(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed nine bills Friday, including a much-debated bill that would prevent tax money from going toward the health care of undocumented immigrants.
The bill had passed the Senate 21-12 and the Assembly 51-44 with bill sponsors saying it was aimed at preventing those who are unlawfully present in the country from receiving BadgerCare benefits.
Evers pointed to legislative debate on Assembly Bill 308 where a co-author stated that undocumented immigrants already cannot enroll in BadgerCare.
“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to Republican lawmakers passing legislation they acknowledge is unnecessary to prevent problems they admit do not exist, all for the sake of trying to push polarizing political rhetoric,” Evers wrote in his veto message.
Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, was removed from the Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs after a dispute about the bill when Carpenter reached for the gavel of Committee Chair Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield.
Evers also vetoed bills regarding student teaching requirements, disputes with the Elections Commission, military recruiting access to schools, building codes, emotional support animals, the state smoking ban in tobacco bars, data from University of Wisconsin system schools and a ban on local guaranteed income programs.
“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to burdening institutions of higher education in Wisconsin with additional administrative requirements, most especially when the Wisconsin State Legislature imposes such mandates without providing the necessary resources to successfully implement those requirements,” Evers wrote in vetoing Assembly Bill 166. “Further, many of the mandated reporting as required under this bill will, according to the University of Wisconsin System, ‘overlap substantially’ with existing information that is already available and submitted to the federal government.”

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Assembly is now set to take on a bill promoting free speech on the state’s college campuses when the bill is heard in the Committee on Colleges and Universities on Wednesday.
The bill previously passed the Senate 17-16 on Nov. 18. Senate Bill 498 would have to pass the Assembly and then be signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers.
Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, was the only Republican to vote against the bill. Nass’ district is home to Wisconsin-Whitewater, one of the University of Wisconsin system schools that would be impacted.
The bill would require any UW system school or Wisconsin Technical College to freeze tuition for two years if it is found in violation of the free speech rules two times. That portion of the bill was the largest objection for representatives of the UW system in committee.
““Freezing state funding to our universities that put our financially health potentially at risk and really compromise the very mission and the efforts that we’re all attempting to undertake,” UW Vice President for University Relations Chris Patton told the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges. “
The bill requires that the colleges not restrict free speech if the speaker is lawful or restict the time, place or manner of free speech on campus. The school cannot create a “free speech zone” and limit speech to that area, require a permit to limit expression or require a security fee be paid.
Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, cited several studies and surveys including a UW System survey showing that UW Madison students and students across the country felt less comfortable speaking out if they are conservative, a Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression survey showing that 35% of UW-Madison students believe it’s acceptable to use violence to stop a speaker on campus and data from The College Fix showing that more than 99% of donations from UW system professors went to Democrats, not Republicans.
“That (FIRE) number is disturbing on its own but it’s clearly even more chilling in light of the recent political assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus,” Nedweski said. “When we accept the false premise that speech is equivalent to violence, we allow violence to replace speech as a means of debate.”

(The Center Square) – The Northwoods’ congressman is asking Wisconsin’s governor to make the state’s food stamp rolls public.
Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, who is also running for governor, asked Gov. Tony Evers to release the FoodShare data that President Donald Trump wants.
“Like many Wisconsin residents, I was disappointed by your recent public statements ruling out cooperation with the federal government to detect fraud in the food stamp program. We should all be able to agree that fraud and abuse in vital safety net programs is unacceptable, which is why I hope you will reconsider your position,” Tiffany wrote in a letter to the governor.
The Trump Administration has asked for a wide swath of information about food stamp programs in the states, including social security numbers and immigration status for the 700,000 people on food stamps in Wisconsin.
“As you know, several states have already moved to work with the federal government to improve the program by sharing data with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to detect abuses and improper payments. These audits have helped to expose fraud and corruption that included cases of dead beneficiaries, duplicate payments, and illegal
aliens on program rolls – with some individuals fraudulently collecting benefits for years. Your position on this matter is even more shocking given recent developments in our neighboring state of Minnesota. There, the governor’s mismanagement and lack of transparency in food security programs have led to multiple investigations of a taxpayer-funded fraud scheme totaling a staggering $1 billion that allegedly involved Somalian terrorists,” Tiffany added.
The USDA has said it will withhold millions of dollars from Wisconsin and other states that have been earmarked for food stamp administration.
Evers has said the president wants to find a way to cut food stamps.
“Failure to police abuse in this program jeopardizes its solvency and integrity, harming those the most who can afford it least. By withholding this information, you are effectively prioritizing the ability of scammers and illegal aliens to bilk this program over the well-being of the most vulnerable Wisconsinites that it exists to serve. This makes no sense,” Tiffany wrote. “I strongly urge you to cooperate with the USDA audit.”

(The Center Square) – Fanatics Markets prediction market is live in Wisconsin, something that one of the sponsors of a Wisconsin sports wagering bill warned colleagues about before the = bill was delayed reaching an Assembly vote in November.
Prediction markets are similar to sports wagering but purportedly pit one user against other users in predicting the side of a sports event, election or any number of other topics.
Prediction markets have taken off this fall during football season with offerings similar to sportsbooks where operators such as Kalshi offer what they call event contracts. The Ho-Chunk Nation currently has a lawsuit filed against Kalshi for operating in the state.
Larger sportsbook operators such as Fanatics, FanDuel and DraftKings announced they planned to create prediction markets to compete with Kalshi and Polymarket in states that do not have legalized sports wagering such as Wisconsin.
Fanatics said it is live in 24 states as of Wednesday including Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.
Fanatics launched with offering in sports, finance, economics and politics and said that early in 2026 it will add crypto, stocks/IPOs, climate, pop culture, tech/AI, movies and music.
Prediction markets are regulated federally through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and do not require separate state taxes that Wisconsin would receive while the tribes would pay the state a revenue share based upon amended compacts that would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Interior.
Kalshi was hit with a large-scale class action lawsuit during the week of Thanksgiving claiming the company is operating unlicensed sports betting and the company wasn’t clear who they were betting against.
Rep. Tyler August, R-Walworth, warned colleagues that prediction markets would be coming to the state swiftly, a reason to pass his bill, which would create an opening to allow the state’s 11 tribes to offer online sports wagering.
“If we leave a gray area in state law, national prediction platforms will fill it without our compact framework, Wisconsin oversight, or Wisconsin consumer safeguards,” August wrote. “AB 601 does the opposite: it channels activity into a regulated, Wisconsin-based, compacted environment with clear jurisdiction and accountability. This protects consumers, respects tribal sovereignty, and keeps revenue tied to Wisconsin operations rather than flowing to unaligned national apps.”
Fanatics Market launched in Florida, which has a hub-and-spoke legal sports wagering model similar to the one proposed in Wisconsin but only allows wagering through the Seminole tribe and the Hard Rock Bet app. A new Florida bill filed on Dec. 2 attempts to make offering any internet gaming or sports wagering outside of the Seminole tribe illegal.
The Sports Betting Alliance – which represents DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics and Bet365 – has said it supports Wisconsin increasing its mobile sports wagering to statewide but believes the state should allow for a change that would allow those companies to work with the tribes and pay less than the 60% of gross revenue required by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act for its services, an amount that SBA Counsel Damon Stewart said would be too much to allow those companies to operate in the state.

(The Center Square) – A plan to add cameras to school bus stop signs is moving at the Wisconsin Capitol, where Sen. Rob Hutton’s, R-Waukesha County, legislation received a hearing in the Assembly.
Hutton’s plan would help catch people who drive past buses while they are stopped. He says passing buses is extremely dangerous and says reckless drivers need to be caught.
“When a reckless driver endangers children, we have a responsibility to make sure they can’t just drive away from the consequences. This bill ensures law enforcement can identify people who recklessly endanger children, fine them, and deter this behavior in the future,” Hutton said.
Cameras on school bus arm’s could cost taxpayers between $3,300 and $7,000 per bus, but some companies offer them at no cost if they receive a portion of each fine.
It is already illegal for drivers in Wisconsin to pass a stopped school bus, and prosecutors can even file recklessly passing a stopped school bus charges.
Some local schools already have cameras on school buses.
Beloit, for example, is in the middle of a pilot program that has put cameras on three of its school buses, but there is no statewide requirement.
The legislation would allow local police departments or sheriff’s offices to use the school bus video to find drivers who pass buses, and issue tickets after the fact.
“The officer may then issue a citation as provided for a violation reported by a school bus operator. Alternately, if authorized by the municipality in which the violation occurred, the owner, operator, or third-party vendor may prepare a traffic citation and deliver it, together with a picture or video of the violation, to a traffic officer for the officer’s approval and issuance,” the legislation reads.
Hutton said 25 states already have mandates for cameras aimed at drivers who pass school buses. He is hoping that Wisconsin will become the 26th.
The plan, however, has a long way to go before it could become law.
There’s almost no chance lawmakers will take any final votes on the legislation before next spring.

(The Center Square) – One policy analyst is calling the first year of results from Wisconsin reading screeners for students through third grade “troubling” as “more than a third of young students are falling behind.”
The data was released in compliance with Wisconsin Act 20, which requires the tests be given three times a year and that schools identify the lowest 25th percentile of student achievement on the test in order to then intervene to assist in teaching the students reading after creating a personal reading plan.
Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty Policy Director Will Flanders pointed out that 36.8% of students fell below the 25th percentile during the year.
“District trajectories vary dramatically from kindergarten to third grade, suggesting inconsistent instruction, questionable screener reliability, or both,” Flanders wrote about the results.
He also question the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s choice to publish the data over the Thanksgiving holiday.
“School districts have already demonstrated their strong commitment to this effort, and I am encouraged by how fully they embraced the work from day one,” DPI Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement after the data was released. “With time and a sustained investment in strengthened classroom instruction and, as needed, additional reading support, we can move steadily toward our goal of making sure every Wisconsin child excels at reading by the end of third grade.”
Flanders also pointed out that students who experience poverty or have a disability are more likely to have a lower score but schools that scored well used “evidence-based reading practices” and had positive results.
New analysis from @WillFlandersWI on the literacy screener results that DPI quietly released right after Thanksgiving over the weekend.Wisconsin children are struggling to read. Being honest and transparent about this reality is step one if we want to fix the problem. https://t.co/pp14tKcmyZ— Cory Brewer (@CoryJBrewer) December 2, 2025
“The screener data show that more than a third of young students are falling behind, that districts see wildly different trajectories from kindergarten to third grade, and that poverty and disability continue to exert a heavy influence on reading outcomes,” Flanders wrote. “Yet the correlation with Forward Exam proficiency and the clear standouts among districts demonstrate that improvement is possible—and that some schools are beating the odds.”

(The Center Square) – Three people received tickets for disorderly conduct after police forcibly removed someone following public comment about a data center project in front of the Port Washington Common Council.
Christine Le Jeune of the data center opposition group Great Lakes Neighbors United spoke against the $8 billion vantage data center project in Port Washington and, after her allotted three minutes, shouted “shame” and “recall” as she headed to her seat.
Video from the meeting then showed a police officer approaching Le Jeune in the audience and asking her to leave.
Le Jeune would not leave and then a second officer approached and then began pulling on her arms to remove her from the meeting. Le Jeune and two others were then taken to the floor in the meeting room and handcuffed before being removed from the building.
Police issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon about the incident.
“The female refused numerous lawful requests by an officer to leave the room at which time officers attempted to escort the female from the room,” wrote Police Captain Craig Czarnecki. “When officers attempted to escort the female from the chambers, she engaged in ‘passive resistance’ going limp and refusing to move necessitating officers to have to lift or drag her through the aisle and toward the door. During that time that individual was kicking toward officers, actively resisting arrest, and continuing her behavior which led to this disturbance growing unnecessarily.”
Video from Port Washington of the meeting does not show most of the incident but the argument can be heard and then the council was asked to leave the room.
After more than 30 minutes, the council returned.
“A reminder that we expect everyone here to treat everyone with respect,” City Attorney Matthew Nugent said. “If people are speaking, we expect that people will not interrupt them. If you cannot treat others with respect, you will be asked to leave. If you are asked to leave, you do need to leave.”
Police said that two of the individuals arrested were released at the scene and “a third was released from the Police Department after obstructing the arresting officer by initially refusing to identify herself.”
Police said that women aged 43, 52, and 55 were issued the tickets.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed a pair of motions to intervene in a pair of cases challenging the state’s congressional maps.
The group is arguing the maps have long been confirmed as valid and the Wisconsin Supreme Court had already rejected attempts to overturn the maps before it sent the current challenges to three-judge panels last week.
WILL argued the challenges are a politically motivated ploy to overturn maps drawn by a Democrat, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers.
“Revisiting congressional lines this way, less than a year before the election, sows irreparable distrust in our country’s political process,” WILL Deputy Counsel Lucas Vebber said in a statement. “We intervened on behalf of several Wisconsin voters to argue that overturning the current maps in this manner and imposing new ones would violate federal law and the U.S. Constitution.”
Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote in the ruling that he did not agree with how the three-judge panels were selected, saying “To avoid litigants simply choosing their preferred venue and judge, the statute requires the appointment of a three-judge panel with each judge coming from a different judicial circuit, and then requires that venue be assigned to one of those circuits.”
Justice Annette Ziegler called the selections “hand picking circuit court judges to perform political maneuvering.”
Daniel Suhr, president of the Center for American Rights and former policy director for Gov. Scott Walker, told The Center Square that it is surprising the court would even consider a map challenge at this point, in the middle of a 10-year congressional map timeline after several challenges were already unsuccessful.
“If the court was gonna consider it, you hand-pick a three-judge panel that we’ve seen in both of these cases and now the blazing fast speed at which the panels are proceeding is deeply disconcerting,” Suhr said. “It just seems it’s so blatantly obvious that it’s politics that is driving a decision to file these cases under this progressive majority on the court.”
WILL was involved in the maps previously when it filed an action after the 2020 U.S. Census asking stating that the existing maps were malapportioned.
Following that action, four maps were submitted to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, including maps from Gov. Tony Evers and the state’s Republican Congress members. Ultimately, the court chose Evers’ maps.
One question now becomes what will occur when maps are redrawn following the 2030 Census.
“I think part of what’s so frustrating here is the lack of stability in the law,” Suhr said. “It’s supposed to be the Legislature that draws the map, the state constitution is very clear.”

(The Center Square) – The biggest chunk of the tips to Wisconsin’s Speak Up, Speak Out school safety line last year were about bullying.
Attorney General Josh Kaul recently released the yearly report on the school safety line.
“Speak Up, Speak Out has been a resource for students and others to report concerns about safety and student well-being,” Kaul said in a statement. “As the numbers show, this resource is being used a lot, helping to make schools safer.”
Almost a third, or more than 2,200 of the nearly 7,000 tips were about bullying. The next largest set of tips, 505, was for vaping.
Less than 2% of the tips to the Speak Up, Speak Out line, 136, involved guns or weapons. While a little more than 2% of tips,145, involved some kind of sexual misconduct.
Kaul’s report does not differentiate between sexual misconduct cases between students and sexual misconduct cases involving teachers. There are also few details about how severe the threats or the cases of bullying are.
Kaul’s report does say that 14% of tips to the Speak Up, Speak Out line are of imminent concern.
“Tips that are potentially life-saving such as planned school attack, guns/weapons, concerns of suicide,” the report states.
The report adds that 11% of tips are elevated concerns.
“Tips that concern violence, criminal activity, or self-harm that has recently occurred or is highly likely to occur,” the report notes.
The rest,75% of tips, are simply defined as concerns.

(The Center Square) – A group of Wisconsin lawmakers are asking their federal counterparts to reverse part of the Clean Air Act that allows for vehicle emissions testing in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha counties.
The group cited advanced technology and a low failure rate of 3.1% and 3.0% in 2021 and 2022 for a program the lawmakers say cost residents $271.4 million from when it started in 1984 through the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The program is funded by a 1 cent-per-gallon petroleum tax.
The letter was signed by Republican Reps. Bob Donovan, Scott Allen, Lindee Bill, Cindi Duchow, Barbara Dittrich, Rick Gundrum, Dan Knodl, Dave Maxey, Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, Jim Piwowarczyk, Chuck Wichgers, Robert Wittke and Paul Melotik along with Sens. Van Wanggaard, Julian Bradley, Rob Hutton and Chris Kapenga.
“The Wisconsin Legislature has previously considered measures to limit or terminate the program, reflecting local frustrations with its diminishing returns,” the letter said. “Repealing the mandate for inspection programs in nonattainment areas would represent an extraordinary step by Congress, and we realize the significance of this request.
“However, we believe that the continuance of this program will not significantly improve air quality and reduce emissions, but instead continue to tax Wisconsinites for a program that has outlived its usefulness.
The vehicle emissions testing in seven Wisconsin counties taxes Wisconsinites, despite vehicle improvements rendering the program obsolete.My colleagues and I in the State Legislature sent a letter to Congress urging action.Read our full letter: pic.twitter.com/OCMHRJSRN6— Rep. Bob Donovan (@RepDonovan) December 2, 2025
Kapenga sponsored a 2017 bill to end the emissions testing requirements but the bill failed in committee.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin hunters harvested 0.8% less deer than a year ago with 182,084 deer during the 2025 gun deer season, including 86,068 antlered and 96,016 antlerless deer.
The season ran from Nov. 22 through Sunday and the muzzleloader season runs from now until Dec. 10 with a statewide antlerless hunt coming Dec. 11-14 and an antlerless holiday hunt in select zones from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1.
With the bow and crossbow seasons included, hunters in the state have harvested 1.1% more deer than a year before with 294,757 deer registered.
Overall, Wisconsin hunters have bought 790,044 licenses with 550,611 for gun only.
“We essentially have a pretty stable license purchase and participation rate,” said Department of Natural Resources Deer Specialist Jeff Pritzl.
The busiest area for deer was Marquette County in the Central Farmland Zone, which saw 7.9 deer registered per square mile while Vernon County led the Southern Farmland Zone with 6.5 deer registered per square mile.
There were two gun-related incidents reported during the season, which included the death of a Fond du Lac County hunter after an accidental self-inflicted gunshot to the chest. It was the state’s first gun-hunting fatality since 2022.

(The Center Square) – Morgan Geyser’s lawyer wants her sent back to the state mental hospital.
Attorney Tony Cotton wrote the judge in Geyser’s escape case, asking that she be moved out of the Waukesha County Jail.
“Given that she has no new criminal charges in Waukesha County and given that she has been previously found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect on the underlying offense, it is our position that she should be housed in a mental health facility, not a correctional institution,” Cotton wrote to the judge.
Geyser has been in jail since last week when she was brought back from Illinois following her escape from a group home in Madison.
Geyser spent the better part of a decade in the mental hospital in Winnebago after being found not guilty of attempted murder because of mental defect or disorder.
Geyser and a second stabber nearly killed a third girl when they were all 12. Geyser originally pleaded guilty, but that guilty plea was later set aside. She was sentenced to 40 years in the mental hospital.
A judge ruled in March that her mental health had improved enough for Geyser to leave the mental hospital. After a few months of searching, she was released to a group home in Madison.
It was at that home that police say Geyser cut off her court-ordered GPS ankle bracelet and fled. She wasn’t reported missing until the next day and wasn’t captured until the day after that.
It’s unclear if Geyser will face new charges in Madison. Police there say that’s where she cut off her ankle monitor and made her escape.
There is also no word if the man who police say helped Geyser escape will face charges. His charges would come in Dane County.
Prosecutors there have been silent so far.

(The Center Square) – Mandela Barnes is entering a crowded race for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor.
The former lieutenant governor ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 and lost to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.
Barnes was lieutenant governor under Gov. Tony Evers from 2019 to 2023.
Barnes’ campaign announcement focused on Presisdent Donald Trump, saying that Trump has focused on distraction and a lack of accountability while lowering taxes for billionaires and raising taxes for working families.
“The only way for our state to move forward is to reject the Washington way and get things done the Wisconsin way,” Barnes said in a campaign announcement video. “It isn’t about left or right. It’s not about who can yell the loudest. It’s about whether people can afford to live in the state they call home.”
Other Democrats in the race include Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, State Rep. Francesca Hong, state Sen. Kelda Roys, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes and former state Rep. Brett Hulsey.
Republicans in the race for governor include U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann.

(The Center Square) – Increased energy use from artificial intelligence data centers in Wisconsin will have a cost.
But the question is whether those costs will reach the residential utility payers on their home electric bills.
“And the tech companies are saying the right things and the utilities are saying the right things,” Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin Executive Director Tom Content said at a recent Wisconsin Technology Council panel on data centers. “All of our commission chairs are saying the right things that the cost causers are meant to pay.”
A big part of the reality is capacity, how much energy data centers need and how much the state’s utilities have to offer.
Alliant Energy’s Becky Valcq explained that utilities have constant infrastructure costs to ensure that the lights turn on when someone flips on a switch at their home or office. Having new large-scale customers like data centers that pay a large portion of infrastructure costs through their payment agreements with utilities can then offset those ongoing costs, which are a large portion of the bill that consumers pay.
“When we talk about growth, from a utility perspective, especially a utility that has a largely rural service territory, growth is good,” said Valcq, Alliant’s assistant vice president of regulatory affairs and data center services. “Why is it good? It’s because of all those fixed costs that we have regardless. The more customers we bring on, the lower those fixed costs are for all of our customers.”
Power capacity, however, is a large issue in the matter. Data centers in Port Washington and Mount Pleasant alone will use more energy than the rest of the consumers in the state.
It’s why Wisconsin leaders are pushing tax breaks for new nuclear plants.
Content explained that it took 120 years for We Energies to grow from 1 kilowatt to a gigawatt to five gigawatts of energy capacity but these two data centers will double that capacity need in a few years with more large-scale data centers coming, like a Meta data center in Beaver Dam.
“We’re in this inflationary environment already and now here come data centers,” Content said. “The utilities do have an obligation to serve and it’s always a question of at what time is the system ready for this project and can the system accommodate it?”
Data centers are expected to lead to the average American’s energy bill increasing from 25% to 70% in the next 10 years without intervention from policymakers, according to Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Jack Kemp Foundation.
The data centers are being brought in and given large-scale tax benefits, such as incentives negating property taxes along with sales taxes on everything from construction to servers to electricity, without the promise of many new employees and question marks on the lifespan of the developments.
“If you were trying to design the dumbest possible thing to subsidize, it would be a data center,” Center of Economic Accountability President John Mozena recently told The Center Square. “They are these big, dark buildings where virtually nobody works. Most of the high-value work at those facilities isn’t being doing by people on-site, it’s being done programmers in Silicon Valley or Shanghai or Mumbai or someplace like that.”