Gov. Tony Evers signed the budget, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 15, at 1:32 a.m. in his office Thursday, less than an hour after the Assembly passed it. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Gov. Tony Evers signed the $111 billion two-year state budget bill into law overnight following a marathon day of overlapping Senate and Assembly floor sessions where the bill received bipartisan support from lawmakers. The budget cuts taxes by $1.3 billion, makes investments in the University of Wisconsin system, boosts public schools’ special education reimbursement rate to 45% and allocates about $330 for child care. 

Evers signed the budget, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 15, at 1:32 a.m. in his office Thursday, less than an hour after the Assembly passed it. Just before signing it, he thanked legislative leaders for working with him and said the budget reflects the fair legislative maps that he signed into law in 2024 and that were in place during November elections. 

“We need to work together,” Evers said. 

As the Assembly and Senate prepared to meet for debate Wednesday evening, Evers was outside of the east wing of the Capitol for Concerts on the Square and telling people not to “drop meatballs” on themselves. 

“I was actually chatting with people about tonight outside,” he said. “Many of them were saying ‘How about that? Compromise.’ Compare that to what’s going on in Washington, D.C., and it’s significantly different, so I’m very proud to sign it.”

The passage and signing of the state budget comes two days after the end of the fiscal year.

Following months of negotiations and the announcement of a deal between Evers, Republican legislative leaders and Senate Democrats on Tuesday, the Legislature worked for about 15 hours Wednesday to get the bill over the finish line.

Their goal was to get the bill signed by Evers before the federal reconciliation bill made it to President Donald Trump’s desk.

One reason for the rush was a provision in the state budget that increases a Medicaid-related hospital assessment from 1.8% to 6%, the current federal limit, to supplement the state’s Medicaid resources. It’s estimated to result in over $1 billion in additional Medicaid revenue that will go back to Wisconsin hospitals, but the state’s ability to make that change is set to be restricted under the federal bill.

“We want our health care system to be in good shape, and in order to do that, we’re going to need help from the federal government,” Evers said. 

Governor uses partial veto

In addition to signing the budget, Evers exercised his partial veto on 23 items . He had agreed not to partially veto any part of the deal that he came to with lawmakers, but other pieces of the legislation were fair game. 

Evers vetoed language that set 2029 for closing Green Bay Correctional Institution. He said he supports closing the facility, but said more needs to be done before a date is set.

“We need more compromise on that. We need to get things going before we start taking people out of Green Bay,” Evers told reporters. “Saying that we’re going to do Green Bay by ’29 doesn’t mean a damn thing.”

He also partially vetoed $750,000 in grants to the Lakeland STAR Academy, a Minocqua charter school that specializes in serving students with autism and diverse learning needs; vetoed language excluding two of Wisconsin’s 11 federally-recognized tribes from a grant program; and vetoed $25,000 for a street project in the village of Warrens. 

In addition, he vetoed funds for five projects that would go through the Department of Natural Resource. 

“I object to providing an earmark for a natural resources project when the Legislature has abandoned its responsibility to reauthorize and ensure the continuation of the immensely popular Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship program,” Evers stated in his veto message. 

Lawmakers said they are still working on legislation to continue the program. “Instead of renewing the program and helping the many, the Legislature has opted to benefit the politically connected few,” Evers wrote.  “The Legislature must do its job and renew the Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship program.”

Evers said if he would change anything about the budget, he would have wanted “more in the area of specificity in child care.” The budget will spend about $330 million on child care including $110 million to extend direct payments to providers for another year, $65 million to a new program for providers serving 4-year-olds and $123 million to increase the reimbursement for child care costs for low-income families under the Wisconsin Shares program.

Evers also rejected the calls of some advocates that he veto the entire budget, noting the uncertainty that could result and the funding that could be put at risk by starting from scratch on a budget.

“Failing to reach consensus and vetoing this budget in its entirety was an untenable option, not just for me, but for the people of our state,” Evers wrote in his budget message. 

Evers told reporters he wasn’t caught off guard by the number of Democratic lawmakers who didn’t support the budget.

“They have to do what they think is right, and everybody’s kind of looking for what’s going to happen in a couple years, and so I’m not surprised,” Evers said. “But there’s a whole bunch of Republicans that supported it so God bless them.” 

Republican lawmakers also said throughout the day that the prospect of losing hospital funding if the budget wasn’t signed ahead of the federal reconciliation bill moving through Congress played a role in wanting to get the budget done as quickly as possible.

“That’s why we’re working really fast to get it done,” Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said during a press conference Wednesday morning. “We will get the bill to the governor’s desk prior to the President [Trump] signing the Big Beautiful bill.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said at a mid-afternoon press conference he expected Evers would sign the legislation late Wednesday or early Thursday.

“It’s about a billion dollars that will be able to flow to an awful lot of rural hospitals, people who are taking care of those with urgent needs,” Vos said. “We want to get it done and we want access to those dollars.”

Senate approves budget 19-14  

The Senate took action on the bill first, passing it 19-14 shortly after 9 p.m. Five Democratic senators, including Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton), joined 14 Republicans to pass the bill. Four Republicans, including Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk), voted with the 10 Democrats against the legislation. 

Democrats’ votes were needed to pass the budget bill in the Senate after several Republicans expressed concerns about the legislation. Hesselbein was at the negotiating table as a result. 

The hospital funding, which led to lawmakers rushing work to pass the budget in one day, was also the top reason that Felzkowski voted against the budget.

Democrats voting yes, in addition to Hesslebein, were Sens. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim (D- Appleton), Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska), Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) and Jamie Wall (D- Green Bay).  Republicans voting no, in addition to Felzkowski were Rob Hutton (R- Brookfield), Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Steve Nass (R Whitewater).

Felzkowski said she felt bad because there were good things in the budget, but that she was appalled the budget didn’t address the cost of health care, noting Wisconsin has the fifth highest health care costs in the country.

Felzkowski said that there should be other health care reforms if hospitals were going to get a “windfall” of over $1 billion a year and blamed Evers and hospital lobbyists for opposing those, including additional hospital price transparency measures.

“Gov. Evers, you failed Wisconsin,” Felzkowski said. “You failed constituents. You failed employers.” 

Evers rejected the claims, calling them “bulls – – t.”

“The people that work in those hospitals are working real hard,” Evers said. “The last thing we need is to have hospitals going belly up in the middle of the pandemic or something.” 

Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), who voted no, mentioned Evers’ previous vetoes of Republican tax cuts and said the current budget bill leveraged those vetoes “to hide the 12% increase in spending” as well as a structural deficit.

“In a time of economic uncertainty, when our spending decisions warrant further restraint and discernment, we need a budget that creates proper spending priorities and puts taxpayers first,” Hutton said. 

Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) called the budget an “orgy” of spending in a statement explaining his “no” vote. Implicating fellow Republicans, he criticized lawmakers for spending the state’s $4.3 billion surplus on one-time earmarks and “funding for special interests” instead of larger tax cuts.

Despite the handful of opponents, the majority of Senate Republicans supported the budget, touting the tax cuts that they secured and some of the investments.

LeMahieu called it “a responsible budget that invests in core priorities” and touted the $1.4 billion tax cut. 

At the Senate GOP press conference Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) singled out some of the University of Wisconsin system funding that will “put the thumb on the scale…to help some of those campuses like UW Platteville that have had declining enrollment over the last decade.” The budget allocates $53 million for UW system funding, distributed through two formulas: one for declining enrollment and another for the number of credit hours undergraduates complete.

The University of Wisconsin system will also get $840 million for capital projects, $94 million for staff wage increases, $54 million for recruitment and retention and $7 million for virtual mental health services.

Sen. Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac), who voted yes, said the budget didn’t do everything he wanted it to do and included some things he didn’t support. 

“I always have, and always will, advocate for a smaller, smarter state government,” he said in a statement. “I’m glad to see that this budget cuts over 300 vacant positions from state government.”

Feyen highlighted his support for special education funding and child care provisions in the document. He said if people want a more “conservative” budget, then Republicans would need to expand their majority and elect a Republican governor in 2026.

Senate Democrats, whether they voted for or against the bill, all had a similar message: it doesn’t do enough. 

“What we have on the floor today is better than it would have been if Senate Dems had not been at the table, but let me be clear, it is not perfect,” Hesselbein said at a Wednesday morning press conference. She described the budget as a “bipartisan deal” where “everybody left the table wishing it was different, but this is something that we can agree on trying to move forward.”

Asked about the advocates who called for lawmakers to vote against the budget and Evers to veto it, Hesselbein said she knew some people were upset.

“I’m glad they’re making their voices heard,” she said. “That’s why today, we’re going to be fighting for every single Wisconsinite.”

Day of drama delayed

The Senate convened a little after 10:30 a.m., but didn’t pass the bill until after 9 p.m. 

The first several hours of debate centered on Senate Democrats’ 25 proposed amendments  that ranged from increasing funding for the UW system, K-12 education and child care to expanding postpartum Medicaid. The body got through about half of those amendments before pausing for several hours to caucus.

During the delays, Republicans were working on a 35-page “technical amendment” with several changes, including an added requirement that the UW system conduct an efficiency study on declining student enrollment and future operations. 

When the Senate reconvened around 7 p.m., it tabled the rest of the Democratic amendments and started debate on the full budget bill. 

Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) said Democrats helped improve the budget but that it l would not allow people in Wisconsin to thrive.

“We understand the urgency to act. Congress is actively restricting our future funding. This budget must move forward, but that does not make it a good budget,” Spreitzer said.

The budget broke the “rule of 17” — the Senate Republicans’ practice of making sure 17 members support a measure before it’s put on the floor — Spreitzer said, and criticized them for not breaking the rule to pass other measures, including postpartum Medicaid expansion or funding for the Knowles-Nelson Conservation program in a bipartisan way. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just get it done today?” he said. 

Spreitzer said the Democratic votes on the budget were not an endorsement, but were rather an acknowledgement that it was better than it would have been without bipartisan negotiations. Asserting that the budget didn’t deserve one more vote than was necessary to pass it, he voted against it.

Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said the optimism after Evers introduced his budget in February soon faded and criticized the governor for not fighting harder for his priorities.  The result is “grossly” insufficient and “will do more harm than good,” he said

“It’s a ‘failure to fight’ budget,” Larson said. “This budget is cowardice. We all deserve so much better.” 

Assembly passes budget 59-39 

“We have a guarantee that we’re going to have a transformation budget that works for everyone,” Vos said during the Assembly floor debate. “I assume, like in the state Senate where Democrats and Republicans are going to vote for the budget, we would have the same thing here in the Assembly, if people are serious about saying we want to work together.” 

The Assembly concurred in the bill 59-39 at around 12:40 a.m. Seven Democrats voted with Republicans in favor of the bill: Reps. Jill Billings (D-La Crosse), Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska), Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire), Maureen McCarville (D- DeForest), Lori Palmeri (D-Oshkosh), Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D-Milwaukee) and Tara Johnson (D-Town of Shelby). 

One Republican  — Rep. Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) — voted with Democrats against the bill. Rep. Calvin Callahan (R-Tomahawk) was not voting. 

Assembly Co-Chair Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said the budget process this time was different from any other that he’s worked on. This is his fourth as co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee. 

“We did spend more time working with the governor’s office, the governor and Democrats,” Born said, and called the budget  “more conservative”  than the state’s 2023-25 budget, to his surprise. He noted that the $1.3 billion tax cut will get signed into law, unlike previous tax cuts that Evers has vetoed. 

The budget spends the state’s estimated $4 billion budget surplus down to about $800 million, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The budget also has a 6% increase in general purpose revenue spending and a 12% increase overall.

While Republicans highlighted the bipartisan nature of the budget and measures included, Democrats throughout the day focused on their critiques and the measures that didn’t make it in.

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said at a press conference Wednesday morning that she was appreciative of Evers and Hesselbein for being at the negotiating table and getting what they could — but it wouldn’t be enough to win her vote. 

“This proposal is a far cry from the budget that Assembly Democrats would have written,” said Neubauer. She said she was not at the table when the budget deal was made.  With a 54-45 majority, Assembly Republicans had the votes to pass the budget without the Democrats, Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August (R-Walworth) said at a GOP press conference.

Neubauer said that as a consequence, the Assembly Democrats “were not part of those negotiations.”

School districts will get an increase in the special education reimbursement rate from about 32% to 42% in the first year of the biennium and 45% in the second year. It will be the highest that the rate has been in many years, but still lower than the 60% advocates and Democrats wanted.

Democratic lawmakers said that without increases in general aid or schools, districts will have to continue relying on property tax increases to keep up with costs.

“You didn’t set out to stop the cycle of [property tax increase] referendums, you set out to continue it,” Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) said on the Assembly floor. “When 96 of 99 Assembly districts have gone to referendum recently and the statewide demand for public school funding increases isn’t partisan for our constituents, why are we fighting so hard to get Republicans to adequately fund our schools? This isn’t a Democrat versus Republican issue across the state, and it shouldn’t be a Republican versus Democrat issue in the state Capitol.”

The four-member Wisconsin Legislative Socialist Caucus — including Reps. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee), Darrin Madison (D-Milwaukee), Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire) and Francesca Hong (D-Madison) — voted against the bill. In a joint statement they called the agreement between Republican lawmakers, Senate Democrats and Evers a “catastrophic failure of leadership that surrenders to Republican austerity.” They cited the lack of a general school aid increase for public schools, the special education reimbursement not meeting 60% and the failure to expand Medicaid.

“This is not a compromise, this is capitulation,” the caucus said.

Assembly Republicans mostly focused on the parts of the state budget they were appreciative of but also took jabs at Democrats for saying they would vote against the bill. 

The Agriculture Roads Improvement Program, which was created in 2023 to support local agricultural road improvement projects statewide, will get an infusion of $150 million. 

“That’s a big deal in my community and up in the rural part of the northwest,” Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie) said. “It helps our state’s largest industry by improving the quality of our roads to get their products and goods out and inputs and services that farmers need into the field as well.” 

Rep. Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek) said lawmakers committed to providing tax cuts for seniors and Wisconsinites as a whole through the elimination of the utility tax, a policy Evers had advocated for. 

“I know that some people on the other side of the aisle said that people are not seeking tax relief,” Rodriguez said. “Yes, they have been. You just haven’t been listening.”

The Office of School Safety, housed in the Department of Justice, will get 13 permanent staff positions and $1.57 million in the budget.

The office provides training and grants to schools for safety and runs the Speak Up, Speak Out tipline where students can anonymously report safety concerns. Funding for the office became a flashpoint of criticism in the 2023-25 budget debate. 

Rep. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville) touted the new budget’s provision for the office and spoke about working with Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul on getting the funding in this year’s budget. He also credited lawmakers on the finance committee for helping to keep the office going.

“The process is ugly, but working together to get something done is a really great thing, so I will defend this budget. I will run on this budget,” Novak said.

Rep. Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc) said on the floor that lawmakers who voted against the budget shouldn’t take credit for any of its accomplishments in the budget later  or attend groundbreakings for projects it funded.“If you vote against this, do not show your face,” Kurtz said. “You didn’t have the courage to vote yes.”

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Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature announced a deal Tuesday on a new two-year budget that cuts income taxes, increases funding for the Universities of Wisconsin despite a threatened cut and raises fees to pay for transportation projects.

The deal in the battleground state, where Evers and Republicans have a long history of not working together, emerged the day after the deadline for enacting a new budget. However, there is no government shutdown in Wisconsin when the budget is late. The Legislature is scheduled to pass it this week.

Evers called the deal “a pro-kid budget that’s a win for Wisconsin’s kids, families and our future.”

Here is what to know about Wisconsin’s budget deal:

Tax cuts

Evers and Republicans agreed to $1.3 billion in income tax cuts largely targeting the middle class. More than 1.6 million people will have their taxes cut an average of $180 annually.

Republicans pushed for cutting taxes given the state’s roughly $4.6 billion budget surplus.

The deal would expand the state’s second lowest income tax bracket and make the first $24,000 of income for people age 67 and over tax-free. It also eliminates the sales tax on electricity, saving taxpayers about $178 million over two years.

Republican legislative leaders praised the deal as providing meaningful tax relief to the middle class and retirees.

“This budget delivers on our two biggest priorities: tax relief for Wisconsin and reforms to make government more accountable,” Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a statement.

And Senate Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu praised it as a compromise that cuts taxes but also stabilizes the state’s child care system and strengthens schools by increasing special education funding.

Higher education

The Universities of Wisconsin would see a $256 million increase over two years, the largest funding increase for the UW system in about two decades. UW Regents had asked for an $855 million overall increase, and Republicans in June floated the possibility of an $87 million cut.

The deal also imposes a faculty minimum workload requirement and calls for an independent study on the system’s future sustainability.

Prison closing

Republicans will be voting on a plan Tuesday to close the 127-year-old Green Bay Correctional Institution by 2029 as Evers proposed. However, it’s not clear what other elements of Evers’ prison overhaul plan Republicans will endorse.

That part of the budget was not under the negotiated deal with Evers, which means he could make changes to it with his powerful partial veto.

Schools, roads and child care get more

There will be $200 million in additional tax revenue to pay for transportation projects, but Evers and Republican leaders did not detail where that money would come from.

The agreement increases funding for child care programs by $330 million over two years, a third of which will be direct payments to providers. The money will replace the Child Care Counts program started during the COVID-19 pandemic. That program, which provides funding to child care providers, expired on Monday. Evers, Democrats and child care advocates have been pushing for additional funding to address child care shortages throughout the state.

Funding for K-12 special education programs will increase by $500 million.

State employees, including at the university, would get a 3% raise this year and a 2% raise next year.

The budget deal was reached after Republicans killed more than 600 Evers proposals in the budget, including legalizing marijuana, expanding Medicaid and raising taxes on millionaires.

Democrats credit redistricting

Democrats said Republicans were forced to compromise because they didn’t have enough votes in the Senate to pass the budget without Democratic support.

Democrats gained seats in November under the new maps drawn by Evers and narrowed the Republican majority in the Senate to 18-15. Two Republican senators said they planned to vote against the budget, resulting in Senate Democrats being brought into the budget negotiations with Evers and Republicans.

“What we are seeing playing out in this budget is the consequence of Wisconsin’s new fairer maps — legislators working together to find compromise and make meaningful progress for the people of Wisconsin,” Democratic Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin said in a statement.

Republican budget committee co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein said, “This budget has involved an awful lot of compromise.”

What’s next?

The deadline for finishing the budget was Monday, but unlike in other states and the federal government there is no shutdown in Wisconsin. Instead, the previous budget remains in place until a new one is signed into law.

The Legislature’s budget-writing committee was voting on the plan Tuesday. The full Legislature is set to meet starting Wednesday to give it final passage.

Once the budget clears the Legislature, Evers will be able to make changes using his expansive partial veto powers. But his office said Evers would not veto any budget provisions that were part of the deal he reached with Republicans.

Evers, who is midway through his second term, has said he will announce his decision on whether he will seek a third term after he has signed the budget. He has 10 business days to take action on the spending plan once the Legislature passes it.

Associated Press writer Todd Richmond contributed to this story.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers reaches budget deal with Republicans to cut taxes, fund university system is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The deal comes after months of negotiations (and multiple breakdowns in communication) among Gov. Tony Evers and Senate and Assembly leaders. Gov. Tony Evers delivers his 2025 state budget address. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Gov. Tony Evers and Republican and Democratic legislative leaders have reached a tentative agreement on the 2025-27 state budget, agreeing to invest hundreds of millions in the University of Wisconsin system, to create new grant and payment programs for child care facilities, further boost investment in special education and cut $1.3 billion in taxes.

The deal comes after months of negotiations (and multiple breakdowns in communication) among Evers and Senate and Assembly leaders. Each leader highlighted pieces of the deal in statements.

Evers focused on the investments in education and child care, saying it is “a pro-kid budget that’s a win for Wisconsin’s kids, families, and our future.” 

“What was at stake is no secret — Republican lawmakers had long indicated this budget would not invest in child care providers, would provide no new increases for our K-12 schools, and would cut nearly $90 million from our UW System. But I never stopped believing we could work together to reach consensus and pass a bipartisan budget, and I’m proud of the months of work that went into getting to where we are today,” he said. 

Evers thanked Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg), Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) for coming to the table to get a deal done. 

“The people of Wisconsin expect their leaders to show up, work hard, and operate in good faith to get good things done,” Evers said. “We’ve shown we’ve been able to get good things done for Wisconsin when people put politics aside and decide to work together to do the right thing. I look forward to signing a bipartisan budget that makes these critical investments in our kids, families, and communities across our state,” Evers said. 

Evers has also agreed not to utilize his partial veto power — previous uses of which have been both limited and sustained by the state Supreme Court in recent weeks — on parts of the budget included in the deal.

Vos said in a statement that he appreciated Evers’ willingness to work with lawmakers to find a bipartisan agreement.

“This budget delivers on our two biggest priorities: tax relief for Wisconsin and reforms to make government more accountable,” Vos said. “This deal brings those investments and reforms together and creates a Wisconsin that works for everyone.” 

JFC co-chair Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said legislators worked hard to find compromise while staying “committed to our core principals.” 

“We are proud to have worked diligently to craft this budget, listened to the priorities of our constituents and look forward to sending the bill to [Evers] later this week,” Born said. 

LeMahieu and budget committee co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) said in a statement that tax relief for middle-income Wisconsinites has been their top priority during the entire process.

“This compromise will provide meaningful tax relief for retirees and the middle class, stabilize the child care system without making pandemic-era subsidies permanent and strengthen our schools by reimbursing special education at a higher rate,” the Senate leaders said. 

Hesselbein  said she has “been at the table fighting hard on behalf of Senate Democrats to help hammer out a bipartisan budget agreement.” Her involvement in negotiations comes amid slim margins in the Senate.

“Remember where we were a week ago: Republicans proposing $87 million in cuts to the UW, a mere 5% increase for special education and no direct payments to child care providers. Elections matter: the fact that Democrats gained four Senate seats and are close to taking the majority means that Senate Democrats were able to make this budget agreement better for the people of Wisconsin,” Hesselbein said.

Last session, the state Senate passed the budget bill with only Republican votes even after a couple of Republicans voted against the proposal. This session the Republican Senate caucus would only be able to lose one vote if it were going to pass the bill with only GOP support, yet, even prior to a deal announcement, a handful of Republican members had publicly expressed concerns about the spending in the bill. Among them was Sen. Steve Nass who, in a statement last week, laid out requirements for a budget that he could support, Sen. Rob Hutton who, in a Friday opinion piece, and Sen. Chris Kapenga who, in a post on Monday, drew their own lines in the sand.  

It is unclear how many Senate Democrats will vote for the budget when it comes to the floor this week. Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) earlier told WISN UpFront that the caucus was sticking together and members were “not willing to be picked off one by one.”

The Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday to vote on the rest of the budget before sending it to the full Assembly and Senate. 

Child care funding 

Child care providers, who have dealt with staffing shortages, high costs and declining state support, will receive a $300 million investment under the deal.

Evers had proposed spending an additional $480 million to continue funding Child Care Counts, a program that was funded using federal pandemic relief. With that funding running out, Evers had said the state should pick up the costs to continue supporting child care providers, while Republican lawmakers said they were opposed to providing checks to facilities.

Under the deal, the Child Care Counts program will be phased out, but the state will invest $110 million to support direct monthly payments and monthly per-child investments to child care facilities for a bridge program. That will continue helping providers to remain in business, cut child care wait lists and lower costs for families. The money will come out of the state’s federal interest earnings. 

The state will also invest $66 million in general purpose revenue for a “Get Kids Ready” initiative, which will be targeted at supporting child care providers serving 4-year-olds. This will be the first child care program in state history to be funded solely by general purpose revenue. 

Another agreed-upon budget item creates a $28.6 million pilot program to help support child care capacity for infants and toddlers. 

Under the program, providers are to receive $200 per month for every infant under 18 months and $100 per month for every toddler between 18 and 30 months.

Other child care investments include a $123 million increase in the Wisconsin Shares program, $2 million over the biennium for the creation of a competitive grant program aimed at supporting child care facilities seeking to expand their capacity and $2 million in Wisconsin’s Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies to help parents find child care and provide training to providers.

The deal also makes changes inspired by solutions that Republican lawmakers have advocated for including creating “large family care centers” that will be allowed to serve up to 12 children and standardizing the minimum age for an assistant teacher in a child care facility at 16. 

No cuts for University of Wisconsin system 

The University of Wisconsin system will get an investment of more than $256 million in the state budget under the deal — a significant compromise as Evers and the system had requested an $855 million investment, while Republican leaders in recent weeks were considering an $87 million cut to the system. Evers had threatened to veto the budget if it came to his desk with a cut. 

The funding includes $100 million to support UW system campuses statewide. Some of the funding would be distributed to campuses according to a formula. Of this, $15.25 million each year would be distributed to campuses with declining enrollment over the last two years and $11.25 million each year through a formula dependent on the number of credit hours undergraduates complete.

There will also be $7 million across the biennium to provide 24/7 virtual telehealth mental health services across UW system campuses, $54 million to support retainment and recruitment of faculty and staff, $94 million to increase wages by 3% in the first year and 2% in the second year for UW system employees and $1 million for UW-Green Bay’s Rising Phoenix Early College High School Program. 

The UW system will also be required to maintain the number of positions funded with general purpose revenue and program revenue at January 2024 levels. 

The system will also get over $840 million for capital projects. Other parts of the capital budget, including the Green Bay Correctional Institution, were not addressed in the deal. 

• $194 million for UW-La Crosse to complete the construction of the Prairie Springs Science Center and to demolish Crowley Hall 
• $189 million for UW-Milwaukee to renovate the Health Sciences and Northwest Quadrant complex
• $137 million for UW-Oshkosh to demolish a library facility, renovate and add a brand-new replacement addition 
• $10 million for UW-Madison to renovate and build a new addition to Dejope Residence Hall 
• $98 million for UW-Stevens Point to renovate and build a new addition to Sentry Hall
• $800,000 for UW-Milwaukee to plan for renovations at Sandburg Hall East Tower 
• Nearly $32 million for UW-Stout to renovate and build a new addition at its recreation complex
• Nearly $19 million for UW-Madison to renovate the Chadbourne Residence Dining Hall, $5 million to plan for relocation and demolition of the UW-Madison Humanities Building and $160 million for renovation of UW-Madison’s Science Hall

K-12 special education funding up to 45% 

The deal also makes changes to the budget that Republican lawmakers on the budget committee passed in mid-June, boosting the special education reimbursement rate to 45% by the second year of the budget. 

The state’s special education rate was one of the crucial issues discussed by education advocates with many saying a significant investment would help alleviate some of the financial stress schools have faced and ease districts’ reliance on property taxes. 

Some advocates had called for a 90% investment, while Evers proposed a 60% rate. Republican lawmakers had initially approved raising the rate to 35% in the first year of the budget and 37.5% in the second year. 

Under the deal, the total investment in the special education reimbursement will be over $500 million. The rate will rise to 42% in the first half of the biennium and 45% in the second. It will remain at a sum certain rate, meaning the amount of money allocated is finite and will not increase based on expanding demand. 

The budget deal will also invest $30 million for comprehensive school-based mental health services.

Department of Health Services changes

The deal would also increase the hospital assessment rate to help maintain the state’s Medicaid costs. The Wisconsin Hospital Assessment is a levy from certain hospitals that the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) uses to fund hospital access payments, hospital supplemental payments and reinvestment in the Wisconsin Medicaid program. 

Wisconsin hospitals currently pay an assessment rate of about 1.8% of their net patient revenue to the DHS. That would rise to 6% under the deal with 30% of the funds being retained in the Medical Assistance Trust Fund, which supports Wisconsin’s Medicaid program. The rest of the funds will be used to invest in hospital provider payments and is estimated to provide over $1.1 billion in additional investments in Wisconsin hospitals. 

The changes use federal funding to increase hospital reimbursement while decreasing the amount of general program revenue for the Medicaid program.

Evers’ office noted that federal reconciliation legislation proposals have included provisions that would prohibit or limit the policy change in the future, meaning that this budget could be the last for Wisconsin to make these types of changes.

The state will also fund the current Medicaid program under the deal. 

The budget will also increase investments in free and charitable clinics by $1.5 million.

The deal does not include Medicaid expansion, which Evers continued to advocate for in the budget but Republican leaders have fervently opposed. It also doesn’t include the smaller postpartum Medicaid extension, which would allow postpartum mothers to receive Medicaid coverage for up to a year after giving birth. 

Wisconsin is one of 10 states not to take the Medicaid expansion and one of two not to take the postpartum expansion. 

Roads improvement program gets additional investment 

A couple of projects created in the last budget to help with road improvement will get additional funding under the deal

The state will allocate $150 million in the Agricultural Roads Improvement Program, which was created in 2023 to support local agricultural road improvement projects statewide. Of the additional funding, $30 million will go towards improving and repairing deteriorating bridges across the state.

According to Evers’ office, the program has so far funded 92 projects across the state. 

The deal would also generate nearly $200 million in additional revenue to improve the sustainability of the transportation fund, allocate $14 million for municipal service payments, invest $50 million to continue the Local Projects Program (also created in the 2023 budget), which supports local communities with construction projects that serve statewide public purpose, allocate $15 million for repairs and modifications to the Echo Lake Dam, invest $5 million for the Browns Lake dredging project and invest $30 million for the De Pere railroad bridge.

$1.3 billion in tax cuts

Evers has also agreed to support the tax cuts that lawmakers approved in committee in mid-June. 

Under those changes, more people will qualify for the state’s second tax bracket with a rate of 4.4%. For single filers, the qualifying maximum income will increase from $29,370 to $50,480. For joint filers, the maximum will increase from $39,150 to $67,300 and for married separate filers, the maximum will increase from $19,580 to $33,650.

It’s estimated that this will reduce the state’s revenues by $323 million in 2025-26 and $320 million in 2026-27.

The cut will affect 1.6 million Wisconsin taxpayers and provide an average cut of $180. Under Wisconsin’s tax system, people pay the first-bracket tax rate on the portion of their income that falls into that bracket, the second-bracket rate on their income up to the maximum of the second bracket and so on. Thus even high-income earners will get a tax break through adjustments to the lower bracket rates.

The proposal also included an income tax exclusion for retirees. It is estimated to reduce Wisconsin’s revenues by $395 million in 2025-26 and $300 million in 2026-27. This will allow Wisconsinites 67 and older to exclude up to $24,000 for single-filers and $48,000 for married-joint filers of retirement income payments. Those filers will see an average cut of about $1,000 per filer.

The deal will also include the elimination of the sales tax on household utility bills, which is estimated to cost the state about $178 million over the biennium and create a film tax credit similar to one that Republican lawmakers have been advocating for.

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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.

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During the 2022–23 school year, book bans occurred in 153 districts across 33 states, according to a PEN America report. (Getty Images)

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that Gov. Tony Evers overstepped his partial veto power by exercising it on a bill to implement new literacy programs in the state. Evers scolded the decision, while lawmakers said it upheld the balance of power and that they plan to release the funds now. 

The decision reverses a lower court, which ruled Evers hadn’t overstepped his power but held that the court did not have the power to compel the Legislature to release the funds. 

The case, Wisconsin State Legislature v. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, involves 2023 Wisconsin Act 100 — one part of a series of measures meant to support the creation of new literacy programs in Wisconsin. 

In the 2023-25 budget, lawmakers and Evers approved $50 million for new literacy programs but the funding went into a supplemental fund, meaning it required the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee to approve its release to the Department of Public Instruction before it could be used.

2023 Wisconsin Act 20  created an Office of Literacy within the Department of Public Instruction, which would be responsible for establishing an early literacy coaching program and awarding grants to schools. Act 100  was a separate law to create a way for the agency to expend the money transferred by the Joint Committee on Finance.

Evers exercised a partial veto when signing Act 100 into law to expand it from covering a “literacy coaching program” to covering a “literacy program.” The action led to lawmakers withholding the funding, saying he didn’t have the authority to change the law’s purpose, the argument at the center of their subsequent lawsuit. Evers’ administration had argued the bill was an appropriation, and therefore it was within the governor’s powers to partially veto it, and that the Legislature was not within its right to withhold the money.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the Legislature had not been improperly withholding the funding from DPI and that Act 100 was not an appropriation, so Evers overstepped the boundaries of the veto power given to him in the Wisconsin State Constitution. The decision overturns part of the ruling of a Dane County judge.

The state constitution gives the governor the power to sign or veto bills in full, and a 1930 amendment gave the governor the power to partially veto “appropriation bills.” Wisconsin’s executive partial veto power is one of the strongest in the country, though it has been limited over the last several decades by constitutional amendments and through Court rulings.

The state Supreme Court’s 7-0 ruling Wednesday reigns in Evers’ partial veto power.

Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in the majority opinion that the bills “did not set aside public funds for a public purpose” but rather “created accounts into which money could be transferred to fund the programs established under Act 19 [the state budget] and Act 20, and it changed other aspects of the ‘literacy coaching program.’”

“The bill, however, does not set aside any public funds; in fact, it expressly states that “$0” was appropriated,” Bradley wrote.  

Bradley said it was within the Legislature’s authority to pass the bills in the way that it did, and the Constitution only gives the governor power to “veto in part only appropriation bills — not bills that are closely related to appropriation bills.”

“Although the executive branch may be frustrated by constitutional limits on the governor’s power to veto non-appropriation bills, the judiciary must respect the People’s choice to impose them,” Bradley wrote. “This court has no authority to interfere with the Legislature’s choices to structure legislation in a manner designed to insulate non-appropriation bills from the governor’s exercise of the partial veto power.” 

Under the ruling, the law will revert to what it was when the Legislature passed it.

Another recent state Supreme Court ruling upheld another of Evers’ partial vetoes that extended school revenue increases for 400 years, though that decision was split. In that ruling, the Supreme Court said lawmakers could avoid the partial veto power by drafting bills separate from appropriation bills. Republican lawmakers have been considering for years ways to limit Evers’ veto power, and it remains an issue of controversy in the current budget process as lawmakers pass bills without funding attached. 

Evers called the Supreme Court decision “unconscionable” and urged lawmakers to release the nearly $50 million.

“Twelve lawmakers should not be able to obstruct resources that were already approved by the full Legislature and the governor to help get our kids up to speed and ensure they have the skills they need to be successful,” Evers said in a statement. “It is unconscionable that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is allowing the Legislature’s indefinite obstruction to go unchecked.” 

Evers said he would accept the Court’s decision.

“A basic but fundamental responsibility of governors and executives is to dutifully comply with decisions of a court and the judiciary, even if — and, perhaps most importantly, when — we disagree,” Evers said. 

Evers said lawmakers failing to release the funds would be “reckless” and “irresponsible.” 

“Stop messing around with our kids and their futures and get it done,” Evers said. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said in a joint statement that the ruling is a “rebuke of the Governor’s attempt to break apart a bipartisan literacy-funding bill and JFC’s constitutional authority to give supplemental funding to agencies.”

“While the Governor wanted to play politics with money earmarked for kids’ reading programs, it is encouraging to see the Court put an end to this game,” Vos and LeMahieu said. “Wisconsin families are the real winners here.”

The end of the state’s fiscal year and deadline for getting the next state budget done is June 30, and if the money isn’t released, it will lapse back into the general fund going back to the state’s $4 billion budget surplus.

Co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) and Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) said in a joint statement they plan to release the funds now that the Supreme Court has ruled on the issue

“The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision confirmed what we already knew: the Governor’s partial veto of Act 100 was unconstitutional. We are happy to see that the court ruled in favor of the Legislature as a co-equal branch of government and provided us much needed guidance,” the lawmakers said. “Now that there is clarity, we look forward to releasing the $50 million set aside to support kids struggling to read and help implement these important, bipartisan reforms. It is unfortunate that the Governor’s unconstitutional veto has delayed this funding needed by kids and families across the state.”

At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Democrats on the Joint Finance Committee called for lawmakers to meet before Monday to release the funds. 

“Unless the Joint Finance Committee acts before Monday, those kids and those school districts will not see another dime. Wisconsinites are tired of Republicans playing politics with our public schools,” Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) said. She noted that Evers had requested an additional $80 million for literacy in his budget proposal, but lawmakers have so far not included that. 

Republican lawmakers have approved the K-12 portion of the state budget, which includes an increase for the state’s special education reimbursement rate from about 32% to 37.5% and a 90% rate for high cost special education in the second year of the budget, along with funding for other priorities. Democrats and education advocates have been critical, saying that the budgeted amounts are not enough to ease the financial burdens public schools are facing.

Rep. Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha) said Democrats haven’t heard from Republican lawmakers about working on the budget.

“We are ready to work,” Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said. “We would like to see immediately some action on the funding that is going to disappear if it’s not spent by June 30th, particularly the literacy funding. The Joint Finance Committee has also refused to release other funds, including $125 million to combat PFAS and $15 million to support Chippewa Valley hospitals.

Roys said it was “great to hear” that the co-chairs said they would release the funds and that she hopes he “stands by his word.” 

State Superintendent Jill Underly also urged the release of the funds, saying part of the compromise struck by Evers and lawmakers was “to provide districts with funding to implement new strategies and change practices” and districts have been working to implement the literacy changes but have yet to see funding.

“It is devastating that despite bipartisan agreement on how to proceed, we have been stuck in neutral,” Underly said. 

Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), the state’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement that Republican lawmakers are “bent on using schools as pawns for political payback” and are giving “lip service to literacy, while leaving educators without funding to do our job.” 

“On the cusp of another state budget, these same politicians again threaten to underfund public schools instead of working across the aisle for the good of students,” Wirtz-Olsen said, adding that WEAC will continue to advocate for funding from the state.

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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.

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Republicans on the Legislature’s budget-writing committee canceled last Thursday’s Joint Finance Committee meeting after two GOP senators voiced discontent and Gov. Tony Evers called a possible $87 million cut to the Universities of Wisconsin system a “nonstarter.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and JFC co-chair Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said they had chosen to return to negotiations with Evers to guarantee tax cuts in the final budget and shared hope that Senate Republicans “will come back to the table to finish fighting for these reforms.”

Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, and Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, indicated they are unlikely to vote for the budget in its current form. 

Senate Republicans have an 18-15 majority, so they can only lose one Republican vote without picking up a vote from a Democrat. To pass the budget, both the Assembly and the Senate must vote for it, and Evers must sign off. Evers can use his partial line-item veto or veto the whole budget.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said conversations were heading in an unaffordable direction and Senate Republicans were ready to pass a budget “that cuts taxes and responsibly invests in core priorities.” 

Negotiations initially broke down on June 4 when Republicans walked out of conversations with the Evers administration, failing to agree on tax cuts and education spending. 

With delays and cancellations in approving the budget, it has become increasingly likely the next biennial budget will not be approved by the July 1 deadline. If it is not approved by the end of the month, the 2023-25 budget would carry over into the next fiscal year.

That’s not entirely unusual, though the latest Evers signed his first three budgets was July 8. In 2017, under former Gov. Scott Walker, the budget was not signed into law until September.

Democrats said if the budget is not approved before July 1, local school districts and municipalities will have to delay hiring because they won’t know how much funding they will receive from the state. 

Also, the looming federal budget puts Wisconsin at risk of losing out on federal dollars and programs if a budget is not passed soon. 

“We see a horrible budget bill being debated in Washington that could contain really, really significant cuts for services that all Wisconsinites rely on, thinking about, obviously health care, but certainly things like education, transportation, natural resources, agriculture,” Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, said.

Rep. Tip McGuire, D-Kenosha, also criticized Republicans for “allowing extremists within their caucus to hijack this budget and go against the will of the people.”

Vos told reporters Wednesday afternoon the Republican caucus supports an $87 million cut to the UW system budget, yet an Evers spokesperson said any cut to the UW system would be a “nonstarter.” 

The UW system requested a record $856 million funding increase, which was scheduled for action on Tuesday and then removed from the agenda. Last budget cycle, Republicans withheld pay raises from the system and approval of UW-Madison’s new engineering building, eventually signing a deal to freeze diversity, equity and inclusion spending in exchange for the release of the funding.

Vos signaled the potential cuts to the UW system are also about leverage over campus culture. The Trump administration has similarly threatened to withhold and ultimately cut federal grants from universities unless they comply with demands aimed at reshaping campus culture and combating antisemitism. 

“It’s not about cutting money. What it is, is about getting some kind of reforms to the broken process that we currently have,” Vos said. “There is still too much political correctness on campus. We don’t have enough respect for political diversity.”

Democrats decry prison budget as ‘kicking the can down the road’

The budget committee voted 11-3 along party lines to increase funding for prisons by $148 million over the biennium, though Evers had requested $185 million.

Some of the key differences included the Legislature providing about $20 million less for community reentry programs and 50 fewer contract beds in county jails than Evers proposed.

During the budget committee meeting, Democrats accused their colleagues of “kicking the can down the road” by not funding programs that reduce recidivism in the approved motion. 

Republicans said that their budget motion is “realistic” and that it expands on “huge improvements” in prison guard vacancies made by the 2023-25 budget.

Upper middle income earners get bulk of GOP tax cut

The Wisconsin Republican tax cut plan will give middle to upper income earners the largest tax cut, while taxpayers earning under $40,000 will receive less than 1% of the total, according to a report last week from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Wisconsin taxpayers earning $100,000 to $200,000 would receive 58.5% of the tax decrease, with an average cut of $242 for tax year 2025. In Wisconsin, those making between $100,000 and $200,000 account for a third of tax filers, according to the fiscal bureau.

Some lost federal disaster assistance gets state support

The committee passed a motion to provide additional funding for the Department of Military Affairs for emergency planning — a sign of some bipartisan agreement on alleviating the effects of federal funding cuts.

While the bill included most of Evers’ requests, the approved motion, introduced by Republicans, did not include Emergency Management Programs Sustainment funding, which would have replaced $1.13 million over the biennium in revenue lost as a result of federal cuts.

Previously, FEMA awarded $54 million in grants to Wisconsin to address environmental risks in the state, but federal cuts have canceled $43 million, reducing federal funding for natural disaster prevention by nearly 80%.

The measure adopted Tuesday with bipartisan support would allocate $2 million in 2025-26 for pre-disaster flood resilience grants and $3 million for state disaster assistance programs. The funding would prepare Wisconsin for disasters and provide assistance to mitigate consequences if a natural disaster were to occur.

Republicans add more assistant district attorneys

The budget committee voted 11-3 to add 42 additional assistant district attorneys in counties across the state, including seven positions in Brown, six positions in Waukesha and four positions in Fond du Lac.

Each county would now have staffing levels at approximately 80%, according to a workload analysis from the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association. Currently, 15 counties are below 60% of the staffing level suggested by the WDAA workload analysis, and 33 of 71 counties are below 70%.

The state has been struggling with a shortage of rural attorneys for several years, an issue Larry J. Martin, the executive director for the State Bar of Wisconsin, has called “a crisis that policymakers in our state Capitol must address.”

Wisconsin budget progress stalls amid Senate GOP resistance is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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.”

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.

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. 

“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.”

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“We all have responsibility when it comes to toning down the political rhetoric we use each day,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Wisconsin Legislature held its first floor sessions after the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband and the near-fatal shootings of another state lawmaker and his wife. Leaders said that political violence is unacceptable and expressed willingness to discuss increasing security at the Capitol and for Wisconsin public officials.

Police have identified 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter as the suspected gunman in the assassination of Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor House leader Melissa Hortman and her husband over the weekend. He is also the suspect in the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. Boelter was apprehended Monday and faces federal and state murder charges. 

Wisconsin lawmakers had requested increased security in the Wisconsin State Capitol following the shootings and ahead of Wednesday’s floor sessions. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) told reporters that they made the right decision in requesting the increased security and said his caucus would be open to talking about new security proposals but it isn’t clear those are the right actions to take.

“Whenever an incident like this happens the most important thing that we can do is to take a breath and look at what’s going to be the actual best potential solution as opposed to a knee-jerk reaction,” Vos said. 

Vos added that the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) believes the Minnesota case may be one of the first political assassinations of a state lawmaker in the nation’s history and also noted that the “scariest” thing is that the shootings happened at the lawmakers’ homes.

“The idea of trying to make the Capitol into a fortress, I don’t know if that necessarily would even have ever done anything in this situation to help the awful situation that happened in Minnesota,” Vos said. “We’re going to talk about it as a caucus. I think we made the right decision to increase security here.” 

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) echoed Democrats at another presser, where lawmakers didn’t take questions. 

“Political violence is never the answer. We need to solve our differences through legislation,” LeMahieu said. 

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) spoke about the attacks at a joint press conference ahead of Wednesday’s floor sessions. Boelter had a list of dozens of people including elected officials and abortion providers in his vehicle, according to police. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 Democratic lawmakers were found on that list.

Neubauer thanked law enforcement and her colleagues in leadership for coming together in a joint statement over the weekend to say that “no one should ever fear for their lives because of their service to their communities.” She said she and Hortman “shared a strong commitment to service and our communities” and that her heart is broken for Hortman’s family.

“I would also like to ask everyone to remember that these threats, even after the suspect has been apprehended, have had real impacts on the mental health of everyone affected, and we ask that you please respect the duress members and their families have been put through and extend understanding to them,” Neubauer said. 

Hesselbein said that differences should be settled with debate, not political violence.

“In addition to inflicting physical harm, political violence is meant to silence opposition. It is meant to discourage participation in our democracy by residents, by people thinking of running, by public officials. No one should fear for their lives because of their service to the community or because of their involvement in public life,” Hesselbein said. 

“I feel safe in our Capitol building. I think we’re going to continue to have conversations to make sure that everyone else feels safe as well,” Hesselbein said. 

Neubauer said Democrats are open to longer term conversations about security measures in the Capitol. 

Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) has suggested that Wisconsin should install metal detectors in the Capitol and should ban members of the public from carrying guns inside the building. 

State lawmakers have passed bipartisan laws in the past to help protect judges. While debating a bill — SB 169 — that would make a minor change to one of those laws enacted last year that provides privacy protections for judicial officers when there is a written request, there was some discussion about extending additional privacy protections for public officials. 

Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said the bill speaks to keeping judges safe in their homes and said she hoped her colleagues would consider joining her in working on a proposal to extend privacy protections to anyone who serves the public in a public-facing role. 

“There are many people who serve the public in an important capacity, judges are certainly one, but legislators as well, constitutional officers… who are now in this world of high risk,” Roys said.

Vos earlier told reporters that the jobs of judges and state lawmakers are a little different, which could influence conversations about additional privacy protections for public officials in various roles. 

“State legislators are just so much more accessible, which, frankly, is like our superpower. We are the most accessible and the most responsive to the public because we are constantly at events, we are meeting with people, we are doing town halls. We are doing all the interactions that you want in a healthy democracy,” Vos said. 

During the Assembly Floor Session, Vos spoke about knowing Hortman, saying he met her through his work with the National Conference of State Legislatures and called Hortman “funny and engaging and incredibly smart.” 

Hortman was elected to the Minnesota State Legislature in 2004. “Over the next two decades,” Vos said, “she became a formidable force in state politics on her intelligence and her effectiveness.” 

“We all have responsibility when it comes to toning down the political rhetoric we use each day,” Vos said. “All political parties suffer political intimidation, name calling and the risk of physical violence, and we owe it to those who elect us to be role models for civil discourse.” 

The Senate and Assembly both held moments of silence for the Hortmans.

Vos and Hesselbein both read portions of the statement put out by the Hortmans’ children, Sophie and Colin Hortman: “Hope and resilience are the enemy of fear. Our parents lived their lives with immense dedication to their fellow humans. This tragedy must become a moment for us to come together. Hold your loved ones a little closer. Love your neighbors. Treat each other with kindness and respect. The best way to honor our parents’ memory is to do something, whether big or small, to make our community just a little better for someone else.”

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