MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) — Now that the Governor has the budget bill on his desk, he has to review it and decide what, if any, vetoes he will make before signing it Sunday.
State Senator Jerry Petrowski says the document is large, but Governor Scott Walker has been keeping up with the contents of the budget and the changes throughout the process, so he’s certain Walker already knows what he’s going to do for most issues. “He has been looking at the budget. I know that he had looked through it probably last week. I know that he was looking at the budget that we were going to take up on Monday (7/6) and then he looked at the changes that we had. He also had looked at last week, the last motion that they had in Joint Finance, so I think he had a pretty good idea on the things that he’d like to veto.”
Petrowski, like many legislators, citizens, lobbyists, and advocacy groups, has offered Scott Walker a list of suggestions for items he would like to see a full or partial veto on.
The Marathon Republican says one of the items on his list concerns the expansion of services for payday loan businesses. “One of the things I’ve asked the Governor to veto is the expansion of payday lending authority. He’s given the authority for payday lenders to have insurance, and kind of operate in banking. I don’t think we need that.”
Another item now in the budget that makes no sense to Senator Petrowski would give money back to tobacco producers. “There’s an increase in the cigarette manufacturer’s discount that’s going to cost of probably over a million dollars over the biennium. Somehow, I think there’s a better place that we could utilize that million dollars.”
Governor Walker has not commented on what items in the budget he will veto or partially veto.
The budget signing ceremony is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, the day before he makes his Presidential campaign official. Walker is scheduled to discuss several issues Monday morning on the Jerry Bader show.
(Listen to our interview with Senator Jerry Petrowski on our website, here. The interview covers several topics including options for the Towns of Maine and Texas working with the Village of Brokaw, budget issues, and veto wishes.)