State budget fight grinds on

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – Today, June 30, is the end of the fiscal year, and the technical end to the state’s current two-year budget.

While today’s also a deadline for lawmakers, current spending levels will remain if they don’t pass a new budget by tonight.

The Legislature’s budget committee met Friday night, over twelve hours after their planned 10 a.m. start. They skipped debates on major funding items but did approve budgets for several state agencies.

Including the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Department of Justice, Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Department of Tourism, High Education Aids Board, Department of Corrections – Juveniles, and Shared Revenue-Forestry Mill Rate.

Friday’s meeting lasted just over an hour and followed a familiar pattern: Democrats proposed motions, Republicans voted them down, then passed their own plans on party lines. But not without criticism.

“There is something wrong with the decisions we are making in this body… and we aren’t saving taxpayers money in the way we like to claim that we are,” said Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee.

Gov. Evers says he won’t sign a budget that doesn’t include funding for the state’s Child Care Counts program. Another major item, funding for the Universities of Wisconsin, was also pulled from Friday’s agenda.

Meanwhile, the budget committee also resolved a long-standing dispute by releasing roughly $10 million to the Department of Public Instruction for early literacy programs.

“We want to help kids read. Unfortunately, it’s taken this Legislature a tremendous amount of time to allocate the funds for that,” said Rep. Tip McGuire, D- Kenosha.

The money had been held up due to a legal fight over the governor’s partial veto powers, which the state Supreme Court curbed in a decision last week.

But because the money was appropriated in 2023, the funds would have lapsed back into the state’s checking account by the end of today.

“The reason for the delay was an unconstitutional veto by the governor. We’re glad that justice has been done,” said Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, who co-chairs the budget committee. 

The committee released about $10 million, out of the $50 million that had originally been appropriated.

The budget committee is slated to meet for more work on the next two-year budget Tuesday morning.