Gov. Evers Signs 2023-25 Biennial Budget Making Historic Investments in Communities, Expanding Affordable Housing Statewide, Addressing PFAS

Press Release

"We have gotten to work these last four years making smart, strategic investments--and our economy shows it. So, we began this biennial budget process with historic opportunity, and with it, historic responsibility--not to be careless or reckless, but to save where we can and stay well within our means while still investing in needs that have long been neglected to protect the future we are working hard to build together.

BREAK

In addition to the critical efforts to expand access to affordable housing statewide, address PFAS in our water, and make historic investments in communities across our state, I am also pleased this budget provides substantial and well-deserved increases in compensation for correctional officers, youth counselors, psychiatric care technicians, assistant district attorneys, and public defenders; uses our surplus funds to support our Capital Budget to reduce the need to authorize new bonding and future debt service costs; provides sizeable investments in tourism marketing and advertising initiatives; and includes the resources necessary to continue our work fixing our roads and making sure our infrastructure is built for a workforce and economy of the 21st century.

But even as I am glad the Legislature joined me in making critical investments in several key areas, the fact remains that this budget, while now improved through strategic vetoes, remains imperfect and incomplete.

BREAK

In many ways, Republicans in the Legislature have failed to meet this historic moment, sending my budget back to my desk absent critical investments in key areas that they know--and publicly acknowledge--are essential to the success of our state, all while providing no real justification, substantive debate, or any meaningful alternative. That decision is, to put it simply, an abdication of duty.

State funding for high-speed broadband. Affordable and accessible child care. Substantial categorical aid increases for our schools. Fully funded universal school breakfasts and lunches. Investing in our University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Technical College Systems. Targeted tax relief for caregivers, parents, seniors, and veterans and their spouses. BadgerCare expansion. Expanded paid family leave. Legalizing and taxing marijuana much like alcohol. Investments in community-driven solutions to our workforce challenges. These aren't controversial concepts; my budgets have always been about pragmatism and solutions, not wish lists or politics, from the beginning.

I understand that, in light of these short-sighted decisions, there are those who would have me veto this budget in its entirety--to send the Legislature back to the drawing board to start from scratch. Vetoing this budget in full would mean abandoning priorities and ideas that I have spent four years advocating for; it would mean leaving schools and communities in the lurch after rightfully securing historic increases for the first time in years; it would mean forgoing the first real and substantive Republican effort to address PFAS after years of inaction; it would mean forfeiting the one of the largest investments in workforce housing in state history; it would mean deserting our justice system and state workforces, our tourism industries, our farmers and producers, and our veterans, among others.

While Republicans in the Legislature might be perfectly comfortable abdicating the duty we share with the historic opportunity and responsibility before us in pursuit of political favor and partisan praise, I am not.

My allegiance has been and always will be to the people of this state--Wisconsinites to whom I have pledged to always try do the right thing and to make difficult decisions when it matters most. That pledge and my obligation as Governor are why I am enacting this budget with substantial improvements today.

BREAK

Of urgent concern to me as governor is that while this budget makes some critical investments to help support some portions of our state's workforce, Republicans returned this budget to me without critical components of my comprehensive plan to address the workforce challenges that have already plagued our state for generations and will continue to without further action.

The Legislature must make the substantial investments necessary to stabilize our state's child care industry and ensure child care is affordable and accessible so we can keep parents in our workforce. Failing to do so will cause calamitous consequences for employers, our workforce, and our state's economy. And, yes, that means the Legislature should also expand paid family leave, invest state resources in high-speed internet, provide targeted support for new, innovative, and high-need areas and industries across our workforce, and make substantial investments in education at every level, including our higher education institutions. These efforts, among other key provisions I included in my proposed biennial budget, are essential for maintaining our economic momentum and retaining and recruiting talented workers across our state.

So, today, I am giving the Legislature a second chance. I am using my broad, constitutional veto authority to ensure ample state resources are readily available for the Legislature to complete their work on this budget--to do the right thing, to rise to meet this moment of historic opportunity and responsibility, and to focus on passing real solutions for the urgent challenges facing our state."

Source