- Podcasts
Podcasts - Videos
Videos - Policy Issues
Policy Issues - About
About
New State Budget Delayed
Wisconsin’s new state budget is on-hold for at least another month-and-a-half.
Joint Committee on Finance chairs Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, on Tuesday said they’re not going to do anything until they see the final revenue numbers from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Those aren’t expected 'til mid-May.
“We don't want to make any decisions based on information where we find we have more revenue, or less revenue than what we had originally been told,” Marklein said.
The Joint Committee on Finance writes the new state budget. Marklein and Born said they are starting that process this week.
The University of Wisconsin and Department of Corrections appeared before the committee Tuesday afternoon to talk about their budget requests. But Born said he’s not expecting much from this year’s budget hearings.
“This administration, these agencies, just have not been straight with us,” Born said. “They don't want to really talk about what they're doing, and why they're doing it. And, so it kind of makes it like it's a waste of their time and our time.”
There are a series of budget listening sessions scheduled across the state this month.
The first is Wednesday in Kaukauna.
But Marklein, again, doesn’t expect much to happen with the state budget until next month.
“We have never done anything significant until we get the final Fiscal Bureau projections. And they usually come in around May 15th,” Marklein explained. “So I can't imagine us [making] substantive decisions on any of the big agencies until about May 15th.”
But it’s not just the final numbers that Marklein said Republicans are waiting for.
“We're also waiting for the state Supreme Court decision on the 400-year veto,” Marklein added. “K-12 spending is our largest expenditure of tax money. And so, you know, I’d like to know what the court has to say.”
Lawmakers are supposed to have a new budget by the end of June.
Interested in the content of this Article?
Reach out to the MacIver Institute to aquire more information
