Madison, WI – Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) made the following statement on the Joint Finance Committee’s (JFC’s) decision to send $156 million to counties, towns and municipalities for local road maintenance and construction, $320 million more for State Highways and $44 million for the Rural Broadband Expansion Grant Program:

“I started this session with a commitment to increase funding for local rural roads and broadband expansion. Today, I achieved these goals.

The JFC voted to send $156 million more to counties, towns and municipalities to fix our local roads. We also increased State Highway funding by $320 million to invest nearly $1 billion by 2021. We increased our investment through reforms, reasonable fee increases and modest bonding.

We also allocated $44 million for Rural Broadband Expansion Grants from the Federal E-rate program. The grant program will be able to distribute $22 million per year over the biennium. We are spending more this year than we have distributed, in total, since the program began in 2014! I am optimistic and excited about the potential impact of this investment in our rural communities.

As we near the conclusion of the JFC’s work on the state budget, we are working hard to balance all of our priorities. I am encouraged by the fact that we have consistently been able to increase funding for important priorities without raising taxes and spending beyond our means.”

Marklein represents the 17th Senate District, which includes all or parts Grant, Green, Iowa, Juneau, Lafayette, Monroe, Richland, Sauk and Vernon counties. Marklein serves on the legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee and is Chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Revenue & Financial Institutions.