Here & Now

Rep. Steineke Reacts To State Of State Address

Frederica Freyberg:

Front and center in the part of the budget that pays for roads and highways will be the nearly billion dollar shortfall in the transportation fund. Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke says to fix that there has to be a long-term sustainable funding formula. He joins us from Green Bay. And very much for being here.

Jim Steineke:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is a long-term sustainable funding formula?

Jim Steineke:

Well we’ve got to figure something out because currently the way the transportation fund is structured 54% of our revenue comes from the gas tax. And that gas tax revenue has been relatively flat over the last ten years or so. It’s risen about 3% in real terms and our construction cost index has gone up 46.5%. It’s just not keeping up with demand based on the number of hybrids on the road. The number of electrics and (audio drop out) standards for cars that are out there. We need to fundamentally fix the formula.

Frederica Freyberg:

You'd like to see a boost in that?

Jim Steineke:

I'm not certain an increase in the gas tax is a long-term answer because like I said, it’s kind of a dwindling source. Over the course of the coming years we’re going to see higher and higher fuel standards, more and more electric cars on the road. So I think we have to figure something else out for the long term.

Frederica Freyberg:

Well, what kind of a box does it put assembly majority leadership in to have Governor Walker repeatedly talk about how he’s not raising taxes or fees to get there?

Jim Steineke:

Well, it’s difficult because we do want to see a long-term solution. I mean, if we just focus on what the governor is proposing, there isn’t really a fix there. All he does is (audio drop out) and delay maintenance out into the future, which is going to end up costing us more in the long run for those projects. And we’re going to end up spending about $200 million on southeast Wisconsin freeways alone just to patch them while we’re waiting to replace them. So I think it’s a waste of money that’s unnecessary. And if we fix the funding formula long-term, we can go ahead with those projects on time.

Frederica Freyberg:

But now the governor has launched an online petition and digital ad saying, “I remain opposed to increasing your taxes despite pressure from some to take more money from Wisconsin's working families.” As the pressure from some he’s talking about from you and Speaker Vos, do you suppose, in particular?

Jim Steineke:

Well, we’re not talking about — yeah. We’re not talking about raising taxes or fees right off the bat. What we want to do is on the front end we want to save as much (audio drop out) possibly can, make sure every taxpayer dollar is being spent wisely. But then if there’s a gap between that and the construction and maintenance needs, we do need to figure out a way to fund it. I think conservatives believe that it’s more conservative to pay for things as you go rather than delay the costs and make them worse in the future or, worse yet, bond for them. And that’s one of the things that we’ve seen over the course of the last few years. We’ve been bonding a lot for transportation. We’ve taken transportation bonding from about 10 or 11 cents on the dollar up to almost 20 now. And the governor’s proposed budget takes it up to 24 cents on the dollar heading towards 30. It’s just not a conservative solution in our mind.

Frederica Freyberg:

So now another budget item the governor spoke to in his address had to do with the UW.

Scott Walker:

Our 2017 through 2019 state budget will do more than just freeze tuition. We will actually cut — that’s right — cut tuition for all Wisconsin undergraduates throughout the UW system.

[Applause]

Frederica Freyberg:

So, Representative Steineke, what’s your reaction to cutting tuition with the budget backfilling that to pay for it?

Jim Steineke:

Listen I've been a big proponent of the tuition freeze over the last four years. I think that’s really important. We have to do what we can to keep college education affordable in this state. I think to a large extent we’ve done that. (audio drop out) Some of the reforms that we’ve made and the tuition freeze, the average student is saving about $6,000 over the course of a four-year term. So that’s important. The devil’s kind of in the details on what the governor’s proposing. I’m a little concerned that we’re shifting taxpayer dollars away from general fund revenue into the university system to make up for that tuition cut because we have a lot of priorities we need to invest in, whether that’s k-12 education, the correction system and a number of other things that the budget needs to fund.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, I’ve read that Speaker Vos is worried that this proposal leads Wisconsin down the Bernie Sanders route of free college. Do you agree with that?

Jim Steineke:

Well, I don’t know — you know, obviously I don’t think the governor believes in eventually ending up (audio drop out) where we’re giving free college to any student that wants to come. But it does concern me that we’re transferring more general fund revenue into the university system just to offset tuition cuts. The university system compared to its peers is already a pretty good bargain for the in-state residents in Wisconsin, so I think a tuition freeze is reasonable, but I think backfilling a tuition cut with general fund revenue is concerning to me.

Frederica Freyberg:

We leave it there. Thanks for joining us.

Jim Steineke:

Thanks for having me.