(The Center Square) – Six Wisconsin voting groups are now joining the Democracy Defense Project and Gov. Tony Evers in objecting to Madison and former Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl’s legal argument that absentee voting is not a constitutional right.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Common Cause Wisconsin, ACLU of Wisconsin, All in Wisconsin Fund and All Voting is Local joined to make a statement that Madison and Witzel-Behl should drop their defense that absentee voting is not a constitutional right in a class action lawsuit for the 193 absentee ballots that were found sealed in courier bags and had not been counted in the Nov. 5, 2024, election.
“We call on the City of Madison to immediately abandon this dangerous legal argument, take responsibility for disenfranchising voters, and work toward a remedy that respects voters’ constitutional rights,” the groups said in a joint statement. “We call on elected leaders across Wisconsin to reject rhetoric that undermines absentee voting and to recommit to protecting every eligible voter, regardless of how they choose to cast their ballot.”
Evers echoed what the Democracy Defense Project said in mid January, stating that the argument creates a dangerous precedent.
“Wisconsinites who choose to vote absentee are not second-class citizens, and I cannot and will not accept the suggestion that they have any fewer rights or that their vote counts any less than a Wisconsinite who chooses to cast their ballot in-person on Election Day,” Evers said.
The Wisconsin Constitution states that voting is a constitutional right but that absentee ballots are a privilege exercised outside the traditional safeguards of a polling place.
“The legislature finds that the privilege of voting by absentee ballot must be carefully regulated to prevent the potential for fraud or abuse; to prevent overzealous solicitation of absent electors who may prefer not to participate in an election; to prevent undue influence on an absent elector to vote for or against a candidate or to cast a particular vote in a referendum; or other similar abuses,” the constitution states.

(The Center Square) – The Republican running for governor in Wisconsin wants a full audit of the state’s public school managers after a report on a nearly $400,000 four-day workshop.
Current Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany on Wednesday said he wants a full audit of the Department of Public Instruction.
“INSANITY:@WisconsinDPI blew $368k in taxpayer funds on a 4-day water park junket to lower student standards,” Tiffany wrote on X. “They did it to hide a failing system where 69% of 4th graders can’t read at grade level, and@GovEvers vetoed efforts to raise standards.We need a full audit of DPI.”
The Dairyland Sentinel broke the story about DPI’s water park retreat this week. The Sentinel revealed that 88 educators spent four days at the Chula Vista Resort in the Wisconsin Dells in 2024.
The Dairyland Sentinel asked for information about that meeting last year, but DPI delayed Sentinel for over a year by ignoring a public records request.
“First,@WisconsinDPI hid 200+ cases of educator sexual misconduct. Then, they stalled an open records request for a year, revealing nearly $400k wasted on a water park junket to lower standards,” Tiffany added. “Meanwhile, 7 in 10 kids can’t read at grade level. This failure can’t continue.”
Tiffany is not the only one calling for action.
Republican Assembly budget chief Mark Born said lawmakers may “pause” on releasing $1 million in state funding to DPI.
A DPI spokesperson told Wisconsin Public Radio on Wednesday that if lawmakers that would have serious repercussions.
“Without that money, (we) will need to consider layoffs which will impact our ability to investigate educator wrongdoing, license teachers, pay choice schools, and operate the agency,” spokesperson Chris Bucher said.

(The Center Square) – After concerns were raised about spending on DEI, the University of Wisconsin-Madison shuttered a department but kept most of the staff and their titles working on equity issues, an investigation by The Center Square found.
The former Division of Diversity, Equity and Education Achievement – which employed about 100 people who earned more than $7 million annually – had been mired in financial mismanagement and attacks from Republicans before the university closed it last year.
An audit found that the university had no grasp of its total diversity spending and whether it was effective, and auditors identified problematic employee bonuses, travel and other expenses in the division.
Its former leader, LaVar Charleston, was demoted to a professor job in a different department in January 2025. The university announced the division’s closure in July.
Charleston had been paid more than $360,000 each year. The move slashed his salary by about two-thirds.
Employment data obtained by The Center Square show that – like Charleston – nearly all of the division’s employees were transferred elsewhere in the university, and they retained their diversity-related monikers.
“The closure was purely cosmetic,” said Wisconsin state Rep. Amanda Nedweski, a Republican who is vice chairperson of the House Committee on Colleges and Universities. “Not only is the university not tracking what is being spent, it doesn’t even have a way to measure whether it’s producing the results it was set out to produce.”
The division’s goal had been “to create a diverse, inclusive and excellent learning and work environment,” according to the university.
At the time of its closure, 98 people were employed in the diversity division. Seven of them lost their jobs in August, September and October, university records show.
The other 91 employees moved to other departments. Nearly all of them kept the same job title, including nine whose titles explicitly contain “diversity” and “DEI,” an acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Several of them have annual salaries of at least $100,000.
A university spokesman said the employees’ duties might have changed regardless of their static titles, and that many of the employees had overseen “sponsorship-linked student support programs.”
“These types of programs continue to exist and are working to further broaden or revise programming within their new units,” spokesman John Lucas said in an email.
He said the university has increased the frequency and scope of its financial reviews and made other changes to help prevent future spending problems.
State Rep. Jerry O’Connor, a Republican member of the House universities committee, has been frustrated by university leaders who he says lack transparency and recognition of lawmakers’ concerns.
“The university system doesn’t think they’re accountable to anybody but themselves,” he said in an interview with The Center Square.
State Republican lawmakers commissioned the audit that preceded the closure of the university’s diversity division. But O’Connor said they have little ability to make direct changes to public university functions — even though they hold majorities in the state House and Senate — because Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, can block them.
Evers’ office did not respond to an interview request. He is not seeking reelection this year.
Limiting or ending programs in state government that give preference to racial minorities and others has been a priority in recent years for Republicans in state and federal office.
In 2023, Wisconsin state lawmakers withheld $32 million in university funding until its Board of Regents agreed to curtail the expansion and scope of diversity-focused jobs. President Donald Trump last year threatened to investigate and withhold federal funding from universities because of the diversity efforts.
Wisconsin’s 13 public universities get more than $1 billion each year of state funding.

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal court to delay the June 16 shutdown of the Line 5 pipeline as the parties await an appeal of pipeline reroute plans in Wisconsin.
The federal filing said that, if Line 5 is shut down in Wisconsin, “America’s energy supply chain would be disrupted and Americans would see increased costs,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a statement.
“The Seventh Circuit is considering the case, and the district court should not impose drastic actions in this matter while the case is on appeal.”
The case has been pending appeal since December 2023 and the statement of interest announced Wednesday would allow the pipeline to continue operations.
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed a December lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval in October of Enbridge permits for a reroute of Line 5 around the band’s reservation in Wisconsin.
In the lawsuit, the band is hoping to block permits granted by the corps for a 41-mile reroute of the Line 5 pipeline in northern Wisconsin that it also has challenged based on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources permits.
That case is awaiting a ruling.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee has decided to delay consideration of $1 million in additional operational funding after a report highlighted how DPI spent $368,885 to hold a four-day standard setting event in June 2024 at a Wisconsin Dells waterpark.
Committee co-chair Mark Born cited the report to start the nearly two-hour hearing.
“Within the last couple hours, a media report came out, the Dairyland Sentinel came out with a report regarding taxpayer use of funds at a resort for a conference and, since it’s so new, we just want to have the opportunity to at least review what’s going on there with this questionable use of funds,” Born said. “We just want to hit pause on that.”
Born said that the committee will meet several more times in the next four to six weeks and could consider the additional appropriation for DPI operations over that time.
The Dairyland Sentinel report came after DPI released 17 more pages of documents on Monday after more than a yearlong wait on a public records request related to the meetings. The Institute for Reforming Government recently joined that fight and the Dairyland Sentinel credited them for pushing the issue.
“Bottom line, when the state government hides or delays access to records, we push back,” Jake Curtis, IRG’s General Counsel and Director of its Center for Investigative Oversight, said in a statement. “When the public deserves answers, we work to get them. This time, that pressure paid off.
“The public has a right to know what its government is doing and IRG will continue to hold public officials accountable for failing to produce public records the public has a right to review. We applaud lawmakers for pausing the money earmarked for DPI until they can dig into what happened at the water park.”
Dairyland Sentinel wrote that it would have more on the records release later this week.
“After a year of stonewalling by DPI, the team at the Institute for Reforming Government turned up the heat and got results,” Brian Fraley of the Dairyland Sentinel said in a statement.
TCS was unable to obtain comment from DPI on the report or funding delay before publication.

(The Center Square) – There is a lot more talk about growing hemp with the latest attempt to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin.
Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol this week introduced a plan to legalize both recreational and medical marijuana.
“This bill takes a comprehensive and responsible approach to cannabis in our state,” Rep. Sequanna Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said. “It provides safe and legal access for adults, ensures protections for medical patients, and establishes a clear regulatory system for the production, sale, and testing of cannabis.”
This is not the first time that Democrats in Wisconsin have proposed legalizing marijuana. It has failed every time in the past and is expected to fail this time as well.
The Republicans who control the state legislature continue to oppose full legalization.
But Democrats are taking a slightly different path this time, in hopes to maybe sway some Republican lawmakers.
Hemp farmer Phillip Scott joined Democratic lawmakers at their news conference. He made the case that legal marijuana could help Wisconsin’s hemp crop as well.
“Wisconsin farmers are at a crossroads,” Scott said. “The choice made now will determine if many of us have a future.”
He said many farmers in Wisconsin started growing hemp after the 2018 federal farm bill allowed it. Now, Scott said, Wisconsin’s $700 million hemp farming industry is in trouble because the federal government has changed its mind about hemp.
“These are not speculative businesses. They are working farms. They are family farms,” Scott added.
While hemp farming is getting plenty of attention from Democrats, the focus of their legislation is on allowing people to use marijuana.
Their plan would “allow adults 21 and older to possess cannabis for recreational purposes and licenses individuals and businesses to produce, process, transport, and sell cannabis.”

(The Center Square) – WisconsinEye was back on the air broadcasting legislative hearings at Wisconsin’s capitol Tuesday, starting with a hearing on a bill to send long-term funding assistance to the private nonprofit that broadcasts Wisconsin state government meetings.
WisconsinEye received $50,000 in funding through the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization to go on the air during February.
Assembly Bill 974 would allow the network to receive the interest from a $9.75 million endowment each year, estimated to be between 4-7% or between $390,000 and $682,000. The network would have to continue raising the rest of its budget, which board chair Mark O’Connell said is $950,000 annually.
He spoke during a public hearing in the Assembly Committee on State Affairs on Monday. A companion bill in the Senate is not yet filed.
“We’ll need some kind of bridge,” O’Connell cautioned, saying it will take time for the trust fund granted in the 2024-25 budget to earn interest and get it to the network.
O’Connell also said that he hopes the legislation can be changed to allow for the Wisconsin Investment Board to be aggressive while investing the fund.
O’Connell noted that WisconsinEye raised more than $56,000 through donations on GoFundMe since it went off the air Dec. 15 and that there are seven donors willing to give $25,000 annually and one that will donate $50,000 annually if the legislation passes, which he said would put the network in a “relatively strong position in partnership with the state.”
O’Connell noted that many states fund their own in-house network to broadcast the legislature and committees.
“This legislation will fund only about 1/3 of what we need,” O’Connell said.
The bill has four restrictions, starting with the requirement that appointees of the Assembly Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, Assembly Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader that are not members of the Legislature be added to the WisEye board of directors.
WisEye will be required to focus coverage on official state government meetings and business, provide free online access to its live broadcasts and digital archives and that WisEye provides an annual financial report to the Legislature and Joint Finance Committee.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction spent $368,885 to hold a four-day standard setting event in June 2024 at a Wisconsin Dells waterpark, according to a new report.
The event included 88 expert educators who were subject to non-disclosure agreements related to the workshop, according to records obtained by Dairyland Sentinel.
The publication fought for more than a year to obtain records of the meeting through Wisconsin Open Records law and attributes the Monday release of 17 more pages of documents to the involvement of the Institute for Reforming Government.
“The agency did not provide receipts for staff time, food, travel, or lodging,” Dairyland Sentinel wrote of the event at Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells. “Taxpayers are left to wonder how much of that $368,885 was spent on resort amenities, alcohol, or water park access for the 88 educators and various staff in attendance.”
There are no recordings of the event, DPI told the outlet, and meeting minutes were not sent as part of the public records response.
DPI was found by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty to have lowered school report card cut points in 2020-21, changed the labels on those in 2023-24 and lowered the cut points again that year as well.
In response, DPI formed a committee, held meetings and adjusted standards again last year.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s supreme court candidates continue to spar with each other in the opinion section of local newspapers.
Judge Chris Taylor wrote the latest, it appeared in the Washington County News.
“State courts are often the last line of defense when it comes to protecting our fundamental rights and freedoms and in holding those who violate the law accountable, no matter how powerful or privileged. That is why this race matters,” Taylor wrote in her op-ed titled “The choice for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court: rights or restrictions.”
Taylor took issue with Judge Maria Lazzar’s op-ed last month on abortion. Lazar used her op-ed to push back on the narrative that she wants a more restrictive abortion law for Wisconsin. Specifically, the claims that she wants a six-week abortion ban.
“Let me be clear: I am a jurist, not a politician. I am not running to impose a heartbeat bill from the bench, and any insinuation to the contrary is false. While I have been honest about my personal values as a mother, those feelings do not dictate my rulings. My role is to follow the law, not to legislate from the bench,” Lazar wrote.
Taylor, similarly, said she wanted to use her op-ed to try and clarify her stance on abortion in Wisconsin.
“The Wisconsin Legislature could pass restrictions on reproductive health care at any time,” Taylor wrote. “Wisconsinites deserve a justice who will protect their rights and freedoms, not take them away. That has always been my commitment, and the reason I went to law school over thirty-five years ago.”
Taylor also used her op-ed to open the door to other cases that are expected to end up before the state’s highest court, including Act-10 and right to work.
“Growing up, I learned that the law can be a powerful tool to help people and improve their lives. My grandma was a single mom to her three kids. She struggled to make ends meet, until she got a union job and was able to earn a living wage. I saw how laws that allow working people to organize, have a voice in their workplace, and earn a fair wage help working people not just survive, but thrive,” she added.
Taylor and Lazar are running for the open seat on the court. Voters will pick one of them in the April election.

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan Assembly bill that would re-start live stream operations of Wisconsin government from WisconsinEye is expected to receive its first committee discussion during a public hearing at noon Tuesday in the Committee on State Affairs.
The bill proposes granting WisconsinEye funds from $10 million set aside for matching funds in an endowment so that WisconsinEye can resume operations now, something that WisEye President and CEO Jon Henkes told The Center Square in November he was hoping to happen.
WisEye shut down operations and removed its archives from the being available online Dec. 15.
The bill, which is scheduled for both a public hearing and vote in committee Tuesday, would remove the endowment fund restrictions on the funds and instead put the $10 million in a trust that can be used to provide grants for operations costs to live stream Wisconsin government meetings, including committee and full Assembly and Senate meetings at the state capitol.
The bill has four restrictions, starting with the requirement that appointees of the Assembly Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, Assembly Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader that are not members of the Legislature be added to the WisEye board of directors.
WisEye will be required to focus coverage on official state government meetings and business, provide free online access to its live broadcasts and digital archives and that WisEye provides an annual financial report to the Legislature and Joint Finance Committee.
“Finally, under the bill, if WisconsinEye ceases operations and divests its assets, WisconsinEye must pay back the grants and transfer all of its archives to the state historical society,” the bill reads.
There is not yet a companion bill in the Senate. The bill must pass both the Assembly and Senate and then be signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers.
WisconsinEye has continued to push for private donations to meet the $250,000 first-quarter goal to restart operations with a GoFundMe showing it has raised $56,087 of the $250,000 goal as of Monday morning.
“When we don’t always find consensus, it is nice to have something like transparency and open government where I think we’re in sync,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters in a press conference.
The Center Square was unable to reach Henkes or Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu for comment before publication.

(The Center Square) – Another Wisconsin Senator announced that he will not seek reelection on Monday as Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, announced his retirement from the Wisconsin Senate.
The announcement comes just more than a week after Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, made a similar announcement.
“The time has come for a new fighter to take on the mission of preserving life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for the citizens of the 11th State Senate District,” Nass said in a statement. “While the challenges are many facing the people of Wisconsin, the preservation of the American Dream in this state will prevail if each of us rises up and in unison defends our inalienable rights bestowed upon us from God.”
Nass has been in the Senate since 2014 and was first elected to the Assembly in 1990.
Nass spent 33 years in the Wisconsin Air National Guard, retiring as a chief master sergeant. He served in the Middle East in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
“ I have proudly fought for the taxpayers in my district with every vote that I cast for and against legislation,” Nass said. “I have always been bipartisan in my scorn of fiscal mismanagement and bureaucratic overreach regardless of whether the Republicans or Democrats were in charge, since the affliction of Big Government is a disease that infects both parties in Madison.”

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin Assembly committee is expected to vote Tuesday on a bill that will cap tuition increases in the University of Wisconsin system at the rate of inflation.
The bill comes after three straight years of tuition increases that followed a resident tuition freeze between 2013 and 2023.
The bill moved through the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges with a 3-2 vote in October but has not yet been scheduled for the full Senate. The Assembly Committee on Consumer Protection will vote on the bill after a Jan. 29 public hearing.
A 1% increase in resident undergraduate tuition is estimated to be worth $9.7 million systemwide while a 2.93% increase would be worth $28.5 million.
“With the continued rise of prices in almost every area of the economy, some increase in resident tuition is to be expected,” Sen. Andre Jacque, R-New Franken, wrote in testimony supporting the bill. “It should be noted that Rep. Murphy and I have introduced this legislation going back to when the tuition freeze was still in effect and supported by elected officials in both parties, a point at which UW backers were thanking us for bringing this forward as a measured and responsible proposal.”
The University of Wisconsin argued that flexibility in tuition is necessary with specialized majors requiring different equipment and staff and costs can rise more in one specialty than another.
“The bill risks undermining the financial foundation for essential operational functions, including facility maintenance, debt service obligations, and competitive faculty compensation,” Universities of Wisconsin Vice President for Finance and Administration Julie Gordon wrote. “Maintaining flexibility in tuition-setting is critical to ensuring the Universities of Wisconsin can continue to deliver high-quality education, remain responsive to workforce needs, and preserve affordability and access for students across the state.”
Jacque, however, believes that protecting the costs for in-state students should be the highest priority.
“It’s time to prioritize students over bureaucracy,” Jacque wrote. “A statutory cap on future tuition and fee increases linked to inflation will provide students and families the ability to plan ahead with confidence for college expenses without continuing to be used to backfill budget decisions that avoid limiting runaway administrative spending.”
The bill would have to be passed in both the Senate and Assembly before going to Gov. Tony Evers for approval.
Evers recently told the Daily Cardinal that he was “somewhat reluctant” to have a cap but it is a “possibility.”
“It’s not that I’m interested in having people going broke because they’re sending their kids to college, nor am I thinking that capping is the answer,” Evers told the outlet.

(The Center Square) – Milwaukee’s fire chief says it is long past time the state requires sprinklers in every apartment building in Wisconsin.
Fire Chief Aaron Lipski has been pushing for an updated state law for months. Wisconsin currently requires all buildings built after 1974 to have sprinklers, but all buildings before are grandfathered in. He wants to change that.
There is a plan at the statehouse from Milwaukee Democrats to allow local governments in Wisconsin to set their own rules. But that legislation is stalled and likely won’t get a hearing this spring.
“Am I optimistic that ends up in some big victory? I’d be lying if I said I am. I’m not optimistic about it, but we have to keep the conversation going,” the chief said on UpFront.
The biggest roadblock to a new sprinkler requirement is the cost. Republican lawmakers say it would simply cost too much to require building owners to retrofit every building in the state with sprinklers. Those costs, lawmakers say, would then be passed on to renters through higher rents.
Lipski said, however, that focusing on the costs of sprinklers ignores the cost of not having them.
“Why is it that fire suppression and fire safety takes a backseat to all the other concerns all the time? Why is it that us attempting to just have a conversation about this is met with vociferous opposition from the most powerful man in our state government? How is that possible?” Lipski asked.
Lipski’s comments came as Milwaukee firefighters dealt with another fire in another building that the chief said didn’t have sprinklers.
Firefighters rescued eight people from an apartment fire Sunday morning. The fire broke out around 5:30 am at an apartment building near 77th Street and Green Tree Road. The chief said the fire started in a shared hallway near the front door, which blocked people from getting out.
“At 5:30am today, @MilFireDept responded to fire in a multi-family dwelling, this one in the 6600 block of N 77th. 8 civilians rescued (including 2 infants), 7 via ladders and 1 interior; 2 additional with broken legs from jumping. NO SPRINKLERS,” the chief wrote on X.
Lipski said that the fire happened just hours before his taped interview on UpFront about the sprinkler requirement was “unreal timing.”

(The Center Square) – There is a push at the Wisconsin Capitol to require more black history lessons in the state’s schools.
A number of Black lawmakers recently introduced what they are calling the African American History Education Act.
“Now more than ever, it is imperative that Wisconsin students of all backgrounds learn the history and contributions of African Americans throughout our history. This country may not exist as we know it today without these contributions. Not only must we preserve our own history, but we must also recontextualize and reaffirm that African American History is American History. This history was paved with suffering and hardships, and the African American community has always persevered – exhibiting hard-work, creativity and activism,” Rep. Kalan Haywood, D-Milwaukee, said.
It’s not clear from the legislation just what would be taught under the new plan, or how it would be different from what’s currently taught.
State Sen. Dora Drake, D-Milwaukee, said wants to make sure all Wisconsin kids know about the history and stories of African Americans.
“African American History is not a separate narrative, but an integral thread woven into the fabric of our nation’s story. A full understanding of American history requires that students see the struggles, triumphs, and lasting impacts African Americans have had on our communities and nation. Our resilience, innovation, and leadership should not be limited to brief glances of the impacts of slavery and Martin Luther King’s, ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Our stories deserve more than a cursory glance during Black History Month and should be treated as a core foundation of the American story,” Drake said.
In addition to requiring new lessons, the proposal would deny a teaching license to new teachers who have not “received instruction” on African American history. It also sets aside nearly $400,000 for the effort.
This is not the first time Black lawmakers in Madison have proposed this idea. A similar plan in 2021 failed to get enough support to make it through the legislature and get to Gov. Tony Evers’ desk.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Sporting Heritage is set to take up a pair of bills Tuesday that will determine the immediate future of the state’s Knowles-Nelson stewardship program that has paid for upkeep and buying of public lands in the state.
The Assembly recently passed a pair of amended bills that would fund the next two years of the program but Charles Carlin of Wisconsin’s Alliance for Land Trusts pointed out that the bills include “virtually no funding for land acquisition.”
Assembly Bills 315 and 612 have already seen various forms, but the amended version passed by the body on a party line vote set aside $1 million for land acquisition, down from $16 million, which can only be used for the Department of Natural Resources to acquire land for the Ice Age Trail.
Assembly Bill 315 also set aside $9.25 million for property development and local assistance, down from $14.25 million.
Assembly Bill 612, meanwhile, creates appropriations from the state forestry account of $7.75 million for property development and grants, of which $1 million must be set aside for friends groups and non-profit conservation organization activities on DNR property, along with $4 million for local assistance grants and $3 million for wildlife habitat restoration to non-profit conservation organizations.
Rep. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewac, called the bill passage a step forward. But it is unclear if and what changes could occur as the bill reaches Senate committee.
“It’s not perfect, but I believe this is a good compromise that will protect all of the important aspects of the program, boost support for maintaining what we already own, ensure access for hunters, anglers and everyone who enjoys spending time in Wisconsin’s beautiful outdoors,” Kurtz said in a statement.
The bills come after the program was in jeopardy following a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling from July 2024 said the Legislature can’t block conservation requests from Gov. Tony Evers. Evers claimed that the Joint Committee on Finance was unconstitutionally and unlawfully blocking his requests through the program.
In a recent letter to lawmakers, Evers said he was disappointed the program wasn’t reauthorized during the budget process and instead it is relying on legislation and an appropriation afterward.
“I would be glad to sign any reauthorization proposal that appropriately supports both land acquisition and property management of Wisconsin’s valuable natural resources and public lands to secure the future of this program that is so fundamental to Wisconsin’s proud and cherished tradition of conservation,” Evers wrote.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin has now collected $567 million more this fiscal year in general purpose taxes than it did a year ago from Wisconsin residents.
December adjusted collections were nearly $200 million more than a year before, a 9.4% increase in collections, according to numbers released Thursday afternoon from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
Those increased collections are the reason that Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau recently adjusted its estimates to say that the state is likely with finish its current budget cycle with $2.3 billion of surplus.
Lawmakers continue to debate whether that additional surplus from taxes should be spent or returned to taxpayers in the form of tax rate decreases for the state’s next budget.
The adjusted December numbers showed a 7.7% increase in state income taxes year over year and a 2.2% increase in sales and use taxes. The income tax increases amounted to more than $71 million in additional tax collections compared to the year before.
Corporate tax collections rose by 25.1% in December year over year, meaning the state collected $121.6 million more in corporate taxes for the month.
Sales and use tax collections are now up 4.4% for the fiscal year while individual income tax collections are up an adjusted 6.8% and corporate tax collections are up 10.1%.