ALEC State Budget Reform Toolkit

Mega summary:  Enjoy paying a dime each time you back out of your driveway or turn on your tap, because I believe ultimately Walker may push to privatize state parks, water services, and public roads.

link:
http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=State_Budget_Reform_Toolkit&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15218

pdf:
http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/tax/Budget_toolkit.pdf

summary:
"Today, states face structural deficits created by overspending. Most of the legislative “fixes” over the past few years for state budget gaps have merely postponed or obscured the problems rather than addressing them directly.  ALEC's State Budget Reform Toolkit will advance a set of budget and procurement best practices to guide state policymakers as they work to solve the current budget shortfalls, assisting legislators in prioritizing and more efficiently delivering core government services through advancing Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty."

Remember, this series to meant to expose "What's next" with respect to sweeping Conservative legislation being mirrored throughout US States.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130891396

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page 5, an outline of this document.

Seems like in Wisconsin we conveniently skipped over 'Tools to Modernize State Budgeting' and 'Tools to Improve Budget Transparency' and skipped right to 'Tools to Control Costs and Improve Government Efficiency'.  I believe bypassing 'Tools to Improve Budget Transparency' was critical in bringing in 100,000 protestors.

page 6;
me> I agree with the nearly all aspects of the introduction, but I think balancing the federal budget, and therefore state budget, while ignoring the negative aspects of globalization is short sighted

page 7; Introduces 'Priority-based budgeting', which they claim means state officials and citizens must first determine the core functions of government. 

me> The problem is that 'citizens' are being left out of the discussion as mandates are laid down!  The budget has already been decided, there will be no critical changes.  "We're Broke" is the most articulate our Governor has been.  That is not leading, that is following a think tank.

page 15: State—Priorities of Government Budgeting Model; example from Washington.

Applied to Wisconsin, it's clear Walker's budget is not prioritized properly.

* Improve student achievement in elementary, middle, and high schools.
> We hear about revenue cuts and 'tools' needed to deal with it [layoffs and reduction of benefits], but how will this improve student achievement?

* Improve the value of postsecondary learning.
> How does cutting money and making the school less accessible improve 'value'?

* Improve the health of [state] citizens.
> We hear about cuts to Medicaid and loosening of enviornmental regulations.  Walker's budget proposal also includes rolling back funding support for the Wisconsin local food movement.  How does this improve the health of Wisconsin citizens?

* Improve the security of [the state's] vulnerable children and adults.
> How does cutting funding to badgercare produce this?  In Michigan's case, how does removing a tax credit on pensions do this?

* Improve the quality of [the states] natural resources.
> How does eliminating clean water and recycling programs do this?  How does providing tax incentives for wetland development promote this?

page 18> How can one promote an item reduction veto policy yet promote budget transparency??  In Wisconsin the Governor can veto individual letters or numbers in legislation to make a new law.  The Frankstein vote is terrible and needs to removed ASAP, not congratulated.  Again, -shame- on Doyle for not getting rid of this monster.

page 21b> To help facilitate public involvement, legislators should adopt a 72-hour timeout period once a tax or spending bill is introduced or amended, and before hearings or legislative votes occur.

me> Yet in states across our nation including Wisconsin and Utah, Conservative majorites either have attempted or have succesfully rammed through legislation is less than 24 hours!

page 23> beginning of the cost control options.  Let's see what has been enacted and what things are left out.

1) Freeze state hiring: done
2) Reform state pensions: proposed/in progress

I believe there is an entire document on this that I will look at later.  Remember; the ETF is well funded.

  *capping off the existing pension system and forming a defined-contribution system for all new employees.

  - pension will likely be turned into a voluntary 401k

  * State policymakers can also consider capping off pension ballooning in state employees’ final years of service.
  me> Yes, I agree this one should be done

3) Restructure State Retiree Health Care Plans; I looked at that here:

http://mdhare.blogspot.com/2011/03/shoulda-took-and-ran-like-steve-miller.html

4) Eliminate Positions Vacant More Than Six Months: not yet proposed as far as I know, maybe it is
5) Delay Automatic Pay Increases [Done: linked to a -maximum- of inflation, in fact, one could argue that the legislation mandates our pay to go down when adjusted to inflation from this point moving forward]

..
skipped a few here
..

6) Embrace the Expanded Use of Privatization and Competitive Contracting.  Oh boy, just wait until you see how 250,000 private sector jobs are created by destroying public sector ones.  A race to see who can offer their employees the least pay to reach the lowest bid contacts, hurrah!  Here are a list of things recommended for privitization

* Highway design and maintenance. [appalling, physical mobility is still -the- basis to our economy]
* Building repair and maintenance.
* Vehicle fleet operations, maintenance, and ownership.
* Information technology [ usually fails hard, I work in this industry]
* Administrative support services (e.g., HR, payroll,accounting, mail, printing, etc.).
* Risk management (e.g., claims processing, loss prevention services).
* Facilities financing, operations, and maintenance.
* Park operations and maintenance. [good god]

# this one is in progress
* Corrections and mental health (facility operations and management; health care, medical and food services).

# I joked about this, but the privitization of any of the below services is a kick to the face for a society
* Core infrastructure (roads/transit, water, etc.).

* Engineering services.
* Welfare-to-work programs.

# in progress
* Child care, child welfare, and adoption programs.

# in progress
* Juvenile rehabilitation.

# And lately, because getting the answer you want to hear is always better than the answer you should hear.
* Environmental lab analysis.

7) Establish a State Privatization and Efficiency Council
> in progress/done, given the privitazation of the department of commerce.  Expect the newly formed agency to reward privatization contracts on major municipal services to carry out the above list.

Expect multi million dollar taxpayer grants to privitize delivery of our water.  Do you expect impartial water quality reports on contaminents from a private lab analysis company from a private water service company who, by definition of unregulated capitalism, puts quarterly profit above all else?

8) Create a Statewide Real Property Inventory and Search the Balance Sheet for Asset Sale and Lease Opportunities
me> in progress [power plants, etc]

So, the big kicker I see coming next is wait until you see what Walker attempts to privatize.  The list will likely include

1) Our State Parks
2) Our water services
3) Our public roads

I'm sorry, but that's just way too far.  I can't wait to vacation to "Devil's Lake State Park, a divison of Koch Industries", pay a $15 highway fee to get there, another fee to walk on the bluffs and pay $2/pint for water to drink while there.

More on water services in my next post.