Gov. Tony Evers vows 'as many partial vetoes as we can muster' as Republicans send budget to his desk

MADISON – Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is promising to issue "as many partial vetoes as we can muster" to a $99 billion two-year spending plan he received Friday from the Assembly and Senate after each house passed the next state budget during two day-long floor sessions.

The 2023-25 state budget proposal passed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers would leverage a historic surplus to cut income taxes by more than $3 billion for Wisconsin residents, a plan that focuses the relief for the state's wealthiest.

Evers proposed a 10% cut for middle-class residents and has long promised not to sign a state budget that includes large tax cuts for the state's highest earners. Even with the veto threat, Republican lawmakers submitted a plan that lowers the tax rate for the top income bracket from 7.65% to 6.5%, which amounts to a 15% reduction.

But lawmakers also crafted the budget bill language in a way that would make it possible for Evers to use his partial veto authority to remove the language in the state budget bill that reduces the top income tax rate, according to Rep. Evan Goyke, a Democratic member of the Joint Committee on Finance. At the same time, the lawmakers also made it difficult if not impossible for Evers to use vetoes to remove the income tax reductions for the middle and lower classes.

That maneuver could result in Evers resisting calls from Democrats to veto the entire state budget plan and force lawmakers to start over.

Assembly lawmakers voted 63-34 along party lines on Thursday to pass the 2023-25 state budget while some Republicans joined Democrats to oppose the plan passed in the state Senate on Wednesday.

The two-year state budget includes a $1 billion increase in state and local funding for K-12 schools, a $32 million cut to diversity programs at the University of Wisconsin System, higher fees for electric vehicle owners, and pay boosts for state employees and correctional officers.

"That's a budget that's the right size for the state, ensuring that we can afford it for the long term, making sure that we invest in everything from police and fire to ensuring that we have great schools all across the state, and then ultimately returning a significant chunk — almost half of the dollars that were overtaken from the citizens of Wisconsin — back to them through income and property tax cuts," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said.

Evers also previously said he would not sign a state budget that includes a $32 million cut to defund diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the UW System.

The measure was included in the budget passed, but Evers has since softened his position and signaled he could support the UW provision because Republicans on the budget-writing committee included a companion provision that allows UW officials to request for the funding to be restored if the committee approves their plans for it.

"We’re still in the process of looking at it," Evers told WQOW on Thursday. "Every time they take a whack at it, they make some changes, so I want to make sure that the pieces are in place for me to sign it or not."

Evers will likely take action on the budget in the coming days. If Evers chooses to sign the budget, he could still make changes to some provisions using partial vetoes, a broad power that allows the governor to remove words and sentences from the budget to rework select provisions passed by the Legislature.

The governor told WQOW he would use "as many partial vetoes as we can muster," if he does sign the budget.

Not included in the state budget bill are more than 500 proposed funding items from Evers, which Republicans stripped from the budget in May.

Items removed from the budget include the creation of a paid family leave program, expanding Medicaid, extending pandemic-era funds for childcare programs, legalizing marijuana, adding mental health programs in schools and several measures aimed at addressing PFAS contamination, though a historic $125 million to clean up PFAS contamination across the state was included in the budget passed Thursday.

Democratic lawmakers blasted Republicans for crafting a spending plan "full of missed opportunities" that cut Evers' funding proposals by $6.8 billion when the state had a record-high $7 billion budget surplus.

Wisconsinites "deserve to have a state government that's going to fight like hell for them — for their kids, for the future, for what can be for the better of the state of Wisconsin," said Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard, D-Madison.

During floor debate on the budget Thursday, Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, argued including tax reductions for Wisconsin's wealthiest residents but leaving out Medicaid, child care and school safety program investments avoided incoming problems.

"We have so many people counting on us. We have had so much opportunity with this budget. We had so many options. We had so much money, and I don't think we did what's best for Wisconsin," Vining said. "This budget is not good, and fair, and just, and right. It is a cart of grain crushed by its own weight."

Democrats in each house put forward about a dozen last-ditch proposals to change the state budget plan on the floor, all of which were shot down by Republicans. The failed amendments would have restored Evers' plans for child care funding, legal marijuana and a repeal of the state's 1849 abortion ban, among other measures.

Under the budget plan sent to the governor, Wisconsin schools would receive about $1 billion in additional revenue through a mix of new funding and property tax increases as part of lawmakers' budget action and a separate agreement between Evers and GOP lawmakers on local government funding.

Lawmakers agreed to include in the state budget an additional $778.5 million in state funding while also allowing school districts to raise the rest through property tax increases. Included in the plan is $534.3 million more in general school aids and an increase of $650 per student in state-imposed limits on how much revenue schools are allowed to raise over the two years of the state budget.

The percentage of special education costs covered by the state also would increase to 33.3% from 30% under current law, which amounts to about $100 million in more funding for schools.

"I know some people want more, and they always seem to want more — but the record-breaking nature of the education funding deal is indisputable, and I think that needs to be emphasized," said Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, who serves on the Joint Finance Committee. "I will not yield one inch of moral high ground to anybody about what we spent on education in this budget, and we funded all types of education — and we did it for all types of children and families, and we did it in a bipartisan framework."

But Democratic Sen. Kelda Roys of Madison said Republicans squandered a once-in-a-generation state surplus.

"I was really excited and hopeful to be serving my first term on the Finance Committee at a time when we have a $7 billion surplus. This is something that never happens in politics. It's an incredible once-in-a-generation, once-in-a-political lifetime opportunity," Roys said ahead of the Wednesday floor session.

UW diversity programs in the crosshairs

Higher education dominated Thursday's debate in the Assembly as Republicans and Democrats divided over the $32 million cut to UW System diversity, equity and inclusion programming that would eliminate nearly 200 positions.

Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Green Lake, told reporters before the budget vote that UW could ask the Legislature's budget-writing committee to restore the funding if they present a plan "to better address (Wisconsin's) critical workforce shortage."

"What constituents across the state want is to know that a degree from a UW campus is meaningful and not just based on how our students conform to looking through a lens and a single ideology and viewpoint for the world," Dallman said.

Democrats lamented the cuts as another blow to racial equality following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to gut race-based affirmative action in college admissions just hours before the Assembly advanced the state budget.

During debate in the state Senate, Democratic state Sen. LaTonya Johnson of Milwaukee blasted Republicans for not including measures in the state budget that seek to substantially curb gun violence in the city and instead putting forth measures that only aim to keep violence from spreading outside of Milwaukee.

“F--- the suburbs, because they don't know a goddamn thing about how life is in the city," she said.

The budget plan approved by the Assembly also approved pay raises for state workers and UW System employees. Wages will increase 4% this July and another 2% next July.

Employees in the state's prison system would also see a $33 per hour minimum rate, with increased pay progression rates and incentives for roles that are often empty.

Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, said on the floor Thursday he threatened to vote "no" on the budget if "historic and transformational" pay raises for correctional officers weren't included in the spending plan.

"I've toured close to half of our correctional facilities, I've listened to the correctional officers and sergeants during these visits, and I can tell you this budget recognizes the shortages in our facilities," Schraa said.

Other employees who could see their wages go up include probation and parole agents, state Capitol police and Department of Natural Resources conservation wardens.

The spending plan also includes $2 million to help pay for costs associated with the Green Bay Packers hosting the National Football League draft in 2025.

Additionally, included as part of a $3 billion plan for health care programs is a measure barring transgender Wisconsinites from using Medicaid coverage to pay for puberty-blocking drugs or surgeries “to the extent permitted by federal law.”

It's unclear whether the provision will withstand legal scrutiny. A federal judge previously barred Wisconsin health officials from categorically denying Medicaid coverage for medically necessary gender-confirming surgery on the basis such a practice violated patients' civil rights and federal health care law.

Lawmakers also approved a 2% increase for transit funding in the budget. The increase came paired with a proposal to move funding for buses and other mass transit systems from the state’s transportation fund to the general purpose fund, the state’s largest pool of funding used for a wide array of government services.

Tyler Katzenberger, Jessie Opoien and Hope Karnopp contributed to this report.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

THANK YOU: Subscribers' support makes this work possible. Help us share the knowledge by buying a gift subscription.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Tony Evers vows to deploy partial vetoes in Republican budget