As Scott Walker rides off into the sunset to take up his duties as Wisconsin's next governor, Milwaukee County is left to wonder what are the prospects for it's once respected bus system. For that matter, Appleton and the Fox Cities are left in a state of uncertainty also.

Outgoing Governor James Doyle killed the half cent sales tax to provide dedicated funding for Milwaukee County Transit System in 2009. Democratic leadership in the legislature dropped the ball on a comprehensive RTA bill in April 2010, thinking this was a prudent way to retain Democratic control of the legislature. (Apparently, it wasn't.) Will the new Republican majority pick up the ball?

The 7th district's newly elected state senator, Chris Larson, says Republicans "probably won't touch it. Talk radio is who they'll listen to." He expects the new set of  committee chairs to focus on concealed carry, banning the pill, and after talking about jobs during the election season, to drop the subject entirely from any practical legislative agenda.

"It's not going to happen until the worst case scenario" says Penny Amos-Sikora, legislative director of Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 998. "Not until people are up in arms about it."

However, if Republicans are serious about job growth, Larson adds, they will have to address opportunities for saving and growing public transit systems in the state. They will probably also talk a "bipartisan" line before the next election, which may open up some opportunity in spring 2012.

Larson first ran for a seat as a Milwaukee County supervisor to improve public transit, and was a leader in the effort to pass a referendum in November 2008 requesting legislative approval to take the Milwaukee County Transit System off the property tax levy, replacing it with a dedicated funding source via a half percent sales tax. He successfully challenged incumbent Sen. Jeff Plale in the Democratic primary, because Plale had been among those who failed to press for legislation to answer county voters' approval of the measure.

Many elected local officials in Milwaukee County anticipate that Republicans will not allow any issue to reach the floor of the legislature "unless they own it." The Fitzgerald brothers, who have been chosen to lead both houses by the new Republican majority, could own the issue of passing a Regional Transit Authority bill, if they choose to pick up the ball the Democrats dropped. Neither has given any sign of doing so.

Republican Rep. Alvin Ott worked on the bipartisan committee in the outgoing legislature, that mapped out a standardized process for local voters to approve, by referendum, local dedicated funding for a local RTA, without each local proposal having to await new legislation. Republican Rep. Jeff Stone of Greenfield is rumored by some transit advocates to support the concept of an RTA, but voted against AB 282 in the Transportation Committee last April. Stone has authored a plan to dedicate a portion of vehicle registration fees statewide to support of public transit.

Kenneth Yunker, executive director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, expressed hope that rural legislators, dubious about taxpayers statewide subsidizing transit systems in a limited number of urban counties, will recognize the benefits of local RTAs. A dedicated local sales tax, subject to local voter approval by referendum, would not only provide local property tax relief, but would provide an alternative to support for transit systems currently coming out of the state budget.

Governor-elect Walker, always a bitter opponent of rail systems, has occasionally boosted buses as a wise alternative, although when rail is not on the agenda, he has persistently tried to gut MCTs. In his watch as county executive, fares increased 50 percent while one third of bus routes would have been eliminated, if not for the county board restoring funding each year. Although he talks about holding the line on property taxes, Walker opposed the 2008 referendum, which would have cut the average county property tax bill by $135. As governor, Walker would have to sign any RTA bill that emerged from the legislature, unless his own party over-rode a veto.