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Posts from before May 2025 can be viewed below.
The Joint Finance Committee on Monday unanimously backed a series of bills to help the state’s struggling ag industry. The six bills were a combination of GOP proposals and bills that Gov. Tony Evers proposed in his State of the
The Joint Finance Committee voted along party lines Monday to sign off on a $392.4 million package that would cut income taxes, provide local governments more state aid to cover an expanded property tax break for businesses and pay down
The Joint Finance Committee today signed off on the Evers administration’s plan to fund the county-run facilities that represent one piece of a three-pronged approach to overhauling the state’s youth justice system. But the panel rejected along party lines the
Gov. Tony Evers today announced he’s calling a special session of the Legislature to put nearly $250 million of an anticipated surplus toward education as part of an effort to restore the state’s commitment to fund two-thirds of public education
The state is now expected to take in an additional $818.2 million through mid-2021 than previously projected, driven largely by strong corporate tax collections, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. That additional revenue will mean a deposit of $409.1 million
The Joint Finance Committee approved the creation of two new positions in the Evers administration, but added a requirement that two vacant positions be cut in return. The actions, approved 11-4 along party lines, create a new administrative position at
The Joint Finance Committee approved transferring $2.8 million to help cover the costs of cleaning up from natural disasters. That’s $1.1 million less than state agencies had requested. One motion the committee approved moves $1.6 million from JFC’s supplemental appropriation
The Joint Finance Committee signed off on a series of spending proposals today, including one that would create a mental health consultation pilot program in Outagamie County. The committee approved AB 644/SB 608 15-0. It would provide $350,000 to the
Gov. Tony Evers sent a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee today calling on them to convene and take up a request from the administration to release $7.3 million that would fund initiatives to address homelessness. “The
The Joint Finance Committee co-chairs today refused to take up requests from the Evers administration to create 21 new positions, instead ordering the asks to be resubmitted after identifying existing vacancies that could be used to cover the proposed jobs.
The Joint Finance Committee today for the first time signed off on a proposed settlement worked out by DOJ under December’s lame-duck laws. But Dem members continued to knock the committee for what they said is a broken process that
The Joint Finance Committee unanimously approved releasing $45 million for the UW System over the next two years after Republicans proposed tweaking the allocation to reduce the state’s ongoing commitment to the university in future years. The debate over the
The Joint Finance Committee unanimously backed releasing $220,000 appropriated in the budget for a suicide prevention line after adding new reporting requirements and redirecting it through a different agency. As they have over multiple issues with the budget, the committee
The Joint Finance Committee approved requests from the departments of Administration and Tourism to release money, but only after Republicans added new reporting requirements to track the funds. The additions — approved 12-4 along party lines — drew sharp exchanges
The Joint Finance Committee unanimously approved DATCP’s request to put $200,000 in general purpose revenue into a program providing mental health assistance for farmers, but only after Republican members accused the agency secretary of playing politics with the issue. Rep.
Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee today rejected Dem Josh Kaul’s request for explicit authority to move forward in settling an undisclosed lawsuit despite the AG’s warning that the state faces a Friday deadline to take action. In the first
Dem members of the Joint Finance Committee today ripped into their GOP counterparts as the body ground to a halt during a rare — if not unprecedented — closed-door session to discuss a settlement AG Josh Kaul reached in a
The Joint Finance Committee unanimously approved moving $2 million in the Department of Health Services’ budget to cover a shortfall at the state’s two mental health institutes. In the process, Dems slammed Republicans for refusing to accept federal money to
The Joint Finance Committee approved transferring $3 million in unused funds from the state’s “fast forward” workforce training program to help pay for youth apprenticeship grants. While the move was approved 11-0, the debate had both digs on GOP actions
The state faces a structural deficit of nearly $1.4 billion heading into the 2021-23 biennium following Gov. Tony Evers’ actions on the new budget, according to a projection from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. That’s an improvement both compared to the
