MADISON – Representative Karen Hurd (R-Withee) released the following statement after voting in favor of the 2025-27 State Budget (Senate Bill 45) early Thursday morning:
“As a member of the Joint Finance Committee (JFC), I’ve worked with my colleagues over the past several months to craft a responsible state budget. Throughout this process, I listened to the people of the 69th Assembly District to learn about their priorities for our state’s two-year spending plan and advocated for as many of those as possible to be included in the final budget. After good-faith negotiations by legislative leadership with Governor Evers, I’m pleased that an agreement has been reached on several key components of the budget including tax relief and special education funding.
“A top priority for my constituents is reducing the tax burden, and the budget passed by the Legislature delivers $1.5 billion in tax relief. This plan includes expanding the second income tax bracket, as well as creating an income tax exclusion for individuals who are at least 67 years old. This exclusion applies to the first $24,000 of retirement income for single filers and the first $48,000 for married-joint filers. In addition, this proposal expands the sales tax exemption for residential electricity and natural gas to apply year-round.
“Another issue I heard often from constituents is increasing special education funding for our schools. This budget provides a historic increase of over $500 million in special education funding. This represents a 42% reimbursement rate in the first year of the budget and a 45% reimbursement rate in the second year.
“Another priority of the 69th District addressed in this budget is investing in improving our roads and bridges. We reauthorized the successful Agricultural Roads Improvement Program (ARIP) at $150 million over the biennium, and dedicated 20% of this funding towards bridge and culvert repairs. This $150 million investment is $100 million more than Governor Evers proposed. This budget also restores the general transportation aids (GTA) mileage aid rate increase that was line-item vetoed by the governor in the last budget. This veto primarily impacted towns across our state and is something that I have heard about from town officials across my district. In addition to this veto fix, the budget also provides a 3% increase in GTA in each year of the budget. These investments will make a real difference in rural communities across our state.
“As with any legislation the size of the state budget, there are some parts of the final product I wish would not have been included and other items that I wish had been. However, the budget my colleagues and I on the JFC crafted addresses many of the key priorities for the people of my district and the state of Wisconsin which is why it earned my support.”
