Highlights of vetoes by Governor Doyle

MADISON (AP) - Highlights of the 81 vetoes issued Monday by Gov. Jim Doyle to the two-year, $62 billion state budget passed last week by the Legislature:

FILM TAX BREAKS: The 1-year-old film tax break program, credited with helping to land the Johnny Depp gangster film "Public Enemies," will not be as generous as lawmakers wanted. A revamped tax break program would have had $1.5 million a year for qualified projects under the Legislature's budget, but Doyle reduced it to $500,000 a year, the amount he proposed in his original budget released in February. The current program has no limit.

EARMARKS: Doyle cut funding for pet projects including $50,000 for a new playground in the town of Beloit, $200,000 for the Milwaukee Public Museum and $25,000 a year for a domestic abuse center in Merrill that serves five counties. Other pet projects remained, including $46,000 for new recycling bins in the town of Wrightstown and $500,000 to renovate an opera house in Oshkosh.

EARLY RELEASE: The Department of Corrections, not judges, will be able to determine whether people on probation who have served less than half their term can be discharged from probation. Doyle also allowed more inmates to qualify for the new early release program by expanding eligibility to those who committed certain offenses and who already have been sentenced, instead of only those who are convicted after the law takes effect.

MILWAUKEE COUNTY: The state's largest county would not be able to levy up to a 0.65 percent sales tax to pay for buses and public safety. Doyle said he objected to the increase because it did not advance the goal of building regional transit systems across the state. He let stand such a system for Milwaukee, Kenosha and Racine counties along with a new $18 car rental tax to pay for commuter rail. However, Doyle urged that the counties not impose the entire amount during the early planning stages that won't be as expensive as when a commuter line connecting the three southeast Wisconsin cities is constructed.

REGIONAL TRANSIT: Regional transit authorities created to help develop high-speed rail systems and make other transportation improvements will be created in the Chippewa Valley, the Chequamegon Bay region, Dane County and southeast Wisconsin. However, Doyle vetoed requirements that there be a local vote approving any sales tax increases to pay for those improvements before they take effect.

RADIO TOWERS: Burnett County will not be allowed to raise sales taxes up to 0.5 percent to pay for new radio towers.

CAR INSURANCE: The new requirement that all drivers in Wisconsin have liability insurance remains, but the mandatory amount of coverage drivers would have to purchase would only increase in 2010. Doyle had proposed raising those amounts again in 2011 and 2012. Instead, the levels would be adjusted again after five years. Doyle said he thought the move would help lower projected insurance rate increases.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: A new position in Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton's office, bringing the number of her staff from three to four, will not be created.

PHONE FEES: New 75-cent fees on all phone lines will not be diverted in two years to pay for emergency 911 services. Instead, the money raised will continue to go to local governments to pay for police and fire protection.

COURT FEES: There will be no increase from $5 to $10 for a variety of court fees including liens and warrants.

BOAT STICKERS: A new $15 sticker for boaters coming to Wisconsin from other states will not be created.

ATTORNEY SALARIES: One million dollars for assistant district attorney and public defender raises is cut.

STATE SPENDING: Doyle ordered an additional $200 million in state agency budget cuts, but state budget director Dave Schmiedecke said later it was unclear how those would be implemented. Schmiedecke said they would equate to less than a 1 percent cut, if applied equally across all of state government. Doyle made the move to increase the state's reserve fund from about $65 million to $270 million.

PRIVATE CONTRACTORS: New requirements the Legislature wanted to oversee how much money is spent by the state on private contractors was removed.