Governor Evers has signed the new Wisconsin State Budget into law. The signing took place early this Thursday morning after the bill passed both houses of the legislature. The Governor and lawmakers had been racing to complete the document before Congress signed off on the reconciliation bill. That’s due to the fact that a provision in the federal bill would block a plan in the state budget to increase a hospital assessment to generate additional federal revenue that would then largely be sent back to hospitals.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu of Oostburg called the budget “a monumental win for the state of Wisconsin.” He said that “Today’s workforce is more mobile than ever. We’ve all seen the boom that low- and no-income tax states have experienced. Creating and maintaining a competitive tax structure in Wisconsin is the most important economic development tool that we have.” He said the budget will accomplish what Senate Republicans have committed to do since January: fund core priorities and cut taxes without creating an unsustainable deficit.”
However, Democrat Representative Joe Sheehan of Sheboygan voted no in the Assembly late last night, saying before his vote that “The budget before us does not reflect the full needs of our community. This proposed budget does meet the scale of the challenges facing Wisconsin. Too many urgent needs were left out. I cannot vote for a budget like that.”
The Representative did express his appreciation for the work Governor Evers and others did to move the process forward, and said that despite the outcome, that he was not done advocating for the needs of the community, and looked forward to working with members of both sides to accomplish that.
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