A new home for the Budget Blog
As of May 2025, the Budget Blog is available exclusively for WisPolitics subscribers on the State Affairs Wisconsin platform.
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Posts from before May 2025 can be viewed below.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, today added Reps. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewoc, and Jessie Rodriguez, R-Oak Creek, to the Joint Finance Committee. They fill the vacancies left by the resignation of former Co-chair John Nygren, R-Marinette, and Rep. Mike Rohrkaste, R-Neenah,
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos today appointed Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, to take over as co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee. Born, who has served on the committee since 2017, replaces Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, who resigned from the Legislature
Gov. Tony Evers plans to deliver his State of the State and budget addresses virtually. Evers announced today he wants to deliver the State of the State address at 7 p.m. on Jan. 12 and his budget address at 7
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu today rounded out his Finance Committee team, appointing Sen. Duey Stroebel vice-chair and adding four new members. LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, previously announced Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, will serve as chair for the 2021-22 session.
A continued surge in corporate tax collections over the rest of this fiscal year will help produce a $1.2 billion surplus to end the 2019-21 budget, giving the state a cushion heading into the next biennium. According to a report
Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, today reappointed John Nygren as the Assembly lead of Joint Finance. The appointment, which had been expected, makes the Marinette Republican the Assembly’s longest-serving co-chair since the budget committee was created in 1911. Vos, who co-chaired
Senate Majority Leader-elect Devin LeMahieu today appointed Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee. Marklein replaces Sen. Alberta Darling, a River Hills Republican who had chaired the committee a record six sessions. Marklein was first appointed
Despite a COVID-19 pandemic that roiled the state’s economy for the final quarter of the year, the state still took in more tax revenue in 2019-20 than originally expected when the budget was signed more than 13 months ago, according
The Joint Finance Committee unanimously backed a modified proposal from WHEDA to use a $16.7 million surplus from 2018-19, the Evers’ administration’s plans to deal with fund overdrafts and four settlements reached by DOJ. But there were still a few
The Joint Finance Committee will meet Tuesday with an agenda that includes four settlements the Department of Justice has asked lawmakers to approve. The committee also will review a plan from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority to use
Wisconsin tax collections in May dropped again compared to the same period a year before due to the fiscal impact of COVID-19, but significantly less than what the state saw in April, according to a new memo from the Legislative
— The UW System will account for nearly two-thirds of Gov. Tony Evers’ $70 million reduction in general purpose operations. That amounts to about $45.8 million. Sean Nelson, UW vice president for finance, told regents today the system is expecting
UW System President Ray Cross is recommending campuses cut programs and consolidate administration to survive the “unprecedented challenges” of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross also told reporters layoffs were expected. Cross said the system had already been working with schools on
State tax collections dropped significantly in April as Wisconsin felt the impact of COVID-19, which will “undoubtedly decrease’’ previous projections the general fund would finish the fiscal year with a surplus of nearly $1.1 billion, according to a new LFB
The Evers administration is immediately cutting executive branch agency budgets 5 percent in the current fiscal year to help deal with the looming state revenue loss due to COVID-19, according to an email DOA Secretary Joel Brennan sent to employees.
Gov. Tony Evers told the White House his administration estimates state revenues will drop more than $2 billion over the next year in the wake of COVID-19. Evers joined Dem Govs. Gretchen Whitmer, of Michigan, and Tom Wolf, of Pennsylvania,
The Joint Finance Committee would be able to transfer up to $75 million from sum sufficient appropriations during the current public health emergency under a new version of the COVID-19 bill released today. That is three times what GOP leaders
The Madison campus is set to take a bigger financial hit from COVID-19 than the rest of the UW System combined. Robert Cramer, UW System vice president of administration, told reporters that a combination of housing and dining hall reimbursements,
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders have been trading ideas — and barbs — about the appropriate state response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Senate and Assembly promise floor sessions soon, but no specific dates have been set.
Gov. Tony Evers today vetoed a GOP plan to cut taxes and reduce state debt, knocking Republicans for failing to embrace his proposal to pump a portion of an anticipated state surplus into school funding. Along with upping state aid
