Kelly: Today's Legal Ruling Blocks Wisconsin “Budget Law”

From the March 18 edition of Fox News' America Live:

KELLY: Fox News alert. On the docket today in Kelly's Court, an emergency hearing on a legal ruling that blocks Wisconsin's new budget law that cracks down on collective bargaining in the state. The Democratic district attorney in Dane County, Wisconsin, filed a lawsuit last week claiming Republicans broke the law when they called a meeting to vote on that union bill without giving 24 hours' notice to the Democrats. [Fox News, America Live, 3/18/11]

America Live Chyron Also Calls Wisconsin Bill A Budget Law. For the duration of a segment on the court ruling, the Fox News chyron read: “Wisconsin Judge Temporarily Halts Controversial Budget Law.” [Fox News, America Live, 3/18/11]

In Fact, WI GOP Stripped Spending Provisions Out Of The “Budget Law”

State Assembly Can't Legally Pass Bills Including Fiscal Measures Without A Quorum Of At Least 20 Present. From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

From Feb. 17 until Wednesday, the Senate Democrats were able to block a vote on the original version of the bill because the state constitution requires 20 senators to be present for bills that authorize spending money. Republicans control the house 19-14. [The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, 3/10/11]

Wisconsin Republicans Stripped Fiscal Measures From Original Bill So It Wouldn't Require A Quorum. From The Washington Post:

Senate Republicans abruptly passed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's plan to sharply curtail collective-bargaining rights for public employees Wednesday night, using a legislative maneuver to approve the measure without 14 Democratic senators who fled the state in an effort to block it.

After stripping the bill of fiscal measures that require a 20-member quorum for action, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate passed the collective-bargaining measure. Analysts say the legislation would cripple most of the state's public employee unions. [The Washington Post, 3/10/11]

National Journal: Walker's Proposed Anti-Union Measures “Wouldn't Save Any Money This Year.” From a February 23 National Journal article:

The state's entire budget shortfall for this year -- the reason that Walker has said he must push through immediate cuts -- would be covered by the governor's relatively uncontroversial proposal to restructure the state's debt.

By contrast, the proposals that have kicked up a firestorm, especially his call to curtail the collective-bargaining rights of the state's public-employees, wouldn't save any money this year.

“What we're asking for is modest, at least to those of us outside of government,” Walker said in a televised address Tuesday night.

In January, the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that the state would face a $137 million shortfall before the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The governor's budget repair bill proposes a debt restructuring that would save the state $165 million in the near term, more than covering the shortfall.

The legislation would also borrow money from a federal welfare program to cover further state shortfalls, and it includes a provision that would allow the sale of the state's public utilities without a bidding process or public oversight.

While public unions have agreed to almost $30 million in pay cuts this year if they can keep their bargaining rights, Walker and other Republicans argue that restrictions on union bargaining are necessary to maintain the cuts over time. [National Journal, 2/23/11]

AP: Wisconsin GOP Still Has Not Passed Those Fiscal Provisions From Actual Budget Law. From The Associated Press:

A Wisconsin judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state's new and contentious collective bargaining law from taking effect, raising the possibility that the Legislature may have to vote again to pass the bill.

Lawmakers had approved Gov. Scott Walker's measure last week, breaking a three-week stalemate caused by 14 Senate Democrats fleeing to Illinois. Demonstrations against the measure, which would strip most public workers of nearly all their collective bargaining rights, grew as large as 85,000 people.

[...]

The bill was part of Walker's solution for plugging a $137 million state budget shortfall. A part of the measure would require state workers to increase their health insurance and pension contributions to save the state $30 million by July 1. Other parts of Walker's original proposal to address the budget shortfall were removed before the bill passed last week. The Legislature planned to take those up later. [The Associated Press, 3/18/11]