12-05-2025
Local legislators, leaders talk about the state of Wisconsin's biennial budget
EAU CLAIRE — With the time to pass a biennial budget coming up, the Joint Finance Committee started work last Thursday. On Friday, local legislators and leaders following the process sat down to talk about where we those efforts currently sit.
The local advocacy breakfast hosted by the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce housed four speakers Friday morning: Bill McCoshen, partner at Michael Best Strategies; John Jacobson, Director of Public Affairs for Ruder Ware; Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire), a member of the Wisconsin Assembly, and Sen. Romaine Quinn (R-Birchwood), a member of the Joint Finance Committee.
The Joint Finance Committee's work started on Thursday by eliminating nearly 600 items from Gov. Tony Evers' budget proposal, as Wisconsin Republicans said they are starting from 'base' with the budget. McCoshen said this is not necessarily an exclusively partisan decision, as this action has been going on since 2010 as a means of eliminating 'all the policy from the budget.'
As that is partly where work stands right now with the Joint Finance Committee, McCoshen said we are still pretty early in the process and there are things that may or may not make their way back in.
'Ultimately that is how the process plays out from there,' he said. 'It really depends if there is discussion between the east wing, which is the Governor's Office, and the Republican majorities.'
'We started yesterday, and frankly we are on time,' Quinn said on Friday. 'Our goal is to have a budget done on time by June 30, the end of our fiscal year. Yesterday was the starting process; we came in, brought the budget back to base and now we start building from the ground up. Where do we want to invest… What is the surplus, what is ongoing, what can we afford and now where does that go? Is it special ed for school funding? Is it property tax relief? Is it investment in health care? Is it investment in roads and infrastructure? That is where we will start having those conversations now.'
Although the majority has not changed in Wisconsin, changes in both the assembly and senate may also impact the budget to a degree. With June 30 marking the end of the fiscal year, both legislative departments will have to vote and approve a budget ideally before that time.
'I don't know who is going to take it up first this year, but finance will build a budget over the next two months,' Quinn said. 'Every week, we will be meeting at least once, if not twice a week, going over agency by agency and building that and spending those funds until we get to the final product.'
With the impact of the November 2024 election, senate Democrats picked up four seats and assembly Democrats picked up 10 seats.
Talking about the budget process, McCoshen said the change does not necessarily guarantee anything at this time.
'It really boils down to 'do they need Democrats to pass a bill?' And if they do, that is when Democrats have a seat at the table,' he said. 'Just because the majority shrunk, doesn't automatically put the Democrats at the table.'
But ultimately it is still fairly early in the process with the Joint Finance Committee starting their work on the state budget and Wisconsin Assembly and Senate members eventually needing to vote when the time comes.
'I think it absolutely will have an impact on the budget,' Jodi said. 'Especially in the Senate, Republicans are going to need Dem votes to make it happen.'
Quinn said the change may make it harder to pass the budget from a Republican standpoint, and may make the budget a little more conservative due to the makeup of the legislature.
In terms of what could be on the budget, Emerson said 'I think what is important is that we build a budget that works for working families. Whether you are a retired working family or a young working family, we need to do what is right for the people of Wisconsin. As we are talking about tax cuts, that needs to happen in the budget process.
'What do we do to make sure that tax payers have the programs they have come to rely on and expect, and also make this budget work for working families?'
On the topic of what policies may come up during the next couple months, Quinn said, 'I think there will be a lot of conversations around what a potential tax cut looks like… When it is the budget time, literally everything is on the table. So everything is going to get talked about.'
