Hi, this is Senator Howard Marklein. I am the co-chair of the legislature’s budget-writing, Joint Committee on Finance. Earlier this week the Joint Committee on Finance started work on the state budget. We did this after months of meetings with constituents, holding public hearings across the state, talking with legislators on both sides of the aisle, and reading thousands of public comments.
In our first meeting we voted to remove over 600 non-fiscal and policy provisions from the Governor’s proposed state budget. These policies, even if they are policies that we support, should be debated in the open and vetted through the legislative process. They should not be quietly snuck into the budget among hundreds of other provisions.
We also voted to return us to base budget. This is the responsible budget that was signed by the Governor two years ago and has kept Wisconsin moving forward. Using our base budget as a starting point, the Legislature will decide where to make new investments and add new ideas to the budget based on what we heard from Wisconsinites during the public comment period.
With our votes earlier this week, the budget writing process has officially begun. The Joint Finance Committee looks forward to writing a responsible and sustainable state budget that funds Wisconsin’s priorities and addresses our financial obligations.
Thank you to everyone who made their voice part of the process.
