Republicans this afternoon were working on a package of veto assurances to win the final votes needed in the state Senate to send the budget to the guv’s desk.

Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and one of three GOP senators who issued a list of demands this week to win their support for the budget, said the vetoes he and others are seeking would be “significant.”

If the package is finalized, he said, it would be enough to secure the final votes needed. If the deal does not materialize, though, he said Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, would be short of the 17 votes he needs for final passage.

Nass declined to detail the vetoes being sought other than acknowledging they came off the list of demands he issued along with GOP Sens. Chris Kapenga, of Delafield, and Duey Stroebel, of Saukville.

Fitzgerald needs the support of at least one of those three with a 20-13 majority and Sen. Dave Craig, of Big Bend, expected to vote against the budget.

“It will make it a much better budget,” Nass said.

That list the three released this week includes moving up a planned repeal of the prevailing wage on state projects. The budget as now drafted would wipe it out Sept. 1, 2018. The list from the three Republicans sought having that moved up to Jan. 1.

They also called for deleting language the Joint Finance Committee added to the budget that would pre-empt local regulations of quarries that produce material for road and construction work.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, was not available this afternoon, a spokeswoman said. The guv’s office declined comment on negotiations.

 

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