State Budget Q+A with State Senator Kelda Roys (Hour 1)

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From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and streaming worldwide the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albault.

Welcome, Mr. Aaron Zommerz on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Monday, July 7th, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite.

Welcome, everybody.

Back to work.

No school.

unless you're taking summer school classes.

Zombers, by the way, am I cutting out or is it just my headset that's cutting out?

It

must just be your headset.

I'll come in there and see if I can fix it.

No, that's fine.

I think it's a busted cord, a busted component, I'm not sure, but we'll press on.

Glad to have everybody here from the World Headquarters in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, and Overcast Skies right now here at the World Headquarters in Madison.

Hopefully everybody had a fine day.

Now there it is.

When you move that whole box, that's what it goes out.

I'm talking to, Zommer's is here right beside, he's off camera as they say, but it's working okay now.

So let's let's let well enough alone.

Thank you, Zommer.

He does it all.

He's like the old, the old seventies and eighties commercial.

He can bring home the bacon fried up in a pan and never will never let you forget you're a man.

Cause I'm a woman.

Azulene, I think Azulene was a,

Uh, a perfume, I think.

I'm not sure.

See if you can find that at it.

Uh, Zombers has been a while.

Overcast guys here.

Looks like a little bit of rain here and there.

Otherwise, pretty nice week.

Later on this week.

We're gonna be broadcasting coming at you live from the northern Wisconsin State Fair beautiful Chippewa Falls our friend and colleague Pat Crite low of mornings of Pat Crite low every morning from six until nine is going to be joining us live there on our set from the Northern Wisconsin State Fair looking forward to that should be a good time have by all lots of great people lined up to talk about the fair talk about local things the big cube tournament is is happening

up in the Chippewa Valley, up at Eau Claire this week at Eau J. Matt Nair.

When she and I were traveling last summer in Eau Claire, she had on, and I believe they were on our program as well, people from the Kube Tournament.

And so looking forward, coming up on Thursday, to have one of the great folks, the main organizer, the director of the U.S.

National Kube Tournament in Eau Claire.

And my goal zombers this year, my sister, our unofficial on-site producer,

for these things.

I've told her now, I say, I want to find a kid with a rabbit, a pig, a chicken, I don't care, a small animal, pigs aren't small, but I want a kid showing an animal at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair and I want to interview them.

That would

be cool.

So looking forward to that.

So there will be live animals on the show on Thursday and or Friday.

Can't wait for that.

Should be really, really great.

Otherwise, a great week, a busy week plan coming up today on the show at 2.35.

State Senator Kelder Royce from Wisconsin's 26th District makes, at least for now, maybe one of her final appearances for a while.

She's been so kind.

This would be gracious with her time coming in every Monday through the state budget process.

Of course, last week, the state legislature passed a budget.

Senator Royce was a no on that.

And then Democratic Governor Tony Evers signed it into law.

right before the 4th of July holiday.

So Senator Royce will be here to help us walk through what some of these items that have now been signed into law really mean for the average Wisconsinite.

So looking forward to talking with her in hour number two, a what's worse edition today, cheesy Swiss or cheddar.

Now again, some people are going to say, Todd, this is an idiotic question because neither one are bad.

But I do know some people have feelings.

So we'll ask you cheese feelings an hour or two and very excited for this coming up at 3 35 state representative Jenna Jacobson of the 50th assembly district and democrat as she announced this morning at 11 a.m.

That she is going to run for state senate against longtime republican incumbent Howard mark line

who is the co-chair of the joint finance committee.

I'm looking forward to getting to know representative Jenna Jacobson in hour number two here on the show as well, and lots of other news to get to.

Zomers, how was your 4th of July?

Good, didn't do anything too crazy,

ate

some good food, had a couple of brews.

Nice.

Yeah, not much.

I took it easy on the 4th of July proper, just kind of stayed at home, was exhausted, I guess.

I just took a day to kind of rest up, and then Saturday,

hung out with some friends at the union, a little hot.

but a good time happened.

I went to Michelin Center and hung out up there.

I helped mom do a little, the gardening, a little weeding, and then a deep clean on the old truck because we're going to be on the road a lot here the next couple of weeks.

I'm like, I better get this thing set to go.

So I did my truck and then out of pure Methodist guilt and small town guilt because there are a lot of neighbors out amongst them Brady Ewing's parents out and about.

Always great to see the neighbors.

But I thought to myself, if, if the neighbors see me washing my truck and I.

don't wash mom's minivan that you know they'll think well what kind of a schlep is he coming all the way up from you know from Madison and he doesn't even take so the guilt alone so I washed mom's van and you know like the hand washy which I love I find it very therapeutic to wash a vehicle

it certainly can be and I'm sure I'm sure your mom appreciated it I'm yes she did she did it was it was

actually a lot of fun and we took a big culvers run

Ooh.

A great

celebration.

Yeah, exactly.

We had a raspberry lemon ice slushy smoothie.

That's when they put the custard in it.

And mom thought, well, we'll kind of get a couple of extra pints to take home.

Now, I didn't know this.

In Richland Center, when you give a pint, you get a pint.

In other words, when you donate a pint of blood at the blood bank, you get back.

a coupon for a free pint of Culver's custard ice cream.

I did not know

that.

How cool is that?

And so she had a couple of coupons.

So she ordered two pints.

Well, they rang her up for a party pack.

And when they brought it to the van, here we had four pints of ice cream.

Oh, boy.

So it was, hey, nothing.

It was hot.

It was hot.

So we had strawberries and ice cream.

It was a little break.

But you drank a lot of water.

which is healthy as well.

It was a great time.

Hopefully you all had a good time.

I'm going to talk a little because I thought a lot.

I thought a lot about all of you people that called in and texted in on the third with your comments, why you were not so happy to celebrate the 4th of July.

And I pondered on that and I thought about it and I have some thoughts after thinking about it.

See, I really do listen.

It's not just all one way communication here.

So anyway, we'll, we'll talk about that a little bit later on in the show as well.

I want to start with this.

I get it.

It's not a Wisconsin based story, obviously, but sometimes there are just things so big in this country that happen that you have to pause, reflect and acknowledge this.

And this is this absolute tragedy happening down in Texas right now.

A reporting from CNN at this hour, death toll from the flooding in Texas is now at 90, 90.

including 27 from Camp Mystic, this camp for kids there.

It's just catastrophic and it's so sad.

If you have not heard about it over the weekend, basically what happened was this flash flood occurred along the Guadalupe River.

Now 27 campers and counselors confirmed dead after the the weekend rains there many more still missing at this hour But it just all happened the river rose like 25 feet in 45 minutes and Then you just heard this morning of the morning news programs Gut-wrenching stories of watching a kid be swept away down the river screaming for help and there's nothing you could do about it And then there was a story of an eight-year-old girl

who these other teens were walking after the river went through trying to help people.

And they heard this eight-year-old girl screaming and found her under a bunch of roots of a tree, helped her out, and she was essentially physically unharmed.

But they're trying to find her parents.

It's just unimaginable tragedy.

And

Look, I I'm not here to blame anybody on this But I do think it's appropriate to again pause and reflect and Point out the hypocrisy and a lot of this stuff as well So I want to play you a clip.

This is from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem who is in Texas over the weekend and took a reporters question about this

flooding

Why was the National Law Service not picking their phones the 4-7 o'clock day of the Fourth of July?

We needed a federal legal plan so that made it for us.

I got an update at 7 o'clock, the first one I hopped at, and I've heard an update throughout the week, but now the 4-7 o'clock won't work.

Wasn't that a fundamental failure, but the federal government's responsibility, as people say?

But you know my background is Before I was in the secretary position here into the Trump administration I was governor of South Dakota and served in Congress for eight years before I was governor and so I will tell you that For decades for years everybody knows that the weather is extremely difficult to predict but also that the National Weather Service over the years at times Has has done well and at times we have all wanted more time and more warning and more alerts and more notification That is something in one of the reasons that went

President Trump took office that he said he wanted to fix and is currently upgrading the technology and the National Weather Service has indicated that with that and NOAA that we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years, and that is the reforms that are ongoing there.

The timeline that I have, I don't oversee the National Weather Service, that's not under my department, but the timeline that I did receive from them was that the notifications started

to look at its expansion for its limited flood impacts area that started on July 3rd at 118 p.m.

The flood watch was issued.

Although it was moderate, it wasn't to the extremes that it was, that when the system came over the

area.

All right, let's go ahead

and carry out their zombers.

That's Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, who was in Texas over the weekend.

Basically, she was soft peddling in this particular cut, but basically saying, ah, you know, National Weather Service does well, but other times, not so great.

And what the Trump administration is doing is they're peddling this.

as well, the technology wasn't good enough.

The technology wasn't good enough when we're addressing that, but what they're not telling you, what they're telling American people is the cuts that the Trump administration did to the National Weather Service vis-a-vis Doge or the old made-up agency of Elon Musk-Doggy.

Here is a clip from May of this year, May 28th of this year on MSNBC where they're talking about this very issue where the cuts went through.

From what's forecast to be an above normal hurricane season, scientists across the country are sounding the alarm over critical staffing shortages.

Inside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, officials are scrambling to fill more than 150 critical National Weather Service rules, left vacant after sweeping cuts from the Trump administration.

Overall, the service has lost 600 of its 4,000 employees since January.

Five former NWS directors calling it their worst nightmare in an open letter earlier this month, predicting understaffing could lead to needless loss of life.

Tom Fahey is the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization and is joining us now.

Tom, you have been tracking these staffing.

and what has become, it appears to be a crisis.

What is the critical need right now?

The critical need right now is to have these ready staff that we need to have across the country.

We have 122 weather forecast offices, and we have various requirements for meteorologists, hydrologists, and technical specialists to work at all of these offices.

You just can't wave your magic wand and say, okay, we're all set, we're not.

That's all from

MSNBC on May 28th of this year.

The point is that these cuts that were made under DOGE, under the Trump administration,

They were warned that if you made these cuts, people were going to die.

I'm not blaming the entire thing on these cuts, but according to Lonnie Quinn on CBS this morning, who is a meteorologist, the two administrators were supposed to be on duty to warn people that night.

There was only one because the other position had been cut by the Trump administration.

Back out for this on the civic media.

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started.

I want to finish up here just a couple more thoughts on this tragedy in Texas.

We're up against the clock there before we went to the commercial.

Again, I'm not suggesting every single death down in Texas was quoted with the fault of the Trump administration.

But I think it's curious and I don't think anybody with an objective look at this can say that the problem wasn't made worse.

by the fact that the cuts implemented by Doge back in the first part of this year meant that there were some, my understanding by the reporting this morning from national weather forecasters is that they had enough forecasters on duty in Texas over the weekend when these rains hit.

What they didn't have were the administrators that were in charge of putting out the word and informing the public.

And those were the positions that were cut and or left over

or left open rather by the Trump administration's cuts.

I can't imagine what these folks in Texas are going through today.

But I think this needs to be talked about because inevitably, even though it's been slow, thank God so far, there's ultimately going to be a hurricane that hit somewhere this year in the United States.

God forbid, but I'd be surprised if it doesn't, there's going to be some more major tornadic activity this year.

And part of the reason the people, there's been less loss of life over time is because our technology and our staffing and our commitment to NOAA and to the National Weather Service has gotten better.

I was alive when the Barnabelle tornado hit here in Dane County, or just outside of Dane County, guess Iowa County, whatever it was 25, 30 years ago.

The entire town was wiped out, people lost their lives.

Hit that tornado hit in the middle of the night.

And our technology and our staffing for our weather folks has gotten better since then.

And these cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service, I'm telling you, if they don't get reversed,

What happened over the weekend in Texas is unfortunately going to happen somewhere else and none of us know whether it's going to be us or the people that we loved love are affected next 855-752-4842 855-752-4842 Jean listening in WCFW the tap up beautiful Claire Jean thanks for calling.

Let's see

Well, thank you guys you and Aaron for covering this.

This is this is significant in a lot of

places aren't really covering it.

It's a flood.

And the funds for survival, the things that people need to be healthy and to live are just being whacked.

And they've been talking about this for a while.

Even some of the weather balloons they've been putting up, not going to do that.

There's different things that they're cutting.

And then I heard, because I've been watching this on all the different coverage of what's going on here,

you know that even like people i thought with some of the funds you know i got a double-checked sources and things but some of the fun from maybe people may be going for the alligator alcatraz so many awful things happening that impact all of us and thank you so much for bringing that up because this is a track tragedy it's horrifying and then as the man

means that likes to put on a performance is signing the bill that's guiding people's health care and all these things you know instead of paying attention to what the country actually needs and deserves so thank you so much guys keep up the great work thank you

gene appreciate it have a good day Matt listening in Middleton on WMDX Texan on the Civic Media app you can as well he says I lived in Texas and flooding is common

low absorption due to hard rock, et cetera.

They do not mark or label flood areas well.

And I blame officials for this.

People camp along the rivers that flood and it is a problem.

Yeah.

Like I say, I'm not completely 100% blaming the Trump administration.

Part of this is just unexpected weather due to, in my opinion, climate change.

Part of this is what Matt's saying, that it's not marked as a low line or flood area.

But I don't think anybody looking at this objectively can't say that these cuts at Doge had something to do with the lack of warning over the weekend in Texas.

Our thoughts, our prayers are with them.

I know the Red Cross, there's a number of places, reputable places that you can give to if you are so led to help out these folks in Texas.

So I want to get to this story closer to home.

State Senator Kelder Royce is going to be in after the bottom of the hour to pick up on this.

This is just breaking here in the last couple of hours.

out of Madison, but it's a more than a Madison issue.

According to Channel 3000, WISC TV, the CBS affiliate here in Madison, several homes of University of Wisconsin regents, i.e.

the border regents, have been vandalized according to University of Wisconsin spokesperson Mark Pish.

Quote, this kind of conduct is not free expression or protected speech.

It's dangerous, unlawful, and unacceptable.

We have contacted the authorities that are working closely with them.

Anyone with information regarding these illegal activities should contact local law enforcement authorities."

Pitch said in a statement.

It says CBS 58 in Milwaukee reported that other region's homes had quote unquote free Palestine notes on them.

These specific homes that were vandalized have not been disclosed.

This is sick.

This is sick behavior and it needs to be called out Look, I've been outspoken that not agreeing with some of the things that the Wisconsin border regions have done Vandalism is not the answer period full stop Not the answer Right before the show I went down and took a picture here a block away on State Street.

I saw this at least three times over the weekend Written spray painted vandalized on businesses on State Street

It says, quote, you can't vote away fascism.

Use direct action.

And the action was A, with a circle around it, and Zomers, who's smarter than me on these things, says that's the anarchy, aside for anarchy.

This is not the action.

And this is what I say extremists on the left.

This is what I mean.

Not acceptable.

Back with State Senator Keldor Royce.

Get her opinion on that.

The state budget and more.

Don't go anywhere.

The Farm Report with Pam Yankee Midwest Farm Report is next.

This is the Todd Allball Show across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Welcome back to the Todd Allball Show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

35 minutes now past the hour of two o'clock on this Monday, July 7th.

Glad to have you along here on the Civic Media Radio Network from Lake Michigan to

Lake Superior, Green Bay, the Mississippi River, all points in between.

Glad to have you along here on a Monday.

She has been so kind and gracious with her time all through the budget process, and now that it's over, she still comes back and talks.

How cool is that?

She is a state senator, Kelvin Royce, from the 26th District, which encompasses much of Madison into the Middleton area, the west side of Madison, all through parts of the East West, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and as a member of the Joint Finance Committee, the Budget Writing Committee, she joins us here at the...

table in our studio, which we always appreciate.

Senator Kelder-Royce, I'm glad to have you with us.

So good to see you, Tom.

How

are you?

It was a

fine day.

Yeah.

I'm, you know, the state budget is behind us for now.

And, you know, it was not what I was hoping for, but I think the good news is now we're going to be able to move on to other things and we can focus on other pieces of legislation and we'll probably have to do a budget repair bill.

All right.

Before we get into the state budget, I just want to pick up and get your thoughts on something, a story that I read here right before at the bottom of last hour, coming in the last couple of hours.

from the Channel 3 CBS affiliate here in Madison and also CBS 58 in Milwaukee.

And that is that the University of Wisconsin system now known as the University of Wisconsin is reporting that several of the homes of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents have been vandalized over the weekend.

That in conjunction, I just went down here by Michelangelo's on State Street and I saw I was

the terrorist over the weekend, and I saw this being freshly written on at least three businesses myself on State Street that says, you can't vote away fascism, use direct action, and the A is the anarchy sign.

I just said, for my money,

This is sick.

I I call it out in my opinion full stop that vandalism that violence of any kind simply does not belong and I've certainly had my disagreements with the University of Wisconsin Board of Regions, but to use this sort of intimidation to go to their homes to vandalize them.

I think is extraordinarily dangerous.

I like your comments on this as someone who represents the flagship University in Wisconsin.

I think it's totally unacceptable.

In this country, we have an absolute right to express ourselves, but we need to do so peacefully and with our words.

And that does not include intimidation, harassment, threats of violence, violence itself, and certainly not vandalism.

And, you know, it's disappointing and it's also counterproductive.

I mean, many Americans and many people here, myself included, want to see an end.

to the war in Gaza.

It has been a horrific humanitarian disaster.

It has destroyed Israel's moral standing in the world.

And it has been an absolute catastrophe for that country, for the people who live there.

But this is not going to help.

What does help is peaceful protest and bringing more people in to your cause, not alienating people by committing crimes like vandalism.

Now, I couldn't agree with you more.

To your point, I mean we've both been active in politics and I try to put myself other people's shoes as often as I can and I guess for people who've never truly been in

an organized political campaign or never worked in government, never saw how things work.

I guess for a moment, I might say, okay, I get the frustration.

And they think, well, if we just do this somehow, that people will listen to us.

But you and I both know that when it comes to violence and intimidation and vandalism, all you're doing is shutting other people's ears off to whatever you're talking about,

right?

That's right.

You're, you're.

giving up at the moral high ground, and you're turning people off who could be important allies for your movement.

You know, I mean, chalking is a great example, right?

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, spreading messages through chalk is a really wonderful and important way that students communicate

with each other.

On public sidewalks.

Absolutely, on public sidewalks, and it washes off,

right?

You're

not hurting anybody.

Again, you can make a sign, you can...

stage a protest.

You can write letters to the editor.

There's a lot of ways to make your voice heard that bring more people in and help actually affect the change you want to see.

If that's what you're interested in, those are the ways that we should be doing.

That's how we should be channeling our energy.

And I think we need to look no further than the very successful No Kings protest that just happened.

that kind of sustained energy against the Trump administration, against the authoritarian actions of this government are essential.

It is an important tool for all of us, but it's only gonna work if we do it together and we bring more people in.

And the way you do that is through reason and peace.

Before we leave this topic and we'll get into the actual budget here in a second, we had people call in this show on...

Thursday, I guess, last week on the third.

Look, I'm somebody who traditionally likes the 4th of July.

I enjoy that.

Me too.

And I said, my position was, look, I get as much as I can.

It doesn't mean the same thing to everyone, particularly this year on the 4th of July.

I'm

going to talk later in the show.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine.

I'm going to talk about this a little bit later.

But I also said that to me, the American dream lives in each of us.

It's in our hearts.

It is what we is what we try to get out of the country together within our community.

And something my former boss used to say all the time, I like your reflections on this as a state legislator.

He said, Todd, you always got to give you got to sell people hope.

If you're just always witching and griping about everything and the world's going to hell in a handbasket and you never give them a hopeful way forward, you lose people.

And

without, in my case, without being disrespectful on anyone's life situation, what's your reflection as a state legislator, this vandalism now against the Board of Regions, just kind of the flavor of this state and this country right now, I see a lot of people just losing hope.

And I think that that's not, in my opinion, we gotta keep giving people hope.

Well, I mean, I think sometimes we misunderstand hope.

We think it's some kind of blind optimism.

And in fact, hope is continuing to work for a better world, even when the evidence is all around you, that, you know, that there's deep, deep problems.

And in our society, we are facing a very, very difficult moment right now in our country's history.

And people are being harmed.

We are seeing things that we never thought we would see in our lifetimes.

citizens being deported, people being disappeared off the street and sent to functionally concentration camps, horrific attacks on our judiciary and on the separation powers.

Let's not undersell that.

But if we don't want that, if we're not going to go along with that, the way that you do that is you keep on working because you believe that we can make it better.

And if you stop believing that, then you have given up.

Then you are essentially

giving us over to authoritarianism.

And I love this country.

And for that reason, I will always try to criticize her and make her better.

We're talking with State Senator Keldor Royce of the 26 Senate District here in Dane County.

She is also a member of the Joint Finance Committee.

She's been so gracious as to say, hey, you know what, I'll talk to you.

There's one of the many things I love about Senator Royce is that she's never afraid to have difficult conversations and just be honest and quite frankly, what work can you expect of an elected official these days in my opinion.

And so she's willing to take your calls.

855-752-4842-855-7524842.

You can also

Text us on the civic media app if you specifically working into the state budget here And if you have a question because there's been a lot of especially with the holiday weekend people are what the heck really happened here And so if you have a question about the state budget or state government in general give us a call eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two four eight four two or Text us on the civic media app.

All right, senator Royce.

So The budget kind of got done quickly.

It kind of

all came

together

The Democratic leader of the state, Senator Hesselbein, was brought in and I think, in my opinion, made a really bad bill.

at least better.

And I think we talked to Dan Schaefer, a political editor on Thursday.

I think one of the big winners in this whole thing was the Senate Democratic caucus who got a seat at the table and got some things done.

You were a no vote.

We'll give you time to explain that, but just your general reaction to the budget process and Governor Evers signing into law at 1.32 a.m.

on the 4th of July or the 3rd, whatever it was.

Well, I think the most important thing about

this budget is that we were in a terrible race against the federal government, against what Republicans in Washington are doing to try to throw 17 million Americans off of their health insurance.

And had we not passed a budget in time, we would have lost over a billion dollars for Wisconsinites, and it would have been absolutely devastating.

So having that time pressure, I think really forced Republicans

to make a deal.

They, you know, they knew that in the Senate, they didn't have the Republican votes to pass it.

They had to finally, they left until the last minute, irresponsible and reckless of them, but they did finally invite Democrats in.

So Senator Husslebein did have a seat at the table.

That said, I mean, I think the results show that this is a Republican budget.

This is a budget that's going to allow us to limp along for another two years.

It is less bad than it would have been.

And for that,

you know, we should be grateful, but I don't think anybody should be.

patting themselves on the back.

This is not a budget that gives our kids what they need.

This is not a budget that invests in the future.

This is not a budget that is going to help set Wisconsin onto a strong path forward.

And so I don't like to see people kind of taking victory laps on it.

I'm really glad you brought up that race to the clock.

We talked about that with Dan Schaefer last week.

For those that might have been early 4th July vacation, the state of Wisconsin, if they would not have gotten the budget passed and signed by Governor Evers before the federal budget got passed and signed into law by

President Trump, Wisconsin would have lost a billion dollars in money that would have gone to healthcare, correct?

That's right.

This has to do with changes in how we basically pull down federal money to healthcare providers, specifically to hospitals.

and changes in Medicaid, which is a huge insurer here in Wisconsin.

And of course the irony is, my former party continues for how many years now, not to take the federal Medicaid dollars.

Absolutely.

What a five states, and now all of a sudden, you know, Robin bosses, the clock is ticking all of a sudden.

You know, what's crazy to me is,

you know, Republicans, they've passed this bill where they're gonna throw 17 million people off healthcare, they realize it's gonna cause mass closures of rural hospitals and nursing homes.

So they're gonna now pass a bailout bill.

to give money to these providers, but they're going to just pay the providers to stay in business.

Why not pay so that people can have health care until those providers stay open?

Why just give the handout to the provider without getting the care?

It makes no sense.

Lots of questions to get to that, that I have, because I really wanted, you're so good at this, explaining what this bill now that signed into law means for Wisconsinites.

But hey, people want to talk to your center, and I'm

not going to talk about it yet.

The phone lines are lit up.

Let's go to the phone lines in order.

Do not hang up, as Matt Flynn likes to say.

We see you on the lines.

We'll take them in order of your calls.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

Let's go to Charles in Madison.

listening on WMDX.

Charles, thanks for calling.

What question do you have for Senator Royce?

Hi there.

Thanks for taking my question.

I'm a 22 year old that's living here in Madison and one of the issues that I noticed a lot of people my age seem to agree on is that we need a better public transportation system.

So I wanted to ask the state senator what she thinks our public transportation system should look like and why.

Great question.

And actually transit was one of the areas that really got screwed over in this last budget.

I'm sorry to say, um, well, we did have some increases in transportation funding and big highway projects and road building all, uh, got more money, but transit, no, not even $1.

And, um, you know, when I, I'm 45, actually no, I'm 46, just had my birthday.

Uh, thank you.

Uh, I don't know if it's, you know,

You're on the downhill slope there.

I'm ten

years

older

than

you, almost.

I'm nine years older than

you, Senator.

I still have yet to peak, I hope.

But nobody younger than me wants to be driving around in a car all the time.

If we want to be attracting young families to stay here, if we want our communities, whether they're cities or towns to be vibrant, we've got to have transit.

That's the vision I have, is transit in every community and intercity rail.

Do not hang up 855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

Come back more with your questions for State Senator Kelmer Royce

after this on the Tidal Ball Show on the Civic Media.

Welcome back to the towel ball show on the civic media radio network here on a Monday July 7th 2025 is now 52 minutes past the hour or eight before the hour of three o'clock we have an hour number two what's worse for you and Senator Royce is giving us a bonus round if your calls keep coming she'll keep answering at least for a while so State Senator Kelder Royce of the 26th district here in Dane County is our guest here on a Monday She is a member of the joint finance committee which helps write the budget here to help walk us through what the result

of this budget bill, which is now the budget law signed into law by Governor Tony Evers in the middle of the night, trying to beat that federal deadline to, so as to recoup about a billion bucks for Wisconsin taxpayers.

By the way, that song off of Senator Royce's Spotify playlist, the kids say it slaps.

That's why I heard they're saying out there.

Very

nice.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You have a very eclectic taste.

I do.

I love that about it.

I like it all.

Very good.

Absolutely.

I'll let's get back to the phone lines.

If you have a question on the state budget for state Senator Kelder Royce, 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

Take you in order of the call.

Paul, listening in Spooner.

Paul, thank you so very much.

You had a question for Senator Royce about school funding.

Go ahead.

Yes, Senator.

Thank you for being there for me.

At least I have some senator somewhere looking out for me.

Up here in the northern state, part of the state, I just received a mailing flyer in the mail regarding school spending.

And they're telling us now with this big budget bill spent past, this organization is now telling us that our taxes are going to go up by $300 and some dollars a year because the governor's veto that adds $300 for the next 400 years.

So they're telling us that's going to go on the backs of the taxpayers now because the school district no longer has to go to referendum, according to what this flyer is telling us.

But what's going to happen in the future of school funding?

I guess that's the big question.

Nobody's really aware.

So what is the state doing for us?

Because we know that department education is going to be gone.

Don't plan anything from the federal government.

They're telling us our local taxes are going to go up because of this.

So what's the future?

What's going on for the school board?

Great question, Paul.

And this is something we talked a lot about during the budget because Republicans chose to give zero dollars additional in general school aid, even though we've had high inflation increases.

Yes, it is very possible that your property taxes are going to go up.

And more importantly, we have been stuck in this cycle for now almost two decades of underfunding or cutting our schools at the state level.

The state doesn't do its fair share.

And then

local school districts have to beg their local property tax payer and pit neighbor against neighbor.

People say, I can't afford higher property taxes.

I want to stay in my home in this community, but I can't afford it.

But I want our kids to have good schools, right?

And that affects our property value.

So it's a horrible thing that Republicans recklessness on the budget has caused.

And unfortunately, this budget is going to continue that same problem.

I spoke a little bit with your staff.

I love about the transparency about you and your staff, by the way.

And I said, look, I get why you, Senator Royce, were a no vote

on this

budget.

You have one of the bluest districts in the state of Wisconsin.

I maybe in retrospect, I was a little hard and you're not here to talk about anybody else.

But I was a little hard on a representative Hong because she was out there on her social media saying, hey, get your dem legislators vote against this.

But to that point, you just made.

And this is where I have to walk back my comments and keep myself honest.

This is.

a nearly horrific budget for K-12 education.

And for Democrats who voted no on this, I would make the argument for myself, if you speak for you, I think that people who voted no on this were standing up for public education.

I think that's exactly right.

And we heard from people loud and clear in this budget cycle, and two years ago, the number one priority that people asked for, whether they called, emailed, or showed up at the public hearings, they want our schools funded.

Our kids deserve better schools.

They have been underfunded for decades, and it is time for us to prioritize public education.

This budget doesn't do that.

Here's a trick question for you.

If you were governor, would you want to run for election on this budget?

I won't make you answer that.

Next call, 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

Jordan and Madison, WMDX, quickly, Jordan.

What say you?

Senator, thank you so much for the way you voted on the budget.

And I wanted to ask you, where do you think the line is drawn between the acts of violence, which are significantly off, should be off the table versus general civil disobedience in regards to the heinous acts that are being perpetrated by the administration?

Thanks, Jordan.

Yeah.

I mean, this is, this is a really dire time.

And I think we need to.

As a movement, we need to be strategic about bringing people in.

And so things that are alienating the folks we have to kind of persuade to go with us, I think are counterproductive.

Some of the most effective protests are the ones that have joy, right?

That are fun, that bring people in.

You know, when I feel like I can bring my kids there and it's a family feeling, I do think this is a thing that Madison does really well.

I love this about my district.

Even if I don't agree with what we're protesting any day, like we actually do know how to bring people in into a movement.

We saw it with the protest against Act 10.

We've now seen it with protests against the Trump administration, number one, and currently, you know,

If you're going to do civil disobedience, like blocking traffic or something like that, make sure it is nonviolent, make sure you're doing it in a safe way as possible, and be prepared to accept the consequences for that.

I mean, that is a key component of civil disobedience.

It's not just that you get to break the law.

It's that if you're going to break the law, you have to be prepared to accept the consequences.

But we can win.

by coming together and speaking out against what's wrong because the people are with us.

They just need to see us.

855-752-4842.

Let's go quickly to Carol in Appleton listening to the ISS.

Carol, I got about 45 seconds.

If you go quickly, please.

Sure.

Hi, Senator.

Thank you so much for your continuous support for public education.

Here's my question.

With a special education increase in the zero state, generally, do you think public schools

will be able to keep pace with the inflation this year?

I think it totally

depends on

the district.

You know two-thirds of the districts because of the state aid are actually going to lose money this year according to the public instruction department's estimates.

Now, some of them may make up for that a little with the special aid increases, but that's, remember, that's not a some sufficient amount, right?

There's a fixed dollar amount.

So when it runs out, it's out.

And that means that we probably won't actually hit those targets that were touted as special education.

Well, give me more time on the other side.

So this is really, really important, this funding of public education.

State Senator Kela Royce is our guest.

She's going to stay.

So Denise and Green Bay, don't go anywhere.

Have a beverage.

Come on back.

We'll take your question on the other side.

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