The Assembly Democratic Caucus will enter the next year with 45 members — ten more than last session. Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) speaking at a press conference before an April 25, 2023 floor session. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said in a year-end interview that the new makeup of the state Legislature is going to have a real impact next legislative session. 

The Assembly Democratic Caucus will enter the next year with 45 members — ten more than last session — after the recent elections under new legislative maps, and the work to prepare for next session has started. 

“The fair maps already started to change the culture of the state Legislature. We saw more bipartisan work last session. I expect that that will only increase as we go forward,” Neubauer told the Wisconsin Examiner. “We’ve got legislators who are going to be looking over their left and their right shoulder — a lot of people in competitive districts who are going to need to listen to their constituents and get things done.” 

Assembly Democrats are looking to get things done, Neubauer said. To prepare, leaders are having one-on-one conversations with members. New lawmakers are participating in a freshman orientation this week and a caucus retreat is scheduled for later this week.

“We are working as a group to identify our top priorities — what it would take for us to vote for the budget, for example — and working to collectively leverage our power.” Neubauer said. She said many of the caucus’ new members have a local government background or have worked in advocacy roles or as a union leader, which is helpful.

Neubauer said she thinks the majority party will need some Democratic support to pass important bills, which could give Assembly Democrats the chance to shape forthcoming legislation. 

“We want to make sure that we are taking advantage of those opportunities to get real wins for our constituents and pass important policy,” Neubauer said. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said during a press conference last month that he would still be seeking “consensus” among Republicans before moving forward on issues, even with the new slimmer margins. However, Neubauer said she thinks there will be more opportunities to work together on certain issues as there may be more members of the Republican caucus pushing their leadership to take up certain issues including investment in education, lowering costs, expanding access to health care including by extending postpartum Medicaid coverage, protecting the environment and providing clean drinking water.

“The reality is that he now has a lot of members who are in very close seats, who are going to need to go home and answer for their votes,” Neubauer said. “There’s a lot of really popular issues that Republicans have refused to take significant action on that I anticipate will be getting more air time in the coming session.” 

Neubauer said she hasn’t spoken with Vos about the upcoming session, but hopes to soon.

Budget writing and other legislative priorities

When the Legislature returns to session next year, Gov. Tony Evers and the Legislature will work on writing the next two-year budget. State agencies have delivered their requests to Evers, who will write his own budget proposals. The Legislature will then write and vote on its own version before sending it to Evers, who will have the opportunity to sign or veto the budget. 

“I am hopeful that in this budget, we will be able to lower costs for families in Wisconsin in housing and child care and prescription drugs. I hope that we’re able to make real investments in education and giving every kid the opportunity to succeed in our state,” Neubauer said.

School funding a top priority

Neubauer said education funding will likely be a top priority for the caucus, and that the proposals from the UW System and the Department of Public Instruction are strong. The UW System is requesting an additional $855 million from the state for many priorities, including wage increases, general operations costs, mental health services and extending the Wisconsin Tuition Promise. The Department of Public Instruction has requested an additional $4.3 billion to support schools struggling to meet costs; the request follows a record year for school referendum requests. 

“I really appreciate the ambition and the effort to make the necessary investments to give every student in Wisconsin the ability to succeed,” Neubauer said. “We know that the state Legislature has not been keeping up its end of the bargain in terms of funding for our public schools and the Assembly Republicans have seemingly decided that their role is to attack and undermine the UW system rather than support and uplift it.” 

Neubauer said she hopes they’re able to get a significant increase for education spending given the state’s significant $4 billion surplus, but noted that those priorities need to be balanced with other important priorities. When it comes to specific policies for investment for K-12 education, Neubauer said Democrats will be focused on increasing the reimbursement rate for special education, securing a “significant” increase to per pupil aid and mental health resources. 

“It should not be falling to local communities to raise their property taxes in order to fund their schools, and I think for many of us, you know, we walk into our local schools and we see what’s been cut, and we see where additional resources could really make a difference for kids, and we think this is just wrong.” Neubauer said. She noted that Racine County, where she is from, is one community dealing with financial difficulties, including deficits and budget cuts. “We’re not doing right by them, and so I do think that’ll be a big focus for us in this budget, and then we will see where else we can support families to make ends meet and to have great opportunities in Wisconsin in the years ahead.” 

Republican lawmakers, including leaders and those on the budget committee, have said that “returning the surplus back to taxpayers” will be one of their top priorities. Neubauer said that Democrats would be open to talking about targeted tax cuts that benefit middle class families.

“What we’ve seen from Republicans in the last several years is proposals that primarily benefit the richest Wisconsinites and corporations, and we’re not interested in that,” Neubauer said. “We know that many people are struggling to make ends meet in Wisconsin, but it can’t break the bank, and it needs to be targeted.”

Funding local government

Neubauer said local government funding will likely be another key priority for Democrats this coming session. Even with the shared revenue overhaul last session, she said many Wisconsin communities are still struggling to fund essential services. 

“We did make progress, but we had fallen so far behind,” Neubauer said. “We’ve got red and blue communities that are coming to us and saying with the federal dollars going away here at the end of the year, they’re going to have a very difficult time funding their public health departments, their parks and community centers, their public safety and those are all essential to our community’s well being.”

Prying loose JFC’s grip on the public purse

Neubauer said she hopes with the maps that there will be more accountability for lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee if they decide to withhold funds next session. Lawmakers dedicated money to several issues last session — including $125 million to combat PFAS, $50 million to support new literacy initiatives and $15 million for hospitals in the Chippewa Valley — however, the funds have been withheld by the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee due to policy differences after the funds were allocated. 

Neubauer said she hopes this will happen less in the coming session. She pointed out that Sen. Duey Stroebel, a prominent Republican member of the committee, was ousted from his seat this election cycle by Democrat Sen.-elect. Jodi Habush Sinykin. Sen. Joan Ballweg, another member of the committee, also lost her reelection bid. 

“People of Wisconsin don’t really like that. Those are important priorities to people across the state,” Neubauer said. “I think that having more legislators and competitive seats will mean that the people, I hope, on the Joint Finance Committee are hesitant to do that.” 

Neubauer said that the multiple court cases challenging  JFC’s enhanced authority could also help with the issue. 

“We’ve already seen one decision from the Supreme Court that said that they had overstepped, and there are other cases moving through,” Neubauer said. “I think that’s a good thing, and it makes me hopeful that Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee will no longer be able to act as sort of another Legislature in preventing the implementation of these programs that have already been passed and already been signed.”

Beyond budget priorities, Neubauer said that the caucus is continuing to think about other longer term issues — including legalizing marijuana, addressing gun safety, protecting abortion rights, addressing climate change, ensuring everyone has access to clean drinking water and public safety reforms — but she expects some of those will require a Democratic majority. 

Neubauer said that Democrats are always working towards the majority in the Assembly, and she thinks the last election laid the groundwork for a Democratic takeover in two years. She noted there could be the opportunity for a Democratic trifecta in that election cycle.

“We’ve got strong candidates that ran this cycle, many of whom want to run again. We really built our grassroots infrastructure in communities where we haven’t had competitive districts for quite some time, and I think we learned some things about how to run such a big program with so many candidates under these fair maps,” Neubauer said.

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