Republicans countered, saying the surplus belongs to taxpayers.
"This money is taxpayers' money and it should go back to them," GOP Rep. Shannon Zimmerman of River Falls. Chimed in Rep. Joe Sanfelippo of New Berlin: "You give me $100, I'm going to get down on the ground and thank you."
Another bill up for approval Thursday includes $350 million in borrowing to pay for a new adult prison. Its fate in the Senate is also unknown.
The Wisconsin Assembly tweaked Gov. Scott Walker's sales tax holiday plan Thursday to let retailers opt out in hopes of generating support among their skeptical counterparts in the Senate.
Walker has proposed establishing a sales tax holiday on the first weekend in August and giving all parents a $100 per-child tax credit. The plan is expected to cost the state about $170 million, with the child rebate coming out of the state surplus.
Assembly Republicans have embraced the idea and planned to vote on a bill enacting the plan Thursday. Approval would send the bill to the state Senate, but the sales tax holiday lacks support in that chamber, putting the entire plan in jeopardy. The Assembly is expected to adjourn for the year after finishing its floor session Thursday, making it impossible to concur with any changes the Senate might make to the legislation.
Assembly Republicans began floor debate on the legislation by amending it on a voice vote to let retailers opt out of the sales tax holiday. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said during a news conference that the move would give small retailers who would have to pay or otherwise struggle to change their cash register systems options.
Asked if he was telling the Senate to take or leave the bill, Vos simply said "yes."
It was unclear when the body would vote on the bill. Democrats railed against it, calling it an election year gimmick -- the sales tax holiday would fall within days of the August primary -- and demanding Republicans spend the money on other needs such as road repair and public schools.
"We're witnessing a last ditch effort to buy votes. A hundred dollars is too little, too late," Democratic Rep. Melissa Sargent of Madison said.
Vos said he wanted to approve borrowing for the new prison now while lawmakers await recommendations of a prison study task force. Given that prisons are already 30 percent over-capacity, and the Legislature was passing tough-on-crime bills expected to put even more people behind bars, Vos said it was a foregone conclusion that a new prison would be needed.
The Assembly also planned to approve spending $4 million on additional prosecutors for district attorneys and a plan that would lead to increasing revocations of probation, parole or extended supervision, sending more people to prison.
A tax incentive package designed to entice Kimberly-Clark to not cut 600 jobs in northeastern Wisconsin was slated for approval, as well. The consumer products giant has been non-committal to the proposal, which Walker put forward mirroring incentives given to Taiwanese company Foxconn Technology Group.
That proposal is opposed by a coalition of conservative advocacy groups that say it's bad economics and sets a bad precedent for economic development.
The Assembly also planned to give final approval to pay raises for state workers and University of Wisconsin employees. They would receive a 2 percent raise this summer and another 2 percent increase in January.
