(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed the state’s budget into law in the early morning hours Thursday after the state Legislature passed the bill during sessions that spanned all of Wednesday with the Assembly running into early Thursday.
State leaders rushed to complete the bill before a federal reconciliation bill was signed to set funding levels for a hospital assessment program that leads to federal funding for the state. That funding mechanism was the reason Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, pointed out when voting against the budget bill.
Overall, the budget bill included $114.2 billion over two years with $3.2 billion of that coming from bonds.
“This budget is also a reflection of bipartisan compromise – that means everyone gets something they want, and no one gets everything they want,” Evers said in a statement after signing the bill around 1:30 a.m. “I spent months working together with Republican leaders to reach common ground and find consensus.”
The budget includes a $1.4 billion tax cut measure along with increased funding for child care, K-12 education and the University of Wisconsin System.
The budget includes expanding Wisconsin’s second income tax bracket of 4.4% for all filers and exempting the first $24,000 of retirement income for those who are at least 67 before the end of a tax year with a maximum exemption of $48,000 for married couples.
Evers pointed to $360 million for child care including $110 million in direct payments to child care providers, $66 million to fund a new “Get Kids Ready” program for providers who work with 4-year-olds and $123 million to increase rates under the Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy Program to lower out-of-pocket child care costs for working families.
“Wisconsin is a purple state,” Evers said. “At the end of the day, it is my job as governor to get things done, and it is my job to be a governor for the whole state. I made a promise to always work to do the right thing for Wisconsin. And I believe working together to find common ground so we can pass a bipartisan budget that reflects the will of the people of this state is part of keeping that promise.”
Evers said that he used his veto power to block some areas of the budget that were not included in negotiations with Republican legislative leaders.
Felzkowki said that she voted against the budget because it relied on a gimmick in the Hospital Assessment and Access Payments provision where hospitals pay in $419 million per year and those funds are used to leverage additional federal funds, which go back to hospitals with hospitals receiving $679.9 million and the state receiving $150.4 million.
“To help cover the $12 billion spending increase in this budget, Republican Legislative Leaders and Gov. Evers are maxing out this gimmick,” Felzkowski said. “The budget increases the amount hospitals pay in to $1.5 billion per year, meaning they get almost $2.7 billion back (netting over $1.1 billion annually).
“Additionally, the state receives $448 million. Where does the $1.5 billion hospitals pay in come from? The cost is passed on to patients.”
The deal also included $1.4 billion increase in funding for K-12 schools and a $256 million increase for the University of Wisconsin system.
