2021-23 State Budget

The Budget Process
- Where are we in the budget process?
  The Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) has completed its work assembling a state budget for the 2021-2023 fiscal biennium, which begins on July 1. In May and June, JFC held a series of executive sessions to consider various budget motions related to state agencies and programs. In the series of articles linked below, we review the motions considered by the committee during each session, including notable items that the committee adopted:
  - May 6: Finance Committee Overhauls State Budget, Removing Hundreds of Policies and Resetting Spending Levels
  - May 13: Revenue, Veterans Affairs, Financial Institutions
  - May 20: Administration, Tourism, Ethics, Elections
  - May 27: K-12 and Higher Education
  - June 2: Natural Resources, Workforce Development, DSPS, DATCP
  - June 8: Transportation, Building Commission, Military Affairs
  - June 10: Justice, Courts, Corrections, DATCP, DNR
  - June 15: Health Services, Insurance, Children and Families, Public Service Commission
  - June 17: Final Motions, Taxes, Shared Revenue, WEDC, ETF
  In his original executive budget proposal, Governor Tony Evers (D) included a two-year operating budget of more than $90 billion and a long list of changes to various state laws and programs. Immediately following the governor’s budget address in February, Republican legislative leaders indicated they would make significant changes to the proposal.
  
  At its May 6 executive session, JFC took steps to more or less start over from the governor’s proposal. Then, the committee held a series of meetings to consider and approve budget motions for all state agencies and programs. With its adoption of Motion 999 on June 17, JFC completed its work assembling a state budget. In that motion, the committee adopted substitute amendments incorporating its changes to the governor’s proposal and recommended passage of the budget bill as amended.
  
  The budget bill will now go to the full Legislature for consideration. Based on indications from the offices of the majority leader in each house, the Assembly will vote on the budget first, around June 28, with the Senate taking up the bill around June 30.
- Key stories from the 2021-23 budget
  
  Full budget veto possible. Gov. Evers has publicly indicated that he may veto the budget in its entirety. In particular, the governor and his administration have criticized legislative leaders for refusing to accept federal money to expand Medicaid and for not providing enough funding for K-12 education. On May 27, the committee provided an increase in state funding for K-12 education compared to the last budget, but at only 10 percent of the governor’s original proposal. That level of funding may not have been enough to meet a federal maintenance of effort requirement for Wisconsin to receive billions in federal relief funds provided by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). At its final session on June 17, JFC approved additional education funding that should allow the state to receive its full appropriation under the ARPA.
  
  Unprecedented state revenue estimates. In its final session, JFC approved several significant tax cuts, including a full repeal of the personal property tax and a cut to the individual income tax rate for the state’s third and largest tax bracket. Although legislative leaders had previously indicated a desire to include some kind of tax relief in the budget, they were bolstered by a memo released on June 8 by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), a nonpartisan government agency. The memo projected that by June 30, 2023, state tax collections would be $4.4 billion more than previously estimated. According to LFB, the revised estimates are “based upon the strength of collections and the vastly improved economic forecasts for the remainder of this year and the next two years.”
  
  Repeal of the personal property tax. The Senate is quickly moving forward with a bill to repeal the personal property tax (Assembly Bill 191/Senate Bill 189). The Senate Committee on Economic and Workforce Development scheduled the bill for a hearing and session on June 22. Under the bill as introduced, the tax would be repealed as of January 1, 2021. As part of its tax relief plans, JFC voted on June 17 to set aside $202.4 million to reimburse local taxing jurisdictions for lost revenue in the event that the tax is repealed in a separate bill.
- The process
  
  Wisconsin operates under a biennial budget, meaning the legislature passes a budget every other year. The budget process begins in the fall of each even year, when state agencies submit their budget requests to the governor and the Department of Administration.
  
  The Department of Administration’s State Budget Office develops a budget based on the governor’s agenda and agencies’ requests. The governor then presents his budget to the state legislature for its consideration.
  
  Once the governor’s budget bill is introduced, typically in January or February of each odd year, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau will take 3-4 weeks to prepare a comprehensive analysis of the bill for the Joint Finance Committee (JFC). Starting in mid-March, JFC will schedule committee hearings and invite selected agency heads to appear and testify before the committee on their respective agency budgets. Public hearings on the bill are then held in three to five locations throughout the state, starting in March and completed by mid-April.
  
  After the agency and public hearings, JFC begins meeting several days each week through the end of May to take votes on various aspects of the bill. At the end of the JFC budget process, all JFC modifications to the governor’s bill are incorporated in a substitute amendment and sent to the full legislature for floor votes in each house.
  
  The legislature generally takes the bill up in June and sends their final product to the governor by the end of the month. The governor completes veto review within 30 days of receiving the bill, and then signs it into law.
- Public hearings
  The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) announced the dates and locations of a series of public hearings on the 2021-23 state budget:
  - Friday, April 9 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
  - Wednesday, April 21 at the Hodag Dome in Rhinelander
  - Thursday, April 22 at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie
  - Wednesday, April 28, held virtually
  Governor Evers also announced a series of virtual public hearings seeking feedback on and discussion of his proposed budget. Each hearing covered a different set of topics and occurred on the following dates:
  - Thursday, March 18: Economic Recovery & Opportunity
  - Thursday, March 25: Accessible & Affordable Healthcare
  - Tuesday, March 30: Transportation & Infrastructure
  - Thursday, April 8: What’s Best for Our Kids
  - Wednesday, April 14: Justice Reform & Marijuana Legalization
  - Wednesday, April 21: Climate Change & Our Environment
Hamilton Resources
- - Jun. 17, 2021
    
    Joint Finance Committee Finishes Its Work on the 2021-23 State Budget
  - Jun. 17, 2021
    
    State Budget Recap: Final Motions, Taxes, Shared Revenue, WEDC, ETF (June 17)
  - Jun. 15, 2021
    
    State Budget Recap: Health Services, Insurance, Children and Families, Public Service Commission (June 15)
  - Jun. 10, 2021
    
    State Budget Recap: Justice, Courts, Corrections, DATCP, DNR (June 10)
  - Jun. 08, 2021
    
    State Budget Recap: Transportation, Building Commission, Military Affairs (June 8)
  - Jun. 02, 2021
    
    State Budget Recap: Natural Resources, Workforce Development, DSPS, DATCP (June 2)
  - May. 27, 2021
    
    State Budget Recap: K-12 and Higher Education (May 27)
  - May. 20, 2021
    
    State Budget Recap: Administration, Tourism, Ethics, Elections (May 20)
  - May. 19, 2021
    
    Governor Calls for Special Session on Medicaid Expansion; Legislative Leaders Plan to Gavel Out Immediately
  - May. 13, 2021
    
    State Budget Recap: Revenue, Veterans Affairs, Financial Institutions (May 13)
  - May. 06, 2021
    
    Finance Committee Overhauls State Budget, Removing Hundreds of Policies and Resetting Spending Levels
  - Apr. 23, 2021
    
    Gov. Evers Rejects Republican Plans for Spending Federal Funds, Announces Additional Details
  - Mar. 12, 2021
    
    Finance Committee, Governor Announce Public Budget Hearings
  - Feb. 18, 2021
    
    Republican Leaders React to Governor Evers’ 2021-23 Executive Budget
  - Feb. 17, 2021
    
    Governor Evers’ 2021-23 Executive Budget Highlights
  - Feb. 12, 2021
    
    Drug Costs, Child and Long-Term Care, and Marijuana Legalization Will be Focuses of Gov. Evers’ Budget Proposal Next Week
  - Jan. 29, 2021
    
    State Projected to End the Fiscal Year with $630 Million More Than Previously Expected
  - Jan. 14, 2021
    
    In Third State of the State Address, Gov. Evers Calls for Unemployment System Overhaul and Declares 2021 “Year of Broadband”
  - Jan. 14, 2021
    
    State’s Medicaid Program Projected to End Fiscal Year with Surplus
  - Dec. 18, 2020
    
    State Projected to End Current Biennium in the Black; Next Biennium in the Red
  - Dec. 18, 2020
    
    2021-22 Joint Finance Committee Membership Announced
  - Nov. 19, 2020
    
    Legislators Chose New Leadership; Finance Co-Chairs Announced
  - Oct. 02, 2020
    
    State Agencies Submit 2021-23 Budget Requests
  - Oct. 02, 2020
    
    Current Fiscal Year Savings Targets Announced
  - Sep. 09, 2020
    
    LFB Releases Better-Than-Expected Revenue Numbers
  - Jul. 23, 2020
    
    Governor Evers Directs State Agencies to Identify More Savings
  - Jul. 16, 2020
    
    LFB Releases Updated General Fund Tax Collections, UI Information
  - Jun. 16, 2020
    
    Gov. Evers Releases Major Budget Policies for Agencies in 2021-23
Other Documents
- Department of Administration Documents
  - Feb. 16, 2021
    
    2021-23 Executive Budget Documents
  - Nov. 20, 2020
    
    Agency Budget Requests & Revenue Estimates
  - Jun. 05, 2020
    
    Governor's Budget Letter to Agencies
  - Jun. 05, 2020
    
    Major Budget Policies
- Legislative Fiscal Bureau Documents
  - Apr. 20, 2021
    
    Budget Papers, Summaries, and Memoranda
  - Feb. 18, 2021
    
    Overview of State Agency Major Request Items
- Wisconsin State Legislature
  Budget committees:
  Budget bills:
  - 2021 Assembly Bill 68
  - 2021 Senate Bill 111

Contents

The Budget Process

Where are we in the budget process?

Key stories from the 2021-23 budget

The process

Public hearings

Hamilton Resources

Other Documents

Department of Administration Documents

Legislative Fiscal Bureau Documents

Wisconsin State Legislature