The Joint Finance Committee will take up eight agencies on Thursday when it meets for its next executive session, including the lieutenant governor’s office and Veterans Affairs. The other agencies on Thursday’s agenda include: Board of Commissioners of Public Lands Educational Communications Board Historical Society Financial Institutions Employment Relations Commission

The Joint Finance Committee voted along party lines to pull more than 380 items from Gov. Tony Evers’ budget, including his call to expand Medicaid. Dems decried the move, noting expanding the program would provide health care to an additional 91,000 of the state’s working poor, children, elderly, those with

The Joint Finance Committee today unanimously approved nearly $66 million to expand the Mendota Juvenile Justice Treatment Center, a key step in the process to close the state’s troubled youth prisons. Even with the move, the state still would need to construct a new facility planned for Milwaukee to house

Gov. Tony Evers wrote GOP legislative leaders today that he’s open to meeting with them on how he plans to spend $3.2 billion in federal COVID-19 aid. But he also challenged them to bring to the meeting their plan to expand Medicaid, a move that would generate an additional $1.6

A motion Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee plan to approve Thursday would mean forgoing $2.4 billion in federal money while nixing $1 billion in general fund tax increases, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The memo the agency prepared at the request of JFC member Rep. Evan Goyke, D-Milwaukee,

Four GOP legislative leaders today invited Gov. Tony Evers to meet as soon as possible to share his plans for $3.2 billion in federal funding from the latest COVID-19 stimulus plan. Evers said last week the Joint Finance Committee will “know where the money is going to be in the

The Joint Finance Committee will take its first votes on Gov. Tony Evers’ budget Thursday with a plan to strip out his calls to expand Medicaid, legalize marijuana, plus allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver licenses and pay in-state tuition at Wisconsin colleges and universities. Many of the Evers-backed provisions

Gov. Tony Evers said today he expects to soon have a fuller accounting of his plans to spend the $3.2 billion in federal stimulus funds so the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee knows where the money is going before it starts voting on the budget in earnest. Last week, Evers vetoed

Under the guv’s budget, the property tax bill on the mythical median-valued home would go up $22 on December’s bill and another $63 the following year, according to a memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Those increases are $4 and $8 less, respectively, than what would happen to that tax

A parade of witnesses today called on the Joint Finance Committee to pump state funding into pet causes that ranged from increasing school funding to decreasing prisoner recidivism.  During a hearing at UW-Whitewater, speakers advocated for returning the state’s commitment to fund two-thirds of public education costs, increasing DNR grants

The Joint Finance Committee voted along party lines to approve 11 GOP bills to spend coming stimulus money as Dems questioned whether the proposals were allowed under federal law. The 11-4 votes came after memos from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau suggested millions Republicans want to spend don’t meet current federal

Some of the biggest items in the GOP package to spend $3.2 billion in new federal stimulus aren’t allowed under current guidance, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Meanwhile, the GOP plan to use nearly $1.1 billion of the $3.2 billion to send property owners a rebate equal to 10

GOP Joint Finance member Tony Kurtz today questioned the need to invest state dollars in expanding broadband when the state can use federal money to do it. But Public Service Commission Chair Rebecca Cameron Valcq cautioned against relying solely on federal funds for the work. “What I want to caution

DNR Secretary Preston Cole implored the Joint Finance Committee today to support agency efforts to clean up PFAS, arguing contamination is a threat to the state’s health, economy and sporting heritage. Cole warned the effort would likely take at least a decade to address, but argued clean water is “foundational

Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek told the Joint Finance Committee today Wisconsin’s economy is undergoing a change due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the state needs to begin preparing workers for that new environment. Responding to a question on how the state’s economy is doing, Pechacek noted Wisconsin remains down

Milwaukee Public Schools is in line for more than a third of the more than $2.2 billion in federal aid Wisconsin districts will receive through the three stimulus packages approved over the past year, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The LFB memo shows MPS will receive nearly $798 million

One day after Evers vetoed legislation giving them a say in how the money is spent, Assembly Republicans called on the guv to use some funds from the latest COVID-19 package to give homeowners and long-term care facilities a boost along with expanding broadband. Their call includes: *$1 billion to