Wisconsin Assembly approves budget after adding provisions to secure votes from last Republicans

MADISON - Republicans in the state Assembly approved a state budget late Tuesday after adding provisions that they believed would get the $81.5 billion spending package through the GOP-controlled Senate.

The eleventh-hour tweaks would give counties 35 more prosecutors, prevent a committee of lawmakers from imposing new vehicle fees on its own and allow Tesla to directly sell its electric vehicles to consumers. Other changes would make it harder for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to reshape the budget using his veto powers.

But the budget the Assembly approved largely on party lines would not have the state cover two-thirds of school costs, despite pledges from Republicans to do that. 

The Assembly passed the budget 60-39, with three Republicans joining all Democrats to oppose it. The Republicans voting no were Reps. Janel Brandtjen of Menomonee Falls, Rick Gundrum of Slinger and Timothy Ramthun of Campbellsport.

The Senate is to take up the budget Wednesday.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester told Democrats they were a “rubber stamp for liberalism” who were declaring “Wisconsin stinks” by voting as a bloc against the budget.

“You wonder why Gov. Evers never asked for your input? Because you’re irrelevant,” Vos told Democrats. “We went to the middle, but it’s never enough for you.”

Vos and other Republicans in recent months have said they planned to have the state cover two-thirds of the costs for schools, but the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau found the GOP budget would cover about 65% of costs for next school year. 

"I feel we were able to come very close and that's why we were happy with the ultimate product," Vos said. 

Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz said Republicans had broken their promise.

"It should come as a surprise to no one that Wisconsin Republicans failed to adequately fund public education in their version of the state budget," the Oshkosh Democrat said in a statement.

The GOP budget departs significantly from the one offered by Evers, but it does focus new resources on Evers' priorities — K-12 education, health care, transportation and middle-class tax relief. 

Two Senate Republicans — David Craig of Big Bend and Steve Nass of Whitewater — have said they will vote against the budget because they think it includes too much spending. Republicans can't afford to lose any more votes in the Senate because all Democrats oppose it.

To help secure the vote of Republican Sen. Chris Kapenga of Delafield, leaders included in the amendment a provision that would allow Tesla to sell its vehicles directly to consumers rather than having to go through dealers as other car companies must. 

Kapenga owns Integrity Motorsports, which sells salvaged Tesla vehicles and parts for them. He said the business is a hobby and he would not gain financially from the budget amendment.

Kapenga said he had not decided whether he would vote for the budget.

But Vos said he was confident Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau would be able to round up the votes to pass the budget in his house Wednesday. 

"I have to trust Sen. Fitzgerald to work his own process," Vos told reporters. "He is a very capable leader."

Another provision added Tuesday would give counties 35 more assistant district attorneys than Republicans originally allocated for them. Coupled with additional prosecutors already included in the budget, counties would get a total of 65 more prosecutors. 

Under the GOP plan, Milwaukee County would not get any additional prosecutors, but all the counties surrounding it would get at least one more prosecutor each. 

Assistant district attorneys around the state would receive an additional $3.5 million in pay raises over the next two years as part of the amendment as well. 

GOP lawmakers also used the amendment to earmark $3 million for the Wisconsin Rapids-based Incourage Community Foundation in the district of GOP Sen. Patrick Testin of Stevens Point.

Another part of the amendment would make it easier for the Wisconsin Center District to expand the downtown Milwaukee convention center by providing more state backing for its loans.

It would also allow the state Department of Health Services to more easily spend money to enforce its work requirements for recipients of Wisconsin’s food stamp program known as FoodShare. Evers proposed eliminating the work requirements.

Lawmakers no longer would require the department to seek permission from the Legislature’s budget committee before it could spend $20.5 million allocated for the enforcement. The department also would not be required to submit a report on how many able-bodied adults are enrolled in the state’s job training program for FoodShare recipients.

This is in contrast to how the department must interact with the Joint Finance Committee when making changes to health care programs. Republicans in December passed laws that would require permission from the committee before such changes could occur.  

The Republican budget would commission a $2.5 million study to review new ways to pay for roads based on how many miles drivers travel. That could include setting up tolls or installing devices in people's cars to record how much they drive. 

Under that provision as originally written, the Joint Finance Committee would vote by 2023 on whether to establish new mileage-based fees — and the fees could go into effect without the approval of the rest of the Legislature. The amendment tweaked that provision so the entire Legislature would have to approve any new fees.

Originally, Republicans planned to eliminate a tax break motor fuel suppliers get to account for fuel that evaporates while they fill tanks. With the amendment, they scaled back the tax break but did not eliminate it.

The change will mean roads will get about $18 million less over two years compared with the Republicans' original plan. 

Under both the original GOP plan and Evers' plan, property taxes on the median-valued home would go up $56 for 2019 and $48 for 2020, according to a memo by the fiscal bureau.

In their amendment, Republicans put about $6 million more toward property tax relief so their increases would be just under those in Evers' budget.

With the amendment, property taxes on the median home would go up $55 for 2019 and $45 for 2020.

Guarding against Evers' vetoes

Many of the other changes in the amendment were aimed at making the budget tougher for Evers to get creative with his veto powers. Wisconsin governors have the ability to strike out words and numbers throughout budgets. 

In their amendment, Republicans changed phrasing throughout the budget to drop the terms "shall not" and "may not" and replace them with "cannot." If they used phrases like "shall not," Evers could veto the word "not" and put into law the opposite of what lawmakers intended. 

GOP leaders acknowledged there were limits to what they could do to prevent vetoes from Evers because Wisconsin governors have such wide latitude over budgets.

The Republican spending plan is about half as long as a typical budget, but it still stretches more than 500 pages. That leaves Evers with many opportunities to recraft the budget with vetoes.

Middle-class tax cut

The GOP budget, when paired with other legislation Republicans are working on, would reduce income taxes on average by $75 per person in 2019 and by $136 in 2020. Evers wanted a deeper income tax cut — $216 per person on average — but also wanted to raise taxes on manufacturers and capital gains. 

The Republican budget would increase the annual registration fee by $10 for cars (from $75 to $85) and $25 for many light trucks (from $75 to $100). It would also boost the title fee when buying a vehicle by $95, from $69.50 to $164.50.

Evers wanted to raise the gas tax by about a dime a gallon over two years, from 32.9 cents to 42.5 cents. He also recommended raising heavy truck fees by 27%.

The GOP budget would put $588 million in new state funding toward health care programs over the next two years. The Republicans rejected Evers' plan to take an additional $1 billion in federal funds through the Affordable Care Act to further expand health care programs and free up $324 million in state money. 

It would provide a $500 million increase in state funding for K-12 schools. That's about a third of what Evers wanted. 

The GOP plan would provide UW schools with an additional $57.7 million, about half of what Evers sought. On top of that, the GOP budget would provide $1 billion to construct new campus buildings and maintain existing ones. That's close to what Evers wanted for those projects.

The budget would continue a freeze on in-state tuition that has been in place since 2013. Evers also supports the freeze.

As the Assembly debated the budget, scores of public school teachers and education advocates completed a 60-mile march from the Jefferson County village of Palmyra to the state Capitol to call for more funding for public schools.

"We need to get the Legislature responsive to the needs of our most precious citizens, which is our kids," said Ellen Lindgren of the Wisconsin Public Education Network. "We’ve got districts that are folding, and we need to have this support to keep our schools vibrant and alive.”

Lawrence Andrea of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.