On Thursday, Feb. 28, Gov. Tony Evers released his 2019-21 state budget. Overall, Evers proposes an operating budget of $40.7 billion in fiscal year 2019-20 and $42.7 billion in fiscal year 2020-21. The proposed budget adds over 700 more positions than in the 2018-19 fiscal year. The largest increases in general purpose revenue (GPR) go […]
Evers Releases $43 Million Dental Plan
Date Wed, Feb. 20, 2019 - 1:35pm By Hamilton
Gov. Evers released a dental access initiative this week that would include $43 million in funding in 2019-21 for various dental programs. The initiative would: Increase the rate for loan repayments to the dentists who serve in rural areas from $50,000 to $100,000. Allocate $39 million for increased reimbursement rates to dental providers if they […]
Transportation Task Force Meets
Date Thu, Feb. 7, 2019 - 12:33pm By Hamilton
Department of Transportation (DOT) secretary-designee Craig Thompson, at the direction of Gov. Evers, has assembled a bipartisan transportation budget task force. The Transportation Stakeholder Task Force includes municipalities and counties, business and construction groups, tourism entities, and legislators from both Republican and Democrat legislators (full list of members). The task force has met twice to […]
LFB Issues Updated Revenue Estimates
Date Thu, Feb. 7, 2019 - 12:22pm By Hamilton
On Nov. 20, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) issued updated revenue and expenditure projections for the current 2018-19 fiscal year and the upcoming 2019-21 biennium. These estimates set the stage for the state’s fiscal position as Gov. Tony Evers prepares the 2019-21 state budget. Ending the current fiscal year, LFB projects the state will end […]
2019-21 Budget Process Beginning
Date Thu, Jan. 24, 2019 - 11:24am By Hamilton
The start of a new legislative session means Wisconsin’s biennial budget process is beginning. This week, the legislature gave Gov. Tony Evers a one-month extension from the typical late January deadline. Gov. Evers will give his budget address on Feb. 28. Once the budget bill is introduced, the Joint Finance Committee will begin its public […]
DHS Medicaid Projections Improve
Date Thu, Jan. 10, 2019 - 3:18pm By Hamilton
On Dec. 28, the Department of Health Services (DHS) sent the Joint Finance Committee an update on the state’s Medicaid budget that projects Medicaid benefits costs will be below budgeted levels by $212.7 million GPR by the end of 2017-19. In September, DHS had projected a $149 million difference between budgeted and projected expenditure levels […]
JFC Members Finalized
Date Fri, Dec. 14, 2018 - 11:06am By Hamilton
The 2019-20 session is beginning soon, and the first several months of the session will focus on developing the 2019-21 state budget. Key to the budget process is the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC), which modifies and takes the first votes on the budget bill before it goes to the full legislature. Below is the […]
DOA Releases Revenue Estimates for the Upcoming Biennium
Date Tue, Dec. 4, 2018 - 4:12pm By Hamilton
On Nov. 20, the Department of Administration (DOA) released a summary of the state agency budget requests and revenue estimate for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Typically, this revenue estimate has been used as the foundation for the development of the 2019-21 state budget. According to the report, the state ended FY 2017-18 with a […]
State Finishes FY 2018 With Positive Balance
Date Thu, Nov. 1, 2018 - 2:52pm By Hamilton
On Oct. 15, the Department of Administration (DOA) released the state fiscal report, detailing the final budget numbers for fiscal year 2018. The state ended the year with a balance of $588 million in general funds, which was $41 million more than budgeted. General purpose revenue (GPR) was up over 4 percent from the fiscal […]
Unpacking DHS’s Budget Request
Date Thu, Oct. 4, 2018 - 4:15pm By Hamilton
On Sept. 17, state agencies submitted their 2019-21 biennial budget requests that, in total, included roughly $2.5 billion dollars in additional funding (according to Wispolitics). Accounting for the bulk of the increase in state general purpose revenue (GPR) are the usual cost drivers – education, health care and corrections. Coming in a distant second to […]