On Monday, the Assembly Special Committee on Clean Energy Jobs will hold its second and final public hearing on Governor Doyle’s Global Warming Bill. The 174-page proposal means steep increases in electricity bills, the price of a gallon of gas and the cost of a new car. The only cost-benefit analysis of the governor’s bill conducted to date puts the price tag at $20 billion and 43,000 Wisconsin jobs lost.
On January 14, I joined the other two Republicans on the 10-member committee, Reps. Phil Montgomery (R-Ashwaubenon) and Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford), in a request that one public hearing be dedicated to a cost-benefit analysis of the bill. The request wasn’t rejected by the co-chairs; it was simply never acknowledged.
Two weeks ago, Reps. Montgomery and Gunderson and I submitted a number of written questions to the co-chairs that we believe must be answered before committee members can cast an informed vote on the bill. We sought more information about the cost to consumers, the impact on Wisconsin’s economy and the data behind the governor’s promise of 15,000 new jobs if the bill becomes law. The chairs have yet to acknowledge our correspondence.
Wisconsin has lost 176,000 jobs since the recession began and the stakes are too high to jeopardize more for a promise of so-called green jobs that can’t be verified. Too many questions remain unanswered to rush the governor’s bill to a vote. If his plan is good for Wisconsin, he and lead authors Rep. Spencer Black (D-Madison) and Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona) have nothing to fear from an economic analysis and a sincere discussion about concerns that have been raised.
To that end, this week we posed several questions to three Doyle Administration officials who are promoting the global warming legislation: Secretary of Commerce Dick Leinenkugel, Secretary of Natural Resources Matt Frank and Public Service Commission Chair Eric Callisto. Rep. Montgomery, Rep. Gunderson and I asked Secretary Frank for more data about the bill’s impact on gasoline and automobile prices and we asked Chair Callisto for more data about the cost to utilities and electric consumers. We offered suggestions to Secretary Leinenkugel who echoed claims of 15,000 new jobs but who has also promised an independent cost-benefit analysis.
The governor’s bill was drafted in secret for nearly a year by a handful of Democrat lawmakers. The two committee meetings held on the bill – a briefing from legislative attorneys in January and the recent public hearing – amounted to little more than a formality. Rep. Black has said amendments will be adopted but hasn’t shared those with me, Rep. Montgomery or Rep. Gunderson although we have raised the most questions and expressed the gravest concerns. I am hopeful that Secretaries Frank and Leinenkugel and Chair Callisto will endeavor to answer the questions Rep. Black has dismissed. If they don’t, none of the committee members – no matter their party affiliation – can be expected to vote for a proposal while in the dark about its impact on their constituents.
Click here to read the press release issued by me, Rep. Montgomery and Rep. Gunderson this week.
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