The Legislature today voted today to give Tony Evers until Feb. 28 to deliver his budget address, short of the extension the guv wanted until March 5.

The changed cleared the Senate 29-3, while the vote was 95-0 in the Assembly.

Ahead of the Senate vote, Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, thought the guv’s request was “too far out.”

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011-13 budget was the latest introduced since at least 1979. It was delivered on March 1, the first Tuesday of the month.

Evers had pointed to that in requesting March 5, noting it also was the first Tuesday of March.

Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, called the decision to reject Evers’ request “petty.” She suggested Republicans should wake up every morning and practice in the mirror saying, “My party doesn’t control everything anymore.”

“The sooner you come to that realization, maybe we can get back on track to be problem solvers,” Shilling said.

On the floor, Fitzgerald noted the dates budgets have been introduced in recent years and said Feb. 28 wasn’t out of line, adding he didn’t believe Evers would have any problem meeting the deadline.

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