Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), a member of the Joint Finance Committee, urged Republicans to work to ensure families have access to child care. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
The Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee is planning to return to its work on the state budget Friday. It will be the committee’s first meeting since early last week when work halted due to a breakdown in negotiations between Republican Senate and Assembly leaders and Gov. Tony Evers.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said then that his caucus objected to the amount of spending being considered in the budget negotiations. Two members of his caucus — Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) — have both publicly expressed their concerns about the budget being negotiated by Evers and Republican leaders, presenting a challenge in the Senate where Republicans hold an 18-15 majority. To pass a budget without winning Democratic votes, as they did last time, Senate Republicans can only lose one vote.
Assembly Republicans have been calling this week for their Senate colleagues to come back to the negotiating table and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said he was still in conversation with Evers and, according to WisPolitics, is optimistic the budget could be completed next week. Assembly and Senate Republicans met in a joint caucus Thursday.
The committee plans Friday to take up 54 sections of the budget, including ones related to the University of Wisconsin system, the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the Department of Children and Families, Department of Health Services and the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Tourism as part of its work wrapping up the budget. The budget would then need to pass the Senate and Assembly before it could go to Evers for consideration.
Child care is a critical piece, as Evers has said he would veto the budget without investment in the state program to support child care providers known as Child Care Counts. The COVID-era program was launched using federal funds to subsidize child care facilities and help them pay staff and keep costs down for families, but the funds will run out in July and the program would end without state money. Republican lawmakers have said they oppose “writing checks out to providers.”
Democratic lawmakers joined child care providers Thursday morning to echo calls for investing state money to continue the Child Care Counts program.
Brooke Legler, co-founder of Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed (WECAN), said Republican lawmakers’ proposals are inadequate to meet the crisis and Republican arguments opposing subsidies don’t make sense.
“They subsidize farmers. They subsidize the manufacturers,” Legler said. “Last [session] when they denied the funding for Child Care Counts … they gave $500 million to the Brewers, so I have an issue with them saying they can’t subsidize.”
Legler said that if lawmakers don’t make the investment in child care, they need to be voted out of the Legislature next year.
“The $480 million needs to happen, and if it doesn’t, then we need to help Sen. [Howard] Marklein and Rep. [Mark] Born find new jobs in the next election,” Legler said. “This is not OK, and we need to stop this from happening.”
Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), a member of the Joint Finance Committee, urged Republicans to work to ensure families have access to child care, saying the state’s economy relies on parents being able to work and that children are better off when they have a reliable, safe place to stay and learn.
“We cannot allow these critical centers to close their doors and opportunities to be lost to our children forever,” Johnson said. “If the families don’t have quality, dependable child care, if they have to remain at home, or even worse… these are all options that we don’t want to face… and these are all options that our children don’t deserve.
Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said her caucus is prepared to work on the state budget and she has “continually” been in conversation with Evers and is open to conversations with LeMahieu.
“As of right now, I have not heard from Sen. Devin LeMahieu yet, but my phone is on,” Hesselbein said.
When it comes to negotiations happening behind closed doors, Hesselbein said it’s “probably normal.”
“I’ve talked to other majority and minority leaders in the past, and this is kind of how it’s happened in the past,” Hesselbein said.
In order for Democrats to vote for the budget, she said, they would need to see significant investments in K-12, special education funding, child care and higher education.
“These are the three things we’ve talked about — improving lives, lowering costs for everyday people,” Hesselbein said.
The UW system with the support of Evers has requested an additional $855 million in the budget. Vos said last week his caucus was instead considering $87 million cuts to the system, though Evers recently said that they were discussing a “positive number” when it comes to the UW budget.
Democrats were critical of the K-12 budget that the committee approved earlier this month for not investing in a 60% reimbursement rate for special education and for not providing any general funding increases to schools.
Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), a member of the Joint Finance Committee, told reporters on Wednesday that a budget agreement between Evers and Republicans won’t necessarily guarantee Democratic votes.
“I think all of us are going to have to make our own decisions about whether or not the budget is one that we can support or that meets the needs of our districts, and that’s as it should be,” Roys said.
The committee will also take action on the nearly $50 million for literacy initiatives that has been stuck in a supplemental fund since 2023 and withheld by lawmakers because of a partial veto Evers exercised on a related law. The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday the partial veto was an overstep of Evers’ powers, striking it down and restoring the language in the law passed by the Legislature. The money is set to expire and return to the state’s general fund if not released by Monday.
Assembly Republicans gathered ahead of the floor session to stress the need for bipartisan negotiations and progress on writing the state budget. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
With the state’s budget deadline less than a week away, the Wisconsin State Assembly approved a slate of bills that would create new programs but withheld funding, which Republicans said would come later. Democrats criticized Republicans, saying they couldn’t trust that the funding would actually be passed. The body also approved a pair of bills related to nuclear power and bills that will increase penalties for criminal offenses.
Assembly Republicans gathered ahead of the floor session to stress the need for bipartisan negotiations and progress on writing the state budget.
Budget negotiations fell apart last week for the second time as Senate Republicans walked away from talks with Gov. Tony Evers. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said in a statement at the time that discussions were “heading in a direction that taxpayers cannot afford.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said during a press conference that he has been in communication with Evers, including on Tuesday morning.
Vos said the discussions about child care funding are “preliminary” with “a lot of details to be worked out.” He said Assembly Republicans remain “steadfast” in its opposition to “writing checks out to providers” but are open to working with Evers on child care.
Evers told reporters Monday he wouldn’t sign a budget if it doesn’t include money for child care.
“Republicans need to get their act together and come back and let’s finish it up,” Evers said.
Asked if he would sign a budget that doesn’t include funding for the state’s Child Care Counts program, Evers said “no.”
Evers has not vetoed a budget in full during his time in office, though he has exercised his partial veto power extensively, rejecting major tax cuts and making changes to extend increases for school revenue – to the great irritation of Republicans.
“I think in the end we’ll be able to find a consensus around that topic,” Vos said about child care funding.
Vos also said Republicans are already taking some action related to child care. Assembly Republicans have announced measures including a 15% tax credit for the business expenses at child care facilities, no-interest loans and allowing 16-year-olds to be counted as full staff as ways of addressing the crisis.
Evers said discussions about the funding for the University of Wisconsin had included “a positive number” though he wouldn’t go into details. Last week, Vos said his caucus intended to cut $87 million from the UW system.
“I know we’re going to make investments in trying to make sure that parents have access to child care, I know we’re going to make a historic investment in special ed funding and I know we’re going to do some reforms at the university. Those are all things that we would love to do as part of a bigger deal,” Vos said, adding that legislators have to make sure any plan can get through both the Assembly and the Senate and then to Evers.
Vos said the most thing thing for Assembly Republicans is getting tax cuts passed and signed by Evers, saying they have learned from previous budgets where tax cuts have been vetoed and other parts of the budget is approved. The budget committee has approved a $1.3 billion tax cut package for the budget bill already.
“It’s better for us to find a compromise,” Vos said. “We’d like to have a guarantee from Gov. Evers that we’re going to get tax cuts signed into law. In exchange, he would like a guarantee that we’re going to have some increases in investments that he cares about.”
Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said he is in communication with Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) working on figuring out when the budget committee will meet next.
“We’re hopeful our Senate colleagues will join us in the next couple of days,” Born said.
The deadline for the budget — and end of the fiscal year — is June 30.
“I think if we are actively talking about a budget in the next couple of days, we can hammer out details in a hurry. That’s the way budgets are built. If people are ready to work, we’ll get things done,” Born said.
Republicans have a slim 18-15 majority in the state Senate, which is leading to some difficulties passing a budget, as their caucus can only lose one vote and still get a budget passed without Democratic votes. Two members — Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) — have expressed concerns about the budget.
Nass laid out several “benchmarks” that would get him to vote for a budget in a press release Tuesday, including a $3.5 billion one-time tax rebate that would provide $1,600 to joint filers and $800 to individual tax filers, ensuring the new budget doesn’t create a structural deficit and making cuts of $700 million to $1 billion and no more than $1.5 billion in new bonding for buildings.
“I will not support the Vos-Evers budget proposal because it contains too much spending, special interest pork and the creation of a significant structural deficit,” Nass said. “The Vos-Evers budget plan is neither conservative nor taxpayer friendly. However, if passed it would be a big win for the politicians and lobbyists.”
Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), who is a member of the Joint Finance Committee, called Nass’ proposal “reckless” in a social media post and said Republicans are in “disarray.”
“It shows that Republicans do not care about maintaining the essential services that Wisconsinites need and want — public schools, UW, roads, healthcare,” Roys wrote. “We need a budget by June 30 or all of it is at serious risk.”
Bills passed that will rely on funding in budget
The state budget overshadowed debate about several other bills Tuesday as Democrats complained about the lack of funding included in the bills and the lack of trust they have that Republicans will release the funding.
Republicans, however, said the funding would come later in the budget. A similar argument took place in the state Senate last week.
Republicans are splitting the bills from the funding as a way of working around Evers’ veto power. Evers has objected to this. Evers’ legislative affairs director sent letters to Republican lawmakers telling them that if they want their bills to become law, the policy needs to be included in the budget, the funding needs to be attached to the bill or the bill needs to include language that states the policy only goes into effect if there is funding.
Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said at the start of session Tuesday that lawmakers have yet to take meaningful action on the budget and that is unacceptable.
“I want to be very clear about what happens in Wisconsin, if we fail to pass a budget before July 1. There will be no new special education, mental health, or nutrition spending for our schools. Project positions will end overnight. There will be cuts to programs like county conservation and tourism, and much more,” Neubauer said. “There are real consequences to not passing a budget on time. It will hurt Wisconsinites, and it really is unacceptable. It does not need to be this way.”
Neubauer said that Republicans are allowing the “extremists” in their party to hold up the budget process when lawmakers should be listening to their constituents. She said the floor session is an example of Republicans ineffectiveness.
“Even as the budget process is in complete chaos, the majority is writing a series of unfunded bills to the floor that they allege would receive funding in the budget,” Neubauer said. “My biggest question right now is, what budget? Republicans do not have a plan to fund these bills. They do not have a plan for our state budget, and they don’t have a plan to move our state forward. Wisconsin deserves better.”
Unfunded bills create ‘bizarre budget’ process
One bill — AB 279 — would instruct the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to create a talent recruitment grant program meant to lure out-of-state families to relocate to Wisconsin. It passed by voice vote.
Rep. Alex Joers (D-Middleton) said he supports the idea but is concerned about the lack of funding.
“It creates a grant program and there’s no grants, there’s no funding in this bill,” Joers said. “You all need to fund your bills.”
Bill author Rep. David Armstrong (R-Rice Lake) said his bill would help communities market themselves to people looking to relocate. He said he delivered five motions to the committee, but none were included. The committee took action on the WEDC budget earlier this month.
“They told me to get these passed through the House and through the Senate and they’ll come back and find the funding,” Armstrong said, adding that he agrees the program shouldn’t be mandated without the money.
SB 106, which the Assembly concurred in, would provide the framework for the Department of Health Services to certify psychiatric residential treatment facilities. The facilities would provide in-patient care for people under 21 and are aimed at helping keep young people in crisis stay in-state for care.
Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) said it is “outrageous” that the bill doesn’t include funding.
“It’s not a workable bill if it’s not funded,” Vining said. “This is irresponsible governing. It is fiscally irresponsible. You guys have got to stop playing games.”
Rep. Patrick Snyder (R-Weston) said the bill is critical so that young people in crisis have support from the state and their families. When it comes to funding, he said that would come later.
“It will be coming up in separate legislation as we negotiate, as this budget moves forward. We are not going to put a bill out without funding, and I don’t appreciate scare tactics like that because this won’t happen, I have a lot of budget motions, and I am working with JFC to get that accomplished,” Snyder said. “Let’s work on getting the foundation built and then finding out the cost and fund it.”
SB 108 would require DHS to develop a portal to facilitate sharing of safety plans for a minor in crisis with specific people. It passed in a voice vote.
SB 283 requires the Department of Transportation to create a public protective services hearing protection program to provide specialized hearing protection devices to law enforcement and fire departments.
Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) said the bill is really good, but won’t work without funding.
“We’ve heard that Joint Finance is going to fund something, and it doesn’t happen,” Emerson said. “$15 million for hospitals in the Chippewa Valley still sitting in Joint Finance. Money for the reading program, still sitting in Joint Finance. Money for PFAS, still sitting in Joint Finance. There’s a lot of broken trust between the people of Wisconsin and that committee, so we need to see that the funding is here. We need to see it right now. Otherwise, I don’t see how we can get a bill like this passed.”
Rep. Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha), who is a member of the Joint Finance Committee, said during debate that Republicans have “set the stage for a bizarre budget” by approaching new policy in this way. He said Republicans have previously asked Democrats to trust funding will be released as they’ve allocated funding in a roundabout way, noting that in previous budget cycles lawmakers put money in supplemental funds as a way of requiring additional approval from the budget committee before the money was released.
“I voted for a literacy bill last year — $50 million to help kids read — and that money is still sitting there… We have the ability to appropriate funds, so we could have added funding to all these bills today,” McGuire said.
McGuire said Republicans could be aiming to effectively reduce agencies’ budgets by mandating new projects without including the funding.
“There’s the possibility that this is just a secret way of cutting agencies and of robbing every other program that those agencies administer because that’s what happens if we don’t administer the funds,” McGuire said. “Those agencies have to make the choice between the program that we require them to allocate funds for and other programs… and it makes it harder for people to receive services that they already need.”
Nuclear power bills
The Assembly approved a pair of bills meant to move progress on nuclear energy in Wisconsin, which will now head to Evers’ desk for consideration.
One bill — SB 125 — would require the Public Service Commission to conduct a study to determine potential sites for a nuclear power plant.
The other — SB 124 — would create a Nuclear Power Summit Board in Wisconsin meant to host a summit in Madison to advance nuclear power and fusion energy technology and development and to showcase Wisconsin’s leadership and innovation in the nuclear industry. The summit would need to be held within the month after instruction starts at the new engineering building at UW-Madison, which is supposed to be finished in 2028. The funding for the building was approved by the Legislature and Evers in 2024.
Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde (D-Milwaukee) said he is concerned about Wisconsin’s energy, but the bills as they are are missing some steps.
“Where’s our integrated resource plan? Have we developed one? In other states, they have an integrated resource plan, which lets us know just how much carbon emitting fuel we need to be producing and let’s not produce any more than that,” Moore Omokunde said. “We need to be determining the speed of nuclear energy, the cost, the safety.”
Moore Omokunde said the state should take an “all of the above” approach and consider different types of energy including nuclear, wind and solar to allow Wisconsin to better decide its “energy future.”.
Snyder said that with technological advances, including artificial intelligence, other types of energy such as windmills and solar won’t be able to provide enough energy.
“This is something for the future. If you want the cleanest energy, you have to include nuclear,” Snyder said. “We can’t be living in the past of Chernobyl. Fear does not move us forward.”
Sortwell compared technological advances in energy production to the difference between the Flintstones and the Jetsons. He said lawmakers worked with Evers’ office and the PSC and other stakeholders on the bill. Evers had proposed including $1 million in the state budget to support a nuclear power plant feasibility study.
“The nuclear renaissance is upon us here in Wisconsin and in the United States, and it’s time for everybody else to get on board,” Sortwell said.
New and increased penalties
The Assembly also passed bills that increase — or create — criminal penalties.
Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) spoke in opposition to the slate of bills, saying they will contribute to mass incarceration in Wisconsin.
“Locking people up does not need to be the solution to every single piece of legislation,” Clancy said. “Incarceration has become this Legislature’s default response to every single claim you think is wrong in this state. It’s incredibly harmful and it doesn’t work.”
AB 26 would make it a Class H felony to threaten or commit battery against a juror or a member of a juror’s family.
While talking about this bill, Rep. Shae Sortwell (R-Two Rivers) said he was thankful Clancy was in the “minority of the minority of the minority” on the issue. He said it would help protect family members of jurors.
“While you may as an individual juror not feel particularly at risk yourself, maybe you’re concerned about your family being threatened, and so this is making sure once again that we have a justice system that is deciding on the merits of the case,” Sortwell said.
AB 35 would change current law that says candidates can’t remove their names from ballots unless they are dead. The bill comes in reaction to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. trying unsuccessfully to remove himself from the Wisconsin presidential ballot in 2024 after he dropped out and endorsed President Donald Trump.
Under the bill, candidates withdrawing from national or statewide races would have to pay the Wisconsin Elections Commission a $1,000 fee — or $250 for a non-statewide office.
The bill would also make it a Class G felony with a maximum penalty of up to $25,000 and imprisonment for up to 10 years if someone intentionally makes or files a false statement withdrawing a person’s candidacy.
AB 53 would also make it a Class H felony to cause or threaten to cause bodily harm to a community service officer in response to an action the CSO took in an official capacity. It is currently a class A misdemeanor to cause bodily harm to another person.
AB 65 would make it a Class F felony with a maximum penalty of $25,000 and 12 years and 6 months in prison if someone intentionally enters another person’s home without consent with intent to commit battery.
The playground at Learning Ladder Preschool and Childcare center, which closed in August 2024 after over 30 years in business. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
The budget process hit another roadblock as Assembly and Senate Republicans appeared to split over budget negotiations with Gov. Tony Evers — leading to the cancellation of the budget committee’s meeting Thursday and disappointment from child care advocates who had traveled to the Capitol that day.
The June 30 deadline for the 2025-27 state budget is quickly approaching and lawmakers still have major portions of the bill to put together. The GOP-led Joint Finance Committee was scheduled to continue its work by voting on sections related to child care, the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the Department of Justice as well as the capital budget. As the start time of 1 p.m. approached, a cancellation notice was released.
Legislative leaders then put out statements saying negotiations with Evers had resumed this week, but were going south again. Negotiations had previously broken down with Evers saying he had agreed to GOP tax cuts but Republicans wouldn’t make concessions on spending for education, child care and other parts of the budget. Republicans said Evers wanted to spend too much.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said in a statement about the cancellation Thursday that negotiations between legislative leaders and Evers had been “good faith” with each party seeking “to do what’s best for the state of Wisconsin” since they restarted this week.
“However, these discussions are heading in a direction that taxpayers cannot afford,” LeMahieu said. “Senate Republicans are ready to work with the State Assembly to pass a balanced budget that cuts taxes and responsibly invests in core priorities.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) also put out a statement describing conversations over the last couple of weeks as being in good faith, saying work on a budget that “cuts taxes, puts more money into K-12 schools to stave off higher property taxes, and funds childcare and the university system in exchange for meaningful reforms” has been productive. But said Senate Republicans were the party that left the negotiations.
“We have chosen to work together so our tax reductions actually become law, schools continue to be funded, Medicaid patients continue to receive care, and road construction projects do not stop,” the Assembly lawmakers said. “This is the most conservative and the most responsible option… We hope Senate Republicans will come back to the table to finish fighting for these reforms and complete the budget on time.”
Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback wrote in a post on social media about the meeting cancellation that “ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not.”
Republicans have a narrow 18-15 majority in the Senate, meaning the caucus can only lose one vote if they want to pass a budget without Democratic support. Two Republicans — Sens. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) and Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) — have publicly expressed their concerns about the budget as it stands. Kapenga has said he would prefer for the state to not pass one at this point.
Nass said in a statement that Senate Republicans have been advocating for “tough but fair spending decisions” and the outline of the deal from the negotiations includes “too much spending, special interest pork and the creation of a structural deficit.” He said some legislators want to cut a “bad deal” for taxpayers.
Nass said there is “nothing preventing the Republican majority in the Legislature from passing a conservative state budget except for the lack of willingness at the highest levels in the Assembly.”
Democratic members on the Joint Finance Committee and Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) spoke at the Learning Ladder Preschool and Childcare center in Cottage Grove Thursday morning. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Democrats said that the breakdown in communication is the result of “extremists” in the Republican caucuses controlling how they have approached the budget talks.
“Weeks ago, legislative Republicans walked away from negotiating with the governor in order to attempt to pass this budget through by again giving in to the desires of the most extreme members of their legislative caucuses, and instead they find themselves here again — unable or struggling to pass a budget and needing to talk with the governor about ways that they can finally do what Wisconsinites have been asking them to do all along,” Rep. Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha) said.
When it comes to the potential for Democrats to vote for the budget, Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said Republicans need to talk to them.
“Ultimately, what we really need is for Republicans to pick up the phone for the Senate Majority Leader [LeMahieu] to decide that he is not willing to risk his majority and his more vulnerable members to kowtow to the most extreme voices… so it’s really just his willingness to pick up the phone and accept the reality of the caucus that he’s built,” Roys said.
If a new budget isn’t passed by the deadline, Wisconsin continues to operate under the current budget.
Child care advocates frustrated
Child care advocates had traveled to the state Capitol Thursday in anticipation of the meeting, including Brynne Schieffer and Erin LaBlanc of the Faith Lutheran Child Care Center located in Cameron, Wisconsin. They traveled three-and-a-half hours to Madison and said they jumped through “a lot of hoops” to make it there, including asking some of their families to keep their children home so the ratio of children to staff remained adequate.
Schieffer said they wanted to be able to advocate for the inclusion of child care investments in the budget. They support Evers’ $480 million request to continue funding the Child Care Counts program, which used federal dollars from pandemic relief to support staff wages without increasing tuition costs to parents.
“The meeting not happening — it’s definitely disappointing,” Schieffer said. “Our elected representatives [are] not doing their job. Can’t they get along? We can come in and mediate. That’s what we do.”
Schieffer said the families were supportive because they understand the stakes.
“We came down not only for us, but for them, for the child care industry,” Schieffer said.
One in four Wisconsin child care providers could close their doors if the state support for centers ends in June, according to a survey of child care providers commissioned by the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) and produced by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Child care advocates took pictures outside of the meeting room of the Joint Finance Committee after its meeting was canceled. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Schieffer said that the center would need to raise its costs by $28 per child per week to make up for a lack of Child Care Counts funding. She said that if there is funding they plan to put that in the contracts that families have.
“We need direct funding. We need to be considered on the same level as our public schools,” Schieffer said. “The direct funding comes in and goes directly towards the operation of the center, operational budget including staff wages.”
Corrine Hendrickson, owner of Corrine’s Little Explorers and co-founder of Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed (WECAN) said she wanted to be available if lawmakers had any questions ahead of the meeting and because she thinks it’s important that they look at the people who are affected when they take action on the budget. She closed her center for the day to be at the Capitol and isn’t sure she’ll be able to do so again when the committee eventually takes up child care.
“It’s incomprehensible to me that they, as elected officials, can just walk away and not do their job when all kinds of… people were here to witness this, and they just can decide 30 minutes before that they don’t actually have to do their jobs,” Hendrickson said. “It’s also frustrating because these conversations should have taken place already and should be a basic agreement before they decide to schedule the hearing.”
Child care providers said Republicans’ plans so far for child care aren’t sufficient for addressing the crisis.
Assembly Republicans announced their plans on Wednesday for child care including allowing 16-and 17-year-olds to staff child care facilities as assistants and to count towards staff to child ratios, increasing the number of children that a family provider can have from 8 to 12 and creating a zero-interest loan for child care providers and a 15% tax credit for the business expenses at a child care facility. Vos had said they didn’t agree with the approach of providing money directly to centers.
Hendrickson said they are the same ideas that Republicans introduced last session.
“We came out vehemently against [those] and told them exactly why this wasn’t going to work,” Hendrickson said, adding that since then they have spoken with the lawmakers championing those proposals including Reps. Karen Hurd (R-Withee) and Joy Goeben (R-Hobart)
“It didn’t feel like they were listening. It felt like they were trying to convince us that they were correct,” Hendrickson said.
“A grant is something that you don’t have to pay back, and so you can use it to get yourself started. Because our profit is so low, there’s no way that we can take on that loan when our home is our collateral. If I take on a loan and my home is collateral and I can’t pay it back then, that means I lose my house.”
Schieffer said there are problems with the changes Republicans want to make to ratios. She said increasing the number of children per staff member could impact the quality of care and that minors don’t have the work and education experience that other staff members have.
“I work in a center where every teacher holds a degree in early childhood,” Schieffer said. “To be able to put 16-year-olds and say they can do that job without the education piece, the experience piece, life experience, I feel like that it devalues what we do.”
Democrats highlighted the strain on child care facilities — and potential closures — that could result from the end of funding for Child Care Counts and argued that the state should have some type of grant program for them at a press conference Thursday morning.
Democratic members of the Joint Finance Committee and Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) met at the Learning Ladder Preschool and Childcare center in Cottage Grove. The facility closed in August 2024 after over 30 years in business.
“There are no tricycles in the playground. There’s no uncontrollable laughter among children, and the sweet sound of toddler feet running across the classroom is not here,” Ratcliff said while standing in a room full of bins of children’s books left over after donations and sales.
The owners wrote in a letter about the closure in August that the solution would have been “Child Care Counts” funding, fair access to 4k funding and care and consistent regulations across child care providers.
The Learning Ladder Preschool and Childcare center in Cottage Grove, which closed in August 2024 after over 30 years in business. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
“Unfortunately, our foundation has been slowly chipped away and we can no longer afford to remain open. After COVID, governmental grants and assistance programs helped prop us up for a while, but those programs have, or are about to end,” the Kudrna family wrote on Facebook at the time.
Democrats slammed Republicans for their rejections of funding for Child Care Counts.
“It is totally unacceptable that my Republican colleagues on the Joint Finance committee have, again and again, said to child care providers ‘your work doesn’t matter, it isn’t worth it,’” Roys said. “That’s what Republicans did when they stripped out the Child Care Counts funding that was keeping so many child care centers afloat and is helping bridge the gap between what parents can afford to pay and what providers need to keep the doors open in this time of high inflation and rising costs.”
Roys said lawmakers should be working on solutions that keep child care centers stable, not coming up with new proposals. Democrats on the committee said they had intended to introduce a proposal to provide grants to centers.
“New theoretical ideas that Republicans want to propose are essentially wish-casting,” she said. “We need to keep the centers that we have and the slots that we have open. We need to get more classrooms open, more early childhood educators to come back into the field.”
“To try to start something from scratch is going to take way longer, it’s going to cost way more when we could just keep what we have stable,” Roys added.
Evers had also urged investment in child care on Thursday. In coordination with the Department of Children and Families, he released a survey that found that 90% of Wisconsin residents, including those without kids, said that finding affordable, high-quality child care in the state is a problem. Over 75% of respondents said they support an increase in state funding to help.
“This is an issue that impacts everyone in Wisconsin. It’s pretty simple, and as leaders, we have an obligation to the nearly 80% of Wisconsinites who want us to do something about it and expect their elected officials to show up, act in good faith and work together across the aisle to solve problems,” Evers said. “I’m urging Republican lawmakers to join me in supporting real, meaningful investments to bolster providers, cut waitlists and lower costs for working families.”
“Republicans would rather have a talking point and try to portray themselves as tough on crime, when really what they are is very stupid and wasteful on crime," Sen. Kelda Roys said. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
GOP lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee approved a proposal for the Department of Corrections that includes an additional $62.9 million in state spending in 2025-26 and $73.8 million in 2026-27 as well as 18 new staff positions. The proposal was less than a third of the $500 million corrections proposal released by Gov. Tony Evers earlier this year, which he argued was necessary to pass in full in order to accomplish the closure of the Green Bay Correctional Institution.
Evers’ plan, when released, included plans to overhaul the state’s correctional facilities, including closing GBCI, closing Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls and renovating other facilities as well as expanding earned release and taking steps to address recidivism rates.
Committee co-chair Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said GBCI, which was built in 1898, won’t be discussed until the committee takes up the capital budget later this week. He said the last budget helped reduce staffing shortages and that legislators want that work to continue with the portions of the budget taken up on Tuesday.
“As I’ve talked to the prisons in my district, they’re happy to see that their recruit classes are much larger, and the vacancies are about half of what they were prior to the last budget, so we think that’s working well,” Born said. “The next phase of this is to talk about the capital budget investments, which will happen on Thursday.”
The proposal passed by committee Republicans also includes additional investments in the state’s adult institutions, including $65 million across the biennium for inmate costs, $4 million for contract beds, $5 million for fuel and utilities costs and $292,600 for body cameras. Fox Lake Correctional Institution would get 2.1 million in funding and 16 health care related positions.
Democrats on the committee said the money allocated wouldn’t be enough to lay the groundwork for major reforms to Wisconsin’s correctional system, including shutting down the GBCI. They had introduced a motion that would have added $268.9 million in spending to corrections and 59 staff positions.
Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) noted that previous budgets have spent more on incarceration than on the state’s public universities, and that Republicans’ proposal is half of what Democrats wanted to spend on community reentry.
“Wisconsin is woefully behind the times when it comes to public safety reform and on criminal justice reform,” Roys said. “What’s disappointing about this is to see that we are going to continue to fall far behind. We spend so much money incarcerating people, and that means less money for all the other important things that we want to do in the state.”
Centers dedicated to community reentry will get an additional $1 million under Republican’s proposal.
The centers, Roys said, are a “proven way to reduce recidivism” meaning “reducing the crime as people move back into society.” She also added that the proposal included “no money for supported housing, which we know is one of the biggest barriers for people who are coming out of incarceration and re-entering the community.”
Roys told reporters after the meeting that the state is incarcerating too many people, and said Evers’ plan would have helped address policy changes that need to be made to progress towards closing GBCI.
“We don’t have the capacity and the programming and the staffing and the facilities to allow people to successfully reenter and we’re also taking [people] back out of the community after they’ve already re-entered for really minor technical violations. There are a lot of different things that we can safely do to help reduce and right size the prison population… The governor has proposed these things,” Roys said. “Republicans would rather have a talking point and try to portray themselves as tough on crime, when really what they are is very stupid and wasteful on crime.”
Born said the budget proposal voted on Tuesday was focused on the services already provided by the state and not inserting policy into the budget. He said the committee was doing what it needed to to invest in public safety.
“It’s super expensive, and it is what it is because it is a super important part of public safety,” Born said. “Nothing to be sad or upset about and as I would hope most folks know the discussion on the future is in the [capital budget].”
The committee also took up the budgets for district attorneys and public defenders.
The Republican proposal approved on Tuesday adds 42 new assistant district attorney positions, costing $3.5 million in 2025-26 and $2.7 million in 2026-27. The counties with the most new positions include Brown with seven new positions, Waukesha with six positions and Fond du Lac with four. Milwaukee County would get no new positions and Dane County would get one additional position.
Committee co-chair Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said GBCI, which was built in 1898, won’t be discussed until the committee takes up the capital budget later this week. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Roys said the motion was a “nod in the right direction” but said it was missing commensurate increases for public defenders.
“You can have prosecutors charging and charging and charging all day, but if you don’t have defense attorneys, then people are going to languish in jail,” Roys said. “These cases are going to continue to sit there and not get resolved, and we’re going to see that backlog increase.”
Roys also criticized the motion for including no new positions for Milwaukee County, the state’s most populous county, and only one new position in Dane County, the second most populous county. She also expressed concern that Republicans were not considering that federal funds that are currently supporting 30 assistant district attorneys across 28 counties are set to be expended in July.
“The loss of federal funding, I think in some counties, this is going to be very problematic,” Roys said.
“It’s like a 10% increase. What other agencies here are we giving a 10% increase?” Born said. “This is a priority. This is a key investment. I think it’s a positive thing that we were able to do there, but I’m not gonna cry over all our buddies that got ARPA money, [but] didn’t get it now.”
The positions would be anticipated to start in October.
The Republican motion also included investments of nearly $2 million in 2025-26 and nearly $4 million in 2026-27 for pay progression increase for assistant district attorney and deputy district attorneys. The State Public Defender’s office would get $1.9 million in 2025-26 and $3.8 million in 2026-27 for pay progression.
Other investments for district attorneys and public defenders included $3.5 million to upgrade the case tracking system for prosecutors and $858,400 and $922,4000 and 12.5 positions to address workload issues.
The committee also took up the portions of the budget for the Department of Military Affairs, the Public Service Commission and the budget management.
UW budget delayed as deadline approaches
The committee did not take up the budget for the University of Wisconsin system, even though it had been scheduled.
Marklein said leaders “decided not to take it up today” and the co-chairs declined to comment on rumors that lawmakers were preparing a significant cut to the system’s budget.
Roys said she had also heard that Republicans were preparing an $87 million cut to the system and said it would be a “non-starter” for Democrats on the committee.
“The university over the last generation has seen their budget shrink and shrink. They have not gotten inflationary increases, and they’ve had cuts,” said Roys, whose district includes the UW-Madison campus. “What they had asked for in this budget session would help make them whole from the cuts that they have endured over the last 15 years.”
Roys also said that she thought Republicans were having “difficulty deciding whether they want to walk the plank on making cuts to education.”
“When we do not fund public education, which is again the No. 1 thing that Wisconsinites have asked for consistently over the years, we are going to end up with a state where nobody wants to live,” Roys said. “We can fund prisons all we want, but ultimately, funding early childhood, funding education, funding higher [education] is how we make Wisconsin a great place to live.”
Marklein said he and his colleagues are trying to get the budget passed before the June 30 deadline.
Republicans will be facing a small vote margin if they try to pass the bill with only Republican support. Two members of the Senate have already expressed concerns about the budget crafted so far by the Joint Finance Committee.
Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) said that he sees three options: accepting Evers’ budget, approving the one being drafted by the Joint Finance Committee or leaving the current budget in place.
“Unless something improves, I am going with option #3,” Kapenga wrote.
Kapenga said the JFC budget so far includes “unnecessary spending without any reforms that would improve the budget process or dig into wasteful spending currently in place” and said that it would be a major risk to send the budget to Evers because the state Supreme Court hasn’t curbed his veto power.
Kapenga said letting the current budget stand would mean “the lowest spending increase in a decade” and would “have no veto pen risk.”
Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) had already encouraged the state Legislature last month to either pass no new budget or “a very small mini-budget.” He has a history of voting against the state budget.
Wisconsin State Capitol (Wisconsin Examiner photo)
Wisconsin lawmakers have requested additional security ahead of this week’s floor session in light of the attacks over the weekend on Minnesota state lawmakers, including the assassination of Democratic–Farmer–Labor House leader Melissa Hortman and her husband and the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.
The police have identified 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter as the suspected gunman. Boelter had a list in his car of dozens of people including elected officials and abortion providers, according to police. Boelter was apprehended Monday and faces federal and state murder charges.
All three of Wisconsin’s federal Democratic lawmakers and 11 state lawmakers were identified as being named in documents left behind by Boelter.
According to Politico, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin spokesperson Eli Rosen said Monday she was notified by law enforcement she was included on the alleged shooter’s list of names and “is grateful for law enforcement’s swift action to keep the community safe.”
Rosen also said Baldwin “remains focused on the things that matter most here: honoring the legacy and life of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, praying for the other victims who are fighting for their lives, and condemning this abhorrent, senseless political violence.”
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore wrote on social media that she was aware her name was on one of the documents recovered from the vehicle of the suspect in Minnesota.
“I thank law enforcement for their swift notification and subsequent response,” Moore said. “My prayers are with all those impacted by these horrific acts.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan has said he is “appreciative that law enforcement apprehended the suspect” in the shooting and he had heard that his name was in the Minnesota shooting suspect’s notebooks.
“I will not back down in the face of terror, however, we as elected officials must do better to lower the temperature,” Pocan said. “That said, my schedule remains unchanged.”
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 Wisconsin state lawmakers were named in lists left behind by Boelter.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has requested additional security for the Assembly floor session this week, according to Vos’ communications director Luke Wolff. Vos’ office declined to provide additional details about the new security plan Tuesday afternoon.
The Wisconsin State Senate Sergeant at Arms Timothy La Sage announced Monday a series of enhanced security protocols at the State Capitol being taken in coordination with Capitol police, including “increased situational awareness practices, strengthened access control points, and updated emergency response protocols.” Specific security details are not being disclosed publicly, according to the statement.
The steps are meant to provide a secure and responsive environment and maintain public accessibility and civic engagement.
“The safety of those who serve, work, and visit the Capitol is my top priority,” La Sage said. “We remain vigilant and prepared. These enhancements are part of our ongoing commitment to security and public service.”
The week prior to the Minnesota attacks, Wisconsin Democrats on the budget committee spoke about increasing political violence across the country and, specifically, the targeting of judges and justices as they defended a budget request to add specific security for the state Supreme Court. State lawmakers have passed bipartisan laws in the past to help protect judges. Republicans on the committee, however, rejected this proposal, saying that the Capitol police is doing a good job and there isn’t a need for separate security.
At a press conference following the budget committee’s Tuesday meeting, Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said she thinks increasing security at the Capitol is part of a “broader conversation that state legislatures are having all around the country.”
“I’m hopeful that we’re going to have some of that in Wisconsin,” Roys said. “Obviously, our thoughts are with all of our colleagues in Minnesota.”
Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) told WISN-12 reporter Matt Smith that he wants increased security around the Capitol, including metal detectors and a ban on members of the public (but not lawmakers) carrying guns into the building.
“I have not been through another Capitol that has not had metal detectors,” Kapenga said. “We need to have a higher level of security just because of, unfortunately, ingenuity with how you can hurt people.”
Security at the state Capitol was a point of concern previously in 2023 after a man entered the building twice with a gun in search of Gov. Tony Evers. At the time, Evers said about increasing security that he was “sure they are looking at that” but that it was “not something we talk about [or] something police talk about.”
Login
