Contact:
Anne Lupardus, Office of the Governor, 608-261-2612
Legislators Must Take Action on $6 Million Assistance for Working Families
Governor Jim Doyle today called a Special Session of the Wisconsin Legislature for February 14, 2006 to take action on the $6 million emergency energy assistance package for working families that he announced in his State of the State Address. The bill would make families making up to $40,000 eligible for heating assistance this winter.
“Working families in Wisconsin are getting squeezed by the high price of heating their homes, and it is time for the Legislature to take action,” Governor Doyle said. “Families who face heating bills that are 50 percent higher this year can’t afford to wait any longer. I am asking the Legislature to do their jobs, so that working Wisconsin families can get some relief.”
Governor Doyle called on the Legislature to pass this emergency relief in his State of the State Address on January 17. The matter was expected to be considered at the January 25 meeting of the Joint Finance Committee, but Republican leaders pulled the issue from the agenda, and the Legislature adjourned last week without taking any action. Republicans also defeated an attempt to bring the Governor’s proposal up for a vote on the floor of the Assembly on January 26.
The legislation that Governor Doyle is sending the Legislature would provide an estimated 30,000 Wisconsin families with desperately needed assistance this year. While state and federal energy assistance is currently available only to families making under 150 percent of the federal poverty level, this bill would extend assistance to those making up to 206 percent of the federal poverty level – or $40,000 a year for a family of four. The state Department of Administration estimates that a typical family would receive $200 to $300 in assistance.
“Since the Legislature has refused to take action, I am using my constitutional authority as Governor to put this issue on their agenda,” Governor Doyle said. “Two- or three-hundred dollars might not be a lot to political types in Madison, but it will mean a great deal to working families in this state who are getting pinched by record energy prices.”
The legislation would be funded by excess gasoline taxes that are currently designated to the Petroleum Inspection Fund but are not expected to be used in this biennium because claim volume in the program has declined at a faster rate than earlier anticipated. The Wisconsin State Budget Office estimates that the fund will have a $27 million surplus by June 30, 2007, more than four times what is needed to fund this emergency assistance for hardworking Wisconsin families.
A copy of the legislation is available at: http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid=5984.
A memo from the State Budget Office detailing the surplus in the Petroleum Inspection Fund is available at: http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid=5985.
