Evers, Republicans Find Common Ground

Gov. Tony Evers. Photo by Emily Hamer/Wisconsin Watch.

What a difference two years and one election can make.

Almost exactly two years ago, first-term Democratic Gov. Tony Evers threatened to veto the entire two-year state budget then being put together by Republicans who control the Legislature.

“That is always an option,” Evers told reporters in May 2021, referring to something that hadn’t happened since 1931. “That is on the table.”

Since then, several things have happened: Evers decisively won a second term. Republican legislative leaders, having failed to win a veto-override majority in the Assembly, now confer with Evers more often. GOP leaders are also getting along better with Milwaukee-area elected officials. And, the state has a record $6.9-billion surplus, thanks largely to federal COVID-19 cash.

Sure, Evers recently issued a new veto threat: He’d kill a new, GOP-crafted, shared-revenue formula if it comes with too many strings on local governments, who would get the first major boost in state aid in decades.

But, this year, instead of threats and insults, Evers and Republican legislative leaders have actually reached tentative agreements on three major pieces of the 2023-25 state budget.

So let’s give due attention to these tentative deals in our shared-power Capitol, unlike the stalemates in shared-power Washington.

One: Dedicating one-fifth of the 5% state sales tax to local governments, choked by state-imposed spending limits and often forced to hold local referendums to cover bills for emergency services and street and highway repairs.

On May 13, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) warned that several changes dropped the record surplus to $6.9 billion, a loss of about $200 million. In that report, LFB also projected that sales and use taxes will total $7.65 billion in the year beginning July 1. One-fifth of that would give local governments $1.53 billion next year when – and if – Republican Assembly and Senate leaders can resolve differences on what Milwaukee city and county must do if they also want to start collecting new local-option sales taxes.

A separate LFB report estimated that the one-year bump in state aid to counties, cities, villages and towns would vary widely, but the average increase would be 30%.

Evers had made raising shared revenue a top priority, so getting GOP leaders to agree to dedicating one-fifth of the state sales tax to local governments is a historic precedent.

Two: The Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee (JFC) set aside a record $125 million to detect and fight PFAs, the “forever chemicals” posing health risks but increasingly being found in water in the districts of both Republicans and Democrats statewide. Evers had recommended a $100-million down payment to fight PFAs.

JFC Democrats voted against setting the $125 million aside, because Republicans offered no specific plans on how that money will be spent and what powers the state Department of Natural Resources would have over that fund. Those details will come later in separate bills that “will work their way through the legislative process,” vowed JFC Cochair Rep. Mark Born. “Our priority is to make sure there’s funding available.”

Still, setting aside $125 million to fight PFAs was another major agreement.

Third: Significant pay raises for prosecutors, public defenders and private attorneys who represent criminal defendants. Under the change JFC approved, the starting pay for assistant district attorneys and public defenders would be $36 per hour – $1 more than what Evers recommended in February.

Raising those base salaries from $57,000 to about $75,000 a year will hopefully end the exodus of district attorneys and assistants for better-paying jobs. And, one out of every eight public defender jobs was vacant in February.

Private attorneys who accept criminal cases would be paid $100 per hour, instead of $70.

“This is going to be a transformational budget … to help us retain and recruit amazing prosecutors to help keep our community safe,” said Fond du Lac County DA Eric Toney, president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association.

“Ensuring that the justice system is properly resourced is a direct investment in individual liberties, due process and public safety,” added State Public Defender Kelli Thompson.

Sure, Republican legislators killed 545 budget items Evers requested, and they will disagree on K-12 school funds and the size of an income tax cut. But tentative deals on these three items is a welcome change from two years ago.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com