Wisconsin Democrats just made a big move. The State Senate opened for business about an hour ago, and Democrats didn’t attend. Under the Wisconsin state Constitution, each chamber of the legislature needs 3/5 of the members present for votes on budgetary matters. This doesn’t matter much in the State Assembly, where Republicans have a large advantage. But in the State Senate, Republicans hold a 19-14 advantage. And 20 members are needed to conduct business on the budget.

Last night, the Joint Finance Committee passed the budget repair bill in Wisconsin, which includes the stripping away of collective bargaining rights for public employees, by a party-line vote of 12-4. The bill could get votes as soon as today in the Assembly and Senate.

State budget problems are due to the bursting of a bubble fueled by Wall Street greed and incompetent economic policy. Since the problems originated at the top, we should make those at the top pay the tab, not ordinary workers.

After winning a series of cases over his residency, Rahm Emanuel has apparently been tossed from the Chicago mayoral ballot by a state apellate court. The case will almost certainly move to the Illinois Supreme Court, which will have the final word.

Today, Dr. William Hsiao presented to the Vermont legislature a draft proposal for three different health care systems for the state. They include:

Option 1 – government-run single payer

Option 2 – public option

Option 3 – public/private single-payer

(You can find the full report, presentations, and the statement from Hsiao here at the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office.)

The purpose of all three designs is to expand coverage to all the residents of the state while controlling health care costs. All three options are designed to save more money and cover more uninsured than would happen under just the new federal health care law alone.

Kansas’ Republican Secretary of State is pushing for new laws to stop what is essentially nonexistent “voter fraud.” These laws would just happen to also make it much harder for younger, more urban, and poor individuals to register and vote. These are groups that tend to vote more often for Democrats.