- Podcasts
Podcasts - Videos
Videos - Policy Issues
Policy Issues - About
About
JFC Proposing $100 Billion Budget
The Republicans who are writing Wisconsin’s next state budget are doing more than cutting Gov. Tony Evers’ policy proposals from the new spending plan. They are trying their best to veto-proof it.
Joint Committee on Finance co-chairs Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, on Thursday told reporters they are changing the way the budget is written to avoid as many line item vetoes from Gov. Evers as they can.
“I anticipate that you're not going to see too many references to the digits, the years anymore,” Sen. Marklein said. “My guess is that our drafting attorneys are going to recommend that you spell out those years and those dates in the budget.”
That’s in response to Gov. Evers’ 400-year veto from two years ago where he erased the 24 out of the 2023-24 school year and changed 2024-25 to 2425. The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld that veto last month.
“I think it impacts the discussion on the education budget a little bit too,” Rep. Born said. “I mean now it’s baked into the cake that there is going to be significant increases every year in funding, and significant increases every year for 400 years and property taxes in Wisconsin by the decision that the governor made. So that obviously impacts discussions about education funding.”
Thursday was the first hearing for the JFC on the new, two-year state budget.
Republicans said they will use the first meeting to strip out any policy proposals the governor embedded into the budget.
Both Born and Marklein have said in the past that they won’t start making spending decisions until they get new revenue estimates in the middle of this month.
Those estimates will give the JFC a much better sense of how much lawmakers have to spend over the two years.
The price tag for the next state budget is expected to be around $50 billion a-year.
Interested in the content of this Article?
Reach out to the MacIver Institute to aquire more information
