MADISON – State Senator Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) released the following statement regarding today’s senate session:
“For years our local governments have been asked to do more with less. Over the past decade, my Democratic colleagues and I have been consistently supporting shared revenue increases for our local communities but every single time the Republicans said no. While I am glad they have finally decided to recognize the severity of the problem caused by their stagnant funding to communities over the years, the price that it comes with is incredibly disappointing.
“Our towns, cities and villages should not have to beg to receive funding to cover their most basic services like fire, water, EMS, and roads. Instead, the Republicans insisted on including harmful provisions that run contrary to the values we hold as Wisconsinites. Our local governments deserve adequate funding with no nefarious strings attached. We should have held a vote today on a clean bill that didn’t include the Republican Party’s policy wish list. I spoke on an amendment and advocated to vote on a clean bill, but the Republicans did not change their mind.
“The Republicans also chose to divert much needed funds away from our public schools today. They decided to pump them into unaccountable voucher schools. We should be supporting our teachers, our students and their families with high quality education, regardless of their zip code, not undermining them.
“I am grateful to Governor Evers for working as hard as he did to get the Republicans to even come to this compromise. It is not the solution I hoped for, but it is a start.”
