Republicans in the state Legislature introduced the Job Creation Act of 2003 Tuesday, which is a plan to reform environmental regulations and procedures, allowing more job opportunities for Wisconsin residents.
Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, and Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, introduced the bill in their respective houses. The plan streamlines the procedures of Wisconsin regulatory agencies, making it easier to create jobs in the state.
Steve Baas, Gard's press secretary, said while the economy is improving, too much regulation is slowing Wisconsin's recovery.
\The problem here in Wisconsin is that we find ourselves at a competitive disadvantage,"" he said. ""As the national economy rebounds and speeds up, we're lagging behind, because when people are looking to create new jobs or expand existing jobs within the recovering economy, we don't match up very competitively with the other states around this nation because of our regulatory climate.""
Gard added that critics who accuse the bill of weakening environmental laws should notice the environment in Minnesota has not been destroyed under similar reforms.
""Most of the reforms here are based on Minnesota, and I don't think even the most extreme environmentalists in this state would accuse Minnesota of being a poster child for environmental degradation,"" he said. ""These are reforms in process, not reforms that weaken standards.""
While Republicans say they needed a lot of time to prepare the bill, some Democrats are angry that the act was introduced with only two days left in the legislative session, giving them little time to read and form an opinion on the bill.
According to Rep. Dan Schoof, D-Beloit, the late introduction of the bill shows the Republicans do not have their act together.
""They figured out that what people really wanted to be talking about is the economy, so they put this together at the last minute,"" he said.
Doyle press secretary Dan Leistikow said he thinks the bill has been delayed by partisan issues.
""It certainly would have been better to have seen this bill much earlier, but the Republicans have been focused a lot more on allowing concealed weapons onto college campuses than creating jobs,"" he said.
Leistikow added that while Doyle agrees with many of the aims of the legislation, he will not go along with presumptive approval, where a permit is automatically approved after not being acted upon for a set number of days.
