Republican lawmakers set to strip out more than 500 items from Gov. Tony Evers' proposed state budget

MADISON - Republicans who control the Legislature's budget-writing committee plan to strip out more than 500 items from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' two-year, $104 billion state spending plan.

They include his priorities of creating a paid family leave program, implementing automatic voter registration, requiring state lawmakers to keep their emails as public records, legalizing marijuana and adding mental health programs in schools.

They also will remove Evers' proposal to extend bar hours during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next year, to subsidize tuition for students from low-income households attending University of Wisconsin System schools, and to create an office within the Wisconsin Elections Commission aimed at responding to misinformation, complaints and requests for records that have skyrocketed since former President Donald Trump began spreading false claims about Wisconsin's elections.

The two-year state budget plan also won't expand Medicaid, among hundreds of other provisions proposed by Evers.

But so far, the move would not remove some K-12 education proposals Evers has sought for years, including while serving as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The motion lawmakers will take up Tuesday won't eliminate a proposal to allow schools to spend $350 more per student in the 2023-24 school year and $650 more the following year, increasing state-imposed revenue limits.

It also leaves alone a monumental proposal to increase state funding for special education costs by $1 billion — a move supported by a broad coalition of business executives and public and private school leaders.

State funds cover less than a third of schools' costs for special education, leaving school districts to pull from their general aid to cover the rest. The shortfall is worse for districts with higher rates of poverty. Under Evers' plan, state funds would cover 60% of special education costs.

Republicans who control the state budget-writing process have kicked off each budget cycle by stripping out hundreds of items from each of Evers' state budget proposals since the governor was first elected in 2018.

Now, the members of the Joint Committee on Finance will begin crafting the next state budget by taking proposals from Evers' plan and adding their own ideas. The committee will begin its work Tuesday.

The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau hasn't yet detailed the financial effects of the expected vote.

Some of the pillars of Evers' budget plan that will be stripped out under the motion include a plan to spend $290 million to keep the Milwaukee Brewers in Wisconsin, which will be taken up separately from the state budget, and a new program that would have allowed all Wisconsin employees to be able to take up to three months of a paid leave of absence for family and medical reasons.

Under Evers’ plan, all Wisconsin employees would have been able to take up to three months of a paid leave of absence for family or medical reasons by Jan. 1, 2025. The governor planned to allocate $243 million in one-time funding for the effort, but employees and employers would also have contributed to a fund that would have made the program self-sufficient by 2026.

The measure has been proposed by Democrats before, but rejected by Republicans. There was hope for bipartisan support after anti-abortion lobbying groups initially showed support for the idea in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, and Republican challengers to Evers embraced the idea as well. But Republican leaders in the Legislature ultimately didn't support the plan.

Among the other measures to be cut from Evers’ budget are:

K-12 proposals

Lawmakers plan to cut Evers’ mental health initiatives, including funding for mental health staff and suicide prevention programs. Having declared 2023 the year of mental health, Evers wanted to give $100 more per student for school-based mental health services, ensuring each district had at least one full-time professional focused on mental health.

Lawmakers would also nix Evers’ proposal to freeze enrollment in the state's private school voucher programs. Under Evers' plan, no new students would be allowed to sign up for the programs, which provide families with taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend private schools.

Lawmakers also plan to cut Evers’ proposals for building the state’s teaching workforce, including stipends for student teachers and “grown your own” programs that help school staff earn higher degrees.

They also plan to cut funding for schools to change racist mascots, for financial literacy, and for computer science and math programs. And they would cut a requirement for schools to carry naloxone or other medication that can reverse opioid overdoses.

UW tuition promise program

The Wisconsin Tuition Promise program would have covered full tuition coverage for new, in-state freshmen and transfer students whose families earn $62,000 or less after the first year, which is funded by the UW System. Students who start under the promise this year will be funded for all four years.

The program is open to students attending any UW campus except UW-Madison, which already offers its own tuition promise that isn’t funded with taxpayer money.

Republican leadership said the program should be privately funded entirely.

Legalizing recreational marijuana

Evers again proposed legalizing marijuana for users 21 and older. Legalization is estimated to generate $166 million in revenue that Evers has said he wants to use to help fund schools.

Republican leaders have just begun to talk about a medical marijuana proposal they could support. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos recently said a group of lawmakers is working to build support within the Republican caucus for the idea, but have indicated they wouldn't support a measure legalizing recreational use.

Wisconsin is in the minority of states that haven't legalized marijuana use in some form. Thirty-seven states have medical marijuana programs, including every state that borders Wisconsin except Iowa.

Automatic voter registration

Wisconsin drivers would have been automatically registered to vote under another of Evers’ proposals, which has been shot down by Republicans before.

The proposal would have required applications for a license or identification card inform applicants that the information would be made available to the Wisconsin Elections Committee, and give them a choice to opt out.

The governor's budget allocated $172,700 for the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the Department of Transportation to implement automatic voter registration. The state DOT would have received another $349,000 in fiscal year 2023-24 to address one-time costs.

PFAS mitigation measures

Republicans rejected a number of measures meant to address the growing number of PFAS contaminations being found around the state.

Eliminated were the proposals for PFAS standards, a measure that would have created rules for certifying laboratories to test for the compounds, a measure that would have required proof of financial responsibility from individuals or businesses that possess or control PFAS and a measure that would require businesses to maintain records of hazardous waste send to other locations.

However, Republicans did keep a number of other measures that would address PFAS, such as a $100 million program that would help communities investigate and respond to the chemicals, 11 positions at the DNR to help handle PFAS issues, funding for statewide testing, funding for emergency measures such as bottled water and funding for the ongoing PFAS-containing firefighting foam collection and disposal program.

Anonymous objections

Also eliminated was a provision in Evers’ budget that would have put an end to anonymous objections to stewardship program proposals by the Joint Finance Committee.

A number of popular stewardship projects have been halted by the anonymous objection process in recent years. Evers' proposal requiring the release of a legislator's name is aimed at lending more openness to a process some residents have criticized for its lack of transparency.

Molly Beck, Laura Schulte and Rory Linnane can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com, leschulte@gannett.com and rory.linnane@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Republicans to strip out over 500 items from Evers' budget