As the state Senate held its last floor period of the year Tuesday, absent from the agenda was a bill to begin the constitutional amendment process to strike the Office of the State Treasurer from the constitution.
The bill, which was introduced by state Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, cleared the state Assembly with bipartisan support earlier this year. Schraa said he was disappointed that state Senate leadership decided not address the bill this session.
“Basically [the State Treasurer] is a symbolic position that costs the state taxpayers over a million dollars every two years,” Schraa said, adding that the office of the Secretary of State is a similarly symbolic position.
The bill represented the seventh time the Legislature has discussed getting rid of the office. Schraa said he would continue to support the legislation and would also introduce a bill in the next session to eliminate the Office of the Secretary of State.
Schraa said his propositions are a part of a growing trend among states abolishing such offices to save money.
Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette said his office’s duties have been downsized by the state Legislature over a number of years, which creates administrative inefficiencies within the state.
“At the moment the office doesn’t do much,” La Follette said. “But that isn’t a reason to eliminate it, that’s a reason to restore the duties… it will save money.”
La Follette also said his elected office allows for greater accountability than the offices that would take up many of the duties of his department, which are filled by gubernatorial appointment.
Both La Follette and Wisconsin State Treasurer Kurt Schuller will face re-election in the fall.
