2025 Biennial Budget Message & Spring Primary Results

Welcome to special coverage of Governor Tony Evers by any budget address on your local

civic media radio station.

Hear the governor's message about the two-year budget as he delivers his proposal to the

legislature at the Wisconsin Capitol tonight and after the polls close at eight you'll

also get some of the results and information from your local spring primary election today.

We start with special coverage of the governor's budget address live from Madison.

Hear your hosts Todd Alba and Dan Schaefer.

And good evening everyone and thank you for joining us for our coverage of two key events

for Wisconsinites.

It's spring primary election day and a reminder polls are still open for just over another

hour until eight o'clock.

If you're in line stay there Wisconsin law says if you're in line devoted a polling place

by APM you have the right to cast a ballot even past that APM marks so be aware of that.

Our Wisconsin decides 2025 election team is standing by across the state and will bring

a result throughout the evening most notably the race for the state school superintendent

of public instruction where incumbent doctor Jill under Lee a Democrat has two challengers

fellow Democrat Jeff Wright the current superintendent of the sock prairie school district

and Brittany Kinzer an education consultant being supported by the Republican Party of

Wisconsin.

Now while the race is technically nonpartisan in the last twenty years plus much like the

races for a state supreme court these races and positions have become essentially shadow

partisan contests.

But first we turn our attention to Wisconsin governor Tony Evers buy a new budget address

that's about to get underway just about a block from where we are in the assembly chambers

of the state capital.

I'm joined now via phone from the capital by the founder of the recombobulation area and

civic medias are okay I guess we're having some technical difficulties there we're going

to the heads up from Mr. Thomas our producer feel be along in just a minute though Dan

Schaefer the as we say the founder the recombobulation area and civic media's political editor

who's standing by in the state capital I know Dan has credentials they'll be there on

the ground tonight covering that for us both at the capital and one of the nice things

about having our our headquarters just a block away Dan will be here at the desk here

with me in our studios following the the speech as well.

So while we're awaiting Dan Schaefer to join us let's set the stage just a little bit

on some of these things that we expect tonight one of the things governor Evers has talked

about in his budget of course is the green bay prison which has been a bone of contention

amongst both republicans and democrats for quite some time it'll be interesting to see

what the governor says about that and also of course he declared about a month ago and

is a state of the state address it was going to be the year of the kid I now believe we

have established communication Dan Schaefer these things are always kind of touch and go

the capital beautiful building not so great for cell phone signals but Dan Schaefer help

us recombobulate a little bit we were here about a month ago what makes tonight different

from then well tonight is different because I really the state budget is the biggest thing

that the state government does every two years is the budget and that process starts tonight

and if you are hearing me a little bit of an echo or a little bit of background sound

here is it is because I have ducked into a random hallway in the capital because the

UW Madison band is playing very loud in the road thunder right now so if you can't

if you're having any trouble hearing me was that the reason why we hear you absolutely

great Dan and boy anybody knows me knows I'm a sucker for the University of Wisconsin

marching bands I'm all in on that I think that's I think that's a fantastic thing yeah this

is I absolutely love some pop and circumstance there's going to be this is an evening again

for for traditionally people to hopefully come together this happens every other year

as Wisconsin budgets last for two years the recombobulation area you've talked about

this as civic media's political editor what are a couple of things I know some of this

stuff has already been leaked out quote unquote they put it out ahead of time but what are

a couple of highlights are expected from the governor things that Republicans might be

able to get behind and then some other things they might not yeah you know it's an interesting

it's an interesting dynamic the governor did put a number of things out he talked about

some proposals first and targeted tax cuts eliminating taxes on tips which was also a bill

that Republicans put forward so perhaps some some opportunity for some bipartisan

collaboration on that but I think as we look back to this this era of divided government

that we've been in for a number of years now in Wisconsin with a Democratic governor

and a Republican controlled legislature you know will they get rid of will the Republican

legislature get just essentially toss out all of Tony Evers budget proposals and now I think

the governor will go through you know a number of things as he goes through his speech tonight

talking about priorities for the year how will Republicans respond and how will they respond

with a swimmer majority than they've had you know at any point since Tony Evers became governor

in 2019 or the overarching things I guess for political nerds like you and me is you know

lots a lot of times governor you use these speeches to announce the reelection Tony Evers

term ends after next year on his second term a lot of people are wondering whether he'll make

good on his tongue and cheek term of three term Tony but the governor said then he's not going to

reveal his cards tonight yeah that's right he's been saying you know after the budget after the

budget but you know it'll be interesting to see if there any kind of TV that we can see about

what the governor is saying if you know if this were to be his last budget proposed as governor

of state of Wisconsin or if this is something that you know would lead to some you know another

budget in two years perhaps with the democratic majority so there's you know there's some intrigue

kind of underlying all of this as well with as far as the governor's future plan as well

and Dan Schiefer as you look at one of the big over another big overarching factory here at the

state capital is this surplus Wisconsin the last few years has been running a surplus latest

estimates by Bob Lang nobody does it better than the director of the fiscal bureau Wisconsin now

at four billion with a B plus and a surplus Republicans have talked about wanting a big tax cut

for Wisconsinites Tony Evers says I'll be maybe halfway or maybe a quarter away Republicans are

saying oh no that money is you can actually use that in budget for it because we want all that

from last time's tax cut what do you make of this four billion dollars is it going to be a hot potato

yeah I think we're already seeing that it's obviously going to be a very big deal for this budget

process some of the early proposals that the governor has put out you know I think it was three

hundred million dollars for mental health there was the proposal he released over the weekend

about the Department of Corrections you know that was you know the overhaul there

had a high dollar amount attached to it as well and I think you know one of the

items that he has prioritized in this and not just this year but in private for your prior

sessions as well is child care you know that was one of the the items that the Republicans voted

a lot of funding out of the governor's proposal two years ago you know will and that was an item

in the in the campaign for a number of those assembly members in key districts talked about

wanting to fund child care so will that get a different approach two years later remains to

be seen uh set the stage for us uh Dan Schaefer uh we're about to get underway here uh there is all

the all the all the legislatures the Senate are they there in the assembly chambers by now

everybody is beginning to convene in the assembly chambers the UW-Madison band has stopped playing

so I think that's my cue to duck of the Iran always in the capital and make my way back to the

assembly chambers for the speech Dan Schaefer political editor we thank you for your time we will

talk to you after the broadcast thanks for making time for us Dan we appreciate it Dan Schaefer

political editor founder of the recon population area as we await governor Tony Evers as Dan said

uh this is in the assembly chamber which is the larger chamber of the two in the Wisconsin

capital and the the Senate always makes the way over they come in the back door of course the

speaker pro tem announces the governor he makes his way in lots of handshaking kind of as Dan said

pomp and circumstance here as we're looking now live into the uh state capital and the assembly

chambers right now it is festooned with red white and blue bunting uh in the chambers right now

people always kind of just kind of million around right now at the at the present time and at the

moment so uh we are awaiting these things always take just a little bit and and if if you're if you're

in the state capital it's always a lot of fun uh to uh to be in the chamber and see who talks to

uh who tries to get a handshake with the governor on his way to on the way to the stage and that sort

of thing so uh it's always a good time had by all and now it appears that uh the uh speaker pro tem

has announced governor Tony Evers there he is coming in the uh the back of the uh of the assembly

chamber making his way up through the uh through the middle aisle there we could kind of hear the

crowd in the background there uh notable there uh the several people along the the side of the aisle

as you look at uh if you're watching on on a on a monitor that sort of thing uh the uh as the speaker

as the governor will be standing at the day as looking out at the chamber uh democrats will

by and large be on his left republicans will be on his right always interesting these things as well

to see uh who's going to stand up on certain uh certain clapping and and who's going to sit on

their hands uh but really we're here to hear about the budget uh address itself and to uh and

to hear from the governor tonight as Dan Schaefer said you're going to hear less maybe cheerleading

and more sounding like an accountant tonight uh Wisconsin runs and was called a buy any old budget

which means the budget only happens every two years so the governor uh gives this speech tonight

this is his chance to kind of have the ball first if you're going to put it in football terms

and then the state legislature goes legislature of course both the state senate and the assembly

is controlled by republicans and they start with the joint finance committee or joint committee

on finance i guess is the technical term it's it's referred to as jfc in the building in the capital

amongst the legislatures legislators and so uh jfc will get their kick at the can we're going to talk

after our broadcast to one of the long time former members republican rob coles of green bay he's

going to be joining itself from green bay and one of the current democratic members state senator

kelda rois of the maddest area looking forward to that conversation but right now Tony evers

is going to the dais dressed in a dark suit and uh a white shirt and a uh red white and blue tie

here now the governor of the state of Wisconsin Tony evers there's my honor to introduce the governor

of the great state of Wisconsin the honorable tony evers thanks so much

dog good

here we go folks good afternoon good evening Wisconsinites honorable supreme court justices tribal

leaders nation tribal leaders in the in the uh in the tribal nations constitutional officers members

of the Wisconsin national guard and active and retired members of our armed forces

cabinet members legislators distinguished guests and Wisconsinites joining us from wherever

you are thank you for being here with us tonight and my wife kathy is up there in the gallery

tonight folks where are you kathy thank you

kathleen frances you are my best friend and sounding board there's no one else i'd rather shovel

heaps of snow with or lose a game of pickleball too i love you so much gaffey

folks i'm tony evers and i'm excited to be here tonight to introduce my fourth man your budget

as a 46th governor of the great state of Wisconsin

you

Wisconsinites were not even 50 days into 2025 but my administration and i have been hard at work

doing the right thing for Wisconsin i'm excited tonight to be able to share some of the good work

we've been doing including laying out our state's policy priorities for the next two years

our budget includes my comprehensive plan to lower costs from child care to medication to help

working families seniors and students i'm also providing nearly two billion dollars in tax

relief including eliminating income tax on tips and my plan invests in public education at every

level while holding the line on property taxes to make sure the average homeowner will not see

a property tax increase

i'm announcing plans to stop price gouging on prescriptions and crackdown on insurance companies

for denying Wisconsinites medical bill claims i also want to invest in fighting

PFAS and lead and getting contaminants out of our out of our land service lines

bubblers schools homes and child care centers for good

and we're going to keep fixing the darn roads and infrastructure building more affordable

housing keeping our kids families and communities safe and expanding high speed internet

the budget i'm proposing balances our priorities of investing in our kids and needs that have

been long neglected while providing real and sustainable tax relief and saving where we can

so let's get to work here in america's dairy land agriculture is a one hundred and sixteen

billion dollar industry everybody knows farmers farm families and producers have been the backbone

of our state for generations so when we heard about president trumps 25% tariff tax which could spark

trade wars with Wisconsinites largest export export partners hurt our economy and farmers and

drive up costs for gas and groceries we got right to work just as that 25% tax was set to go into effect

i announced a new plan to help protect Wisconsin farmers and our ag industry and bolster our supply

chain under my administration Wisconsin is on its way to becoming a top 10 state for egg exports

we can't afford to lose our momentum because of tariff tariff wars in Washington so my plan

creates a new egg economist position in state government that will help farmers navigate

market disruptions and volatility caused by tariffs i'm also proposing to double our investments

in the Wisconsin initiative for egg exports to help increase exports for our dairy meat crops

and help farmers and producers expand into new markets and we're going to build upon our support

for the meat and dairy processors to help keep our supply chains strong

we also have to help make sure farmers and producers and can get product to market

we just announced 55 new projects across 36 counties to improve rural roads and

infrastructure through our agriculture roads improvement program that we created last session

tonight i'm announcing we're going to invest 50 million dollars to continue that successful

program to help ensure our farmers our producers and ag and forestry industries have reliable roads

they can depend on

i also kicked off the new year declining declaring 2025 the year of the kid across our state

i want everything we do together this year to be focused on doing what's best for our kids

and the families who raise them so i'm asking the legislature to approve a budget that does what's

best for our kids at every stage in every way and no matter where they live in our state in 2025

the year of the kid i'm excited to be introducing the most pro-kid budget in state's history

and

an important part of doing what's best for our kids is reducing exposures to

dangerous chemicals and getting harmful contaminants out of the water

every Wisconsin i should have access to clean and safe drinking water no matter where they live

tonight i'm introducing my plan to combat water pollution and improve water quality across

Wisconsin lead exposure and poisoning is especially dangerous there is no safe level of lead

exposure for kids even a small exposure can affect the kid for life reducing learning capacity

and attention span and affecting academic achievement so i approved an emergency rules strengthening

our lead standard statewide and announce new investments to support kids and families when they

expose to lead

but we should be working to prevent our kids from ever being exposed to lead in the first place

in the last few weeks Wisconsin has seen cases of lead poisoning and kids who are exposed to

the dangerous levels of lead at school at school folks that should never happen anywhere in

Wisconsin period we have to work together to fix this tonight i'm asking by partisan support

for to invest over three hundred million dollars a help get lead out of our service lines

our bubblers our schools our homes and child care centers for good

and lead is just one contaminant that's affecting kids families and water across our state

let's talk about PFAS forever chemicals like PFAS are chemicals that have been used for decades

in things like non-stick cookware firefighting form and even food pants packaging PFAS exposure at

certain levels can mean developmental delays and kids increase cholesterol levels reduce the

immunity response to infections and even heightened risk of some cancers addressing PFAS

and other contaminants grows harder and more expensive each day of delay the publicans and

democrats must work together to finally get something done on this issue as part of my comprehensive

plan to improve water quality statewide we're working to strengthen Wisconsin's groundwater standards

for PFAS and i'm asking the legislature to support an investment of over one hundred and 45

million dollars to fight PFAS contamination statewide and provide emergency resources like bottled

water to families and communities affected by water contamination

you

winning up our water is a key part of our work to keep kids and families across Wisconsin healthy and

safe but we should also invest in preserving our natural resources increasing out to our

recreation opportunities and expanding access to public lands for hunting, trapping and fishing

so let's reauthorize the Knowles Nelson Stewardship program for another decade and let's do it with

bipartisan support let's deliver on the promise to our kids and grandkids of a better state and world

than what we inherited

this budget is about doing what's best for our kids yes by addressing pressing challenges facing

our kids today but we must also work to do what's best for our kids futures too every Wisconsin

kids should have access to high quality public education from early childhood to our K-12 schools

to our higher education institutions in 2024 2025 the year of the kid i'm urging the legislature to

do what's best for our kids by approving significant investments in public education at every level

in Wisconsin

let's start with higher education Wisconsin has one of the best technical college systems in the

country so our budget invests in green jobs our health care workforce and worker training for

artificial intelligence and i'm proposing nearly 60 million dollars to support our technical

colleges and their good work

but i also want to talk about our universities this is a make or break budget for our UW campuses

i know there's a lot of talk in Washington about higher education and look folks i can't

speak to what's happening on other campuses across other parts of our country but i visit just

about every campus every year so i've seen what's happening on our UW campuses with my own two

and i two eyes and we're doing things differently here politicians in Washington don't know a darn

thing about what's going on in campuses across Wisconsin they don't understand that our UW

system has been part of Wisconsin since we first became a state it's enshrined in our state

constitution they don't know how important our UW system has been to our state's success or how

important it is for our future

at UW Claire they're working to improve health care outcomes and lower health care costs in rural

areas UW platforms helping address rural health health care shortages by training

a new generation of physician assistants UW-Mawke and UW-Whitewater are among the top campuses

in the country for supporting students who are service members or veterans through a workforce

centered program UW-Parkside has increased graduation rates by about 20 percent UW-Stevens point

is training more than 1200 future educators who are supporting classrooms and over 200

different school districts across Wisconsin UW-Lacross is partnering with local businesses to

make sure skills the skills they're teaching meet local employer needs and i can go on and i will

it over 500 Wisconsin small businesses that needed help with digital marketing support efforts

UW Green Bay is working with school districts to give high high school students the opportunity

to earn and its associates degree UW-Superior small business business small business development

center is helping entrepreneurs start or expand their businesses across eight northern counties

UW-River Falls is expanding hand on learning activities to support our dairy industry right here

in America's dairy land UW-Madison is leading national efforts to study Alzheimer's to help

improve treatment and find a cure for the more than 110,000 Wisconsinites who live with that cruel

disease every day UW-Stouts manufacturing outreach center has worked on more than 470 projects

in Wisconsin with Wisconsin manufacturers across 33 of our 72 counties folks this is a story

of what's happening on UW campuses each and every day UW is helping improve our daily lives

here in Wisconsin and the world over and our ability to compete and be successful to have a

strong economy and workforce to retain our homegrown talent to solve problems and our smallest

towns to our largest cities and make life better for everyone who calls our state home depends on our

UW system period

this is just water folks today after years of a tax and disinvestment UW is facing campus closures

and program cuts students are facing tuition increases and faculty and staff are facing layoffs

and with new federal efforts to cut higher education funding things for UW could go could could get

a whole lot worse so tonight I'm keeping the promise I made that the people of Wisconsin I'm

asking the legislature to approve the largest two-year increase for our UW system in states history

we have to get this done folks

it's up to us each of us to gather to invest in our UW system to defend it and to protect

its promise for future generations let me be clear to the elected officials in this building

whose public education at UW helped get you to where you are today you share and add important

responsibility don't tell our kids they don't deserve to have the same opportunity you did

doing what's best for our kids will always be what's best for our state investing in our kids

will pay dividends for their futures and ours too so I my pro-kid budget makes significant

investments in public education at every level including our K through 12 schools

the cost of short-changing our kids is expensive folks we cannot afford to fail them we have

a responsibility to improve outcomes for our kids both within our schools and beyond them

and I've talked a lot about the work we must do to improve student outcomes in class and how

we're finally getting and get finally help short in the odds and we have to begin with a basics

I know some legislators have tried to use student outcomes to argue against investing in our kids

in our schools folks if you believe that you got a backwards the in outcomes we are seeing our

exactly why we must do more to do what's best for our kids

legislature should approve my plan to make sure every kid can get healthy meals and schools

at no cost regardless of whether their family can afford it why because our kids will perform

better in our classrooms when we do legislators should approve my plan to make sure kids can

access comprehensive mental health services no matter where they go to school why is that because

our kids will perform better in our classrooms when we do the legislature should approve my plan

to help make sure kids have access to clean drinking water no matter where they live why because

our kids will perform better in our classrooms when we do if the state isn't committed to

meeting some basic needs then we can't have serious conversations about improving outcomes it's

that simple

if our kids are fed healthy and feel safe they'll perform better in class so we have to get back

to the basics in this budget reading is fundamental there are a lot of discussions right now about

our kids reading scores how we measure student outcomes and how we improve them regardless

of how they're measured these discussions are important but this legislature and I

approve fifty million dollars in the last budget that could be improving our kids reading

and literacy if it wasn't still sitting in Madison today nearly two years later so we can have

those discussions but let's start by releasing millions of dollars we all agreed would improve

reading statewide

we're going to have to work even harder to reverse these trends and make up for lost time it's

one of those reasons that in 2025 the year of the kid I'll be asking the legislature to approve

eighty million dollars to invest in literacy coaches tutoring and other key supports to help

improve reading scores statewide

doing the right thing for Wisconsin begins by doing what's best for our kids so my pro my pro

kid budget if it makes the largest investment in Wisconsin kids in any budget by any governor

in state's history

during my first term I fought to secure the first special education aid increase in over a decade

and the largest increase in funding for special education ever in state's history

tonight I'm proposing the highest ever amount of state education aid funding and we're

going to guarantee the state reimbursees special education costs at sixty percent to ensure

every kid gets a public education

but folks here's the truth our current system isn't working take them awesome school district for

example the fate of their school district is on the ballot today and kids parents and educators

will be holding their breath tonight to see if their schools will be saved that's the reality

become all too often in 2024 we saw a historic number of school referendums on the ballot and 169

of those referendum passed nearly 400 referendums passed in the last four years so the good news is

Wisconsinites have shown this legislature time and time again these support increasing

investments in our public schools the bad news is Wisconsinites had to raise their own property

taxes to prove it this system isn't sustainable it creates winners and losers have and have nots

but referendums are not inevitable

Wisconsinites wouldn't have to raise their own property taxes that keep school lights on and

doors open if this legislature invested in K through 12 education from the get go and a budget

I'm announcing tonight proves we can both make the investments in our kids that we need to

and hold the line on prevent property taxes from going on

all told our pro kid budget will do what's best for our kids by providing more than 3.15

billion dollars near all of it is spendable revenue for schools across Wisconsin and we're

going to make those investments while holding the line on property taxes to ensure the average

homeowner will not see a property tax increase

budget would create a new incentive for local governments to freeze their local property taxes

if local governments agree not to raise the local property taxes they'll get a direct payment

from the state this will ensure local partners can still afford to pay for basic and unique local

needs alike without property taxes going up

working to prevent property tax increases is a key part of my plan to lowering costs for

working families but we can do more to reduce every day out of pocket costs for folks across

the state where Wisconsinites are working than ever before but paychecks today aren't going

nearly as far as they used to really concerned about President Trump Trump's 25% tear of tax will

not only hurt our families and our farmers and agon industries and our economy but it will also

cause prices to go up on everything from gas to groceries some estimates indicated this could

raise costs on the average American by about $1,200 a year that will make it even harder for Wisconsin

Wisconsinites to make ends meet so I'm asking Republicans and Democrats to work together to pass

my comprehensive plan to lower every day out of pocket costs for working families

Wisconsinites need a leg up to be able to finally get ahead on utility bills on child care costs

on groceries medication and doctor visits and everything in between and we've got a plan to do

just that here's how we get it done let's save Wisconsinites money on their monthly utility bills

and proposing to eliminate the sales tax on electricity and gas for Wisconsin homes which will save

Wisconsinites about $100 million in out of pocket costs each year

Wisconsinites also need a legislature to get serious about lowering out of pocket costs for child

care this session no more excuses folks putting two young kids and child care in Wisconsin cost more

than the average rent or mortgage in 2023 child care costs consumed as much as a third of families

household incomes our workforce and economy can't afford more parents leaving their jobs because

it can't afford child care let's invest in our child care providers so that they can hire more staff

reduced wait lists and lower the cost of child care so that we can get working families

working parents and families a little more breathing room in their household budgets that's a win

win win for our kids our families our workforce and our state

my plan will provide nearly two billion dollars in tax relief through efforts to lower property

taxes eliminate the sales tax on several everyday expenses and cut income taxes for middle class

Wisconsinites including homeowners renters veterans and seniors

it's all it's also make sure Wisconsinites and keep more money in their pockets i'm proposing to

nearly double Wisconsin's personal income tax exemption that means Wisconsinites will pay no

income taxes on the first twelve hundred dollars they earn period and I want us to work together to

pass my proposal to support students and workers in our service industries by letting them keep

the tips they earn tax-free that's eliminate taxes on cash tips

thought I heard the president talking about that too my plan will also give Wisconsinites more

tax relief back based on the mortgage and rent they pay by building on our building upon our

homestead tax credit my new property tax and rent rebate will provide nearly one hundred and

fifty million dollars in tax relief for about a hundred and sixty five thousand homeowners and

renters across our state

keep part of my plan to lord lord a cost for working families including includes making it easier

for folks to get the health care they need without breaking the bank health care should not be a

privilege afforded only to the healthy and wealthy it's why I am again proposing to expand

badger care which would save Wisconsin taxpayers nearly two billion dollars over the next two years

as billion with a B folks and expand quality affordable health care coverage for about one hundred

thousand Wisconsinites and I'm also I'm also providing new hospital investments to improve access

to health care across Wisconsin including our rural communities

as part of my comprehensive plan to lower costs for working families I'm also proposing sweeping

plans to lower costs for prescriptions and medication and crack down on price scourging for

and health insurers let my less for XRX plan will lower costs for life saving prescription

drugs and insulin we created we would create a prescription drug affordability review board

to crack down on prescription price scourging we'd cap the cost of insulin copays at thirty five

dollars we'd set price savings for prescription medication and we'd save Wisconsinites and projected

seventy million dollars over the next two years alone by eliminating the sales tax on over-the-counter

medication let's finally make lowering every day out of pocket costs for medication a bipartisan

priority this session

and here's something else we can do with bipartisan support and the year of the kid

let's finally do what's best for our moms and babies let's extend let's extend

postpartum coverage for pregnant women on badger care up to one year after giving birth

Wisconsin and Arkansas are the only two states in America that haven't done this I mean nothing

against Arkansas but come on folks I've proposed this in every budget I've introduced as governor

there's also a bipartisan bill to get it done that almost ninety legislators support

one legislator should not be able to single-handedly obstruct the bill and support it by a superman

a superman

I should be able to get the health care they need when they need it but I hear from folks all

the time who feel like they're getting ripped off by the health care industry and insurers folks

can't get a straight answer on what's covered by insurance and what's not people can't get sicker

people can get sicker and health problems get worse because it takes too long to get an

employment or be approved for care if it's ever approved at all people try to get their care

paid for but insurance companies refuse to cover it families get a medical bill and see all

sorts of charges they don't know about or even worse suddenly collection agencies are calling

about unpaid medical bills they didn't even know they hadn't paid Wisconsinites aren't getting

a fair shake when it comes to health care and I want to change that so first things first

I want to make Wisconsin the first state in America to start auditing insurance companies over

denying health care claims

if an insurance company is going to deny your health care claim they should have a darn good reason

for it it's frustrating when your claim gets denied and it doesn't seem like anyone can give you

a good reason why so here's what I propose we do to fix that under my plan if an insurance company

is denying Wisconsinites claim too often we're going to audit them pretty simple very simple

and here's what else that this plan would do we'd create a new office to help Wisconsinites

whose health insurance claims are denied for the first time in state's history we'd have an

office and state government devoted to helping in Wisconsinites hold health insurers accountable

and ensuring folks that the health insurance cover they pay for that's a big deal folks

and another thing that gets me wound up is how I start shaking my finger is how health insurance

companies require health care professionals they get permission before they get before they

prescribe medication or care that you need basically that means health insurers not your doctors

are deciding whether your prescribed treatment is medically necessary health insurance companies try

to use these so-called prior authorizations they helped their bottom line and cut costs they're

breaking they're banking on being able to avoid covering the services and treatment you need

and Wisconsinites you pay the price folks have to wait to get care until doctors get permission

or may end up for going treatment altogether because of all the hassles with insurance that can

cause health conditions to get even worse even dangerous and even life threatening so my plan would

create new standards to expand health care services procedures that insurance companies are

required to cover that means more health care services and procedures will be covered by insurance

insurance automatically no delays no hassles no questions asked

Wisconsinites should know what you're getting when you buy your health insurance plan you should

know which services and treatments will need prior authorization so we want to require health insurance

companies to be transparent from the get go they have to tell you what's tell you right up front

which services and treatments will require prior approval so that you can find a health plan

that's right for you

and this may be obvious but here's one thing we have to make sure of no one should be in a mental

health crisis wondering whether insurance will cover an inpatient stay to get help so we're going

to ban health insurance companies from requiring pre-approval for inpatient mental health services

so it's Wisconsinites and crisis can be safe and get life saving care

Wisconsinites you you should be able to get health care when and where you need it and you should

be able to get it quickly and close to home folks can afford to travel hours away to get basic

services and you shouldn't have to wait weeks and months to get an appointment so my plan is simple

would enable creating statewide standards for maximum wait times for scheduling appointments and

I'm proposing to require health insurance companies to make sure the services they cover are

available within a minimum time and distance of where you live

and even if folks can get care far too often unpaid medical bills are sent to collection agencies

because Wisconsinites can't afford to pay them other times Wisconsinites might even know about

unpaid medical bills before they're sent to collections or report to credit bureaus this plan

would require health providers to give Wisconsinites notice of unpaid medical bills and would give

Wisconsinites a six month grace period banning health banning health care providers from reporting

unreporting unpaid medical debt to consumer reporting agencies during that time

in this budget we found ways to cut taxes and save where we could while investing in key

priorities and finding real solutions to real problems Wisconsinites are facing every day

well we must we must continue to stay within our means we have a duty to do its best for kids

and future generations we must continue to do the right thing for Wisconsin if we want to protect

the future we've worked hard to build together Wisconsinites I'm so proud of our work to deliver

a budget that balances these important obligations

and that's important there's so much happening in Washington that's reckless and partisan in Wisconsin

we must continue our work to be reasonable and pragmatic the needless ks caused by the federal

government in recent weeks has already made preparing a state budget that much more difficult

we prepared for the worst popular programs at kids families schools veterans seniors

and communities rely upon every day being drastically cut resources and investments that

Wisconsin is counting on and budgeted for son suddenly stalled or gutted trade wars with

Wisconsin's largest export partners hurting our egg industries and our economy cost for working

families skyrocketing to the point they can't even make ends meet it's why even though I propose

historic investments in several areas statewide it would not have been wise or responsible to spend

every last cent available in this budget we made difficult decisions and saved when we could

leaving a balance of about 500 million dollars in our state's checking account with irresponsible

decisions in Washington every day hurting people in Wisconsin we will need to have state resources

readily available to respond to basic and emergency situations alike so as the legislature

deliberates my proposal I urge you to seriously take seriously to disastrous consequences

federal decisions will have on Wisconsinites and our state and plan accordingly

there is a lot of work to do folks but I know we can get good things done for Wisconsin in this

budget if everyone focuses on doing what's best for our kids delivering real solutions for real

problems Wisconsinites face every day and doing the right thing so let's get to work folks let's

make it happen thank you and on Wisconsin UW marching band take her away

Governor Tony Evers wrapping up his biennial budget addresses the University of Wisconsin marching

band comes on to the assembly floor let's take a little bit of that our great producer Aaron

Zomers it might be the most dramatic part of the evening quite frankly now that we have the

University of Wisconsin marching band coming on there Governor Evers are wrapping up his remarks

and going off the days now we're going to be joined here in just a few minutes by a political

editor and for civic media and also the founder of the re-combobulation area Dan Schaefer

who is standing by he was in the chamber and listening to this speech that lasted just shy

of 45 are just over pardon me 45 minutes tonight also standing by at our studios in Green Bay

after the eight o'clock hour we'll be talking to former state senator Rob Coles a Republican who

is a longtime member of the joint committee on finance better known as JFC to those people in the

building as they say in the capital he'll be giving us his perspective helping us to understand

what this budget process is I think that perhaps is one of the things that can be most helpful

for all of us tonight is to understand what does this really mean to Wisconsin nights

in Wisconsin taxpayer what is this process all about nobody knows it better than former senator

Rob Coles and he will walk us through it and then we'll also get his his reaction to the the

governor's remarks tonight also joining us a little bit later this evening we're going to have

current state senator democrat kelter Royce who represents the isthmus a Madison long time

state senator a legislator and a member of the current member of the joint committee on finance

so kelter Royce will be joining us a little bit giving us a democratic perspective there

and a little bit later as we shall be talking to Dan Schaefer and our own Jimmy casca a little

bit on later tonight as we move into election night coverage again about 10 minutes to go if you

have not voted yet tonight and you can get your polling place and be in line by eight o'clock

although most places I think I'm pretty short if any lines at all but polls are still open for

about 10 more minutes in the the big race tonight the primary for the department of public instruction

superintendent three candidates on the ballot will be whittled down to one after tonight

dr jill underlie and jeff right are the two democrats and britney kinser an education consultant

being supported by the republican party of Wisconsin technically a non partisan race but in recent

years it has become essentially a shadow partisan contest we'll be following all of that the governor

tonight mentioned one of the big perhaps the biggest school referendum on the ballot tonight

across the state of Wisconsin is in the city of moston for those listening across the state of

Wisconsin that might not know exactly where moston is I think most of us know where

Wisconsin delts is at about our north of medicine is the delts and then kind of go another uh

maybe 25 30 minutes uh northwest of the delts and there you will find moston in beautiful

geno county moston going to referendum for the third time and under a year the school board and

district superintendent saying if tonight's referendum does not pass they will have to really

seriously consider and most likely dissolve the moston school district over the next two years

as there simply will not be money to continue that school district the governor mentioning that

tonight in a state or apart me of the biannial budget address and so jimmy cusco will be standing

by himself a school board member in the basketball area he is standing by watching that race polls

again for about uh well eight more minutes or so here until eight o'clock his own look

matters likes to say be a voter uh tonight if you haven't already done so we also are expecting

at some point in the next few minutes here to you here from uh democratic lieutenant governor

Sarah Rodriguez who is uh going to be joining us my understanding by phone get her uh take on this

as well um lots to get through tonight I mean certainly there is no lack of content

in the governor's biannial budget tonight uh as someone who's who sat through a lot of these

over the years uh a former legislative aide lots of meat on the bone but maybe not particularly

user friendly if i if i can be allowed to say that what i thought uh what's interesting is

the governor did this in the state of the state and yes the state of the state tends to be more

narrative in form but the governor did not spend a lot of time using stories tonight

in his uh budget address to make some of these policies that he's proposing in the budget

relatable to to individuals across the state of Wisconsin and maybe this was just for the

legislators in the room if so that's fine again as someone who's seen a lot of democrats and

republicans give these budget addresses it is a unique moment for these governors to connect with

the people of Wisconsin of course we're broadcasting it all across the state of Wisconsin on radio

and also streaming on facebook youtube twitter x and the like Wisconsin public television broadcast

it live tonight i know Wisconsin public radio broadcast it live a number of uh commercial television

stations while not carrying it on their network or over the air broadcast many such as uh

channel three and medicine of carrying it on their streaming service so the point is that the

governor had an opportunity had an audience built in of Wisconsin voters and so at least to my

ears you you may have wanted the governor may have wanted to make it more narrative and connect

a few of these policies you know i thought that going back over uh some of the things that he said

there i thought it was great that he was uh uh talking about postpartum uh extension for badger

care across the state of Wisconsin saying the only Wisconsin and Arkansas the only two states that

don't have it i you know that that's a great uh initiative to have it a budget something should

be very broadly a lot of appeal but what it lacked was a story about an individual who

was trying to get that or who didn't get it and i think make it relatable to the average voter

the average uh uh listener across the state of Wisconsin so we'll discuss that with our panel as

they as they come on board while we're doing that uh Aaron Sommer is a great producer and engineer

tonight uh maybe we could take uh uh some of these cuts here that we uh put together during the

broadcast appreciate Sommer's work and and uh Luke matters as well one of the big issues that

has been uh at the forefront of the last legislative session was that of PFAS these are our micro

microbial or microscopic chemicals essentially plastic that is found in water all across the state

of Wisconsin and they thought last time last budget or pardon me last legislative session

that the Republican legislature was close they passed a bill the governor had an initiative

but where things kind of got mucked up to use the phrase is that the governor wanted more stringent

measures to be passed or penalties against those found guilty of polluting and the governor uh

that's what he wanted the legislature controlled by republicans said it was a no going so nothing got

done uh here is what governor evers said tonight in his uh bianneal budget address on PFAS here is the

governor just moments ago as part of my comprehensive plan to improve water quality statewide we're working

to strengthen Wisconsin's groundwater standards for PFAS and i'm asking the legislature to support

an investment of over one hundred and forty five million dollars to fight PFAS contamination

statewide and provide emergency resources like bottled water to families and communities affected by

water contamination governor choney evers talking about his initiative in the bianneal budget on PFAS

we're going to go in just a moment to Wisconsin's lieutenant governor Sarah Rodriguez but before we do

it is right now four minutes before the hour of uh pardon me it is uh six minutes before the hour

of eight o'clock we're going to pause for ten seconds for local stations to identify themselves

you're listening to continuing coverage of tony evers governor tony evers bianneal budget address

on the civic medium radio network you're listening to w a u k jackson the wonky w m d x columbus

medicine w g b w green bay w y s s ash gosh w z b u new holstein w lc x lacrosse and w b z h a word

and welcome back to our continuing coverage of governor tony evers bianneal budget address in about

ten minutes we're going to also transition into Wisconsin decides 2025 on primary spring election

night here across the state of Wisconsin but at this time we're going to be joined right now by

phone by Wisconsin's lieutenant governor Sarah Rodriguez is on the phone lieutenant governor thank

you so much for taking time for us on civic media on what i'm sure is a busy evening for you

thank you so much for having me i appreciate it our pleasure lieutenant governor uh i just your

thoughts tonight uh on uh i'm sure you had a hand in in uh putting this together at least

that we're aware of it uh you work hand in hand with the governor and part of your job i know

to go out across the state of Wisconsin like you've done so many times and for lack of a better term

sell this plan what were your takeaways tonight and what governor tony evers had to say

well i think what governor evers had from our administration were really bold proposals that are

going to help every day at Wisconsinite whether that's investing in our public school systems

whether that's reducing the cost for health care these are all things that respect people's pocket

books and i know that if i'm hearing about it all across the state that means my republican

counterparts are hearing about it all across the state this is something we can agree upon and make

sure that we are taking care of Wisconsinites here at home uh a couple of the things the highlights

that uh that i got out of this uh tonight one of them is something we've heard actually uh you know

Donald Trump talk about on the at least on the campaign stump not so much as he's become president

again but uh there's no tip on taxes governor evers proposing a state version of that tonight

yeah so he you know he was gonna take good ideas forever they come from and that was one of

his proposals is to have no um a tax on tips here in Wisconsin putting more money back in

people's pockets and you know we're honestly worried about the tariffs that Trump is proposing

that it's going to affect our farmers here pretty significantly and so trying to make sure

we are proactive in terms of helping our farmers that the prices we do not want prices to go up for

Wisconsinites and that's what those Trump tariffs are going to do uh you come on our show uh you

know uh anew into two uh a few times we we always appreciate you making time for us one of the

things i've been so impressed with you the tenant governor Rodriguez is that you have roots in

southwest Wisconsin where i'm from grandparents where dairy farmers there you're a great storyteller

and while i thought the governor had a lot of meat on the bone in terms of proposals tonight

i just wish you would do more what you do which is tell stories to make these proposals that are

pretty technical more relatable to Wisconsinites you know i i think the governor did a fantastic

job today um i really want to make sure we are reiterating how much that this is going to save

Wisconsinites money we know that people are struggling to be able to pay their bills whether it's

childcare heck i've got two kids myself they're a little older now they don't need childcare anymore

they're 15 and 18 but i remember when they were little how difficult that was to make sure that i

could afford that in my budget it was a huge expense to have two little ones early two and a half

years apart so two of them in childcare at the same time and trying to make our budget stretch

to make that work i know that families are struggling right now to be able to do that which is why

i was really happy that the governor has proposed in his budget dollars to be able to offset those

costs for childcare in Wisconsin i don't expect a comment on this i move on to the next question but

i'll simply say back of the old days uh the state of the union address the president didn't have to

deliver it he just somebody had to go up to the congress to deliver it you know i think he'd be

a good candidate to deliver the next state of the state but i'll move on uh one of the things i

thought were one of the issues that was really really uh uh that could relate to Wisconsinites

across the the entire state across uh uh political spectrum was this extension of post-partum

badger care coverage government ever saying tonight only Wisconsin and Arkansas Arkansas are the

only two states that don't have it i mean that i'm a nurse myself you know that and that is

it's honestly shameful that there are only two states in the entire country that have not

expended expanded coverage for post-partum women if we care about women if we care about babies

we know that if we extend that coverage they're going to be have less infant mortality less maternal

mortality they are going to be healthier and i just think that's a no-brainer to be able to pass

that we know that there's broad bipartisan support within the assembly and the senate to pass that

so let's just get it done let's go ahead and extend that coverage to post-partum women

just a couple more questions on your busy lieutenant governor sarah Rodriguez joining us

via phone after governor toadie iris biannial budget address two things number one we hear a lot

about this four hundred to our party four billion a little over four billion a dollar surplus uh

robod boss devin lemme hue uh republicans the legislature are saying uh that money is a no-go

you can't use it because we want to basically double down on this tax cut from last time around uh

can you help us understand where you and governor evers are at if i heard him right to correct me if

i'm wrong he's suggesting keeping about half a billion or five hundred million set aside in the

rainy day fund and then using the rest of that surplus on some of the outlaw programs the outline

tonight is that accurate or do i have that wrong lieutenant governor so yet he is asking to

save about five hundred million dollars in terms of our surplus from our budget and he is

agreeing with the republicans that he would like to also propose a tax cut for was gone tonight

but the difference between those two proposals is that the governor really wants to make sure we

are focusing on middle class every day was gone tonight and republicans oftentimes make sure that

their tax cuts only really affect the quite wealthy who do not need additional dollars in their

pocket they're doing all right in this economy and so let's make sure that we put dollars in

the pockets of people who need it final question lieutenant governor Rodrigues and again we appreciate

you joining us uh you know speaker boss has said this uh budget was already dead on arrival to

use her his phrase not mine what is it going to take for republicans in the legislature to come to

a pragmatic solution on behalf was gone some tax taxpayers to work with you and governor evers to

get a budget passed that can actually help was gone tonight so when i travel all across the state

and was gone then what i hear from people is they are exhausted with the partisanship they want us

to work together and if i'm hearing whether it's in rural areas whether it's in urban areas suburban

areas that people need relief in housing in food costs and health care costs and so i know the

republicans in the assembly and the senator hearing that as well so they need to come to the table

as partners and put together a budget that we can all be proud of and so let's make sure we're

putting dollars in the pockets of was gone tonight let's make sure we're taking care of people here

because we know that these trump tariffs are going to be increasing costs so how can we provide

some relief at the state level yeah i i i wish the governor would have put that i thought he

kind of buried the lead i thought there was a great line when governor evers said we prepared for

the words because the trump tariffs i i think you should have led with that but you know hey who

am i to say i'm just a radio host governor uh lieutenant governor uh Rodriguez is there anything i

haven't asked you tonight that you believe that uh the was gone tonight across the state should know

about the biannial budget address tonight well look at it the governor has put out pieces you've

heard the address contact your representative contact your senator contact your representative

make sure that they know that you support these pieces in the budget make sure that you know that

you expect them to work together on to make sure we can get a budget across the table and so that is

the one thing that i would say is make sure you're contacting your local representatives and your

senators and telling them what's your priority lieutenant governor sir rade regas we thank you so

very much for making time for us this evening to have a great night and we will talk to you soon

our show and of course you're always welcome to come back here on civic media thank you so much

this time governor thank you so much i appreciate it our pleasure lieutenant governor sir rade regas

joining us uh after the biannial budget address tonight uh i'm going to ask mr rhizomer is here

alive on air we're going to take uh senator mark lines uh comments now are we going to wait for

that or do you want to go to that not just yet but it looks like we do have uh rob calls here

all right very good uh we're going to go to that then uh that is six minutes past the hour

of uh eight o'clock you're listening to civic media's continuing coverage of uh governor

Tony evers biannial budget address and also awaiting uh dan shaffer to join us as well um

are we going to go to dan first or are we going to go to uh senator coals first uh senator coals

all right very good uh joining us now live from our wgbw beautiful wgbw studios in downtown green bay

wisconsin a long time state senator that represented the greater green bay area also a long time member

of the joint committee on finance mr senator rob coals a republican senator we uh appreciate you

be with us so very much how are you tonight sir very good Todd you're doing a great job i listen to you

quite a bit well you i agree with the fair amount not everything though i appreciate that in

in full disclosure what i uh works thing i'd rather not have the ear could i have the this come

through over here oh we're working now we'll work can you hear me okay senator well i'd rather

i got the earphones yeah i know you'll you know you know where my voice is well you and i have

about the same amount of hair you probably have a little bit more yet

in full disclosure uh what i've worked for the legislature for former senator uh

Dale shilt uh senator coals office was right next door to ours so we saw each other in the in the hallways

uh quite a lot uh senator coals it's just great to have you on uh as some first of all i want to ask you

this how does it feel for our first time in a long time how does it feel to be outside the chamber

watching this instead of inside the chamber you know i wasn't planning on watching it until i got a

call from uh your station asking me to give a few background comments and i'll so uh you know i'm

still in it it's hard to totally uh separate yourself yeah from uh something you've been doing for a

long time yeah no so i mean i won't be following the budget down to the nth degree like i have but

i'll be following it and and uh having a few thoughts of my own sure you know for everybody it's

a time to move on and it was time for me no it's uh it's great to have you here it's your first

budget address uh in in one over 40 years right since you work in the chamber in some in some way

shape or form give us uh if you i noticed uh i see people in there that uh you know walking down

you know some of the reps that some of those people were helping me in elections that i in my

you know years ago and now they're legislators so right it's their headache now

give give us a sense uh senator coals um just need your reaction what what's your take away what

were your thoughts on uh governor evers uh bianneal budget address remarks tonight i didn't see all of

it um in here all of it because i drove from my home over here just to get here in time um

it's similar to other budgets that he's had it appears that he's that he's uh spending most of

the one-time money although although i did hear him say he's leaving a five hundred million dollar

balance correct uh that's to his credit but it's like where is this money coming from it looks like

he's taking the Medicaid money which is a lot of money and he's taking the the one-time money

and spending almost all of the the growth uh you know the the fiscal bill came out with a paper

um i read it uh earlier today because i wanted to be somewhat prepared for this interview uh in

January late January they came out with their projections on what they think the growth

and new money will be in the next two-year budget so they re-estimated the end of this

this fiscal year because our fiscal year goes to july one so we're still in the old budget until

july one and then the new budget starts after that so they re-estimated a nine hundred million more

coming between now and january one however they were only predicting seven hundred roughly

seven hundred and fifty million new money this is all types of taxes and fees in the first year

and then a roughly like three fifty the second year on top of the seven hundred and fifty

so that puts if you put those all the the new money is slowing down now that's the replicating money

so you know what i preached and i learned this the hard way when i didn't know what i was doing

when i first got down there when you spend one time money you've got to be real careful

right because if you don't get incredible growth in the future you've got a hole and then how do you

make up for the hole well let me tell you how they've done it in the past tobacco bonds

we're still paying for that hundreds of millions i think there's still five hundred five to

six hundred million at tobacco funds this goes back to the oil era when they had trouble balancing

the budget uh balancing the levy credit out to not pay it on time uh attacks on energy the governor

mentioned that i heard that is he wants to get rid of that and there's some other tricks and i

call these these are budget tricks in order to balance the budget and i know that there were

there's several places in the budget where they pay things late so when you look at the four roughly

four billion dollar so-called surplus that's one time money and you know the director laying in

the fiscal bro would uh verify that um to to to expand all that let me back up and say

then four billion if you paid all the all the tricks that were done years ago we're backing up

you know to several governors things that are better than the budget that balance of four billion

drop by at least half that means you're paying bills on time that's not good budgeting and

eventually you got to pay the bill if i can if i just interrupt for a second or talking to us

former state senator rob calls uh republican and longtime member of the joint committee on finance

better known as gfc who actually has been through this budget writing process in the past uh just

remind our listeners that unlike in washington where where if we don't pass a budget everything

shuts down in wisconsin were required to have a balanced budget and if you can't pass one by

the deadline it just revert government keeps on going but just under the current budget correct

correct and and so correct and so it's what you're talking about it's a sort of a circuit

circuit break it right so if it doesn't get done things will move on that was it now we have to pay

attention to what's happening in washington because that could throw some hiccups into the decision

making by the joint finance committee now probably in the last little while before i got on the

air the finance committee to i think is introducing the budget now it goes to the it goes to the

fiscal barrel and we have this incredible fiscal barrel our state was one of the leaders in the

nation creating the service agency the fiscal barrel the audit bureau the reference bureau

in the legislative council those four service agencies so right now the burdens on the fiscal

bureau to dissect the budget and analyze it financially and all the policy and it and come up

with documents that the legislature first the finance committee and then the full legislature

can make decisions on so they have it for the next uh month and a half or so and then there's

public hearings around the state and then after the public hearings are done the the finance

committee starts voting on the budget the meantime the rest of the legislature is like

giving advice and recommendations to the full to the finance committee so it's a lot of work

there's some significant things in this budget uh i don't know if the governor talked about

the changes in the policy toward uh corrections but that's a very big issue

talk he he didn't i shouldn't say ironically but he didn't mention a whole lot on that

actually from uh from the address tonight but he has said ahead of the ahead of the the budget

uh or the dress that you're looking at the green bay correctional facility in center calls

that is an area that do you represent for uh your entire time the legislature uh the greater green

bay area of course lines change here and there you're very familiar with this what's your feeling

center calls as someone who represented that part of state for a long time on the governor's

proposal to to close down the green bay correctional facility and put money into other places like

wapon uh and modernize them well wapon needs the money uh and i think we need to modernize several

other prisons and i don't know how much that would cost and i don't know what changes he has in

in his budget proposal to to change the the the sentencing process for people it's not clear

what he's doing and that's going to be a very tough issue to analyze but my first thought when i

heard about is when he announced his plan i thought okay what do we do with the eleven hundred people

that are at gbci do we step do we stuff those into the current prisons that are already over

capacity or do we build a new prison unknown so that's an important thing and i know van senator

van one guard a friend of mine in the state senator who's likely to be very involved in this

has that concern of where do you put the people it's what it's one thing i recognize that you've

got a an older prison that's deficient in different ways but it's another thing okay you've got

to find a place to put these dangerous people that's a max these are not exact these are not

low impact criminals these are high impact criminals the same with wapon and several other prisons

so that's a place by the way to use one time money without violating what i what i would call

the structural deficit if the structural deficit gets too big you've got a big headache in your

next budget right raising taxes or catastrophic cuts so i mean that's why i've argued for years

it's like you want to minimize the structural deficit so you have stability going forward

and you don't have these big ups and downs and different

explain if you could senator uh briefly without without for those for those of us who didn't

spend a lot of time actually on jfc in layman's terms what what because we're going to hear a lot

about this over the next few weeks and months structural deficit explain to the jane and joe

on the street what that actually means please okay if you take all the you take what the fiscal

bureau is projecting uh right now in new monies coming in and you lay that against the appropriations

and if the appropriations are higher because they've been supplemented by a bunch of one time

monies like the four billion uh you know like the Medicaid money that i think he's taking and some

other things that i may not know about yet you have this gap and that has to be filled somehow

so it's filled the first year or possibly in this whole budget the two-year budget but then you go

to the next uh two-year budget and you've got a massive hole and the question is how do you fill that

well you gotta you gotta you take the money back from people that you just gave it to

or you raised taxes now as a republic and i mean we've been you know struggling to hold taxes down

and i think income taxes at or a good a good competitive level right now and the state's growing

uh you know that there's jobs like crazy all over the state uh we're doing well we don't want to

upset that that's an important thing so you know i would argue that be really cautious in how we're

using the one-time money you can use some of it but to blow it all out the door you're asking for

trouble and i think it's pointed out the new money that's coming in that's recommended by

the fiscal girl that based on their expert analysis and they're usually really close on these

estimates it's seven hundred and some million the first year and then another three fifty three

eighty on top of that seven hundred million okay so all that other money that he's talked about

that he promised people and you know there's all sorts of needs and he can recognize the needs

it's very competitive um it's there's plenty of needs the question it always goes back to what can

you really afford without aggravating our tax structure right now there's a there's put those

people you know you might not like me saying it mostly on the democrats side that do not care

about raising tax that just okay let's raise them no no on the republican side that they'll fight

that tooth and nail hey look you're you're you're we we we take everybody's opinion here senator

me doesn't know that's fine we appreciate that we have to we want to play the republican

response here from center mark line not really response but they're laying out as you said

their budget we want to play center mark lines uh comments here so we're going to wrap with you

but before I let you go center two things one is it oversimplification to take what you just

said about structural deficits and basically say it's balancing the budget on paper but kicking

the can on the really tough decisions is that fair to say that's one way to put it because you've

got it ultimately you filled you filled the the budget need for this the immediate two years

but there's there's nothing there in the following years unless you get incredible growth

well we typically get two and a half three for lucky four percent a year right well what the

governor is promising in this budget goes way beyond that you know unless you take the Medicaid

money and that's a big debate uh or raise tax and my guess is he's also going after the some

taxes said right in the corporate area final final question center before play center mark lines

on comments here uh for every fellow senator for every staffer for every lobbyist who ever sat

in a joint finance committee meeting when you were on the committee everyone awaited the dreaded

question is it an upper tell us what that means and why you always asked it is it an upper

I'm not sure I know it should know I mean I was I mean I got to know the fiscal bill folks

and Bob Lang and you know what a team he's got and you have to get a good handle on you know what is

the the whole package what does it do to that structural because if you have a structural that's

I'd say in excess of a billion dollars you got problems the most likelihood and then how do you

come up with that money right so I mean I'm arguing you know paying off the tobacco bonds with some

of the one-time money and possibly some other bonds that are that are available to be paid off

you know a new prison that's a one-time event brownfields no one's talking about brownfields

we've got thousands of brownfields all over the cleanup funds yeah yeah and that would be great

for economic development to and groundwater well groundwater that's a whole nother debate

within this budget because he has an administrative rule and I'm hoping that they can finally come

to a conclusion on PFAS myself my staff Senator Wimber and his staff and Senator Filskowski and

Senator Mark Lyon we've all been very involved in the PFAS money and now the governor wants to put

another 140 million I'm not sure how that interacts with the trust fund that's sitting there that

didn't go out right so that's a dilemma in this budget I'm hoping that they can finally come to

a conclusion we all spent tons of tons of time trying to resolve that question we didn't quite

get there last time around Senator Rob Cole so former senator a longtime member the joint finance

committee we thank you so much for your time for your insight for your take tonight I'd like

your show I think it's it's a valuable valuable service to have a good policy show like yours

even though I mean I agree with some of it but what's different than what we're just sitting

around at 10 o'clock at night in the capital we never agreed then either it's a lot of diversity

but but exactly right and that's the point is that we can still you can still be friends with

each other and find something to agree upon but have hearty but respectful debates on stuff you

know that that's that's politics last time I checked yeah the only difference between now and

then is we don't have our old friend Mike Gellis right lecturing us and pushing us and

and where's the blackboard where's the blackboard Senator Ellis blackboard he had the whole budget

of the blackboard right he'd have several blackboards it's a legendary guy I'd say I think of him

all the time I'll meet you see you I'd say if I drink next time I see at the avenue but to the

avenue's not there anymore we have to go Senator we'll have you back soon thank you very much

Senator Rob Cole former Senator from Green Bay we appreciate you very much joining us

of the WGBW studios in downtown Green Bay always great to catch up with Senator Coles straight ahead

we're going to I hear from Democratic State Senator current state Senator and a member of the

Joint Finance Committee killed a voice is going to be joining us as well Dan Schaefer standing by

be joining us a bit as well our political editor here at Civic Media but first of all

want to bring you some of the comments from the Republican co-chair of the current joint

joint finance committee Senator Howard Markleine spoke just a while ago about Governor Evers

Bioniel budget comments hello everybody first of all to the people of Wisconsin who are concerned

about the budget that Governor Evers just announced have faith most of the stuff that's in the budget

the 20% spending increase the billion dollars in taxes all of the wasteful new programs that are

being created in regulations on the private sector the increases on business the increases

in income taxes all of those things dead on arrival we are not going to let Wisconsin become

Tim Waltz's Minnesota we saw over the course of the last year as Governor Evers continued to

campaign for bigger increases in taxes larger increases in spending like our neighbors to Minnesota

and we also know the effect that that's had on their economy and the economy of America

we do not want that for us so we are going to go back to the base like we have before we'll

talk about that today we're going to talk about some of the specific provisions that are inside

Governor Evers budgets they are very familiar in many ways this is kind of like the movie back

to the future he tried these things for the last two four and six years ago in his budgets

just like then lots of tax increases lots of spending and I have a belief that my colleagues will

reject them just like they did before we know that as families are struggling with rising

prices and rising costs the last thing that they need is growing government higher taxes

and more spending it's not going to happen in Wisconsin and you can have faith that conservatives

Republicans in the legislature will make sure we keep our pro-business approach while investing

in our priorities and ensuring that Wisconsin is a place that you can still afford to live

even if the people who spend most of their time in Madison have a different version of reality

so to talk about some of the specifics I want to turn it over to Senator Mark Klein who will

talk about the process thank you so we've been here before as the speaker said we've seen this

movie before the state is in good financial condition right now and that's because of the sound

budgeting that we've done as Republicans over the last better than a decade now this budget

included as the speaker said all kinds of policy and that policy is going to get removed from

the budget probably in the first action that we take in our first meeting we're going back to

base like we have for the last several budgets we're going to build a budget that's that's fair

that's sustainable into the future and doesn't impact our businesses and our families adversely so

I'd also want to caution some people that the surplus that we have is largely one time money okay

and so we're going to be cautious as we build the budget not spending a lot of ongoing programs

on that's based on a one time surplus so again we look forward to to the the process

and I will turn it over to Representative Hurd thank you

Wisconsin Republicans are listening to Wisconsinites all the way from superior to Kenosha

and every place in between so this next step of the budget we will be going throughout the state

as a committee and listening and public hearings as well as all kinds of our representatives having

individual listening sessions talking to to all stakeholders and then as we do our public hearings

every Wisconsinite should know they will have a chance to be heard to tell us what they want to do

and how they want us to spend the money thank you the next person I'll be speaking

this senator tested well thank you Representative Hurd and probably be here with my legislative

colleagues I guess my initial reactions are based on the governor's budget address is that he's a

former educator and apparently mathematics was not his drawn suit because if you take a look at

what the governor's proposed the state is going to be facing a multi-billion dollar deficit going

into the next biennium and as legislative republicans have shown previously in our last budget that

we can make key investments in our infrastructure our schools will also provide in tax relief which

I want to remind folks that under governor Evers in the last budget vetoed nearly 95 percent of the

tax cuts that we approved so we are going to continue to pass a responsible budget that balances

that provides significant relief to our taxpayers here in the state but more importantly we are

going to pass a budget that ensures that Wisconsin does not become the next Minnesota

and so I look forward to work with my colleagues all the course of the next several months

to provide significant relief to Wisconsin and ensure that we keep moving on the right track

and so with that I'd like to turn over to the co-chair represent Mark Warren

all right thank you senator I guess as the speaker started out saying we're in a familiar spot

I think the someone else that we've seen this movie before that might have been Senator Mark line

so we know that this is another executive budget that's bloated reckless spending

just finding ways to grow government making up all sorts of new agencies or sub agencies or offices

again tonight so we know we have to toss it to the side and as my colleague Senator

Mark line said start from base we also know from our past experience one of the ways that we

sought to bring responsible budgeting to this to the state budget was to make government smaller

and less intrusive in our lives we chipped away at agency budgets and reduced employees and

the last budget we reduced the governor's wish list of new employees by 800 and then we also

caught another 800 from the base we heard loud and clear in this last election from voters both

in Wisconsin and nationally that they've had enough they know government is too big too wasteful

and they're tired of the abuse and overreach and so we are going to increase our efforts in this

budget to look for more opportunities to cut both spending and positions some of that will be

led into the assembly by our government oversight and accountability and transparency committee

but it'll also you'll see those efforts increasing on our legislative joint committees such as audit

and finance we will work to reduce the size of government and support waste for families and

businesses to thrive without the heavy hand of government with that I'll turn it over to the

Senate majority leader to talk about it and that's been part of the Republican response on the

joint committee on finance we heard from a assembly speaker Robin Voss we didn't necessarily think

we're going to hear from tonight but he took the the first lead on that and then heard from

Senator Howard Mark line representative board amongst other people you know basically saying as we

said at the first part of the broadcast that the governor's budget was dead on arrival so really

no new news there other than saying they're going to start from base which is we heard from a

former member of the joint finance committee Republican Rob Cole beforehand saying there's

no really new there so you know we're kind of back to it to ground zero as it appears here and so

we're going to be transitioning over here just a minute my co-host for the evening here on the

on the program Dan Schaefer is going to be joining me but right now at well we'll call 31 minutes

past the hour of eight o'clock here on the civic media media network we are joined in our

ongoing coverage by Senator Keldor Royce who is a Democrat who represents the isthmus here

in downtown Madison amongst other places a longtime member of the legislature and a current member

of the joint committee on finance Senator Royce thank you so much for making time for us on a busy

evening I will ask you the same question we asked former uh state senator Rob Cole's your first

to take away of the governor's uh joint budget address tonight always great to be with you and

I'm delighted to see the governor proposing a responsible budget that invests first and foremost

in our kid and in our families um making sure Wisconsin's a place where everyone has the chance to

thrive um lots of lots of meat on the bone as we said earlier lots to the the the governor laid

out there uh one of the things that uh really stood out to me was the the governor tonight calling

on the legislature to join him in expanding badger care uh particularly for postpartum women

uh on badger care saying that Wisconsin and Arkansas of whole states were the only two that do not

have that that seems to be all these on the face of its senator something that should resonate with

women across the state because you know last time I checked Republicans have babies too

absolutely and you know this is a bill that has very strong bipartisan support in fact it

it passed the senate uh thirty two to one in the last session but it's really being held up by

Robin Voss by just the Republican leadership in the assembly that are kicking brand new moms off

of their health insurance just weeks after giving birth and um you know not only is that totally

inhumane um and immoral it is also very expensive right across this dirly and we have to have some

the highest infant mortality rates in the world even as a developed nation in part uh because of this

kind of lack of access to health care i'm joined up to the uh desk now by my co-anchor for the evening

he is the founder of the re-combobulation area and the political editor here at civic media dan shaffer

dan you're uh you're you're out of breath here go not really he came down the street and hear it

from the capital uh dan you have any a question she'd like to follow up with senator roister will

we have her on the phone yeah it was a chilly couple blocks uh walking from the capital to the

civic media studios here but senator rois uh thank you again for joining us here uh for the broadcast

now one of the topics that uh the governor talked about in his budget addresses one that you've

talked about on the joint finance committee as well and that's child care uh you know do you sense

that there is you know perhaps going to be a different tone in the capital discussing issues uh

about relating to child care given you know the campaign that we just had uh in 2024 and

and how contentious that and important that issue has been over the last couple of years

you know i i wish that were so because this is an issue that obviously crosses all

partisan and geographical and income lines right child care is very difficult to find and

very difficult to afford for almost everyone in our state and yet uh despite that republicans

have already said that they're going to offer zero dollars again for child care we've seen the

closure of way more than half of our child care centers over the last uh 20 or so years and

this is just going to continue to accelerate and turning our workforce,

turning our businesses as people have to drop out because they can't find high quality child care

so this is going to have a real long-term impact on our economy and on the economic stability

of families if we can't figure out how to invest in child care.

Senator Todd again uh again we talked uh to uh you know Senator Kohl's hasn't been on the

joint finance committee for a while but you know certainly somebody who really understands the

the budget-making process help uh our listeners again kind of pick up on what he did understand

this budget-making process because a lot of people say well why is the governor talking again

didn't he just do that know that was the state of the state this is the budget address this is

to put it in football terms the governor gets the the ball first on the playing field and now this

goes to uh uh the fiscal bureau under the great direction of Bob Lang who has worked with the

Republican Democrats in a bipartisan way for years and years and the legislature then goes through

this and then it comes finally uh to you folks on the joint finance committee and that is the

opportunity for citizens around the state to truly talk directly to all of you on the joint

joint finance committee. Well that's true um and I should point out that the governor and uh his

agencies also did quite a lot of public input and listening sessions around the state right so

there has been already quite a lot of public input that helped to create this budget um but the

joint finance committee will do its own listening sessions around the state. I uh asked the Republican

co-chair this evening hey when are we gonna do that how many are we gonna do he didn't have an

answer for me but um he he did uh say that he thought that they would be doing some of these um

I you know I think one of the longer term trends though is Republicans kind of rationing down

the amount of public input so I would just encourage folks even if you can't make it to one of the

hearings you can always email your legislature to make your voice heard um and if you don't get

a response you can email my office and we'll make sure that they get it we'll print it out and

hand deliver it. There we go uh so another topic that really stood out to me in in the governor's

speech was education funding and in particular higher education funding uh a quote that he had from

the speech was this is a make or break budget for our UW campuses what does that mean to you?

Well it means that he recognizes that for several generations you know 40 plus years we have

been under investing in our most important economic driver economic engine of state which is

the universities of Wisconsin and at a certain point we can't keep doing that we have been coasting

on the investments that were made by our parents and grandparents in this great university system

that has become a world class university and the universities have themselves done an incredible

job of getting federal resource dollars which of course are now under threat because of Trump

and Republicans as well as private donations and grants right so they have done a good job

even though state support has dramatically declined relative to their budget but at a certain

point it's not sustainable we have got to start rebuilding the money that has been taken away by

Republicans particularly over the last 15 years or these universities are not going to be able to

thrive and serve not just the students but all of us in Wisconsin who benefit from the great

work and research that is coming out of these universities. Senator follow up on that on Dan's

question there and always appreciate your candor and you've been so kind to stick about our program

on during noon and talk about this I appreciate that the governor is signaling out our UW system

I still call it UW system by the way but I appreciate you signals that out because we didn't hear a lot

about that in the state of the state address I understand there's only so much time and you got to

get your governors of all stripes have to get their points in I appreciate the governor calling for

more money to where I'm still calling the UW system now goes by UW colleges I just wish that he

would have addressed the two year colleges issue there was no mention of hard times and my hometown

Richland center the campus there walkie-shock UW-Washington County it was been six of them

closed so far there was no addressing the economic hardship or impact that it's having in those

communities across the state I wish you would have spoken to that tonight. You're absolutely right Todd

I mean the truth is that Republicans set in motion many years ago a plan to try to kill