Global Courant 2023-05-02 16:09:24
Legalizing marijuana, paying for renovations at the Milwaukee Brewers stadium and establishing a paid family leave program are among more than 500 items proposed by Democratic Governor Tony Evers who will challenge the legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee. intends to kill Tuesday with a single vote.
The move comes as no surprise after Republicans, who control the state’s legislatures by large majorities, did the same with Evers’ past two budgets and said they would do so again this year. The vote begins the committee’s work to reshape the nearly $104 billion two-year budget that Evers submitted in February.
Starting Tuesday, and likely into June, the Joint Finance Committee will hold a series of votes to draft its own two-year spending plan, which will then go to the Senate and General Assembly for approval. Once passed, Evers can make changes through his powerful veto, which he did with the past two budgets he signed that included both Republican and Democratic priorities.
The state has an estimated budget surplus of $7 billion, money Evers had proposed tapping into to pay for a wide variety of spending priorities that are killing Republicans.
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Evers’ proposals that will be cut from the budget on Tuesday include: a 10% income tax cut for middle and low income earners; $270 million to add more mental health providers in schools; and freezing enrollment in the state’s private school voucher program.
Republicans have been working on their own plans to cut income taxes, increase mental health services in schools and expand funding for the school voucher program.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers speaks at the annual State of the State Address on January 24, 2023 in Madison, Wisconsin. The state’s Republican-controlled Budget Committee has killed Governor Evers’ plans to pay for stadium renovations for the Brewers, legalize marijuana and create a paid family leave program, among other things. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
Other Evers proposals that Republicans have long resisted and will also be killed include accepting the federal expansion of Medicaid, raising the minimum wage, implementing automatic voter registration, and repealing the law on the state’s right to work.
Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback responded with a tweet on Friday saying Republicans “have no real plans to address our state’s pressing challenges.”
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“If I were a Republican party that lost 14 of the last 17 statewide elections, I simply wouldn’t reject wildly popular policies backed by a majority of the state,” Cudaback tweeted.
Evers won re-election in November as Republicans increased their majority in the legislature by taking advantage of cards they drew that tightened their hold on legislative districts.
Evers, citing widespread support as measured by public polls, called for the legalization of both recreational and medical marijuana. Republicans have long opposed legalizing recreational marijuana, but House Speaker Robin Vos said last month he hopes to put a bill on medical marijuana to a vote this fall.
Evers’s paid leave plan would have created a program for both public and private sector employees, giving them 12 weeks of family and medical leave starting in 2025.
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Evers also called for $290 million to be spent to repair American Family Field in Milwaukee, where the Brewers play. Vos said in March the plan would fall through and Republicans were working on their own alternative to extend the team’s lease, which is expected to expire in 2030. Evers’ proposal would have extended it by 13 years, through 2043. The Republican stadium plan is expected to be discussed off budget.
Other major aspects of Evers’ budget will remain for now, but will almost certainly be changed by the Republicans. That includes Evers’ plan to increase special education funding by $1 billion and allow schools to spend $350 more per student in the 2023-24 school year and $650 more the following year, reducing the state-imposed income limits are raised. There was no increase in the income cap, the maximum amount school districts can bring in through property taxes and state aid, for the past two years. Currently, schools get $742 per student.
