Ross Hunter

Month: February 2011

  • State Employee Compensation and Benefits

    There was a great article in the Sunday Seattle Times about state worker compensation that lays out some of the issues we face in doing the budget this year. Wisconsin’s state capital is in flames (not really, but figuratively) because the governor proposes requiring employees to contribute 12.8% of the cost of the premiums for…

  • Cougars, Wolves and other bills

    There are a number of bills this year from rural legislators that propose to allow hunting of wolves and cougars. In particular three bills about wolves: 1107: Preparing for the epidemiological consequences of diseases related to wolf populations 1108: Concerning the state’s management of wolves. 1109: Concerning legislative review of gray wolf conservation and management.…

  • Supplemental Budget Action

    Today the House and Senate passed a bipartisan supplemental budget bill that sets us up to finish the 2010 fiscal year (ending in June 2011) in the black. In December we faced a $1.2 billion shortfall between expected revenue and expected expenses and solved $588 million of the problem. We solved another $367 million today,…

  • HB1668 – Paid Signature Gatherer Registration

    HB1668 – Paid Signature Gatherer Registration

    Those of you who wrote to me from all over the state asking me to not support HB 1668 (which required paid signature gatherers to register with the Secretary of State) will be happy to know that it never came up for a vote and consequently didn’t pass out of committee. This happens every year…

  • Education Bills

    Many PTA parents have written in about a number of bills and I’m consolidating my responses in one post. The critical decisions we make about education this year will be how we decide to move forward with a long-term budget strategy. We need to decide as a state if we are going to live up…