have been targeted by a scam artist, contact your local postal inspector. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Conventional wisdom is that October is a notorious month for car-deer crashes. In the fall, deer on the prowl to mate are active and while on the move often find their way in the path of vehicles.

October is a bad month for deer collisions and so is November, but they’re not the worst. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation reports June is actually the most, or one of the most dangerous and risky months for vehicle-deer crashes. Four of the past five years in Wisconsin, June ranked as the worst or second worst month for injuries caused by collisions with deer.

Why is June so dangerous? Like the fall, this time of year finds deer quite active as they look for spots to give birth. Yearlings tend to roam freely from their mothers. More deer moving about translates into more deer running in front of or into vehicles.

The Wisconsin State patrol says that between May and August, collisions are more likely to occur between 8 p.m. and midnight. At night, motorists, especially motorcyclists need to always be on the lookout for deer. Motorcyclists and their passengers are more at risk of being killed than other motorists in collisions with deer. Motorcycles were involved in five of the seven fatal deer-vehicle crashes in 2006.

The most commonly struck objects in Wisconsin crashes are, in this order, another vehicle, a fixed object, and deer. The Department of Transportation is still finalizing numbers for 2006, but preliminary data indicates there were 17,877 deer-vehicle collisions in Wisconsin last year, about 49 crashes per day. Dane County had the most crashes with 958, followed by Waupaca County 689 and Shawano County with 687.

To avoid a crash, the Department of Transportation suggests the following:

• Be vigilant in early morning and evening hours, the most active time for deer.
• Drive cautiously at all times
• Heed deer crossing and speed limit signs.
• Always wear your seat belt—there are fewer and less severe injuries in vehicle-deer crashes when seat belts are worn.
• If you see a deer by the side of the road, slow down and blow your horn with one long blast to frighten the deer away.
• When you see one deer, look for another one—deer seldom run alone.
• If you find a deer looming in your headlights, don't expect the deer to move away.
• Headlights can confuse a deer and cause the animal to freeze.
• Brake firmly when you notice a deer in or near your path.
• Do not swerve. It can confuse the deer as to where to run.
• It can also cause you to lose control and hit a tree or another car.
• The one exception is if you are riding a motorcycle. In this case, you should slow down, break firmly and then swerve if you need to in order to avoid hitting the deer. When swerving on a motorcycle, always try to stay within the lane if at all possible to avoid hitting other objects.
• If your vehicle strikes a deer, stay in your vehicle and do not touch the animal if it is still alive.
• The injured deer, in attempting to move, could hurt you or itself.
• Walking or stopping on the highway is very dangerous - you could be hit by an oncoming vehicle if you get out of your car.
• The best advice is to get your car off the road if possible, and call law enforcement.

Deer are not the only animals to watch out for. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says small painted turtles along with large snapping turtles meet their fate by slowly attempting to cross roadways in search of food, mates, and at this time of year, nesting locations.

The DNR says motorists can expect to see turtle crossings near lakes, streams and wetlands this time of year because the roads separate the aquatic habitat where turtles spend most of their lives from the well-drained upland habitats where female turtles deposit their eggs. This yearly ritual reaches its peak from late May to June.

With temperatures fluctuating widely this spring, the turtle nesting season got started a bit later than usual, and the DNR predicts June will be a busy month for female turtles.

Most turtles will stop moving when they hear, see or feel a vehicle coming, so they are easy to drive around without going into the other traffic lane or off the pavement. What about that protective shell? The DNR says it does a turtle no good against a steel belted radial. A vehicle can kill an adult female and eliminate the potential reproduction in the affected population.

The DNR advises that if you see a turtle on the road and if it is safe to do so, carefully pull over and help the turtle to the side of the road it is facing. When helping an aggressive turtle off the road, the safest way to avoid being bitten is to gently drag it across the road by its tail, leaving the front feet on the pavement. It may help to use a stick that the turtle can bite, allowing one to grab the tail more safely.

The turtle season is closed until July 15 each year. That means picking turtles up off the road as pets or for food is illegal. Anyone who observes this being done is asked to contact the DNR hotline at 1-800-TIPWDNR (1-800-847-9367).

Congratulations to a constituent, Chris Cook of Mukwonago on being awarded the Bronze Star Medal with V device. Cook was awarded the Bronze Star medial in a special ceremony in Elkhorn Saturday for his courageous conduct in the Army National Guard medical unit, Bravo Company, 118th Medical Battalion.

Cook’s heroic actions in Baghdad on September 12, 2004 saved the lives of fellow soldiers and distinguish him as representing the very best America’s military has to offer. Confronting the enemy, Cook put his own life on the line and fired shots at an oncoming suicide bomber. This quick, decisive move caused the car bomb to explode earlier than was intended. Cook’s fellow soldiers are alive today because of his bravery.

Today, Cook continues to provide valuable service to his fellow Americans, working as a nurse and emergency medical services coordinator and instructing classes on medical care.

The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel ran a nice piece about Cook and his heroism.

I am very pleased that the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, the largest annual wheelchair sports event in the world, takes place in the Milwaukee area now through June 23, 2007 with many events scheduled in the district I represent, Senate District 28.

The games feature multi-event sports for military veterans who use wheelchairs for sports competition because of spinal cord injuries, amputations, or certain neurological problems. More than 500 athletes are expected to compete.

Here is a website with more information, including the schedule of events.

There is a disturbing trend in states across America, including here in Wisconsin, as lawmakers toy with alternatives to prison as a means of alleviating overcrowding. Stateline.org reports prison construction continues to place more beds for inmates, but other creative measures are being explored, including revising sentences, earlier release dates, and shipping prisoners out of state.

State spending on prisons increased by 10 percent in America last fiscal year due to increasing prisoner populations, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. When it comes to spending by state governments, education and health care are at the top, followed by corrections.

The conventional wisdom around the country, according to Adam Gelb, project director of the Public Safety Performance Project is, more and more states are trying to cut back on corrections. “The more they spend on prisons, the less they have to spend on health, education and other priorities,” said Gelb.

Efforts to loosen sentences, release inmates early and place more inmates in rehabilitation programs come at a bad time. Advocates for change claim violent crime has been on a decline for many years. That may have been true up until recently.

ABC News reported this month that for the second year in a row, violent crime has increased. A Justice Department report cites a 1.3 percent increase in 2006. But robberies were up six percent, and murders in large cities also were up six percent.

James Fox, a professor at Northeastern University, said part of the problem is that "gangs have made a comeback, and they are particularly well organized."

"For years it has been very frustrating for those citizens and to the police when you hear all the press and media relations saying things are better, things are safer, and yet you have citizens still afraid to go to the grocery store," Officer Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of the D.C. Police Labor Committee, told ABC News.

So violent crime is trending upward, no time to start opening up the prison doors.

Supporters also point to the high cost of incarceration and the strain it puts on state budgets. Corrections is expensive. However, there’s a flip side to this coin, another piece of the equation that must be considered: the high cost of letting prisoners out and the toll it takes on victims of crime.

Crimes of rape, robbery, assault, personal and household theft, burglary, and motor vehicle theft cost victims of crime in America billions of dollars each year according to the U.S. Department of Justice. These costs include losses from property theft or damage, cash losses, medical expenses, and amount of pay lost because of injury or activities related to the crime.

The National Center for Victims of Crime also keeps crime statistics:

• Nearly 18 million violent and non-violent crime victimizations (77 percent of all victimizations) resulted in economic losses in 2002.
• Crime is estimated to create $105 billion in medical expenses, lost earnings, and costs for victim services. Factoring in the intangible costs, such as pain and suffering and a reduced quality of life, brings the total estimated cost of crime to $450 billion annually.
• Victims of violent crime and their families received benefits totaling $442.3 billion in federal fiscal year 2003. While California (the largest victim compensation program in the nation) experienced a drop of close to $43 million in fiscal year 2003, compensation in the other 51 jurisdictions (including Washington, DC, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico) grew by $26 million.
• Medical expenses were 48 percent of all victim compensation payments in 2003; economic support for lost wages for injured victims and for lost support in homicides comprised 21 percent of the total; and 12 percent went toward mental health counseling for crime victims.
• Reported burglaries resulted in an estimated monetary loss of $3.5 billion, with an estimated average of $1,626 per burglary.
• In 2003, the average value of property stolen due to larceny-theft was $698. Cumulatively, $4.9 billion in property was stolen.
• The average monetary value of motor vehicles stolen in 2003 was $6,797. The total value of stolen motor vehicles was $8.6 billion.
• The average dollar loss due to arson offenses was $11,942 per offense in 2003.
• Correctional authorities spend more than $38 billion to maintain the nation’s correctional systems in one year.

This legislative session, I serve on the state Senate’s Committee on Judiciary and Corrections. I have witnessed first-hand the sentiment that Wisconsin should cut back on Corrections, open the cell doors and let more prisoners go.

I’m not buying their argument that we cannot afford corrections. The fact is the state cannot afford not to put prisoners away.

Congratulations to Colonel Donald Dunbar of New Berlin on being selected by Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle to be the next Adjutant General of Wisconsin.

Dunbar is currently the Commander of the 128th Air Refueling Wing of Milwaukee.

The 128th has successfully supported many critical missions overseas, including Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, Pacific Tanker Task Force in Guam, and Iceland Tanker Task Force. The unit has also achieved its goals at home, giving aid to Hurricane Katrina Relief efforts and assisting in border patrols between the United States and Mexico.

Dunbar will assume his duties as Wisconsin’s Adjutant General on September 1, 2007. The Adjutant General is Wisconsin’s senior military officer and commander of the Wisconsin Air and Army National Guard. Dunbar will also be in charge of the Wisconsin Division of Emergency Management, that coordinates statewide preparations for enemy attack, natural and man-made disasters. The Adjutant General also acts as Wisconsin’s chief homeland security advisor and is the chairman of the Governor’s Homeland Security Council.

Dunbar’s command of over 900 personnel at the 128th Air Refueling Wing, and his maintaining the worldwide readiness of this special unit give him the skills and expertise to lead Wisconsin’s Air and Army National Guard. The state of Wisconsin and America at this crucial time in our history needs Dunbar’s military knowledge and guidance.

The city of New Berlin, the state of Wisconsin, and the entire country are very fortunate to benefit from his expertise and achievements. I am confident Dunbar will serve America well. I salute and congratulate Colonel Dunbar and wish him the very best as Wisconsin’s new Adjutant General.

A public hearing was held Monday at the state Capitol on a constitutional amendment I have co-sponsored to do away with the Frankenstein veto power of Wisconsin’s governor.

Senator Fred Risser (D-Madison) the chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics Reform and Government Operations says he’ll schedule a committee vote on the constitutional amendment by September. This means a full Senate vote could take place on the measure during the fall session of the Legislature.

Senator Risser’s hometown newspaper, the Wisconsin State Journal has been the most critical of the Senate Democrats’ obstruction of the constitutional amendment. Here is the latest Wisconsin State Journal editorial.

The time for delay is over. This abuse of the Governor’s veto authority must end.

The people of Wisconsin have spoken. They do not support Governor Doyle’s proposed tax on oil companies. An overwhelming majority of Wisconsin residents polled believe the tax will only be passed onto consumers in the form of higher gas prices.

The Madison-based Wood Communications Group conducted a recent statewide survey and found an astonishing 82 percent said the Governor’s tax on oil companies would result in an increase in prices at the pump.

The percentage is even higher for men ages 35-54 where 92 percent say consumers will suffer. Eighty-two percent of women ages 35-54 agree that consumers will end up paying higher gas prices.

Governor Doyle has proposed in his state budget a 2.5 percent gross receipts tax on oil companies. Doyle claims oil companies would be prohibited from passing the tax on to consumers. Serious questions have been raised about the constitutionality of the Governor’s proposal.

It is clear that Wisconsinites do not like this idea and it should be eliminated from the state budget.

Here is the Wood Communication Group’s press release on the survey.

Don’t look now but tax-crazy America could be taxing the Internet and your computer as early as this fall. That would mean taxes on e-mail, taxes on Internet shopping, and taxes on broadband connections.

State and local governments are pushing Congress for two dramatic changes: the power to charge sales taxes on Internet shopping, and the ability to impose new monthly taxes on DSL and other Net connections. The result could be an increase in tax collections in the billions of dollars.

One Republican advocating this new barrage of taxes, U.S. Senator Michael Enzi of Wyoming, has authored a bill to mandate sales tax collection on Internet purchases, one of the two areas targeted for higher taxes. Enzi threatens that without the mandate, other taxes like income or property taxes will shoot up to compensate for a loss of sales tax revenue.

Imposing sales taxes on Internet purchases would be difficult, given there are more than 7,500 tax agencies, each with different rules. Some rules consider Peanut butter Girl Scout cookies as candy but Thin Mints or Caramel deLites are classified as food.

Enzi and his pro-tax supporters say enacting the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement would simplify state sales tax laws. The concept is one that I oppose and recently blogged about.

Thankfully, there is opposition. U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, says he wants “an impregnable ban on taxes on the Internet." Jeff Dircksen, the director of congressional analysis at the National Taxpayers Union in Alexandria, Virginia said in testimony before a Congressional committee, "If such a system of extraterritorial collection is allowed, Congress will have opened the door to any number of potential tax cartels that will eventually harm rather than help taxpayers."

Another proposal in the House would allow a temporary ban on Internet access taxes to come to an end when the ban expires November 1, 2007. Access taxes are taxes that local and state governments charge to single out broadband or dial-up connections.

Suppose the temporary ban on access taxes goes away in November. That would literally open up a Pandora’s Box of taxes on consumers.

States and local units of government all across the country could then impose a battery of Internet access taxes. Consumers would receive a monthly Internet connection bill that would look very much like their telephone bill, containing line after line of confusing fees added on at the end. Those surcharges that are tacked on can make up as much as 20 percent, or one-fifth of the phone bill.

The Heartland Institute reports that the fees states impose on mobile phones, cable TV and landlines run far higher than state sales taxes at an average of 13.3 percent, cost the average household $264 a year, and total $41 billion annually.

That’s not all. U.S. Senator John Sununu, Republican of New Hampshire says if the ban on Internet access taxes is allowed to expire, you can expect taxes on e-mails.

It is interesting to note who is lobbying Congress hard to implement these vast changes: The National Governor’s Association (NGA). Governor Doyle is a member of the NGA Executive Committee and the NGA Economic Development and Commerce Committee.

If you oppose plans to tax the Internet, you should contact your Congressman and Senators Kohl and Feingold.

At the state level, the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel is reporting Revenue Secretary Roger Ervin has stated Wisconsin will join a multi-state campaign to make it easier to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases, the Streamlined Sales Tax.

I oppose the Streamlined Sales Tax because it is simply a tax increase on business and commerce that will cost the state millions of dollars. Read a column I wrote on the Streamlined Sales Tax last month.

The news about Wisconsin’s financial crisis keeps getting worse. The latest ominous report comes from the non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WTA).

The WTA says that, “according to Wisconsin’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or CAFR, the state ended the most recent fiscal year with a $2.15 billion deficit.”

You read that correctly: Wisconsin ended the most recent fiscal year $21.5 billion in the hole. The WTA says relative to population, Wisconsin has the largest deficit in the country.

Wisconsin is one of only three states suffering from red ink. Wednesday I wrote about Wisconsin’s budget woes while most of the rest of America is enjoying budget surpluses.

We have a very serious mess on our hands, and the WTA says it’s because of Wisconsin’s increasing debt load: “In 2002, general obligation, revenue, tobacco, and related bond debt for government activities equaled $4.13 billion. By 2006, the total was $8.99 billion, up 117% in four years.”

The outrageous debt we’ve accumulated affects our financial reputation. Thirty-four states have better bond ratings than Wisconsin. Only three states have lower ratings.

It does not get better. Governor Doyle's budget proposes over $2 billion in additional bond debt.

Unless we put an end to the tax and spend craze in our state, our fiscal crisis will only get worse.

You can read the entire WTA report here.