MADISON… State Sen. André Jacque (R-De Pere) today released the following statement in response to the State Senate’s passage of AB 245:
“I have long championed efforts to eliminate unfunded mandates and empower local spending decisions. Unfortunately, today’s vote will result in missed opportunities that will foreclose prospects for future reforms and represents a step backward from initial agreements that would have ended the duplicity of the falsely labeled “Police and Fire Protection Fee”, funded critical public safety communications, and doubled law enforcement training reimbursement while ensuring voter consent for on the imposition of sales tax hikes. Over the last several weeks, these provisions were gradually stripped from the package behind closed doors, taking it further and further away from a place that would have my vote.
It is extremely disappointing that needed reforms to the state shared revenue formula have been held hostage to backroom deals that ostensibly bail out Milwaukee after decades of fiscal mismanagement – while at the same time allowing for continued wasteful spending and social engineering. In the end, that was too high a price to pay for me to support this legislation.”
