The legislature's powerful joint finance committee will begin work this week on the governor's budget proposal.
This is the week when cabinet secretaries appear before the finance panel to brief lawmakers on the governor's plans for state agencies. First up Tuesday is Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, whose office is in charge of putting together the governor's budget for the next two years. Among agencies up on Wednesday is the Department of Corrections. And on Thursday, two of the most controversial pieces of the governor's budget will get an airing as the University of Wisconsin and the Department of Public Instruction appear before the finance committee. Walker's budget calls for splitting off the UW-Madison from the system, a move other campuses don't like. It also calls for deep reductions to K-12 education spending, although the governor says his collective bargaining plan would help districts offset those cuts.
The first public hearings on the budget will start next week, on April 7 at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and on April 8 in Minong. The week after that there are hearings scheduled at State Fair Park in West Allis and in Arcadia. No hearings were scheduled at the state capitol building itself, which remains under tighter than usual security.
