Gov. Evers gave his fourth biennial budget address on February 18, unveiling his 2025-27 executive budget. He proposes an operating budget of $ $118.9 billion over the next two fiscal years, adding a net 880.94 FTE positions. For comparison, the final 2023-25 state budget spent $97.4 billion with a net reduction of 175.51 FTE (GPR) positions.

The complete budget bill, budget in brief, and other executive budget documents are available here. The governor has also published his prepared remarks and a recording of his address, as well as selected excerpts.

By law, Gov. Evers’ budget will be introduced as a bill in the Wisconsin Legislature. The Joint Committee on Finance (usually Joint Finance Committee, JFC) will spend several months reviewing and altering the proposal. Based on experience, we expect the following to happen:

• The Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) will release a plain-language summary of the budget recommendations in about a month, that is, by the middle of March.
• JFC will hold agency briefings and conduct public hearings on the budget recommendations.
• The co-chairs of JFC will identify non-fiscal policy items and slate them for removal from the budget bill, which should occur roughly by the middle of April.
• JFC will vote, agency by agency, on changes to the budget.
• By June, the full budget should be available for debate and passage by both houses of the Legislature.

Below is an overview of the provisions in Gov. Evers’ budget, separated by issue area.

Energy and Utilities

• Create a $1 million pilot program to assist developers and electric utilities with the cost of developing renewable energy infrastructure on brownfield sites.
• Double the Focus on Energy program by increasing from 1.2% to 2.4% the existing tax on each utility’s annual operating revenues. This would double the program from $100 million to $200 million, annually.
• Conduct a $1 million nuclear power plant feasibility study.
• Reinstitute requiring electric utilities to submit biennial integrated resource plans to evaluate the utility’s ability to meet long-term electricity demand and its planned approach to integrate clean energy into its portfolio.
• Allow the Chairperson of the Public Service Commission to delay a decision on whether to authorize construction of a new power plant or high-voltage transmission line until 540 days after the application was deemed complete (currently, the PSCW has up to 360 days to make a decision).

Environment and Natural Resources

PFAS-Related Initiatives

• Allocate over $145 million for private well owners, municipalities, and water quality improvements across surface, drinking, and groundwater.
• Establish a PFAS Community Grant Program to assist municipal drinking water systems with testing and PFAS elimination through the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program.
• Create a County PFAS Well Testing Grant Program to help private well owners test their wells.
• Fund research on effective PFAS disposal and implement proven strategies.
• Provide grants to businesses and communities to reduce or eliminate PFAS use and release.
• Conduct statewide PFAS research, including sampling and testing.
• Launch PFAS biomonitoring studies to support local health departments.
• Offer emergency resources, including bottled water, for impacted communities.
• Protect farmers and landowners from financial responsibility for PFAS-contaminated biosolids cleanup.
• Increase biosolid sampling, testing, and remediation funding to assist impacted landowners and farmers.
• Propose a REINS Act exemption for PFAS-related rulemaking to establish enforceable standards, require biosolid testing, and prohibit land spreading of contaminated biosolids.

Other Environmental & Water Quality Initiatives

• Increase state well compensation program funding by $5 million over the biennium.
• Require new stormwater ponds in populous areas to meet safety standards.
• Create the Revitalize Wisconsin Program to address hazardous substance discharges, support Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Fund claims, and manage waste at abandoned properties.
• Authorize:
  • $9 million in bonding for contaminated sediment removal in Great Lakes sites on Wisconsin’s impaired waters list.
  • $11 million in Environmental Fund-supported bonding for urban nonpoint source cost-sharing and municipal flood control.
  • $10 million in bonding for county grants to implement land and water resource management plans.
  • $15 million in bonding for dam repair, reconstruction, and removal.
• Create a position to support water quality trading clearinghouse development.
• Establish a $425 permit processing fee for Wisconsin Pollution Discharge Elimination System wastewater general permits.

Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program

• Renew the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program at $83 million bonding, $9 million SEG, and $8 million GPR per year, totaling a $1 billion investment over 10 years.
• Adjust fund allocation to:
  • Increase investment in local parks and recreation.
  • Create a new subprogram for nonprofit conservation organizations managing conserved land.

Other DNR Initiatives

• Create a Winter Road Safety Improvement Grant Program ($5 million GPR) to help municipalities improve road equipment and storage for winter conditions.
• Increase the high-capacity well notification fee.
• Create a position for environmental review of transportation projects to expedite approvals.
• Increase Title V air permit fees to meet federal requirements.

Health and Insurance

Department of Health Services (DHS)

• Expands Medicaid eligibility for parents and adults from 100% to 138% of the federal poverty level, generating an estimated $1.6 billion GPR over the biennium.
• Extends postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months, with $8.2 million GPR over the biennium.
• Directs the agency to develop a federal Medicaid waiver to cover certain services for incarcerated individuals up to 90 days before release.
• Directs the agency to develop a federal Medicaid waiver to provide coverage for services addressing adverse social conditions, including housing and nutrition supports.

• Increases Medicaid hospital access payments, funded through a hospital assessment increase, totaling $3.25 billion increases for hospitals over the biennium. Also modify the hospital assessment to exclude long-term acute care and rehabilitation hospitals.
• Allocates $15 million GPR for hospital services in Western Wisconsin.
• Increases Medicaid reimbursement rates, including:
  • $18.6 million all funds for obstetric services.
  • $6.7 million all funds for enteral nutrition products.
  • $9.3 million all funds for medication-assisted treatment.
  • $23.9 million all funds in FY 2026-27 to modify the reimbursement methodology for rural health clinics.
  • $12.3 million all funds for autism treatment services.
• Provides $10 million GPR over the biennium to support Federally Qualified Health Centers.

• Allocates $20 million GPR in FY 2025-26 to establish crisis urgent care and observation centers as regional crisis stabilization facilities.
• Provides $2 million GPR for grants to local governments to support behavioral health collaborations with law enforcement.
• Expands Medicaid benefits to include adult residential behavioral health stabilization, withdrawal management, and intoxication monitoring services. Also provides $1 million GPR for grants to community-based withdrawal management centers.
• Develops a Medicaid waiver to establish a children’s behavioral health specialty managed care program.

• Provides $1.6 million GPR for maternal and child health grants.
• Allocates $1 million GPR for diaper bank grants.
• Provides $1 million all funds over the biennium to incentivize postpartum home visits by hospitals serving Medicaid recipients.
• Allocates $1.2 million GPR in FY 2026-27 to integrate WIC enrollment into the Medicaid eligibility system.
• Expands Medicaid coverage for community-focused providers, including doulas, community health workers, and peer support specialists, at $5.6 million GPR over the biennium.

• Expands Medicaid eligibility for children receiving services under the Children’s Long-Term Support Waiver Program, aligning it with adult long-term care eligibility.

• Allocates $2.5 million all funds over the biennium to expand Medicaid dental services by:
  • Developing a Medicaid waiver for a statewide dental contract.
  • Creating grants for rural dental health coordinators and mobile dental clinics.
  • Expanding Medicaid coverage for nonsurgical TMJ disorder treatment.
  • Removing the dental pilot project reporting requirement.
• Provides Medicaid coverage to include continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps under the pharmacy benefit instead of the DME.
• Provides $15 million GPR in FY 2025-26 for a pilot program on complex patient transitions from acute care to long-term care.
• Recommends regulating health care entity transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, and changes in essential health services.

Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI)

WI Healthcare Stability Plan

• Increase the cap for the program from $230M to $250M and update annually to reflect changes in consumer price index; add a staff position for the program.

Health Insurance Claims Denials and Prior Authorization Reforms

• Health Insurance Claims Denial Audits

• • Require OCI to establish a framework for auditing high rates of health insurance claims denials.
  • OCI should audit insurers with claims denial rates above a certain percentage, determined by OCI, and require corrective action plans based on the audit findings.
  • Allow OCI to enforce corrective action plans through fines, forfeiture or other mechanisms.

• Prior Authorization Exemption Requirements (Gold Carding)

• Require OCI to develop parameters for when services are exempt from requiring prior authorization; provider who receive prior authorization approvals above a certain rate would be exempt from requiring prior authorization for services provided or recommended by them.
• Prior Authorization Transparency
• Require insurers to provide consumers with a list of treatments and services covered by health plans offered by the health insurer which require prior authorization.
  • Require that any clinical review criteria on which a prior authorization requirement or restriction is based must satisfy certain criteria, including that the criteria are based on nationally recognized, generally accepted standards.
  • Prohibit a health plan from denying a claim for failure to obtain prior authorization if the prior authorization requirement was not in effect on the date that the service was provided.
  • Require health plans to provide all providers they contracted with advanced written notice of the new or amended prior authorization requirements or restrictions no less than 60 days before the new or amended requirement.
• Prior Authorization for Inpatient Mental Health Services
• Prohibit health insurers from requiring prior authorization to receive inpatient mental health services for children and adults.
• Public Intervenor Office
• Create a Public Intervenor Office within OCI to provide information and assistance to consumers in receiving better claim outcomes. Consumers whose health insurance claims are denied would be assisted with appeals and other legal actions to pursue coverage for health care services.

Prescription Drugs and PBMs

• Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board
  • The Board would observe practices in the pharmaceutical industry, analyze other state and national prescription drug practices and policies, establish public sector entity spending limits, and set price ceilings on certain prescription drugs when necessary in order to track and limit unnecessary and predatory increases in prescription drug costs.
  • Office of Prescription Drug Affordability: administer prescription drug regulatory provisions included in this executive budget and to further analyze and develop policy initiatives aimed at reducing prescription drug costs and increasing affordability.

• • Insulin Copayment Cap of $35 for a one-month supply .
  • Insulin Safety Net Program for those with lower incomes and limited to no insurance coverage.
  • Prescription Drug Importation Program to import generic, off-brand drugs from Canada.
  • State-run Prescription Drug Purchasing Entity Study.
  • Prescription Drug Supply Chain Regulation.
  • Pharmacy Benefit Manager Fiduciary Duty.
  • Application of Pharmaceutical Drug Manufacturer Discounts

• • • Require prescription drug cost reductions received from prescription drug manufacturer coupons and other discounts to count toward a plan holder’s deductible or out-of-pocket maximum. Only discounts for brand name drugs that have no generic equivalent and brand name drugs that have undergone prior authorization by a prescriber or the insurer are eligible in order to avoid incentivizing the purchasing of more expensive brand name drugs over their generic equivalents.

• • Reimbursement Regulation of the 340B Program

• • • Require PBMs and other third-party payers to reimburse certain federal 340B drug discount program participants for prescription drug purchases at the same rate that non-340B program participants are reimbursed.

• • Value-Based Diabetes Medication Pilot Program.

• • • The program would have a pharmacy benefit manager and a pharmaceutical manufacturer establish a value-based arrangement and allow the pharmacy benefit manager to leverage prescription drug discounts by creating a sole source arrangement with the given manufacturer.

• • Establish a State-Based Health Insurance Marketplace.
  • Licensure of:

• • • Pharmacy Services Administrative Organizations
    • Pharmaceutical Representatives
    • PBM brokers and consultants

ACA Codifications – Health Insurance Issuance and Coverage Protections

• • Require certain health plans to guarantee access to coverage; prohibits plans from imposing preexisting condition exclusions; prohibits plans from setting premiums or cost-sharing amounts based on health status-related factors; prohibits plans from setting lifetime or annual limits on benefits; requires plans to cover certain essential health benefits; requires coverage of certain preventive services by plans without a cost-sharing contribution by an enrollee; sets a maximum annual amount of cost sharing for enrollees; and designates risk pool, medical loss ratio, and actuarial value requirements.

Commercial Health Plan Coverage Requirements:

• • Over-the-Counter Contraception Coverage.
  • Dental Therapist Coverage.
  • Qualified Treatment Trainee Coverage.
  • Substance Use Disorder Counselor Coverage.

Balance Billing Regulations and Emergency Ambulance Services Reimbursement

• • Regulate balance billing in the following situations: when emergency services are delivered by an out-of-network provider, when ancillary services are delivered at an in-network facility by an out-of-network provider or when mental health services are delivered during a crisis. Require health care providers deliver a good-faith cost estimate of services to the patient before those services are delivered.
  • Requires insurers to reimburse out of network emergency ground ambulance providers the greatest of 1) a rate that is set or approved by a local governmental entity in the jurisdiction in which the emergency ambulance services originated; 2) a rate that is 400 percent of Medicare or a rate that is equivalent to the rate billed by the ambulance service provider, whichever is less; or 3) the contracted rate at which the health plan would reimburse an in-network ambulance provider for the same emergency ambulance services.
  • Prohibits balance billing by ambulance provider if they were reimbursed by health plan (in the manner above).

• • Require health plans to respond to claims for covered emergency services within 30 days.

Medical Debt Collections Reporting

• • Prohibit health care providers, billing administrators and debt collectors working with health care providers from reporting to consumer reporting agencies when medical debt is in collections status without patient disclosure.

Telehealth Parity

• • Establish parity provisions to ensure patients utilizing telehealth services are not charged or have their services limited any more than if they utilized an equivalent in-person service.

Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance Plan Regulation

• • Modify the initial and aggregate plan duration for short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans from 12 months to 3 months and from 18 months to 6 months, respectively.

Network Adequacy Standards  

• • Require OCI to establish standards for all health plans and also allow OCI to establish standards on maximum wait times for scheduling appointments.
• Pregnancy as a Special Enrollment Period Qualifier
• Health Insurance Navigator Funding
• Insurance Fraud Examiner Position (1 position)
• Public Option Health Plan Study

Education

Governor Evers has declared 2025 as the “Year of the Kid” in Wisconsin, prioritizing investments in education, educators, and student success. His budget includes over $3.1 billion in general and categorical aids for public schools.

Overall School Funding

• $1.2 billion GPR in general equalization aid.
• Over $1.9 billion GPR in categorical aid.
• $375 million GPR for the school levy tax credit.
• Aims to increase state support for school revenues to:
  • 71.4% in FY 2025-26
  • 72.7% in FY 2026-27 (up from 68% in FY 2025-26).
• Represents the largest direct state investment in school aids in 30 years, aligning with the historic two-thirds funding goal.

• Provides key investments in mental health, special education, literacy and nutritional needs.

 

Taxes

The plan includes nearly $2 billion in tax cuts targeting working families, seniors, and veterans while preventing property tax increases.

Property Tax Relief

• Over $1.3 billion in reductions, including a new incentive for local governments to freeze property taxes in exchange for direct state aid.

Income Tax Adjustments

• Increase in personal exemption from $700 to $1,200, saving taxpayers $225.9 million over the biennium.
• Add a new fifth income tax bracket having a rate of 9.80 percent for individuals and married joint filers with taxable income exceeding $1,000,000 and for married separate filers with taxable income exceeding $500,000. Currently, Wisconsin has four income tax brackets, with the top bracket having a rate of 7.65% for individuals making more than $315,000 and married joint filers making more than $420,000.
• Eliminate the tax on cash tips, allowing service industry workers to keep an additional $13.6 million.
• Enhance the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), providing more than $116 million in relief for working families.

Sales Tax Exemptions

• Eliminate sales tax on essential items, saving residents $261.3 million over two years, including: Over-the-counter medications, utility bills, diapers, menstrual products and basic household items.

Support for Veterans & Seniors

• Expand property tax relief programs with an additional $237 million in aid for veterans, seniors and individuals with disabilities

Tourism

• Allocates $28.6 million in FY 25 and $5.19 million in FY 26 for tourism marketing and advertising, along with two GPR-funded FTE positions.
• Shifts $8.7 million in tribal gaming program revenue to GPR funding for tourism marketing.
• Provides a one-time allocation of $1 million for the Rural Wisconsin Creative Economy Grant Program.
• Establishes a film production services credit with both refundable and nonrefundable components, as well as a credit for film production investment in Wisconsin. The total credits will be capped at $10 million annually.
• Adds three GPR-funded FTE positions at the Department of Tourism to support economic development and provide centralized assistance to Wisconsin’s film and creative sectors.
• Allocates $254,000 GPR annually and funds three GPR FTE positions to make the Department of Tourism’s Office of Outdoor Recreation a permanent resource for outdoor partners, brands, and industry.
• Increases funding for the Arts Board to achieve an estimated $0.68 per capita in state support for nonprofit arts organizations.

Workforce and Economic Development

Department of Children & Families (DCF)

• Allocates $440 million GPR and $40 million TANF over the biennium to establish Child Care Counts as a permanent state child care stabilization program.
• Provides $5.5 million GPR in FY 2025-26 for child care provider support, including start-up assistance and services for existing providers.
• Establishes an employer-sponsored child care grant program with $162,400 GPR in FY 2025-26, over $5.3 million GPR in FY 2026-27, and 2.5 FTE positions.
• Requires the Department of Public Instruction, in consultation with the Department of Children and Families, to establish a standard per-pupil payment for child care providers partnering with school districts using a mixed four-year-old kindergarten model. Also directs the creation of a model contract to define roles and responsibilities.
• Provides $11.5 million GPR in FY 2026-27 for an out-of-school time grant program for school-age youth.
• Allocates $19.4 million TANF in FY 2025-26 and over $20.5 million TANF in FY 2026-27 to adjust Wisconsin Shares copayments, capping them at 7% of family income, introducing a sliding scale, and waiving copays for families under 150% of the federal poverty level.
• Adjusts Wisconsin Shares funding by $21.3 million TANF over the biennium to raise provider reimbursement rates to the 75th percentile, as required by state law.
• Allocates $4.5 million GPR in FY 2025-26 for a technology platform for hiring, recruitment, licensure, and business planning for child care providers.

Department of Workforce Development (DWD)

• Provide $140 million to establish an ongoing workforce innovation grant fund, which would allow eligible entities to apply for funding to support locally driven solutions to known workforce challenges. Additionally, specify that in FY26, $15 million GPR must be allocated to artificial intelligence-related workforce challenges and $25 million GPR must be allocated to health care workforce challenges.
• Utilize $20 million to establish a worker advancement program to reach population groups underserved and disconnected from the labor force.
• Expand the State Registered Apprentice Program, including for:
  • Artificial Intelligence Apprenticeships – $850,000
  • On-the-job health care training – $3.75 million
  • Bridging pathway between youth and registered apprenticeship – $500,000
  • Apprenticeship Infrastructure – $550,000
• Increase funding for job training support through Wisconsin Fast Forward, including:
  • $2 million for green jobs training
  • $2 million for schools to hire teacher apprentices
  • $1 million for grants to support health care industry training
  • $400,000 for Technical Education Equipment Grants
• $1.6 million for “career navigators”
• Fully expand the Youth Apprenticeship Program so award dollars match demand.
• Require all private and local government employers with 50 or more employees offer eight weeks of paid family and medical leave income replacement benefits.
• $1.9 million to create employment and training specialists for correctional institution job centers.
• Transfer the Migrant Seasonal Farm Worker program from the Division of Employment and Training to the Equal Rights Division.
• Increase funding to enhance the department’s capacity to address misclassification issues by increasing staffing resources and conducting more audits and investigations to identify and resolve unlawful classification practices.
• Require pay to be included in job postings.
• Establish mandatory penalties for noncompliance with wage payment requirements.
• Reinstate prevailing wage.
• Repeal prohibitions on local governments enacting ordinances regarding: (a) minimum family and medical leave requirements; (b) wage claims and collections; (c) employee hours and overtime (including scheduling of work hours or shifts); (d) required employment benefits; and (e) solicitation of a prospective employee’s salary history.
• Repeal the prohibition on agreements such as collective bargaining agreements, project labor agreements or community workforce agreements between governments and labor organizations on public works projects.
• Repeal right-to-work.
• Establish that requesting an applicant for employment to supply information regarding their conviction record, or otherwise considering the record, prior to selection for an interview constitutes employment discrimination.
• Create a task force to study minimum wage.

Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC)

• Increase WEDC’s annual block grant funding from $41.5 million to $46 million starting in FY 2025-26 to address cost pressures and provide stable funding.
• $50 million GPR in FY 2025-26 to restart the Main Street Bounceback Grant Program to help businesses open or expand into vacant commercial spaces.
• $50 million GPR in FY 2025-26 for the Green Innovation Fund to spur lending and investment in renewable energy and resilience, helping businesses reduce energy costs.
• $5 million GPR in FY 2025-26 for the Opportunity Attraction Fund to bring national events and exposure to Wisconsin.
• $5 million GPR in FY 2025-26 for the Thrive Rural Wisconsin Project to support rural economic development and investment.
• $5 million GPR in FY 2025-26 to establish a grant program for small- and mid-sized manufacturers investing in advanced manufacturing technologies, with:
  • A maximum $200,000 per firm.
  • Matching grants covering up to one-third of the company’s investment.
  • A 10-year employment commitment from recipient firms, with repayment required if employment falls below the initial level.

Innovation & Industry Growth

• $15 million GPR in FY 2025-26 to provide state matching funds for federal grants under WiSys’s Forward Agriculture Program, promoting sustainable agriculture.
• $10 million GPR in FY 2025-26 for a business accelerator program in partnership with the University of Wisconsin System to develop research into new startups.
• $5 million GPR in FY 2025-26 to establish a Tribal Enterprise Accelerator Program, providing technical assistance and grants to help Tribal Nations diversify revenue beyond gaming and entertainment.

Workforce & Wage Growth

• Increase wage thresholds for enterprise zone and business development tax credits to account for inflation:
  • Tier 2 counties: Increase from $30,000 to $45,390.
  • Tier 1 counties & business development tax credits: Increase from 150% of federal minimum wage to $34,220.
  • Maximum wage threshold: Increase from $100,000 to $151,300.
  • Implement annual indexing adjustments starting in 2027 to ensure real wage growth for employees receiving incentive payments.

Tribal Economic Development & Housing

• Increase Tribal gaming funding for Native American economic development technical assistance by $79,500 PR-S annually.
• $3.8 million PR-S in FY 2025-26 and $2.5 million PR-S in FY 2026-27 from Tribal gaming revenues to fund:
  • Wisconsin Indigenous Housing & Economic Development Corporation.
  • Loan funds, business hubs, and homeownership support programs.

Legislative & Technical Modifications

• Update Main Street Program statutes to align with current federal regulations and practices

Civil Justice

• Create a false claims with qui tam provision to allow trial lawyers – in the name of the state – to sue private parties alleging public program fraud and allowing the trial lawyer to be awarded a bounty of up to 30% of the amount recovered.

• Create new avenues for civil suits against employers alleging gender identity & expression discrimination, unfair honesty testing, and unfair genetic testing.
• Create a new private right of action to sue broadband providers alleging provision of service discrimination.
• Create a new means by which service employees may sue employers alleging an employer is denying the employee’s right to a predictable work schedule.
• Create a new public intervenor office to facilitate civil suits against health insurance companies relating to coverage disputes with policyholders.

Criminal Justice

• Allocates $66 million to support crime victim services and address federal funding reductions under VOCA.
• Provides $800,000 for a Law Enforcement Officer Virtual Behavioral Health Crisis Care Pilot Program to connect officers with crisis care services.
• Establishes an extreme risk protection injunction process, similar to domestic violence injunctions (“Red Flag” Law).
• Requires ignition interlock devices for all alcohol-related OWI offenses.
• Provides funding and 12 permanent positions at the Wisconsin DOJ to support the Office of School Safety.
• Increases funding and positions for special agents and a criminal analyst in the Division of Criminal Investigation.
• Allocates $10 million to reimburse counties for increased costs of raising adult court jurisdiction from age 17 to 18.
• Provides more than $3.7 million in FY 2025-26 and $4.9 million in FY 2026-27 for 47 additional assistant district attorney positions to support crime prosecution.
• Allocates $24.5 million in FY 2025-26 and $70 million in FY 2026-27 for increased court support payments, requiring counties to offer treatment, alternative, or diversion programs. Transfers three DOJ positions to the Director of State Courts Office for program administration.
• Establishes two new circuit court branches in Brown County.
• Expands eligibility for criminal record expungement.
• Expands the Earned Release Program to include educational, vocational, and treatment programs.
• Provides funding and an additional position for circuit court support payments.
• Invests $79.7 million over the biennium for a new statewide interoperable communications system.
• Provides $4 million in local government grants for equipment upgrades to support the

Department of Corrections

Capital Expenditures

• Provide $535.5 million to revamp Wisconsin’s prison system. The plan includes:
  • $245.3 million to convert Waupun Correctional Institution into a medium security institution emphasizing vocational training and workforce readiness. The prison would close for temporary major renovations including demolishing the existing cell halls and replacing them with upgraded housing for 600 medium security individuals. The project would be ready to open in 2031.

• • $6.3 million to decommission and close Green Bay Correctional Institution by Spring 2029.

• Closure of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools. This is contingent on the new type 1 juvenile facility being completed in Milwaukee, completed construction on the planned $130.7 million Dane County Type 1 facility for youth, and working to site a third facility in northern Wisconsin.
• $9 million to convert Lincoln Hills into a 500-bed medium security prison.
• $8.8 million to convert Stanley Prison to a maximum-security facility
• $56.3 million to expand capacity at Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center in Hobart to increase bed space by 200 minimum-security beds.
• Convert the John Burke Correctional Center in Waupun to a female institution, adding 300 women’s beds.

Programming

• Expand the Earned Release Program (ERP) allowing individuals to complete vocational readiness programs, which can lower the chances of recidivism.
• Provide $3.7 million for pay progression to social workers and treatment specialists to increase capacity for substance use disorder treatment.
• Provide eligible individuals earned compliance credits toward their supervision, in addition to expanding access to job training and workforce readiness programs. Include $9.6 million for pay progression and parity for probation and parole agents and correctional field supervisors.
• Provide $8.9 million to expand community-based options for the Alternatives to Revocation Program.
• Include $1 million to place nine contracted certified recovery coaches around the state with a focus on individual recovery for those with an identified substance use disorder.
• Improve services provided by the Office of Victim Services and Programs and phase in a new regional approach to providing victims services. This will cost nearly $900.000 over the biennium.
• Provide $3.1 million to expand community corrections supportive housing services beds to support individuals experiencing hardships, such as housing instability or substance use recovery.
• Increase funding to $10.7 million for the cost of services for the Division of Community Corrections and Reentry Unit.
• Provide $2.5 million for ongoing funding for mobile jobs training labs and another $1.9 million for positions to staff job training at prisons.

Miscellaneous Items

• Legalizes, regulates, and taxes marijuana for recreational use, generating $58.1 million in projected revenue in FY 2026-27. Establishes a process for sentence reductions for nonviolent marijuana offenses.
• Regulates Delta-8 and Delta-9 products, restricting sales to those 21 and older, requiring product testing, and limiting production near schools and childcare facilities.

Glossary

Fiscal Year (FY): The state of Wisconsin uses a biennial budget with fiscal years beginning July 1. The next budget will address FY 2025-26 and FY 2026-27.

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE): The state budgets for staff positions based on the amount of work equivalent to a full-time employee working 2,080 hours per year.

General Purpose Revenue (GPR): The primary state revenue fund, derived from sources such as the income and sales taxes.

Segregated Funds (SEG): Revenues set aside for specific purposes, such as the state gas tax revenues used for roadbuilding.

Program Revenue (PR): Revenue derived from fees collected for government services.