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2007-2009 State Biennial Budget

Governor Doyle submitted his 2007-2009 State Biennial Budget Proposal to the Wisconsin State Legislature in February. The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee held public hearings in the spring and are currently working on the governor’s proposal, with the expecation it will be amended and approved by mid-summer.

If you have any questions about the RR Program's or DNR's portions of the state budget, please contact Mark Giesfeldt (608.267.7562).

For more information on State Biennial Budgets, specific statutory language and other related RR Program information, please click on the following links:

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Past Issues in the Wisconsin State Budget

2005-2007 State Budget

The following chart provides a comparison between Governor Doyle’s and Joint Finance’s proposals regarding the Remediation and Redevelopment (RR) Program. The Legislature approved Joint Finance's version of the RR program's budget as it appears in the chart, and, in signing the budget, Governor Doyle did not veto any of the RR program budget items forwarded by Joint Finance and the Legislature.

Governor Doyle’s Budget Proposals Joint Finance Committee’s Budget Proposals
Vehicle Impact Fee: Elimination of the sunset date for the vehicle impact fee; money for the fee goes toward the state’s Environmental Fund, which is used to fund a host of DNR programs and initiatives, including RR Program staff, Commerce and DNR brownfields grants and programs; elimination of the sunset date would allow the state to continue to collect the fee, currently set at $9 for all cars purchased. This would establish long-term, more stable funding for the program. Vehicle Impact Fee: JFC agreed to continue the $9 per vehicle environmental impact fee to December 31, 2007, but not to eliminate the sunset date. This means the state brownfield initiative will have stable funding for an additional two years for the DNR’s Brownfields Site Assessment Grant (SAG) Program ($1.7 million annually); Greenspace and Public Facility Grant Program ($500,000 annually); Commerce Brownfield Grant Program ($7 million annually); and staff to support brownfields and other related program activities.
Environmental Repair Bonding: $3 million in bonding authority (through general obligation bonds) to fund investigations and remediation actions at contaminated properties, including brownfields and those properties with no viable responsible parties. Environmental Repair Bonding: JFC agreed to authorize the $3 million in bonding authority proposed by the governor to fund investigations and remediation actions at contaminated properties.
Brownfield Grant Funding: Continued funding of the DNR’s Brownfield SAG program at $3.4 million for the biennium; the Green Space grant program at $1 million; and Commerce’s brownfields grants at $14 million. Brownfield Grant Funding: By continuing the $9 per vehicle environmental impact fee, funding for these programs will continue for at least the next two years at the same dollar amounts the governor proposed (please see “Vehicle Impact Fee” above).
Drycleaner Environmental Response Fund (DERF): Authorization to access an additional $1 million for DERF; the DERF is funded through a fee paid by drycleaners and used to investigate and cleanup contamination at drycleaner sites; since reimbursement claims currently outstrip funds available; the proposal would access additional funds already paid into the DERF. Drycleaner Environmental Response Fund (DERF): JFC authorized $1.55 million increased spending authority to address the unmet backlog for the DERF, slightly more than what the governor proposed.
Position Funding Transfer: Several recommendations were made by the governor:
  1. move 5.5. full-time employee (FTE) positions from the General Purpose Revenue (GPR) to Environmental Segregated (ENV SEG) funding;
  2. move 3.0 full time employee ( FTE ) positions and associated funding from Program Revenue (PR) to Environmental Segregated (ENV SEG ) funds to reflect insufficient fee revenue;
  3. eliminate 10 vacant ENV SEG FTE positions in the RR Program; and
  4. combine appropriations for program revenue fees and GIS-related fees to simplify program accounting.
 Position Funding Transfer:J FC agreed to all four position transfers proposed by the governor.
General Account Fund Transfer: The governor included a transfer of funds from the Environmental Management Account to the General Account to balance the fund, with no impact on the RR Program. General Account Fund Transfer: Joint Finance agreed with the funding transfer proposed by the governor

2003-2005 State Budget

During the 2003-05 state budget debate the Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) voted to reduce appropriations and bonding authority for spill response, emergency actions and state-financed environmental cleanups. The committee moved to extend the sunset of the vehicle impact fee and retain the fee at current levels. The committee also made significant reductions to staff and funding in DNR's Air and Waste Division, including the RR Program. The JFC also rejected the governor's proposal to consolidate all brownfield grant programs into one program at DNR. Instead, the committee maintained existing brownfield grants in Commerce and DNR at the same levels as last year.

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Past Brownfields Issues

The last three Wisconsin state budgets contained many changes and new provisions which improve the Wisconsin's Brownfields Initiative. The budget bills included additional funding, statutory changes, and new programs that relate to brownfields and environmental cleanup.

The following documents describe the changes in previous biennial budgets:

For more information on the brownfields issues in past budgets and the proposed budget look at the Brownfields Study Group web page or please contact Michael Prager (608.261.4927).

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For more information on this specific page, contact:

Andrew Savagian
608.261.6422

Last Revised: Monday September 15 2008