Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers address the Legislature in his 2024 State of the State message. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)
Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday that Wisconsin’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, which is published by the Department of Administration, recorded a $4.5 billion positive balance in the state’s general fund at the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year.
In addition to the general fund, the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund — or “rainy day” fund — ended the fiscal year at the highest level in state history with a balance of $1.9 billion. The rainy day fund has set a new record every year since Evers took office in 2019.
“For thirty consecutive years, our state’s checking account ran at a deficit. Thanks to our efforts to pay down our state’s debt and work across the aisle to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, Wisconsin has never had a deficit since I took office,” Evers said in a statement. “This is great news for the people of Wisconsin and our state’s economy.”
The balance in the general fund — a budget surplus — will likely be a major point of discussion next year as Evers and lawmakers begin work on the state’s next two-year budget.
Writing the state budget is a process that will take several months as Evers first gets to present his budget proposal to lawmakers, then the state’s Joint Finance Committee will write its own version. The budget bill will need to pass the Senate and Assembly before going to Evers to be signed.
“As we begin the important work of deliberating our state’s next two-year budget, we have a responsibility to keep staying well within our means while still investing in needs that have long been neglected,” Evers said. “We must continue to make the smart, strategic investments we have for the last five years to maintain our economic momentum and ensure Wisconsin’s continued stability and success.”
When the Wisconsin Legislature returns to work in January, Republicans will still be in charge but will have the narrowest majorities since taking control in 2011. That’s giving Democrats, including Gov. Tony Evers, optimism that both sides will be able to work together better than they have since Evers took office six years ago.
Both sides are eyeing the state’s massive budget surplus, which sits at more than $4 billion. What to do with that money will drive debate over the next two-year budget, which will be written in 2025, while questions hang in the air about whether Evers plans to run for a third term in 2026 and how the state will interact with President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
Here is a look at some of the biggest pending issues:
New dynamic in the Legislature
Democrats gained seats in the November election because of redrawn maps ordered by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Republican majority now sits at 54-45 in the Assembly and 18-15 in the Senate. Democrats have 10 more seats in the Assembly than last session and four more in the Senate and are hopeful about gaining the majority after the 2026 election.
“We have already seen a shift in the Capitol due to the new maps,” Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Greta Neubauer told The Associated Press.
She and other Democrats predict it will lead to more pressure from rank-and-file Republicans in competitive districts to move to the middle and compromise with Democrats.
“Everybody understands, at least at this point, that we need to work together, pull together,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told the AP. “And it’s important to get some things done.”
Pushing back against Trump
Democrats say they have been talking with Evers and Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul about how Wisconsin can push back against the incoming Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations. But Democrats say they are also looking at other ways the state can fight Trump’s policies on issues like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.
“We’re worried about a lot of the things that former and future President Trump might do, especially when it comes to deportation and immigration,” Senate Democratic Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein said.
Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he would support Trump’s efforts to deport people who are in the country illegally and commit crimes.
Republicans prioritize cutting taxes. Democrats are open
Republicans passed a $3.5 billion tax cut that Evers gutted to just $175 million with his veto in the last budget. With another large surplus, Republicans say they want to try again.
“People struggling to pay their bills,” LeMahieu said. “We heard that in our local races. And so we want to help help help families out there. We have the money to do it. And that’s going to be our number one priority.”
Both he and Vos said they would like a tax cut of around $2 billion.
Democrats say that they aren’t opposed to cutting taxes, but that they want it to be targeted to helping the middle and lower classes and families.
“We are not interested in tax cuts that primarily benefit rich Wisconsinites or corporations,” Neubauer said. “But we are certainly open to tax cuts that help those who are struggling to make ends meet.”
K-12 education funding
The state superintendent of schools, Jill Underly, proposed spending more than $4 billion on K-12 schools in her budget proposal, which is subject to legislative approval. That’s almost certainly not going to happen, both Republicans and Democrats said.
“We’re not going to spend $4 billion on education, I can guarantee you that right now,” LeMahieu said.
While Democrats say they are prioritizing education funding, “I don’t think we’re going to be able to match that,” Hesselbein said of the $4 billion request.
Universities of Wisconsin
Leaders of the cash-strapped Universities of Wisconsin have asked for $855 million in additional funding in the next budget, nearly an 11% increase. System President Jay Rothman says schools need the money to stave off tuition increases, cover raises, subsidize tuition, and keep two-year branch campuses open in the face of declining enrollment and flat state aid.
Evers has promised to include the request in his budget, but Republican leaders said they would not approve that much, and Democrats also said it was a goal that was unlikely to be met.
LeMahieu and Vos both said UW would not get what it wants.
“We’re going to need to see some substantial change in how they’re doing their programing,” LeMahieu said. “We can’t just keep spending more and more on a system that’s educating less and less people.”
Marijuana, health care and other priorities
Vos said he intends to create a state-level task force to improve government efficiency, similar to what Trump created at the national level dubbed DOGE. He also supports passing a bill that would allow for the processing of absentee ballots the day before Election Day, a measure that’s had bipartisan support in the past but failed to pass.
Democrats say they will continue to push for ways to expand and reduce costs for child care, health care for new mothers and prescription drugs. Both Republicans and Democrats say they want to do more to create affordable housing. The future of the state’s land stewardship program also hangs in in the balance after the state Supreme Court said Republicans were illegally blocking funding of projects.
Democrats also say they hope to revive efforts to legalize medical marijuana, an effort that was backed by some Republicans but that failed to pass last session.
LeMahieu predicted the slimmer Republican majorities will make it more difficult for any marijuana bill to pass because some lawmakers “are dead set against it.”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Gov. Tony Evers signs legislation in March 2024 funding a new UW-Madison engineering building. On Wednesday, the State Building Commission divided on party lines, blocking a plan to transfer unspent money for other projects, including the engineering building. (Screenshot via @GovEvers Twitter page)
The on-again, off-again plan for a new engineering building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has hit a new roadblock, with Republican lawmakers questioning how the state was constructing its building project bids and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers accusing them of last-minute political gamesmanship.
The four Republicans on the eight-member commission voted against a proposal Wedmesday that would have provided $29 million for the UW-Madison engineering building from unspent funds.
The engineering building has been a political football over the last two years since Republican lawmakers sought to use the project as leverage to force the UW system to reduce or eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
After the Republican majorityexcluded the engineering building funding from the 2023-25 state budget, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos pressured the University of Wisconsin Regents to accept an agreement thatreframed diversity initiatives. In return, the Legislature passed and Evers signed in Marchlegislation transferring $423 million to the state’s capital improvement fund for UW projects, including $197 million for the engineering building.
At Wednesday’s State Building Commission meeting, the Evers administration proposed taking $70 million from projects at the UW Eau Claire for which bids came in under budget. The proposal called for redirecting the unspent funds to other projects already approved by the building commission.
In addition to the $29 million for the engineering building, the redirected funds were proposed to go to projects at UW-Whitewater ($10.5 million), UW-Stout ($5.4 million) and assorted university repair and maintenance projects ($25 million).
While blocking the transfer, the commission approved $81 million in projects across the state.
In a statement issued after the commission votes, Evers called the approved projects “critical to our communities” and condemned the vote blocking the transfer, calling it “partisan obstruction” to the UW.
“I am deeply disappointed that Republican lawmakers are once again pulling the rug out from under UW in the eleventh hour and putting politics ahead of doing what’s best for our kids, our workforce and economy, and our state,” Evers said.
In statements released after they voted against the transfer, GOP lawmakers on the commission complained that, among other things, the engineering building project’s design had been expanded beyond what had been previously proposed.
“I have advocated for the Engineering Building, it is important to UW-Madison but the scope of this project has drastically changed and we were not made aware all the changes until it was time for the vote,” said state Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Racine).
Sen. Andre Jacque (R-DePere) cited a news report that the UW-Madison planned to add an additional floor to proposed engineering building and criticized the university for not consulting the Legislature or the building commission about the change. Jacque also questioned why the original estimate for the Eau Claire projects had exceeded the costs based on the final bids.
The commission’s next regularly scheduled meeting is in February, but Evers said his administration will bring the transfer proposal back to the body in January.
“Make no mistake, we still hold the majority,” Felzkowski said. “I hope we have better conversations. I hope we have better negotiations," Senate President Mary Felzkowsi said. (Screenshot via Zoom)
New-elected Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said Tuesday that she hopes for more bipartisan conversations next year, but that her caucus plans to operate in the same way it has previously, since Republicans still hold the majority in the Wisconsin Legislature, even after losing a handful of seats this election year.
The Legislature will return with closer margins next year following elections under new legislative maps. Republicans will have an 18-15 majority in the Senate, down from their previous 22-seat supermajority. In the Assembly Republicans will hold a 55-45 majority. Felzkowski made her comments during a WisPolitics panel Tuesday alongside Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) and two strategists — Keith Gilkes, a consultant and former chief political advisor for Republican former Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic strategist Tanya Bjork.
“Make no mistake, we still hold the majority,” Felzkowski said. “I hope we have better conversations. I hope we have better negotiations.”
Felzkowski said she would “love” to have more meetings with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, noting that former Gov. Scott Walker used to conduct weekly meetings with lawmakers during his time in office. (During the Walker administration, Republicans controlled both chambers of the Legislature and Democrats accused them of breaking the law by meeting in secret with Walker.)
Democratic leaders have said that they believe there will be more opportunities for work across the aisle next year, and that more competitive legislative districts will encourage that.
“We’ve got some Republicans. We’ve got some Democrats who are in close, 50-50 seats,” Neubauer said during the panel discussion. “I expect that some in Republican leadership want things to continue as they have in the past, but I expect that a lot of those members who are in those difficult seats are going to be pushing to invest in K-12, to lower costs for working families, to take up popular policy.”
The state budget — and potential use of the $4 billion budget surplus — will be a major focus for lawmakers when they return in 2025. Writing the budget is a time when lawmakers discuss potential policy changes on a wide array of issues, and the potential funding that should be placed behind them.
Potential budget proposals and policy changes in wake of school shooting
“This is the deadliest school shooting on record in Wisconsin and it’s just an incredible tragedy. I know that people across the state are sending their good thoughts, of course, to those who were impacted but also really are looking for leadership in this time,” Neubauer said. She said proposals from President Joe Biden, who called for Congress to pass universal background checks, a national red flag law and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as new proposals from Wisconsin legislators in the state budget could be paths for improving school safety.
“In Wisconsin, for many years, we’ve been talking about red flag laws. We’ve been talking about universal background checks. These are policies that are widely supported by the people of this state, and I think in particular when it hits home for kids,” Neubauer said.
“For my school district here in the Racine area, they would really like to invest in school safety, there are important programs that they run, there are physical improvements that they would like to make, and I know that we’re going to be having a budget conversation very soon,” Neubauer continued. “I do hope that we’re able to keep in mind that investments in K-12 are also investments in school safety, and that’s a responsibility of the Legislature for the coming session.”
Felzkowski stopped short of endorsing the policy changes that Neubauer mentioned. She instead said that people need to look at what has changed in American society, adding that people also took guns to school 30 and 40 years ago.
“We went hunting after school and nobody was afraid. Nobody was afraid that they were going to get shot at school, so society has changed,” Felzkowski said. “I think we need to recognize those factors that have changed in our society.”
“We can pass a lot of different legislation, but we need to start looking at underlying causes…Is it social media? Is it cyberbullying? Is it too much screen time in our children? Is it violence that we’ve allowed them to watch at a young age?” Felzkowski asked. “I hope we can come together with a lot of tough conversations and look at that.”
Felzkowski said increasing weapons screening in schools could also be a point of discussion.
“Those are conversations that we should have in this budget to help fund ideas, so that people can’t walk through the door with no screening,” Felzkowski said.
Spending the surplus, funding priorities
The state’s $4 billion budget surplus will likely be a key point of discussion during the budget writing process. Felzkowski said that when it comes to the surplus Republicans will “do exactly what we did last time,” and don’t plan on using the money for recurring projects.
“If the majority of this is one-time money we’re going to spend it on one-time projects,” Felzkowski said. “One-time money should be spent on infrastructure. Instead of borrowing, we’ll spend it on our roads. We’ll spend it on maintaining our buildings.”
Felzkowski said during the budget process, lawmakers will survey current spending costs and what funding could be needed for other priorities. She said returning money to taxpayers would also be a priority.
“If we have a $4 billion surplus, then we have too much of our taxpayers’ money; we can return it to them,” Felzkowski said.
Felzkowski added that the government didn’t choose for property taxes to rise in certain communities. Her comments follow a Wisconsin Policy Forum report that found gross K-12 property taxes in the state are expected to rise by the largest amount since 2009. She said she voted in favor of raising property taxes in her own community.
“When people vote at the local level to increase their taxes, their property taxes, that’s a decision they make, and that’s a decision they choose to make,” Felzkowski said. “I don’t think that’s government making that decision for them and I think that’s something they can do.”
Neubauer said Assembly Democrats would be open to conversations about tax cuts, if they’re targeted.
“We’re just simply not gonna give a tax cut to the wealthiest Wisconsinites and people who do not need it. We are very open to considering a tax cut that is targeted, that is focused on middle class and working families,” Neubauer said. She said also that people in their communities are being “forced to raise their own property taxes in order to fund their schools.”
Felzkowski didn’t specify what potential tax cut proposals would look like, but noted that Evers “moved the needle” for what he considered a middle class tax cut when he vetoed some tax cut bills lawmakers sent him earlier this year. Those proposals included raising the top income in the state’s second-lowest tax bracket to just over $112,000, exempting up to $150,000 in retirement income from the state income tax and increasing the current maximum marriage tax credit. Evers did sign a law increasing Wisconsin’s child care tax credit.
“If Gov. Evers continues to move the needle on what ‘middle class’ is, then we’re kind of at a loss,” Felzkowski said, adding that some families struggling financially could use a tax cut. “We gave [Evers] the tax cut and he still vetoed it. I’m hoping that that needle doesn’t move again.”
Several policy proposals are likely to be discussed next year in relation to the budget, including for Medicaid expansion and higher education. States that accept the federal Medicaid expansion agree to cover people with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty guideline, and the federal government pays 90% of the cost for the additional Medicaid recipients, more than the 60% Wisconsin currently receives.
Evers has proposed that Wisconsin join 40 other states across the country in adopting the Medicaid expansion every budget cycle, and Republicans have rejected the proposal each time. Felzkowski said that it remains off the table for Republicans.
“We don’t have a gap in Wisconsin, so why would we take people off of private insurance to put them on government insurance and put our hospitals, who are already suffering, into a worse position with a lower reimbursement rate?” Felzkowski said. “We don’t need to create more gaps in health care when we have people covered.”
Neubauer said that Medicaid expansion would continue to be a priority for Assembly Democrats. She said that some insurance remains a “huge strain” on families with private insurance.
“They frankly are not able to afford it. They are cutting in other areas to afford that insurance,” Neubauer said.
Higher education will also be a focus of budget discussions as the UW System has requested an additional $855 million to bring the system up to the national median in state spending. Felzkowski said that she hasn’t heard much support for the proposal.
Other issue areas
Lawmakers may also turn their attention back to medical marijuana legalization this year. Felzkowski said that there was one person standing in the way of getting it done last session: Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
“That person has some pretty strict ideas on how that bill should be drafted,” Felzkowski said. Vos’ proposal last session included opening a handful of state run dispensaries, an unpopular idea among many in the Legislature. “We’re hoping to have a conversation in early January to see if there isn’t a way that we can come to a consensus between Assembly Republicans and Senate Republicans to negotiate a compromise.”
Felzkowski said that a bill to allow “Monday processing” of absentee ballots could also come forward next session. A proposal to allow election clerks to begin processing absentee ballots on the Monday before the election passed the Assembly last session but never advanced in the Senate.
“There are many senators that were very much in support of that. The chair of the Senate elections committee was not and chose not to hear that. He is no longer a member of the Senate,” Felzkowski said. Sen. Dan Knodl, who served as chair of that committee, chose not to run for reelection under the new legislative maps, but will serve in the Assembly next year. “I’m hoping this year that we will have a committee hearing on that bill if it’s brought back and that we have a robust conversation on that. I personally think that is something that we should be doing in the state of Wisconsin.”
Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein on floor of Senate. (Courtesy Hesselbein's office)
Wisconsin Senate Democrats knew going into this year’s elections that their opportunity to flip the Senate wouldn’t come until 2026, but they had a goal of flipping four seats and keeping every seat already held by a Democrat. They succeeded, and now the caucus is preparing for a legislative session with high hopes for bipartisan work.
Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) told the Wisconsin Examiner in a year-end interview that her 15-member caucus is bringing “a lot of energy, enthusiasm and honesty” to the Senate and is looking forward to working next session. She said the bolstered caucus is returning for the next two-year session with “a lot of good ideas.”
Hesselbein said lawmakers have already started to talk about what happened on the campaign trail, and the caucus will begin having more robust conversations next week about their priorities for the session. She said the importance of public schools including K-12, universities and technical colleges has been a recurring theme already.
Hesselbein sees new influence for Democrats in a few ways. For one, Senate Democrats now have the numbers to stop Senate Republicans from overturning Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes. Hesselbein said this is “huge.” Senate Republicans held a 22-seat supermajority in the 2023-24 session, which allowed them to vote to overturn some of Evers’ vetoes, though these efforts weren’t successful since Assembly Republicans didn’t hold a supermajority. Senate Republicans’ majority was trimmed back to 18 out of 33 seats in the recent election.
With a more evenly split Legislature, Hesselbein said there will be the potential to get more things done in a bipartisan way. She noted that last session several big pieces of legislation, including funding renovations at the stadium where the Milwaukee Brewers play, investing in the state’s local government funding and overhauling the state’s alcohol licensing, had bipartisan support.
“They have a lot of Republicans on their side that don’t vote for much of anything, so we will see going forward,” Hesselbein said. She said that she has spoken with Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and newly-elected Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) about the upcoming session, and the conversation was good. She said Senate Republicans plan to caucus on Monday and Senate Democrats will caucus on Tuesday, and the leaders will hopefully meet again in January.
“I’m going to have conversations with Sen. LeMahieu and Sen. Felzkowski, and figure out if there’s a way we can move forward in a bipartisan manner,” Hesselbein said.
One area ripe for work next year is the state’s two-year budget. With a $4 billion budget surplus, lawmakers will return in January with the task of deciding how to spend the money.
Hesselbein said she believes that Democratic votes could be necessary to successfully pass a budget. The Senate Democratic leader hasn’t voted in favor of a state budget in her 12 years in the Legislature, and hopes that can change.
“I don’t know how they would pass a budget without Democratic votes. They have a lot of Republicans on their side that don’t vote for much of anything,” Hesselbein. She pointed to Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater), who voted against the last state budget, as an example. Nass’ Chief of Staff Mike Mikalsen noted in an email to the Examiner that Nass has voted against “many fiscally flawed and big spending state budgets,” but that “since his first election in 1990, he has voted in favor of a few fiscally-sane state budgets.”
Agencies recently submitted their budget requests, and when it comes to education funding, DPI Superintendent Jill Underly submitted a request for an additional $4 billion and the UW System has asked for an additional $855 million. Hesselbein said she was surprised that the requests were so high.
“They’re big numbers but you know what? They have been underfunded for decades,” Hesselbein said.
Underly’s job, Hesselbein said, is “to run the Department of Public Instruction and let us know what she thinks she needs for that budget, and she did that.” She said that UW System President Jay Rothman had the same responsibility.
“I know we couldn’t meet both their expectations, right, without blowing a huge hole in the budget,” Hesselbein said.
Shoring up education
Hesselbein said that investing in the state’s special education reimbursement for public schools could be particularly important as there is uncertainty about what could happen under the new Trump administration.
“If Donald Trump gets rid of the Department of Education on a federal level, what does that do for special education in the state of Wisconsin? We have students that have IEPs, and they have federal protection so that they can get help but they might be learning different ways,” Hesselbein said. “There’s a lot of unsure things going on right now.”
Hesselbein said investing in mental health resources in K-12 schools and higher education will be important as well.
Republicans have said tax cuts will be one of their highest priorities next year. Hesselbein said that any tax cuts would need to be “micro-targeted” to gain Democratic support, and she doesn’t know if Republicans will “get there based on what they did last session.” Republican lawmakers had proposed several tax cuts that Evers vetoed, including an income tax cut.
Hesselbein added that property tax relief could be an interesting proposition, given that many communities have decided to raise their property taxes to help with education costs. A recent Wisconsin Policy Forum report found that gross K-12 property taxes in the state are expected to rise by the largest amount since 2009 due in part to referendum requests.
“Really the reason why we have billions of dollars in our surplus is because we haven’t been funding K-12 education the way we should for years,” Hesselbein said. “People over and over again will raise their property tax if they want to support their neighborhood schools, so those people are agreeing to tax themselves higher because they care so much about K-12 education, but they’re making those decisions because the state of Wisconsin isn’t keeping up their promise to pay for those services and that school.”
Other Democratic prioirites
When it comes to health care issues, Hesselbein said that she hopes lawmakers will be able to expand Medicaid coverage for postpartum mothers to 12 months. She noted that Wisconsin is one of two states in the U.S. that haven’t accepted the expansion. The Senate passed a bill to do so in the most recent legislative session, but it never received a vote in the Assembly.
“We have it on the books where you get 60 days and if you’re postpartum 61 days, too bad, you don’t get any services,” Hesselbein said. “That’s not how your body works after you have a baby.” She said women who have just given birth need support and resources.
As Democrats are still in the minority, Hesselbein admitted there will likely be limits to what Democrats can accomplish on certain issues next session as much will depend on Republicans.
Hesselbein said Democrats will continue working to eliminate the 1849 statute that went into effect when Roe v. Wade was overturned, causing the cessation of abortion services in Wisconsin. That law is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court. She said that she also wants to pass a bill for a fairer process for drawing voting maps. Wisconsin implemented new maps this year after the state Supreme Court ruled that the last set of maps, drawn to heavily favor Republicans, were unconstitutional. However, the laws guiding how Wisconsin draws voting maps haven’t changed.
“I don’t know if that’s going to happen until we’re in the majority, but we’re going to continue to push for that,” Hesselbein said.
Hesselbein said it would be a “missed opportunity” if Republicans choose not to work with Democrats to get things done, and said voters will remember “if we don’t get the budget done on time…if we’re not meeting as much” and what bills get completed.
“I can’t force Republicans to work with me if they won’t do that,” Hesselbein said. “I can offer an olive branch. I can say, ‘My door is open. Let’s have these conversations.’ But at the end of the day if they refuse to work with me, that’s on them.”
Hesselbein recalled that on the last day of session Senate Republicans ended debate even as Democrats wanted to speak, which led to Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) throwing papers up in the air in frustration.
“We answer to the voters in our district and it’s awful when the Republican Party silences Democrats, just because they don’t want to hear what we need to say to represent the communities that we represent. That’s unfair,” Hesselbein said. “And we won’t do that, by the way, when we’re in the majority. We’re going to let people be able to talk and be able to say what they want and have robust conversations.”
The Assembly Democratic Caucus will enter the next year with 45 members — ten more than last session. Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) speaking at a press conference before an April 25, 2023 floor session. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)
Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said in a year-end interview that the new makeup of the state Legislature is going to have a real impact next legislative session.
The Assembly Democratic Caucus will enter the next year with 45 members — ten more than last session — after the recent elections under new legislative maps, and the work to prepare for next session has started.
“The fair maps already started to change the culture of the state Legislature. We saw more bipartisan work last session. I expect that that will only increase as we go forward,” Neubauer told the Wisconsin Examiner. “We’ve got legislators who are going to be looking over their left and their right shoulder — a lot of people in competitive districts who are going to need to listen to their constituents and get things done.”
Assembly Democrats are looking to get things done, Neubauer said. To prepare, leaders are having one-on-one conversations with members. New lawmakers are participating in a freshman orientation this week and a caucus retreat is scheduled for later this week.
“We are working as a group to identify our top priorities — what it would take for us to vote for the budget, for example — and working to collectively leverage our power.” Neubauer said. She said many of the caucus’ new members have a local government background or have worked in advocacy roles or as a union leader, which is helpful.
Neubauer said she thinks the majority party will need some Democratic support to pass important bills, which could give Assembly Democrats the chance to shape forthcoming legislation.
“We want to make sure that we are taking advantage of those opportunities to get real wins for our constituents and pass important policy,” Neubauer said.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said during a press conference last month that he would still be seeking “consensus” among Republicans before moving forward on issues, even with the new slimmer margins. However, Neubauer said she thinks there will be more opportunities to work together on certain issues as there may be more members of the Republican caucus pushing their leadership to take up certain issues including investment in education, lowering costs, expanding access to health care including by extending postpartum Medicaid coverage, protecting the environment and providing clean drinking water.
“The reality is that he now has a lot of members who are in very close seats, who are going to need to go home and answer for their votes,” Neubauer said. “There’s a lot of really popular issues that Republicans have refused to take significant action on that I anticipate will be getting more air time in the coming session.”
Neubauer said she hasn’t spoken with Vos about the upcoming session, but hopes to soon.
Budget writing and other legislative priorities
When the Legislature returns to session next year, Gov. Tony Evers and the Legislature will work on writing the next two-year budget. State agencies have delivered their requests to Evers, who will write his own budget proposals. The Legislature will then write and vote on its own version before sending it to Evers, who will have the opportunity to sign or veto the budget.
“I am hopeful that in this budget, we will be able to lower costs for families in Wisconsin in housing and child care and prescription drugs. I hope that we’re able to make real investments in education and giving every kid the opportunity to succeed in our state,” Neubauer said.
School funding a top priority
Neubauer said education funding will likely be a top priority for the caucus, and that the proposals from the UW System and the Department of Public Instruction are strong. The UW System is requesting an additional $855 million from the state for many priorities, including wage increases, general operations costs, mental health services and extending the Wisconsin Tuition Promise. The Department of Public Instruction has requested an additional $4.3 billion to support schools struggling to meet costs; the request follows a record year for school referendum requests.
“I really appreciate the ambition and the effort to make the necessary investments to give every student in Wisconsin the ability to succeed,” Neubauer said. “We know that the state Legislature has not been keeping up its end of the bargain in terms of funding for our public schools and the Assembly Republicans have seemingly decided that their role is to attack and undermine the UW system rather than support and uplift it.”
Neubauer said she hopes they’re able to get a significant increase for education spending given the state’s significant $4 billion surplus, but noted that those priorities need to be balanced with other important priorities. When it comes to specific policies for investment for K-12 education, Neubauer said Democrats will be focused on increasing the reimbursement rate for special education, securing a “significant” increase to per pupil aid and mental health resources.
“It should not be falling to local communities to raise their property taxes in order to fund their schools, and I think for many of us, you know, we walk into our local schools and we see what’s been cut, and we see where additional resources could really make a difference for kids, and we think this is just wrong.” Neubauer said. She noted that Racine County, where she is from, is one community dealing with financial difficulties, including deficits and budget cuts. “We’re not doing right by them, and so I do think that’ll be a big focus for us in this budget, and then we will see where else we can support families to make ends meet and to have great opportunities in Wisconsin in the years ahead.”
Republican lawmakers, including leaders and those on the budget committee, have said that “returning the surplus back to taxpayers” will be one of their top priorities. Neubauer said that Democrats would be open to talking about targeted tax cuts that benefit middle class families.
“What we’ve seen from Republicans in the last several years is proposals that primarily benefit the richest Wisconsinites and corporations, and we’re not interested in that,” Neubauer said. “We know that many people are struggling to make ends meet in Wisconsin, but it can’t break the bank, and it needs to be targeted.”
Funding local government
Neubauer said local government funding will likely be another key priority for Democrats this coming session. Even with the shared revenue overhaul last session, she said many Wisconsin communities are still struggling to fund essential services.
“We did make progress, but we had fallen so far behind,” Neubauer said. “We’ve got red and blue communities that are coming to us and saying with the federal dollars going away here at the end of the year, they’re going to have a very difficult time funding their public health departments, their parks and community centers, their public safety and those are all essential to our community’s well being.”
Prying loose JFC’s grip on the public purse
Neubauer said she hopes with the maps that there will be more accountability for lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee if they decide to withhold funds next session. Lawmakers dedicated money to several issues last session — including $125 million to combat PFAS, $50 million to support new literacy initiatives and $15 million for hospitals in the Chippewa Valley — however, the funds have been withheld by the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee due to policy differences after the funds were allocated.
Neubauer said she hopes this will happen less in the coming session. She pointed out that Sen. Duey Stroebel, a prominent Republican member of the committee, was ousted from his seat this election cycle by Democrat Sen.-elect. Jodi Habush Sinykin. Sen. Joan Ballweg, another member of the committee, also lost her reelection bid.
“People of Wisconsin don’t really like that. Those are important priorities to people across the state,” Neubauer said. “I think that having more legislators and competitive seats will mean that the people, I hope, on the Joint Finance Committee are hesitant to do that.”
Neubauer said that the multiple court cases challenging JFC’s enhanced authority could also help with the issue.
“We’ve already seen one decision from the Supreme Court that said that they had overstepped, and there are other cases moving through,” Neubauer said. “I think that’s a good thing, and it makes me hopeful that Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee will no longer be able to act as sort of another Legislature in preventing the implementation of these programs that have already been passed and already been signed.”
Beyond budget priorities, Neubauer said that the caucus is continuing to think about other longer term issues — including legalizing marijuana, addressing gun safety, protecting abortion rights, addressing climate change, ensuring everyone has access to clean drinking water and public safety reforms — but she expects some of those will require a Democratic majority.
Neubauer said that Democrats are always working towards the majority in the Assembly, and she thinks the last election laid the groundwork for a Democratic takeover in two years. She noted there could be the opportunity for a Democratic trifecta in that election cycle.
“We’ve got strong candidates that ran this cycle, many of whom want to run again. We really built our grassroots infrastructure in communities where we haven’t had competitive districts for quite some time, and I think we learned some things about how to run such a big program with so many candidates under these fair maps,” Neubauer said.
Update, Dec. 12, 2024: A federal judge dismissed the Republican Party of Wisconsin lawsuit on Thursday, saying there’s no controversy over the main issue in the case. Both the GOP and the defendants agree they should cast electoral votes for President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 17, in compliance with a federal law, not the Dec. 16 date dictated under a state law.
Original story: The Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit Friday to resolve a discrepancy between state and federal law directing when appointed presidential electors must meet to cast Electoral College votes.
State law requires presidential electors to meet on Dec. 16 this year, but a federal law passed two years ago calls for them to meet on Dec. 17. The state GOP is calling on a U.S. District Court of Western Wisconsin judge to enforce the federal requirement and strike the state one.
“The presidential electors cannot comply with both requirements,” the lawsuit states.
Resolving the current conflict is key to avoiding the state’s electoral votes getting challenged or contested in Congress, the state GOP states.
The lawsuit highlights the Legislature’s failure to pass a bill that would have brought Wisconsin in line with the new federal law. That inaction, the state GOP says, “led to the current conflict between the federal and state statutes.”
The lawsuit is filed against Gov. Tony Evers, Attorney General Josh Kaul and Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe.
The GOP is asking for the federal court to declare the current state law requirement — for the electors to meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, as opposed to the federal law’s requirement to meet on the first Tuesday following the second Wednesday — unconstitutional and unenforceable. Given the tight timeline, it’s seeking a hearing “as soon as the Court’s calendar allows.”
Spokespeople for the Wisconsin Elections Commission and Evers declined to comment for this story.
Generally, federal law supersedes state law if there’s a conflict between the two, said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney at the University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative. Under the current, conflicting laws, electors this year definitely have to meet on Dec. 17, but it’s less clear what they should do on Dec. 16, she told Votebeat in May.
The new designated day arose as a result of the new federal law, commonly called the Electoral Count Reform Act. Congress designed the law in 2022 to prevent the post-election chaos that then-President Donald Trump and his allies created after the 2020 election, which culminated in efforts to send fake electoral votes to Congress, block certification of legitimate electoral votes and then storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The new federal law sets specific schedules for certifying election results and casting electoral votes. It cleared up ambiguities contained in the previous version of the law, which was enacted in 1887 but never updated until two years ago.
As of mid-October, 15 states had updated their laws to comply with the Electoral Count Reform Act, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A Wisconsin proposal to bring the state in line with the new federal law passed the Senate nearly unanimously in February. But it never received a vote in the Assembly.
“It would have been beneficial if Wisconsin had also done that,” Godar said.
Scott Thompson, a staff attorney at the liberal-leaning legal group Law Forward, said the Legislature knew about this problem for over a year but chose not to resolve it with a simple fix.
“This eleventh hour lawsuit merely confirms that our state Legislature needs to stop peddling election conspiracy theories and start taking the business of election administration seriously,” he said.
Wisconsin Republicans were among those who sent documents to Congress in December 2020 falsely claiming Trump won the state. Trump won the state in 2024. The Wisconsin fake electors were subject to a civil lawsuit, and there’s an ongoing criminal case against their attorneys.
Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.
Underly accepted the 2024 Diversity Award from the State Council on Affirmative Action on behalf of her agency. (Screenshot via Wisconsin DOA YouTube)
Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly became tearful Friday while speaking about a friend she knew in high school, who was kicked out of her home after coming out as gay to her parents.
“Her parents were furious. They said it went against everything they believed, everything they hoped for her, and when she started to cry her dad said, ‘I want you to give us the key’ and she said, ‘My key? My key to my car?’ and her mom chimed in and said, ‘No, the key to our house.’” Underly said, adding that the friend had to stay on another friend’s couch.
“When I saw her at school, she was so tired and worried. She said she missed her dog. She missed her bed. She missed her brother,” Underly said. “What this story teaches us is the critical lesson — inclusion begins at home. Our families play a critical role in fostering an environment of love and acceptance for everyone and other identities. But what about our schools? What about our teachers?”
Underly was accepting the 2024 Diversity Award from the State Council on Affirmative Action on behalf of her agency. She noted that many Wisconsin children are continuing to deal with mental health challenges with students of color and LGBTQ+ students facing disproportionate challenges.
“There’s so many kids who cannot be themselves at home, so they see school as that safe place of belonging,” Underly said.
The council established the Diversity Award in 2000 to “recognize state agencies, Wisconsin Technical Colleges and UW campuses for their strong commitment to the recruitment, retention and promotion of a diverse workforce as measured by the creation of programs, initiatives and practices.”
This year DPI received the award because of its work on its 2024-26 Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. The agency developed the plan in accordance with Executive Order 59, which Gov. Tony Evers signed in 2019. The order requires state agencies to create equity and inclusion plans and other strategic plans, analyze how much is spent by agencies for DEI activities, including for staffing, and review reported outcomes resulting from DEI activities.
DPI’s plan laid out the current status of diversity of the agency and laid out specific goals and actions that it could take to improve equity and inclusion, including addressing disparities throughout its hiring process, improving retention of staff from underrepresented and historically marginalized groups and fostering an inclusive community and creating a culture that is “respectful, free of bias and where accountability is present at all levels of the agency.”
“While a significant portion of public school students identify as being of color or of mixed races, a much smaller percentage of DPI staff and teachers reflect this diversity. Addressing this imbalance is vital,” the plan states. “To effectively serve all students, especially those from historically marginalized groups, it is crucial to enhance staff diversity throughout the educational system, from the DPI down to individual classrooms.”
The plan notes that among 576 permanent DPI employees in 2021-2023, an average of 11% were staff of color, 18% had disabilities and 3% were veterans.
One way the agency could improve its workforce diversity is by increasing outreach to and visibility of the state application and hiring process for DPI positions, the plan suggests.
Underly thanked Gov. Tony Evers for his dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion in her speech and said the award is a “testament to the dedicated efforts that the team at DPI, who built and continue to implement our equity and inclusion plan with passion and purpose.”
“We aren’t afraid of the politics, and we will support diversity. We will support equity. We will support inclusion and we will support belonging for employees, for our teachers across the state and for every single child,” Underly said.
The celebration of the agency’s DEI efforts comes in a year when efforts to foster diversity have been increasingly targeted by Republicans in the state. In May, Republicans launched an audit to look at DEI initiatives throughout state government, including to determine specific activities that are being performed in compliance with Executive Order 59.
At the time, Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay) called DEI a “neo-Marxian philosophy meant to pit one socially-constructed class against another,” and said that Evers’ executive order “divided Wisconsinites into identity groups against each other’s benefit.”
DPI’s interim communications director Chris Bucher told the Examiner in an email Friday that it “would probably be safe to assume” that similar efforts will come forward next legislative session as “some continue to seek to divide instead of bring us together.”
“All kids belong in Wisconsin’s schools, no matter their background, and our schools are some of the most diverse places. As you have seen with bills and rhetoric the last few legislative sessions, promoting inclusion and belonging in our schools has been coined by some as a negative thing,” Bucher wrote.
Bucher said the work of the department would not be affected by efforts to “minimize the unique backgrounds and perspectives of kids in our schools and meet their individual needs,” and that that the department would continue to advocate for inclusion.
“Our diversity is a strength, and as the needs of kids continue to grow, finding ways to improve belonging in our schools is critical,” he said. “We will continue advocating for our diverse schools to be places where all perspectives are welcome, and the provisions outlined in Dr. Underly’s budget proposal are a good starting point in achieving our goals.”
Underly has proposed spending an additional $4 billion for education, including increasing the state’s share of funding for special education, creating additional mental health supports, and implementing free school meals for all students and early literacy initiatives.
The 30-foot balsam fir serving as Wisconsin's 2024 capitol tree was donated by a Rhinelander family.(Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)
Government employees, children in snow pants warding off the frigid early-December temperatures and Smokey the Bear gathered in the pine-smelling rotunda of the Wisconsin Capitol Thursday afternoon to light this year’s state holiday tree.
This year, the tree commemorates the 125th anniversary of Wisconsin’s state parks, which began with the opening of Interstate State Park on the St. Croix River in northwest Wisconsin in 1900. Hundreds of ornaments handmade by kids from across the state celebrate outdoor recreation in Wisconsin.
“Wisconsin is a treasure of natural beauty and wonder,” Gov. Tony Evers said before the lighting of the 30-foot balsam fir, donated by a Rhinelander family.
Smokey the Bear and a seventh grader who spoke about what Wisconsin’s state parks mean to her flipped the switch to light the tree’s 10,000 multi-colored lights.
Evers says new DNR secretary has been chosen, wants to keep focus on budget
At a news conference shortly after the tree lighting, Evers said that he has selected someone to take over as secretary of the Department of Natural Resources — a position that has been vacant for more than a year after former Secretary Adam Payne resigned last October.
Evers wouldn’t say who the nominee is, but said it would be a woman.
The governor also said he wouldn’t weigh in on the primary election in next spring’s campaign for a new Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction and that April’s state Supreme Court race is “a huge, huge election,” but that the Court doesn’t make the law so he wanted to focus on the branch that does so.
He told reporters that he hasn’t spoken with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos since November’s election. The relationship between Evers and Republicans in the Legislature has often been frosty, and he said he didn’t think that would change. But Evers said that in the upcoming legislative session, in which the two chambers are more closely divided than in recent years, it would be necessary for the two parties to work together to find solutions.
“I don’t think it’ll be much different,” Evers said. “They’re going to be huffing and puffing and I’m going to be huffing and puffing so on and so forth. But I believe that the makeup of the Legislature is going to make it imperative on all of us to come to some reasonable conclusions. We’ll see what happens.”
“We’ll propose something, they’re going to save it or throw it out,” he continued. “We get five minutes together and get something accomplished. But at the end of the day, my priorities are in the budget.”
Gov. Tony Evers kicks off a budget listening session in Appleton, Wis. on Monday, Dec. 2 | Photo by Andrew Kennard
Members of the public traveled to Einstein Middle School in Appleton Monday to tell Gov. Tony Evers about their priorities for Wisconsin’s 2025-2027 budget.
During the first of Evers’ five planned listening sessions around the state ahead of his next budget proposal, Wisconsin residents expressed concern about the cost of housing, Wisconsin prisons and other issues in a breakout group attended by the Examiner.
In opening remarks, Evers expressed support for addressing “long neglected” priorities and cited Wisconsin’s budget surplus of over $4 billion for the 2024 fiscal year.
Evers said his priorities include expanding BadgerCare, legalizing marijuana, protecting access to reproductive health care, gun and justice reform, protecting the environment and investing in kids and schools.
Local Republican state Rep. Ron Tusler (R-Harrison) has a different view on the surplus, Fox 11 reported. He wants to use it to return money to taxpayers and provide relief from inflation.
The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation
Members of the public split into six breakout groups. Each group focused on different topics relevant to the budget. The Examiner attended the “Strong & Safe Communities” group, which addressed issues ranging from affordable housing to Wisconsin’s prison system.
A De Pere resident brought up the high cost of housing, saying that she and her husband are from Door County but couldn’t afford to live there even though they both work. Even in De Pere, “all the houses in my neighborhood are getting bought up and flipped,” she said.
Tom Denk, who was formerly incarcerated, said he wants to see change in Wisconsin prisons. He said he wasn’t allowed access to enrichment programs in prison.
“The DOC needs more funding because their staff need to be educated. They need to have that trauma-informed care,” Denk said. “Because most people are going to get out of prison. I’m one of them.”
Substance abuse and anger management programs in the Wisconsin prison system have waitlists in the thousands. The Department of Corrections’ website says the agency tries to enroll people in programming as they get close to their release date.
Karen Winkel, a homeless prevention specialist, said many of her clients have been recently released from the Department of Corrections or the Green Lake County Jail, with “no place to go. There’s no place to live.”
Lisa Cruz, executive director of Multicultural Coalition, Inc., said her nonprofit is overwhelmed with serving immigrants and refugees.
“It’s [a] humanitarian crisis,” Cruz said. “And I think we often think about that happening somewhere else, in another country, maybe in another state. It’s right here and it’s right now.”
“My agency received a 72% reduction, really impacting nearly half of our budget,” said Isabel Williston, executive director of ASTOP Sexual Abuse Center.
Jared Hoy, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, attended the group discussion, but mostly listened since the focus was on the public’s input.
An informational packet distributed at the event described positions the governor has taken on criminal justice. These include increasing funding for Wisconsin’s TAD (treatment alternatives and diversion) program and addressing staffing shortages that have worsened conditions in state prisons.
Protesters filled the Wisconsin Capitol in 2011 to protest the legislation that ultimately past as Wisconsin Act 10, eliminating most union rights for most public employees. (Photo by Emily Mills. Used by permission)
A Dane County judge on Monday struck down the core parts of the landmark state law that eviscerated most union rights for most public employees in Wisconsin.
Judge Jacob Frost ruled that Act 10, passed by the state Legislature’s Republican majority in 2011 and signed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in his first year in office, was unconstitutional in making some public safety workers exempt from the law’s limits on unions but excluding other workers with similar jobs from those protections.
The ruling essentially confirmed Frost’s ruling on July 3, 2024, when he rejected motions by the state Legislature’s Republican leaders to dismiss the 2023 lawsuit challenging Act 10.
In that ruling, Frost declared that state Capitol Police, University of Wisconsin Police, and state conservation wardens were “treated unequally with no rational basis for that difference” because they were not included in the exemption that Act 10 had created for other law enforcement and public safety employees.
For that reason, the law’s categories of general and public safety employees, and its public safety employee exemption, were unconstitutional, Frost wrote then.
Frost reiterated that ruling Monday. “Act 10 as written by the Legislature specifically and narrowly defines ‘public safety employee,’” Frost wrote. “It is that definition which is unconstitutional.”
In addition, the judge rejected the suggestion that Act 10 could remain in effect without the law’s public safety employee carve-out, and that either the courts or the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission could resolve a constitutionally acceptable definition in the future.
“The Legislature cites no precedent for this bold argument that I should simply strike the unlawful definition but leave it to an agency and the courts to later define as they see fit,” Frost wrote. “Interpreting ‘public safety employee’ after striking the legislated definition would be an exercise in the absurd.”
Advocates, lawmakers react
Opponents of the law, including plaintiffs in the lawsuit, cheered Monday’s ruling, while Act 10’s backers attacked it and vowed to see it through the appeals process.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of a group of local and state unions and public employees by the progressive nonprofit law firm Law Forward along with Bredhoff & Kaiser.
“This historic decision means that teachers, nurses, librarians and other public-sector workers across the state will once again have a voice in the workplace,” said Jeff Mandell, Law Forward president and general counsel. “Every Wisconsin family deserves the chance to build a better future through democratic participation in a union. As an organization dedicated to protecting and strengthening democracy, Law Forward is proud to have been a part of this important case.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), dismissed Monday’s ruling. Through its Republican leaders, the Legislature was among the defendants in the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit came more than a decade after Act 10 became law and after many courts rejected the same meritless legal challenges,” Vos said in a statement. “Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $16 billion. We look forward to presenting our arguments on appeal.”
Gov. Tony Evers, who has sought to repeal Act 10 since he took office in 2019, applauded the ruling.
“This is great news,” Evers, a Democrat, said in a social media post on BlueSky and on X. “I’ve always believed workers should have a seat at the table in decisions that affect their daily lives and livelihoods. It’s about treating workers with dignity and respect and making sure no worker is treated differently because of their profession.”
Evers sought to repeal the law in each of the three state budgets he has submitted since taking office, but the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee Republicans stripped those provisions each time.
Ben Gruber, a conservation warden and union leader, called the ruling “personal for me and my coworkers.” Gruber is one of the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
“As a conservation warden, having full collective bargaining rights means we will again have a voice on the job to improve our workplace and make sure that Wisconsin is a safe place for everyone,” he said in a statement distributed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC).
Member local unions of WEAC were among the plaintiffs.
“The lawsuit was filed because of the dire situation that exists in Wisconsin’s public service institutions since workers’ freedoms were unconstitutionally taken away,” WEAC stated. “The state’s education workforce is in crisis as 40 percent of teachers leave the profession in the first six years because of low wages and unequal pay systems; the conservation warden program is fraught with unfair and disparate treatment of workers; and there is a 32 percent staff vacancy rate for corrections officers.”
Also joining in the lawsuit was the union representing University of Wisconsin graduate students who work as teaching assistants, TAA Local 3220.
“Graduate workers look forward to claiming our seat at the table to ensure our teaching and research, which helps make UW-Madison a world-class university, are supported and compensated fairly,” said TAA’s co-president, Daniel Levitin. “The winds of change are blowing in our direction and we urge the university to take note and voluntarily recognize the TAA as the union of graduate workers and be prepared to meet us at the bargaining table.”
TAA is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. “Workers must have the right to partner with their employer and negotiate fair wages, benefits, and working conditions,” said AFT-Wisconsin President Kim Kohlhaas.
Appeals expected
WEAC’s statement cautioned that the ruling’s impact would be delayed by appeals. “The plaintiffs acknowledge that while this decision is a major win for Wisconsin’s working families, it is likely that the case will remain in the courts for some time before a final victory is reached and pledge to continue fighting until the freedoms of all workers in Wisconsin are respected and protected,” the teachers union said.
Sen. Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) was first elected to the Legislature the year after the law was passed and now leads the Democratic minority in the state Senate.
“This is a crucial step to recognize and restore the rights of hard-working public employees doing the people’s work in every corner of Wisconsin,” Hesselbein said in a statement. “There are likely further hurdles ahead and I applaud the resolve of those who have kept up the effort to restore the right to collectively bargain in the state.”
State Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) was a Milwaukee Public Schools teacher when the law was enacted.
“I saw firsthand the negative impact that the lack of collective bargaining had not only on our profession of teaching but also the schools, students, and our communities,” Clancy said in a statement. He called Monday’s ruling “a crucial step to ensuring that every Wisconsin worker has access to fair and equitable working conditions.”
Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevera (R-Fox Crossing), was among the GOP lawmakers decrying the decision, declaring that the law had saved taxpayers $30 billion — nearly twice the figure Vos asserted.
“Today, an activist Dane County judge overstepped his role and unilaterally struck down Act 10 because it didn’t align with his politics,” she said in a statement. “One judge, appointed by the current governor, acting like a super-legislature is about to bankrupt local governments and school districts across Wisconsin.”
Kurt Bauer, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business lobby and among the groups that had championed the legislation, called the ruling “wrong on its face and … inconsistent with the law” in a statement Monday that called Act 10 “a critical tool for policymakers and elected officials to balance budgets and find taxpayer savings.”
He said the business lobby’s members “hope this ruling will be appealed and that Act 10 will be reinstated as quickly as possible.”
This story has been updated with reactions to the ruling.
Wisconsin State Capitol (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)
Former state Rep. Betty Jo Nelsen, who died on Oct. 17 at the age of 89, is being honored Monday with flags in Wisconsin being flown at half-staff.
Gov. Tony Evers issued the order last week, calling the former Republican representative “an exceptional example of a dedicated public servant, making history as the first woman to serve as minority leader in the history of our state legislature.”
Nelsen was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1979 after winning a special election to represent parts of northeastern suburbs of Milwaukee and served for six terms before resigning. During her time in the Legislature, she was elected in 1987 to serve as Assembly minority leader, making her the first woman to serve in the position. She also served on the Joint Finance Committee.
“In the weeks since her passing, our thoughts are with former Rep. Nelsen’s husband, Jim, her children, grandchildren, and all her loved ones as they mourn her loss and celebrate her incredible legacy,” Evers said in a statement. Funeral services for Nelsen are being held Monday in Milwaukee.
Nelsen resigned from the Assembly in 1990 to take up a position in former President George H.W. Bush’s administration as the administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1992, she was nominated to serve as the assistant secretary of agriculture for food and consumer services.
Following her time in the federal government, Nelsen returned to Wisconsin and was appointed by former Gov. Tommy Thompson to serve on the state Natural Resources Board. In addition to her years in government, Nelsen served her community in leadership positions at other organizations including Future Milwaukee, United Community Services, United Way, Girl Scouts of the USA and Junior League of Milwaukee.
“Known for a passion for public service and devotion to the well-being of her family, Betty Jo was an unapologetic but humble leader and trailblazer, driven by her concern for others and guided by high moral standards not often seen today,” Nelsen’s obituary states. “She always pushed for her own personal excellence and accountability, yet when achieved, she simply refused to discuss her roles, accomplishments, and awards. Instead, she quickly pivoted to a focus on YOU!”
Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) speaking at a press conference before an April 25, 2023 floor session. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)
A bolstered Assembly Democratic Caucus voted unanimously Tuesday to elect Rep. Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) to another term as Assembly minority leader. Her continued leadership was confirmed after Democrats gained 10 additional seats in the Assembly this year.
New electoral maps passed by the Republican Legislature and signed by Gov. Tony Evers gave Democrats the chance to compete for more seats in newly competitive districts this November. While Assembly Republicans will hold a 54-seat majority next year, Assembly Democrats grew their caucus from 35 members to 45 members.
Neubauer has served as the leader of Assembly Democrats since 2021. She was first elected to the Assembly in 2018.
“Our caucus will return to the Assembly floor in January with ten new members — the largest increase in membership in one election in more than 50 years. The next session will present us with new opportunities and new challenges, and our work is cut out for us,” Neubauer said in a statement. “We will put forward a visionary and inclusive policy agenda. We will help craft a budget that works for every Wisconsinite, in every community. And we will reflect the will of the people.”
Other leaders in the Legislature were also reelected in the last two weeks with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) all chosen to continue in their positions.
Other members of Assembly Democratic leadership include:
Rep. Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee) as Assembly minority assistant leader
Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) as Assembly minority caucus chair
Rep. Clinton Anderson (D-Beloit) as Assembly minority vice-caucus chair
Rep. Mike Bare (D-Verona) as Assembly minority caucus secretary
Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) as sergeant-at-arms
State Superintendent Jill Underly proposed a grant program to help support clean water in schools. Underly with Madison La Follette High School Principal Mathew Thompson and Madison Public School District Superintendent Joe Gothard in September. (Ruth Conniff | Wisconsin Examiner)
Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly is proposing the creation of a grant program to support Wisconsin schools in upgrading water fountains to control for lead and other contaminants.
Underly made the announcement Thursday at Cooper Elementary in Superior, and it’s the latest in her growing budget proposal, which will be released in full later this month. She proposed other budget measures Monday that would dedicate over $3 billion to public education for an array of priorities, including increasing the state reimbursement to school districts for special education costs to 90%.
“It is critical that Wisconsin kids have access to clean drinking water, and schools are a big part of that,” Underly said in a statement. “Funding provided through my budget meets that need and allows schools to have the latest drinking water equipment available to their students.”
Lead exposure can lead to lifelong damage to the brain and other bodily systems for anyone, but is particularly damaging for children under age 6. Wisconsin schools aren’t required to test for lead in their drinking water, but in recent years, some schools have found elevated levels of lead in water coming from fixtures in buildings during voluntary testing.
Under the proposal, the department would dedicate $2.5 million towards the grant program to help schools in modernize water fountains and ensure students have access to clean drinking water. Underly said her budget proposals, including the grant program, put “Wisconsin kids first.”
“By investing in things like expanding access to healthy meals at no cost to families, increasing school mental health services, supporting districts in retaining high-quality teachers, and improving early literacy outcomes, we are moving Wisconsin forward,” Underly said.
State agencies’ proposals are just the first step in Wisconsin’s budget process. The agencies will deliver their budget requests to the Department of Administration’s State Budget Office. The requests will then be delivered to Gov. Tony Evers, who will create his own budget proposal. Evers’ proposal will then be sent to the Wisconsin State Legislature, which will write the budget bill over the course of several months before voting on it and sending it to Evers to sign or veto.
With the state’s $4.6 budget surplus, Democrats are seeking to invest more money in an array of priorities, including public education.
Republican lawmakers, who hold majorities in the Senate and Assembly, appear to be opposed to the size of Underly’s proposals. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said this week that it is not a “serious” proposal.
“We have plenty of money to still invest in our priorities, but it’s going to be nowhere near what she proposed,” Vos said.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Gov. Tony Evers address a group of about three dozen members of the Jefferson County Democratic Party on Election Day. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)
In Fort Atkinson, more than three dozen members of the Jefferson County Democratic Party — as well as a few joining from the neighboring Dodge and Walworth counties — packed into the small county party office to welcome U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Gov. Tony Evers before kicking off some last minute canvassing.
Full of excitement at the prospect of electing Democrats Melissa Ratcliff and Joan Fitzgerald to its seats in the state Senate and Assembly (both in attendance at the event) after years of Republican representation under the old legislative maps, the Democrats from a rural county nearly mid-way between the urban centers of Madison and Milwaukee said they were expecting wins on Tuesday.
“I think our country has weathered the storm, and grown in the process,” Fort Atkinson Democrat Jim Marousis says.
Baldwin is running for re-election in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate elections, with Democrats needing her to win in order to retain control of the chamber.
“We are the battleground state,” Baldwin told the gathered group of supporters. “We will decide, most likely, who the next president is, what party controls the United States Senate, what party controls the House of Representatives. All could be decided right here in our state.”
At the beginning of Baldwin’s remarks, the crowd sang happy birthday to Evers, who is celebrating his 73rd birthday on Tuesday. Evers touted the work Baldwin has done in Wisconsin to secure supplies for the state during the COVID-19 pandemic and convince the federal Small Business Administration to provide loans to northern Wisconsin businesses last winter when a lack of snowfall shut down many winter recreational activities.
Evers said that the ground game of Wisconsin Democrats is going to make the difference for the party up and down the ticket on Tuesday, adding that he was hopeful the party would win control of the state Assembly.
“People all across the Wisconsin Democratic Party are doing the things that make the difference,” he said. “Wisconsin has the best ground game. Nothing compares to here.”
With about five hours until polls close on her second re-election campaign, Baldwin said she was optimistic at her chances.
“As of the time that early voting started two weeks ago, and certainly my travels today give me great hope and optimism,” she told the Wisconsin Examiner. “I feel like we have the momentum. I feel like people are stepping up to volunteer. Some have never volunteered before, and it’s not necessarily easy to go knock on a stranger’s door. And also the news of new registrations leading up to Election Day is heartwarming. I’m hearing early readouts now from the clerks in various communities about really motivated voters. So anyways, I’m feeling great.”
Vice President Kamala Harris addresses union supporters Friday at a rally held in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall in Janesville, Wisconsin. (Erik Gunn | Wisconsin Examiner)
If the speech Vice President Kamala Harris delivered one week before Election Day on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., was her presidential campaign’s closing argument, her talk Friday to a packed Wisconsin union hall was a sequel — a closing argument directed at the working class.
Harris made an unapologetic pro-union message that equaled the one President Joe Biden has delivered throughout his four years in the White House. In the process, she set herself — and the Democratic ticket — apart from Republican former President Donald Trump.
“We have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who has spent full time trying to have the American people point fingers at each other. Full time trying to divide us, have people be afraid of each other. And folks are exhausted with this stuff,” Harris said.
The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd inside the headquarters of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 890 in Janesville clapped and cheered.
“That’s who he is — that’s not who we are,” Harris continued. “Nobody understands better than a union member that as Americans we all rise or fall together.”
By the time Harris took the stage, just before 3 p.m, the standing-room-only audience was thoroughly warmed up.
Peter Barca, the Democratic candidate mounting an uphill challenge to U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, the Republican 1st District congressman, urged the crowd not to be complacent.
He reminded the union members of Act 10, former Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s surprise attack on labor that stripped public employees of most union rights. And he warned that Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation proposal for the next Republican administration, threatens to end unions for public workers nationwide and cripple private-sector unions.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks to union members in Janesville, Wisconsin, Friday, Nov. 1. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers also spoke, giving a shout-out to union workers who built Milwaukee’s baseball stadium 25 years ago and who are refurbishing it with state funds. He highlighted new legislative maps — drawn by Evers’ team and enacted by Republican lawmakers — that have undone a 13-year GOP gerrymander in Wisconsin and which will get their first test at the ballot box on Tuesday.
“We can flip the state Assembly,” Evers declared, adding that a Democratic resurgence would set the stage for undoing Act 10 and other union-restrictive legislation enacted when Republicans controlled all the branches of state government. Evers urged the audience to call, text or otherwise connect to friends and family “and tell them your ‘why’” for making their choices at the polls.
Following Evers in the Janesville union hall, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, in a close race for reelection, evoked Wisconsin’s “long and rich history as a pro-union stronghold of the Midwest” where unions and workers are now fighting to restore labor rights lost in the last decade. Baldwin pointed to her push for “buy American” requirements in legislation such as the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
“Now, when we’re building roads all across this country, we’re using American steel and American concrete to do it,” Baldwin said. “That means union jobs in our state — but all of that progress is absolutely on the line right now with this election.”
A full-throated pro-union message
When Harris addressed the crowd in Janesville, she held up union members as leaders for fair pay, benefits, workplace safety, the five-day work week, paid vacation and family leave, “because it is union members that work and put blood, sweat and tears into raising the conditions of the American worker, wherever they work.”
In contrast to “the disparity in power” between workers with no unions and their employers, collective bargaining enables workers “to join together, as a collective, and then negotiate to better ensure one simple thing — that the outcome is fair,” Harris said.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union members wait to hear from Vice President Kamala Harris Friday, Nov. 1. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)
Harris outlined an industrial policy agenda building on themes that have been central to the Biden administration’s economic policy: continuing federal investment in domestic manufacturing, with local hiring and union participation, particularly to build up technology and clean energy. She vowed to strive for “good paying jobs that do not require a college degree,” to remove by executive order “unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs” and to challenge private employers to do likewise.
Harris reiterated her promise to sign the PRO Act, legislation that unions have been seeking to remove obstacles to union organizing, and to oppose threats to retirement benefits.
She cited economic analyses that have said Trump’s economic plans “would bankrupt Social Security in the next six years.” And she contrasted Trump’s claim when he ran in 2016 that he would restore American manufacturing jobs with his record in office.
“America lost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs when he was president, including thousands of jobs right here in Wisconsin,” Harris said. “And let’s be clear — those losses started before the pandemic, making Donald Trump one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in America.” The crowd hooted and cheered.
Those losses, Harris observed, included six U.S. auto plants, after Trump had run promising the industry “would not, quote, lose one plant during his presidency.”
She paused. “Janesville” — where General Motorsshut a plant in 2008 that had been the city’s industrial mainstay for 90 years — “you know what those closures mean,” she said, describing the loss of well-paid union jobs and the ripple effects bringing down small businesses in the community.
‘Union-buster his entire career’
Harris mocked the Foxconn project in Mount Pleasant that failed to live up to Trump’s promotion and charged that the 2017 tax cut Trump signed “cut taxes for corporations that shipped 200,000 American jobs overseas during his presidency.”
Trump “has been a union-buster his entire career,” she said, mentioning a Trump description of union leaders as “dues-sucking people,” his support of right-to-work laws that weaken unions, and a conversation Trump had with Elon Musk in which Trump affirmed Musk’s suggestion that striking workers should be fired.
“While he was president, he lowered labor standards and made it easier for companies to break labor laws and then get federal contracts,” she added.
Harris tacitly acknowledged that Trump’s supporters appear to include a swath of working-class voters, some of them union members.
“And so part of why I’m here is to ask all the leaders here — let’s remind all the brothers and sisters of Labor about who Donald Trump really is. Because he’s got a lot of talk, but if you pay attention to what he’s actually done, if you pay attention to who he actually stood with when people needed a defender and a friend, you’ll see who he really is. And we’ve got to get the word out about this,” Harris said.
“Donald Trump’s track record is a disaster for working people and he is an existential threat to America’s labor movement.”
After the rally, Stacy Farrington, a Rock County employee, said acknowledgement of how public sector union rights had been lost resonated with her. “We don’t have a voice,” she said, adding that the rally invoked “hope that we have to get back to that.”
Tom Brien, who worked for 43 years at the Janesville GM plant until its 2008 shutdown, said the warnings about Trump’s likely labor agenda were important to hear.
“Kamala supports unions, and we’ll be a whole a lot better off with her versus her opponent,” Brien said. Nevertheless, he’s cautious about the outcome.
“It’s definitely going to be close,” Brien said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a runaway. But we’ll hope for the best.”
A standing-room-only crowd of union members wait to hear from Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. (Erik Gunn | Wisconsin Examiner)
Courtesy of the Department of Natural Resources page on parks and recreation.
Gov. Tony Evers on Friday appointed Waupaca County dairy farmer Rachel Bouressa to the Wisconsin Natural Resource Board — the policy making body for the state Department of Natural Resources.
Evers appointees, who now control the body, have become a political flashpoint in recent years after an appointee of Republican Gov. Scott Walker refused to leave his seat for more than a year after the expiration of his term. Republicans in the state Senate have also denied the confirmation of several of Evers’ nominees for the board over disagreements about water quality and wolf population management policies.
Rachel Bouressa (Courtesy of the office of Gov. Tony Evers)
“Our farmers and our state’s agricultural industry are vital to Wisconsin’s culture, heritage, and economy — and the Natural Resources Board is a critical partner in our work to conserve farmland, bolster sustainable farming practices, and ensure the growth and success of our state’s economy,” Evers said in a statement. “I’m excited that Rachel Bouressa will bring her wealth of experience and expertise in agriculture and environmental science to the Board.”
Bouressa is the fifth generation of her family to run its 90-cow dairy farm outside of New London. She is a director at-large on the Wisconsin Farm Bureau board, is a member of the local chapter of the Wisconsin Farmers Union and works as a project coordinator at GrassWorks, a non-profit focused on sustainable grass grazing practices for dairy farmers.
“As a fifth-generation farmer and an advocate for farming and preserving our natural resources, I’ve always had a passion for the connection between agriculture and conservation,” Bouressa said. “I am honored to represent our farmers on the Natural Resources Board and am excited to learn and get to work.”
The Labor & Industry Review Commission (LIRC) interprets Wisconsin laws on unemploment insurance, workers compensation and other worker-related protections. (Getty Images)
Six years after Gov. Scott Walker left office, an official he appointed continues to interpret state laws covering jobless pay, workplace injuries and civil rights.
Georgia Maxwell’s term as one of three members of the Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission (LIRC) expired March 1, 2023, more than 18 months ago. Nevertheless she remains in the seat even though Gov. Tony Evers has appointed her replacement.
Maxwell is following the example of another Walker appointee, Fred Prehn, a Wausau dentist who refused to step down from the Natural Resources Board at the end of his term in May 2021.
As the Wisconsin Examinerreported, Republican leaders in the Legislature held off formally confirming Evers’ appointed successor to Prehn and encouraged the Walker appointee to hang on to his seat. Alegal battle led to a landmarkstate Supreme Court ruling in June 2022 declaring Prehn could remain in the post until the Wisconsin Senate approved his successor.
In response to an interview request Monday, Maxwell said she would not answer questions about her decision and instead referred to the letter she sent Evers the day before her term expired.
In that Feb. 28, 2023 letter, Maxwell cited the Supreme Court ruling in the Prehn case and asserted her belief “in the continuity of work that we do” at the commission.
Prehn ultimately did step down from the Natural Resources Board before his successor had been confirmed. But environmental advocates said the Walker appointee’s decision to linger for 20 months after his term expireddelayed efforts to advance new measures to address pollution — chief among them, imposing limits on PFAS “forever chemicals” in groundwater.
Regardless of whether Maxwell’s decision to hold on to her LIRC post has materially affected policy — and notwithstanding the Supreme Court ruling — critics say such maneuvers are an affront to the democratic process.
Jay Heck, Common Cause Wisconsin
“It’s wrong,” said Jay Heck, director of the nonpartisan voting rights and good government group Common Cause Wisconsin. “When people elect a governor, he’s elected or she’s elected statewide, and the expectation is that the governor will be able to implement policies with his or her own personnel.”
The role of the labor commission
The Labor & Industry Review Commission interprets state laws governing unemployment insurance (UI), workers compensation, and the discrimination and fair labor standards laws that make up Wisconsin civil rights laws.
The three groups of laws are all administered by the state Department of Workforce Development (DWD).
The department’s equal rights division investigates discrimination in jobs and housing, labor standards such as job misclassification, child labor law violations and wage theft, Wisconsin’s family and medical leave law and other related worker protection laws.
DWD investigators review complaints filed by workers or advocates alleging violations of those and related laws. If an investigator concludes that there’s probable cause of a violation, the case can go to a hearing with witnesses and evidence before an administrative law judge.
UI and workers comp cases involve claims that workers file with DWD for benefits under those programs. If DWD accepts or rejects a claim, workers or their employers can file an appeal, which also leads to a hearing before an administrative judge.
The labor commission is the next step in the process: The three-member commission hears appeals of administrative law judge decisions, whether involving UI, workers comp or equal rights. The commission is an independent agency separate from DWD.
Commission rulings in turn can be appealed in circuit court, a process that can extend through the state court system to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The Labor & Industry Review Commission’s three members are appointed by the governor to staggered six-year terms and confirmed by the state Senate.
In 2019, his first year in office, Evers made his first appointment to the commission, appointing Michael Gillick, a veteran workers comp attorney. Gillick took office March 1, 2019. His term expires March 1, 2025.
Evers’ next appointment to the commission came March 1, 2021, with Marilyn Townsend, a Madison lawyer.
Republican leaders in the state Senate have never scheduled confirmation hearings or held confirmation votes for either Gillick or Townsend.
With Walker from the start
Georgia Maxwell was the last labor commission member Walker appointed before he left office at the end of 2018 after losing the election to Evers. Maxwell’s tenure on the commission has had a complicated history.
Georgia Maxwell (Labor & Industry Review Commission photo)
Maxwell joined Walker’s administration when he first took office after his election in 2010. She started as assistant deputy secretary at DWD in January 2011, moved to assistant deputy secretary at the Department of Financial Institutions in April 2013, and returned to DWD as deputy secretary in July 2015, according to her commission biography.
In November 2017 Walker tapped Maxwell to fill the last year and a half of a commissioner’s post that expired March 1, 2019. The state Senate confirmed her on a unanimous vote.
A year later, on Nov. 29, 2018, another commissioner, Laurie McCallum, sent Walker a letter announcing she would resign midway through her term. She announced her departure just four weeks after Evers defeated Walker’s bid for a third term as governor.
In her resignation letter McCallum said her last day would be Jan. 4, 2019.
Four days after McCallum’s announcement, Walker appointed Maxwell to fill out the balance of McCallum’s term, which ended March 1, 2023. The appointment took effect on Jan. 6, 2019.
Maxwell’s second appointment as a commissioner went before the state Senate for a confirmation vote on Dec. 4, 2018 — one month before that new appointment started. The lame-duck session vote took place on the same day that the Legislature’s Republican majority passed a series of bills placing new limits on the incoming Democrats, Gov.-elect Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul.
The confirmation vote for Maxwell’s first appointment to the commission a year earlier was unanimous. For the December 2018 confirmation vote she was one of more than 80 lame-duck Walker appointees confirmed as a group, en masse. The party-line vote was 18-15, with no Democrats voting for the slate.
For the first two months of the new Evers administration, the labor commission had only two members — although one of them, Maxwell, appeared to fill two positions. The expiration of the term for the first of those positions created the opening that Evers’ appointee Michael Gillick took starting March 1, 2019.
Maxwell remained on the commission, now solely filling out the term that Laurie McCallum had vacated — the one expiring March 1, 2023.
Asks to be reappointed
On Jan. 11, 2023, a little more than six weeks before her second term expired, Maxwell wrote to Evers asking to be reappointed for another six-year term — Holding herself out as a someone who combined “empathy and impartiality” and citing her tenure as “the longest-serving LIRC Commissioner.”
Evers declined the request, instead appointing Katy Lounsbury, an attorney and currently a staff lawyer at the Labor & Industry Review Commission, as her successor effective March 1.
Her next letter to the governor was the one Maxwell sent Evers on Feb. 28, via email.
“I have been verbally informed that you have nominated someone to succeed me as a Commissioner on the Labor and Industry Review Commission,” Maxwell wrote. “Please be advised that pursuant to [the state Supreme Court opinion in the Fred Prehn case], the ‘expiration of a defined term for an appointed office does not create a vacancy.’ … I will continue to serve as Commissioner until my successor is confirmed by the Wisconsin State Senate.
“As I outlined in my January 11, 2023 letter to you, I believe strongly in the continuity of work that we do at the Labor and Industry Review Commission. I thank you for your consideration.”
Victor Forberger
A veteran Wisconsin unemployment insurance lawyer contends Maxwell’s refusal to step down may have led to commission decisions that penalized some workers seeking to collect jobless pay.
Victor Forberger, whose law practices consist almost exclusively of assisting unemployment insurance applicants in legal disputes arising from their claims, told the Wisconsin Examiner that in the last several years he has seen commission decisions increasingly equate genuine mistakes by applicants in the information they submit as instances of fraud against the U.I system.
Changes in state law during the Walker administration as well as in procedure at the Department of Workforce Development during that period paved the way for penalizing applicants’ innocent errors as fraud, Forberger said. At the time, Maxwell was deputy secretary at DWD.
In a 2015 memo, the Labor & Industry Review Commission warned the department against assuming fraud without evidence of fraudulent intent by the person accused, he said.
Nevertheless, Forberger said he’s been seeing more recent commission decisions that have moved away from the principle that requires evidence of intent — a reversal from the agency’s own memo to DWD nine years ago.
“I chalk this all up to the influence of Georgia Maxwell,” Forberger said.
Gov. Tony Evers said he was "jazzed as hell" to welcome VP Kamala Harris to Wisconsin. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is joining fellow Democratic governors on a bus tour this week across the Midwest to talk to voters about the plans Vice President Kamala Harris has for creating jobs and lowering the cost of living for families.
The “Driving Forward” blue wall bus tour is starting off in Wisconsin Monday where Evers will join Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The tour will include special guests such as Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who will join the governors in Green Bay.
This is the first time Evers is scheduled to appear as a Harris surrogate. In an television interview during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Evers said he believes Harris has a better chance of winning Wisconsin than President Joe Biden did. “I think she’s engaged young people, and I anticipate that campuses across the state will be … active politically,” Evers said. “I do think Joe Biden could have won Wisconsin. It would have been by a smaller amount that he made it before. I think Kamala Harris or win by much more than that.”
Over the course of six days, concluding in Pennsylvania with Gov. Josh Shapiro, Whitmer said she plans to make sure every Midwesterner knows that former President Donald Trump would drive the economy into the ground if given the chance. The best choice for Midwesterners in November is the Harris-Walz ticket, Whitmer said in a statement from her Fight Like Hell PAC.
“Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have lived lives like ours in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Their priority is lowering families’ costs, cutting taxes for the middle class, and creating more good American jobs here at home,” Whitmer said. “Donald Trump is only looking out for himself and his wealthy friends.”
Making note of Project 2025, the 900-plus-page right-wing blueprint outlining plans for Trump’s second term, Whitmer said Trump is seeking unchecked power that would trash economic opportunities for the working class.
Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are all part of the blue wall, which is made of more than a dozen states that have voted Democratic in presidential elections since at least 1992. All three states flipped for Trump in 2016 and flipped again for Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020. All three states are being heavily wooed by Harris and Trump in 2024.
For Pennsylvania, Trump’s chaos is unwelcome and gets in the way of the progress happening in Democratic states, Shapiro said in a statement from the Fight Like Hell PAC.
“Democratic Governors know how to get stuff done and deliver real results – we’ve cut taxes and reduced costs for our constituents, invested in public safety, opened up the doors of opportunity, and protected our fundamental rights and freedoms,” Shapiro said. “We need Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the White House because they’ll be our partners in that work to expand economic opportunity and advance real freedom, bringing people together behind common sense solutions for the American people.”
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.
Aiming to provide schools ongoing, predictable funding increases, Gov. Tony Evers struck two digits and a dash from the years to extend the annual increases through 2425. Evers signed the 2023-25 budget bill with 51 partial vetoes on July 5, 2023. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)
The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that challenges Gov. Tony Evers’ partial veto that extended school revenue increases for 400 years and questions the limits of expansive power.
The lawsuit challenging the partial veto was brought by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), the state’s largest business lobby group, and two Wisconsin taxpayers, Jeffery A. LeMieux, a retired professor, and David T. DeValk, a Fox Valley substitute teacher.
The case centers on a partial veto that Evers exercised in the 2023-25 budget. Lawmakers included a $325 increase to schools’ revenue limits for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years in the budget when it was sent to Evers. Aiming to provide schools ongoing, predictable funding increases, Evers struck two digits and a dash from the years to extend the annual increases through 2425.
Scott Rosenow, an attorney for WMC, argued that the Court should strike down Evers’ veto.
“This 400-year veto approaches the absurd and this partial veto power is corrosive to democracy,” Rosenow said, referencing the brief submitted to the court by Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School legal scholar.
Briffault argued in the brief that allowing veto “creativity” would “further depart from the Constitution’s text, history and structure and its core democratic commitments” and would make Wisconsin an outlier among states with partial veto powers.
Rosenow argued that the veto exceeded the partial veto power established under the state Constitution and created a new word.
“The governor here did not merely delete text. He selectively struck words, digits and a dash to create a new word, so what he did was not like a digit veto that reduces an appropriation by striking a single digit, he created a new word and a new 400-year duration that wasn’t there,” Rosenow said.
Wisconsin has had one of the broadest partial veto powers in the country, though it has been curtailed over the years by constitutional amendments and rulings by the state Supreme Court.
The ‘Vanna White’ veto, which was used by former Gov. Tommy Thompson to strike individual letters to create new words, was eliminated in 1990 by a constitutional amendment. The Legislative Reference Bureau defines this type of veto as striking “phrases, digits, letters, and word fragments so as to create new words, sentences, and dollar amounts.” The language approved by the constitutional amendment stated: “In approving an appropriation bill in part, the governor may not create a new word by rejecting individual letters in the words of the enrolled bill.”
Some of the justices appeared skeptical about the argument that Rosenow was making, saying that the amendments advanced by lawmakers and adopted by voters didn’t specify digits.
“Equally absurd to me is your argument that a letter is a number or vice versa, that a number is a letter…. A fourth grader or dare I say a four-year-old knows the difference between letters and numbers,” Justice Ann Walsh Bradley said. “My response is almost visceral that I don’t care how many fancy words or legal theories you put behind it to make it sound like its erudite four is not a letter of the alphabet.”
Evers’ attorney, Colin Roth, argued that while the veto did extend the date by a significant amount of time, it didn’t violate any previous cases decided by the Court and that it led to “complete and workable law,” a requirement of partial vetoes established under previous case law.
Justices expressed concerns about whether the power continues to be too broad.
“I think that there is concern that now, we’ve got this 402-year veto. It does feel like the sky’s the limit, and perhaps today, we are at that fork in the road, and… we’re trying to think, like, should we today in 2024 start to look at this differently?” Justice Jill Karofsky said.
Roth argued, however, that lawmakers have tools to address the limits of the governor’s ability to shape law, including by passing constitutional amendments and writing legislation in different ways.
“To the extent, your honors do have substantive concerns about the scope of the veto power, those can be addressed in multiple ways. One, a constitutional amendment, it’s not impossible. It’s happened twice. Both times the Legislature has put it to a vote, it’s passed,” Roth said. A second constitutional amendment adopted in 2008 banned the “Frankenstein” veto, where governors would create new sentences by combining parts of two or more sentences. “There’s one in the hopper right now… that would expressly ban this kind of veto.”
Republican lawmakers, who support the lawsuit, were furious about the partial veto, and in response unsuccessfully attempted to override the veto and started the process of passing a constitutional amendment that would limit the power further by prohibiting vetoes that would increase taxes or fees.
Justice Brian Hagedorn, referring to the partial veto power, said that legal scholars “think it’s crazy because it is crazy.”
“We allow governors to unilaterally create law that has not been proposed to them at all. It is a mess of this court’s making, and our body of cases is inconsistent,” Hagedorn said. “We have a choice to either green light governors unilaterally creating policy in an even more expansive way than we’ve done before or whether we are going to begin to take steps… and begin to rein [it] in.”
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