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.
The Joint Finance Committee plans to meet May 1 for its first votes on the state budget and is looking to convene twice weekly after that through June, according to a tentative schedule sent to committee members. JFC was originally
Joint Finance will work off the guv’s budget as it begins making changes except for the Department of Transportation, where the committee will use current law as its starting point, according to a memo distributed today. The decision ends weeks
Citizens today pressed JFC members on a wide range of budget items, including boosting funding for K-12 and increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates. Lawmakers heard testimony from several Wisconsin Public Education Network members, who wore green shirts saying “Go Public” and
UW System students today slammed Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to let students opt out of paying some student fees, saying the move would lead to significant cuts for crucial campus groups. That includes the leaders of the UW-Madison student groups
UW-Platteville leaders and community members asked JFC members to approve a new engineering building that Gov. Scott Walker is proposing to defer. UW-Platteville Chancellor Dennis Shields kicked off today’s hearing and asked lawmakers to approve the building of Sesquicentennial Hall,
Public school leaders today praised Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed K-12 funding increase and asked Joint Finance Committee members to support it. They spoke on the UW-Platteville campus at JFC’s first public hearing, where lawmakers also heard concerns over funding for
The Joint Finance agency briefings are officially wrapped up after testimony from the Department of Workforce Development and the Labor and Industry Review Commission. DWD Secretary Ray Allen defended against Dem attacks over Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed elimination of LIRC, an independent
Baraboo Mayor Mike Palm says today’s a much different time than 2013, when lawmakers rejected a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker to bring the Circus World Museum under state management and give it a more certain financial footing. First there’s
State Superintendent Tony Evers said today he’s pleased with Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to add $649 million toward K-12, though he’d like some changes in the budget. That includes Walker’s proposal to allow permanent licenses for teachers and administrators
UW System President Ray Cross told lawmakers Gov. Scott Walker’s budget is “the best budget the UW System has seen in a decade.” But he indicated there’s several areas where he’d like changes, such as Walker’s performance-based funding formula, adding
UW System President Ray Cross told the Joint Finance Committee today he supports an audit lawmakers approved today reviewing UW System campuses and their respective private foundations. The Legislative Audit Committee today approved the audit, along with a separate one
Wisconsin Technical College System President Morna Foy today asked JFC members to scrap Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed tuition freeze from the budget. The provision — one of several proposed changes Foy raised concerns over — would freeze tuition for in-state
Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp today defended a budget provision that nixes the agency’s magazine, saying that there’s a “tremendous opportunity for someone in the private sector to take this over.” The provision, which would cut the Wisconsin
Public Service Commission Chair Ellen Nowak said today Gov. Scott Walker’s budget would provide an “unprecedented level of grant funding” for broadband expansion. But Joint Finance Committee members indicated there’s still a long way to go in getting many parts
JFC members grilled Transportation Secretary Dave Ross on what many of them see as a budget that lacks the funding to meet the state’s needs. But Ross defended the governor’s budget as one that allocates money toward local roads, rather
Lawmakers peppered WEDC Secretary and CEO Mark Hogan with concerns about funding for a tax credit used to boost retail and develop opportunities in downtown areas, barely touching on clawback provisions that had previously come under scrutiny. Gov. Scott Walker’s
Revenue Secretary Rick Chandler on Wednesday challenged the contention the manufacturing and ag credit has become a giveaway to the wealthy, saying the top claimants employ thousands in Wisconsin and pay millions more in taxes than the break they’re getting.
Department of Children and Families Secretary Eloise Anderson said today there aren’t any quick fixes to poverty and that lawmakers need to trust evidence-based programs will work over time. “You guys have to be patient,” Anderson told the Joint Finance
Department of Health Services Secretary Linda Seemeyer said today the Trump administration will give states more flexibility on Medicaid “even though health care reform wasn’t passed.” “I don’t think there’s any reason to think we won’t get added flexibility,” Seemeyer
Veterans Affairs Secretary Dan Zimmerman today disputed claims that staff morale is low at the King Veterans Home, saying staff feels they’re portrayed as if “they’re not working hard.” Zimmerman, who started on the job this year, told the Joint
