• Provides $395,800 all funds in fiscal year 2023-24 and $436,000 all funds in fiscal year 2024-25 to expand the scope of 2021 Wisconsin Act 132 by reimbursing Tribal Nations for subsidized guardianship placements in the same manner as Wisconsin’s counties. This funding ensures parity between state residents who are Tribal citizens and non-Tribal citizens. • Provides $507,000 PR-S each year in Tribal gaming revenues to support child welfare services of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.
• Provides specific grants using Tribal gaming revenues, including:
o An annual grant of $110,100 to the Oneida Nation to support National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) system programming. The proposed Green Bay NERR would be the third NERR within the Great Lakes and will foster important educational opportunities for all Wisconsinites as well as partnership opportunities with Great Lakes Tribal Nations.
o An annual grant of $175,000 to the Oneida Nation to support Audubon Great Lakes (AGL) projects. This funding will enable the Nation and AGL to continue their successful bird monitoring and restoration efforts.
o An annual grant of $259,100 for the Oneida Nation’s Healing to Wellness Court program, which is a voluntary program that provides culturally responsive and community-based support to break the cycle of substance abuse and its negative effects on the community.
• Provides one-time funding of $109,300 PR-S annually in Tribal gaming revenues to continue funding programming at the University of Wisconsin (UW)- Green Bay that is developed with the Oneida Nation. This increase to base funding was included in the 2021-23 biennial budget but was also made one- time. This partnership supports STEM-related (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) camps for hundreds of students and provides access to UW-Green Bay’s college credit program for high school students.
STATE EMPLOYEES
State employees are one of Wisconsin’s greatest assets, providing critical and necessary services to the people of Wisconsin each and every day. The state must be able to offer competitive pay in order to fill vacancies, retain our workforce, and provide the quality service the people of Wisconsin expect and deserve. In recognition of this and the good work state employees do, the budget provides a robust compensation package. This budget:
• Provides $221.2 million GPR over the biennium for a general wage adjustment for most state employees at state agencies and the University of Wisconsin System of 4 percent in July of 2023, and an additional 2 percent in July of 2024.
• Provides $4 million GPR over the biennium for targeted market and parity wage adjustments for employees within certain classifications in state agencies to better align their wages to those paid by private and other public sector employees. This adjustment will help the state remain competitive for skilled workers. This budget also provides $1.2 million GPR in fiscal year 2024-25 to support market wage adjustments for employees within certain information technology-related classifications.
• Provides $88.4 million GPR in fiscal year 2023-24 to adjust agency compensation budgets to reflect an additional biweekly payroll.
• Provides $34.7 million in all funds, including $7 million GPR, over the biennium to support the continuation of existing hourly add-ons to address critical recruitment and retention needs within specific classifications at several state agencies.
• Provides $291.6 million GPR over the biennium to enhance the pay structure for correctional officers, sergeants, psychiatric care technicians, and youth counselors at the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health Services to address critical recruitment and retention needs. This funding will support:
o Increasing the minimum starting hourly wage from $20.29 to $33, increasing to $39 per hour for correctional officers with 25 or more years of experience.
o Enhancing the existing pay progression for these classifications, plus supervisor parity.
o Converting the existing $4 per hour add-on to the base hourly wage.
• Provides other pay initiatives aimed at addressing the workforce shortages at the Department of Corrections, including $52.4 million over the biennium to support several additional pay initiatives for correctional officers and sergeants, including:
o Increasing the existing add-on for employees working within maximum security institutions from $2 to $3 per hour;
o Implementing a $1 per hour add-on for employees working within medium security institutions; and
o Continuing the $5 per hour add-on for correctional officers, sergeants, and agents working as officers within institutions with vacancy rates greater than 40 percent among security classifications.
• Extends the long-term service award program for protective positions within the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health Services and provides $545,200 in fiscal year 2023-24.
• Provides $6 million GPR over the biennium to institute a pay progression for probation and parole officers at the Department of Corrections and to modify the existing pay progressions for wardens at the Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin State Capitol Police.
GENERAL GOVERNMENT
• This budget, as partially vetoed, provides $10 million in one-time funding to the Joint Committee on Finance supplemental appropriation to fund the creation of an endowment at WisconsinEye. The funding would support a dollar-for-dollar match to ensure continued funding of WisconsinEye and eliminate the need for paid subscriptions to access content of public meetings, increasing transparency and access to government proceedings for Wisconsinites.
• This budget provides $711,000 over the biennium to the Ethics Commission to fund the replacement of the existing website, which is out-of-date and has shown reliability issues.
• This budget provides $400 million in fiscal year 2023-24 to pay debt service on appropriation obligation bonds issued to repurchase the rights to the state’s tobacco settlement revenues.
• This budget provides ongoing funding to the Department of Employee Trust Funds to support ongoing operational expenses associated with the modernization of the department’s insurance administration system. Additionally, it provides 7.0 FTE positions to support the long-term information technology modernization project, which includes the modernization of the insurance administration system and the pension administration system.
While this budget notably includes many items that address immediate needs and priorities, in addition to imminent needs and necessary investments I raised above, I would be remiss if I did not note where it falls incomplete:
The Legislature’s budget left much to be desired when it comes to doing what is best for our kids by fully funding our public schools. Although I reached a compromise with legislative leaders to provide additional revenue limit authority and continuation of the state’s two-thirds funding commitment in this biennium, I would have liked to see the Legislature do better for our kids and our schools by providing more significant increases in many categorical aids to our schools. This missed opportunity is especially disappointing in light of the significant resources that the Legislature dedicated to the School Levy Tax Credit—funding that could have instead been directed to our schools to be spent in classrooms, delivering for our kids while also helping to keep the pressures of school funding off the property tax. Further, the Legislature did not invest in any of the proposed initiatives to help Wisconsin schools recruit and retain our best and brightest teachers and staff—a huge mistake in the midst of a school staffing shortage. Additionally, we have work to do to ensure state investments we make in our kids and our schools can keep up with inflation.
I am glad this budget will ensure our school districts have predictable, long-term revenue limit authority increases, in part, to help meet rising costs in the future. I hope that as we continue to work together going forward, the Legislature will listen more closely to our school leaders, who have been clear about the need for increases in order for Wisconsin schools to have the resources to deliver a high-quality education for each and every one of our kids.
We know the importance of doing what we can as elected officials to make smart, prudent investments, and in some cases, that includes building or expanding the facilities necessary to benefit our economy and further bolster our workforce. I, along with many others across our state, remain chagrined regarding the Legislature’s decision to reject important projects such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s new engineering building and the completion of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Prairie Springs Science Center, refusing to enumerate these projects in this biennial budget. This decision is, at best, short-sighted, at worst, purely political and petty. Any legislative discussions about “talent attraction” or being economically competitive ring hollow as long as the Legislature refuses to meaningfully invest in our Wisconsin Technical College and University of Wisconsin Systems, including our world-class research institution at UW-Madison, which are essential economic engines for our state.
The Legislature also rejected my budget recommendations to extend postpartum coverage for Medicaid-eligible mothers from 60 days to one year, which over 40 states have already implemented or are planning to implement in the near future. This extended timeline would have ensured that mothers and their newborns would retain health insurance during this critical time period. Additionally, I am also consistently befuddled and dismayed by the Legislature’s continued refusal to adopt Medicaid expansion even as Republican legislators across the country are supporting efforts to do so. In Wisconsin, this would have resulted in more than $1.6 billion in state savings due to additional federal funding that we could use to further invest in healthcare, education, our environment, or anywhere else. This is foolish.
As long as I am Governor, I will seek to expand BadgerCare because making sure every Wisconsinite has access to high-quality, affordable healthcare is the right thing to do.
Finally, I am disappointed with the Legislature’s chosen course of action related to taxes. I am proud that 86 percent of Wisconsin taxpayers have seen an income tax cut of 15 percent or more, with 2.4 million taxpayers getting relief, under tax cuts I have signed into law. I also promised cutting taxes would be part of our agenda in this budget to help working families afford rising costs, but that it had to be real, responsible, and targeted to working Wisconsinites who need the extra breathing room. The Republican plan sent to my desk is neither real, nor responsible, nor meaningfully targeted to the middle class.
First, the income tax proposal forwarded to me could result in the state having to repay billions of dollars it received under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021—a risk I am unwilling to take. Second, instead of supporting my 10 percent middle-class tax cut to provide over $1.2 billion in targeted income tax relief over the biennium for working families, caregivers, parents, veterans with disabilities, and seniors, roughly half of this proposed tax plan would go to filers with incomes above $200,000. Under this proposal, 11 taxpayers who make over $75 million per year would receive an average cut of $1.8 million per year. Third, this approach is frankly fiscally irresponsible going forward and would put us in a position where we would almost certainly have to reduce funding and ongoing commitments to our schools, healthcare providers, local municipalities, and many other priorities in the next budget.
In recent months, we have worked together to address critical needs, reach bipartisan consensus and compromise, and accomplish important work for the people of our state. I am optimistic that our work together can continue—and it must. I urge members of the Legislature to continue the work on this budget throughout the remainder of this legislative session so that we can bolster our state’s workforce, maintain our economic momentum, and, most importantly, do the right thing for Wisconsin.
Respectfully Submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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VETO MESSAGE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. INVESTING IN WHAT’S BEST FOR KIDS
1. Per Pupil Revenue Limit Adjustment
2. High Poverty Aid
3. Lakeland STAR Academy
4. Online Early Learning Pilot Sunset Date
5. Child Care Fund
6. REWARD Bonuses
B. STRENGTHENING OUR ECONOMY & FUTURE WORKFORCE
7. Individual Income Tax Rate Reduction
8. Withholding Table Update
9. Fund of Funds Program
10. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Positions
11. Washington County Branch Campus Transition
12. Visit Milwaukee Earmark
13. Talent Attraction and Retention Initiatives
14. Vibrant Spaces Grant Program
C. SUPPORTING HEALTHIER WISCONSINITES
15. Medicaid Coverage of Gender-Affirming Care
16. Housing Rehabilitation
17. Family Care Managed Care Organizations Report
18. Newborn Screening Program Card Fee
19. Study for a Master Plan for the Veterans Homes
20. Medical College of Wisconsin Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Residency Program Reporting Requirements
D. BUILDING STRONG, SAFE COMMUNITIES
21. Grants for Local Projects
22. Type 1 Juvenile Correctional Facility and the National Guard Challenge Academy
23. State Capitol Fiber and Cable Upgrades
24. Lac Courte Oreilles Decision – Aid Payments
25. Town of Sanborn Levy Limits
26. Annual Transfer of Local Government Fund Balance
27. Innovation Grants and Innovation Planning Grants Appropriations
28. Municipal Sales Tax Appropriation
29. Increases in Mileage Aid Payments
30. Dignitary Protection Unit
31. Freight Rail Preservation Program
32. Mississippi River Parkway Commission Administrative Support
33. Fee for Identification Stickers for Electric Vehicles
34. Opening Avenues to Reentry Success Program
35. Community Reentry Centers
36. Law Enforcement Overtime Grants
37. Consolidated Court Automation Program
E. PROTECTING & CONSERVING OUR NATURAL RESOURCES
38. Unobligated Stewardship Authority
39. Echo Lake Dam
40. Department of Natural Resources Position Reallocations
41. Pattison and Amnicon Falls State Parks Earmarks
