Barca Critical of State Budget, Addresses Issues at Listening Session

Only three residents - plus three members of the media - attended Rep. Peter Barca's listening session Monday, but he was unfazed by the low turnout.

"So much has changed in the last few days (with the state budget), I thought people might want to participate in a more casual discussion instead of a couple of hours of testimony," he said, explaining why he was having listening sessions.

During a middle-of-the-night vote last week, lawmakers on the JFC in Madison hammered out a preliminary budget that will go to both the Assembly and the Senate sometime next week for debate.

Barca, D-Kenosha, is the minority leader in the Assembly, and during his visit Monday to Mount Pleasant Village Hall, he focused on four primary points of the state budget:

Healthcare: Barca called Gov. Scott Walker's refusal of federal funds to expand Badgercare "one of the worst decisions made in a generation." He said that 175,000 more people would have been covered "in a robust way."

To bolster his point, Barca said that expanding Badgercare would have created 10,500 jobs and even "if that's overstating it by double, what other industry is going to create 5,250 jobs almost overnight?"

He's hoping more moderate Republicans like Senator Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, step up to oppose the governor's position. 

"If we don't accept this money, taxpayers and business owners will pay more," Barca said.

Education: Barca is steadfastly against the statewide expansion of vouchers because, he said, it takes more money away from public schools which leads to increased class sizes and reduced course offerings.

"The good news is that we increased per-pupil spending by $150, but the bad news is we don't think that will help much," he said.

Resident Mike Fulton asked if the special education vouchers are still in the budget, and Barca confirmed they are not but that he fully expects a separate bill to be drafted.

"And that's appropriate," he added. "This is something that should be debated separately."

As for the tax credit for families who send their kids to private schools, Barca thinks that definition is too narrow. He would like to see it expanded to include parents who choose to pay for enhanced services like tutors or camps that specialize in science and math.

"Why reward parents for this one decision?" he said. "Why not make it broader to include services like tutors and camps or early college classes that help enhance a child's God-given talent?"

Barca said there are factors related to vouchers that should be debated including standardized tests for every student at every school, public and private, to be sure everyone is accountable to the same standards and making sure private schools, if they take public money, also have to take every student who comes to their door to mirror the requirement of public schools.

Tax Policy: Barca basically called the new budget a sell-out, leaving middle class families holding the bag while wealthier residents get the tax breaks.

"The governor wanted to use part of the state surplus to provide income tax relief, but what's really objectionable is that even independent fiscal studies state that those making $300,000, let's say, they get the better deal," he stated.

Instead of cutting the bottom tax rate so everyone benefits, Barca argued, Walker instead collapsed the middle rate so people making $22,000 a year pay the same as people making $220,000 a year.

"This is far different than what the governor stated as his goal of tax relief for the middle class," he said. "If the goal is to give tax relief to the middle class, we are going in the opposite direction with this budget."

Tax breaks for businesses, on the other hand, is something Barca supports as long as lawmakers stick to the rules of credits only for created jobs.

"The refundable jobs credit leads directly to job creation," he said.

Economic Development: One of the most important aspect to kicking our state economy back into gear is the need for job training. Barca said he participated in talks with CEOs from around the stated, and their most important issues is job training.

"There are probably 40,000 to 50,000 jobs in the state of Wisconsin that are going unfilled because potential workers don't have the job training," he said. 

In addition to enhancing the refundable jobs credit, Barca wants legislators to also restore funding for the state's technical colleges that most often provide the job training programs workers need.