(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Building Commission recently approved spending $70 million on projects for the University of Wisconsin System.
The projects include $29 million to expand the UW-Madison engineering building, $10.5 million for the Winther Hall/Heide Hall Entry at UW-Whitewater and $5.4 million to complete Heritage Hall at UW-Stout.
The funds were available because previously approved projects at the UW System came in under budget, according to Gov. Tony Evers. Evers said that he believes the projects should have been approved last year, blaming Republican lawmakers for delaying the project approval.
“Our UW System is a central part of Wisconsin’s ability to compete in recruiting, training, and retaining a talented workforce, and it is absolutely essential that we support the UW’s important work, from these projects to robust state investments in our next budget,” Evers said in a statement.
The approved funding includes a small project fund to pay for what was called a backlog of maintenance and repair projects across the state.
The UW-Madison engineering building project will allow for expanded enrollment by 1,000 students along with updating classrooms and both instructional and research laboratories.
The UW-Whitewater project is intended to improve instructional and departmental spaces throughout Winther/Heide halls.
The UW-Stout project will create a new home for the College of Arts and Human Sciences by consolidating spaces that are in several buildings currently.

(The Center Square) – The top Republican in the Wisconsin Senate is promising to strip out any policy in the governor’s new budget.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu was a guest on UpFront over the weekend. He said Gov. Tony Evers’ ideas, like a citizen referendum proposal, are DOA in the legislature.
“It’s not a policy vision for the governor,” LeMahieu said.
LeMahieu said Republicans are focused on cutting taxes in the new session. He said the governor is focused on spending more.
LeMahieu didn’t say how much money Republicans at the Capitol are looking to spend. Instead, he said Evers is looking to spend too much.
“A lot of the requests, in education, K-12 is way too much. He said $4 billion was almost too much for him in education, so we’ll see what he puts in there,” LeMahieu added.
The governor has also endorsed the University of Wisconsin’s $855 million budget request.
LeMahieu said the legislature will “not fully fund” that request.
“Outside of Madison and maybe one or two other campuses, enrollment is declining,” LeMahieu said. “I’m not sure why it makes sense to continue to put more money into a system that’s in decline.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said he intends to pass a tax cut first, then deal with the governor and the rest of the budget.
LeMahieu said he’s planning to do the same.
“I think it’s important to get a commitment from the governor to cut taxes first before we pass the budget,” LeMahieu added. “We’ll work with the Assembly, but it might be a Senate bill, there might be an Assembly bill, and we’ll work together to maybe do both or combine.”
LeMahieu is less sure what will happen with ideas like an early-count law for absentee ballots or a medical marijuana program. Both of those ideas have support in the Assembly but are not as popular in the Senate.
Senate Republicans killed the last attempt at early count legislation because some senators saw it as an opportunity for election fraud.
LeMahieu opposed the latest medical marijuana pitch because he doesn’t like the idea of state-owned marijuana dispensaries.
“I think there are members of our caucus who are supportive of medical marijuana,” he said. “The challenge with the bill in the Assembly introduced last time was state-run dispensaries. I think from our caucus standpoint, my standpoint, is just having a certain number of dispensaries run, growing the size of government doesn’t seem to be the best way to do it.”
Evers has promised to deliver his state budget next month. Lawmakers then have until the end of June to approve a new budget for the next two years.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin governor declared an energy emergency
“due to persistent challenges caused by severe regional winter weather and its impact on the distribution of residential heating fuel, including heating oil and propane.”
Wisconsin is not suffering under a winter storm, but Illinois, Indiana and a line of states from Missouri to Virginia were hit by a winter storm last week. And another winter storm is currently freezing parts of the south.
Wisconsin is seeing the impacts in long wait times at fuel depots and delays for truckers bringing things into the state.
“From coast to coast in the U.S., Winter Storm Blair has impacted residents and industries alike. This has increased demand for heating fuel and caused strain on delivering essential products across our state, including fuel for home heating, which is critical for the health and safety of folks during the Wisconsin winter,” Evers said in a statement. “Getting residential heating fuel like propane and heating oil moving now to those who need it will help Wisconsinites remain safe as we continue to face cool and freezing temperatures in the coming months.”
The order means truckers who are hauling loads of fuel oil or propane, or other necessities are exempt from some of Wisconsin’s hours-of-service restriction. That means drivers can work longer hours to make up for the delays at fuel depots.
The Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s Office of Energy Innovation is reporting “challenges such as long lines at terminals and having to drive further distances to collect needed products.”
“Executive Order #253 will provide a 30-day waiver of certain state and federal hours-of-service restrictions, allowing suppliers to get caught up from weather-related delays,” the governor’s office announced.

(The Center Square) – Nearly $39 million in federal funding will be going to Amtrak’s Borealis Service, which runs through Wisconsin on the route between Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota.
The eight Wisconsin stops on the line include Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Dells and La Crosse. Amtrak opened the line in May with trips from St. Paul at midday and from Chicago in the late morning.
Ridership included more than 100,000 riders in the first 22 weeks of service. The full list of stops includes Sturtevant, Milwaukee, Columbus, Portage, the Wisconsin Dells, Tomah and La Crosse.
Leaders say that it fills schedule gaps from the Amtrak Empire Builder trains.
The funding will support the rest of the second year of service along with years three through six with the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois also funding the line.
“This investment doubles down on the success of Amtrak’s Borealis Service, reducing wear and tear on our roads, attracting new visitors, and bringing new business to our state,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin.
The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Restoration and Enhancement Grants Program.
The program is setup to assist with operating costs for eligible projects that will establish service on new routes, restore service on routes that formerly had intercity passenger operations and enhance service on existing routes.
There was $102 billion in rail funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including $250 million for the R&E Program.

(The Center Square) – Only 44% of Wisconsin parents are pleased with their child’s school and 13% are familiar with the school’s budgeting process, according to a new survey.
Wisconsin was ranked as the fourth-worst state nationally in terms of budget information in a state that has seen 169 out of 241 school ballot referenda pass this year at a taxpayer cost of $4.4 billion.
The survey was published by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty along with national nonpartisan school reform non-profit 50CAN. EDGE Research conducted the survey reach 403 parents and guardians of Wisconsin K-12 students and 20,090 parents and guardians of students across the U.S.
“Parents have little knowledge of school budgeting decisions, how much school districts are spending as well as how poorly many students are doing in school,” said WILL Research Director Will Flanders. “We believe these findings reflect DPI’s continued efforts to curtail accountability.”
School choice is one area where Wisconsin excels nationally with 69% of Wisconsin parents reporting that they believe they have options for their children’s education.
Only 28% of parents, however, say that they compare their school’s performance information with other schools.
Wisconsin parents also underestimated how much school spend on students with the average district spending $17,908 between state, local and federal funds and no district spending less than $12,415.
Yet 61% of Wisconsin parents estimate the schools spend less than $15,000 per student and 49% believing less than $10,000 is spent per student.

(The Center Square) – Younger people are drinking less beer and Wisconsin is seeing less aluminum recycling material at facilities that accept materials from local governments, according to a new report from Wisconsin Policy Forum.
Aluminum containers were the largest drop in recycling material, dropping 16.4% or 1,800 tons from 2013 to 2022.
The recycling material changes, as well as decreased state funding, has slowly risen the cost of recycling for local governments as they also have brought in less income from selling those materials due to dropping costs for the recyclables and changes in the makeup of the recycling.
The report cited Gallup polls showing that less younger Americans drink alcohol and less drink beer and stated that the recycling numbers change coincided with the societal change.
Aluminum is the most valuable recycling material, worth more than $1,000 per ton.
The amount of overall materials recycled at the facilities dropped 6,900 tons (1.7%) between 2013 and 2022 and more significantly dropped 5.6% per capita.
Cardboard and paper rose in quantity, making up 60% of the overall material recycled while newsprint, office paper and other types of recyclable paper saw a 35.6% drop.
The online shopping explosion has also had a huge impact as corrugated cardboard recycling went from 53,974 tons annually to 109,651. The largest increase was 59.3% between 2019 and 2021, “likely due to increased online shopping and shipping during COVID lockdowns.”
Local governments depend on property taxes, state funds and proceeds from the sale of the recyclables to fund the programs. With state grants and recyclable proceeds dropping, that puts more of the increased costs on local taxpayers.
“If state leaders want to ensure continued high-quality recycling services and limit the growth of local taxes and fees, they could consider increasing state recycling aids to again cover a larger portion of the costs,” the report said.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin legislature looks different in the new year.
Lawmakers in Madison started their new session on Monday, and while Republicans remain in control of both the Assembly and Senate, there will be more Democrats.
“In the Wisconsin legislature, today is a day of tremendous hope,” Sen Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, said on social media. “Over a quarter of the legislature is new. The Assembly has 31 new members while the Senate has 6. A majority of the Democratic Assembly caucus are first-time legislators.”
Wisconsin Democrats have those numbers thanks to a string of victories in the November election. Those victories are tied to new political maps that Gov. Evers drew to benefit Democrats across the state.
Wisconsin Republicans this session will go from having a 30-seat majority, 64-34, to having a nine-seat majority, 54-45.
Republicans will also continue to have a majority in the Wisconsin Senate, but barely. Democrats flipped or won five seats in November, turning what was a supermajority 20-10 advantage into just a three-seat, 18-15 advantage.
Larson continued to say he has hope for the new Democratic gains.
“With this new blood comes new ideas and a fresh will to tackle the greatest challenges facing our state. I look forward to working with all of them to improve public education, protect our environment, and promote opportunity for all of our neighbors!” he added.
Lawmakers will tackle a new state budget this spring.
Wisconsin operates on a two-year spending plan, and the current budget expires in the summer.
There are, however, already lines being drawn over the new state budget.
Republican leaders have said their top priority is returning Wisconsin’s $4 billion surplus to the taxpayers. Democrats on the other hand have suggested several different ways to spend it.
Gov. Evers says he will deliver his budget next month and has said he supports the request from the University of Wisconsin to add $855 million to their budget. He’s also said he supports more funding for the state’s public schools, though he has not said much more he wants to spend.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin saw a 15.7% overall general revenue tax collection increase in November compared to the year before, according to new numbers released by the Department of Revenue.
Overall, the state collected more than $1.8 billion compared to just below $1.6 billion collected a year before, based on numbers adjusted to factor in whether the month began or ended on a weekday.
Overall, the adjusted numbers show the state has collected more than $7.6 billion in general purpose fund taxes this fiscal year, up 6.1% from the nearly $7.2 billion collected at the same time the year before.
Sales tax collections of $663.7 million in November were 8% up from the year before while sales tax collections of nearly $2.7 billion are up 2.5% for the fiscal year.
Individual income tax collections are the largest category of collections with nearly $4.8 billion in collections for the fiscal year, up 9.7% from a year before.
Corporate tax collections of more than $735 million for the fiscal year is up 7.6%.
“This report includes general purpose revenue (GPR) taxes collected by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and does not include taxes collected by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, administrative fees, and other miscellaneous revenues,” the Department of Revenue said.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s election managers are going to look into Madison’s 200 missing absentee ballots found in the days and weeks after Election Day.
“The integrity of the election process is important and we needed to know and understand this,” Wisconsin Election Commission Chairwoman Ann Jacobs said.
Madison’s city clerk found 193 ballots in two batches, the first Nov. 12 and the second Dec. 3.
“I’m not looking at this as a punishment or something we need to investigate because of wrong doing,” Republican commissioner Marge Bostelmann said. “We need to investigate it to make sure it goes smoothly in the future and that we don’t have any other problems.”
Republican commissioner Don Mills said he continues to have questions about how the ballots went unnoticed for a week in one case and nearly a month in the other.
“My biggest concern here is why it took a month and a half for this to come out. That’s very, very disturbing and I’m hoping we can determine why that happened,” Mills said.
Madison’s election managers didn’t alert anyone about the missing absentee ballots until late last month. In fact, it wasn’t until the day after Christmas that Madison’s mayor announced that the ballots had been found.
“A discrepancy of this magnitude is unacceptable,” Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in a statement after Christmas. “This oversight is a significant departure from the high standard our residents expect and must be addressed and avoided in future elections.”
The mayor said the missing 193 ballots would not have swayed any election or ballot question, either in Madison or statewide.
The investigation into Madison’s election operation will be the first the commission has undertaken since it was created in 2016.
Republican commissioner Bob Spindell suggested the commission investigate Milwaukee’s election operation as well.
Milwaukee’s central count had to recount more than 30,000 ballots on Election Night after a worker noticed that doors on a vote counting machine were not properly closed.
Wisconsin Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson complained that Milwaukee’s central count operation was “sloppy,” and said the recount raised questions that need to be answered.
Jacobs said commissioners could discuss that at a later meeting.
No one is saying how long the investigation into Madison’s missing ballots will take, or what will happen once the investigation has wrapped-up.

(The Center Square) – A total of 30 Wisconsin projects will receive a portion of $23.2 million granted from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service aimed at building up the local and regional food supply chain.
The funds come through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program are added to 41 equipment grants previously announced through the program.
The largest grants are $2.8 million for a processing facility to warehouse, clean, package and distribute organic ingredients such as specialty grains, corn and beans at Doudlah Farms Organics at Evansville in Rock County, $2.5 million for a cold storage, produce processing and food production facility in Dane County for the Community Action Coalition of South Central Wisconsin and $2.4 million to expand processing and distribution for craft cider and spirits at Superior View Farms in Bayfield.
“Wisconsin’s farmers, producers, and our agricultural industries are a critical part of our state’s economic success and help make sure we’re getting food to tables, grocery stores, and restaurants across our country and the world over,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “I’m incredibly grateful these investments will help strengthen our supply chains and bolster economic opportunity and resilience across our state.”
The grants include $1.7 million for specialty berry diversification at Arise Nutrition in Wood County, $1.7 million for tribal food networks for the Forest County Potawatomi Community, $1.3 million for supply chain expansion for Olden Produce in Fond du Lac, $1.2 million for grain handling and storage at Bickford Farms’ Meadowlark Organics in Iowa County and $1 million for vegetable procession, commercial kitchen and storage at Little Society Farm in Sauk County.
“These Infrastructure Projects being funded through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program will build strength and resilience in Wisconsin’s food system, diversify agricultural markets, create new revenue streams for small and mid-sized producers, and provide economic opportunities for local communities,” said USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt.
The other grants went to Alsum Sweet Corn in Marquette County, Brix Cider in Dane County, Cattail Organics in Marathon County, Central Rivers Farmshed in Portage County, Chippewa Valley Produce in Dunn County, Clario Farms in Door County, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Garden To Be in Dane County and the Linda and Gene Farley Center for Peace, Justice and Sustainability in Dane County.
Nasonville Dairy in Marathon County, Ohe-Laku and the Oneida Nation in Brown County, Peck and Bushel Fruit Company in Washington County, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Red Door Family Farm in Marathon County and Season Harvest in Brown County received grants.
Grants were also awarded to the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Shawano, Vitruvian Farms in Dane County, Wello in Brown County, the Wisconsin Farmers Union Service Association in Chippewa County, the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative in Waupaca and Yes We Can Kitchen’s Bushel and Peck’s in Rock County.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is proposing a requirement that the Wisconsin Legislature allow citizens to propose binding referenda to enact statutory and constitutional changes through a majority vote at the ballot box and without the Legislature’s approval.
Evers said that will include the proposal in his biennial budget. It comes after five statewide referenda questions were proposed to voters in 2024, which Evers said were put on the ballot by Republican legislators.
“The will of the people should be the law of the land,” Evers said. “Republican lawmakers have repeatedly worked to put constitutional amendments on the ballot that Republicans drafted, and Republicans passed, all while Republicans refuse to give that same power to the people of Wisconsin. And that’s wrong,”
Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in response that the proposal should not be included in a budget proposal.
“The budget should be a budget, not a policy document. Instead of proposing a laundry list of policy items,” LeMahieu wrote. “@GovEvers should be focusing his effort on using the state surplus to address rising costs.”
Evers said that the Legislature did not listen to policies that have “broad public support” in the state and that residents do not have recourse where their thoughts are ignored by the Legislature.
Evers specifically pointed to legislation to legalize and tax marijuana, expand BadgerCare, restore Roe v. Wade abortion rules, add red flag gun laws, additional paid family medical leave and redistricting changes. He said that a majority of Wisconsin residents support those plans but the Legislature refuses to pass them.
“That has to change,” Evers said. “If Republican lawmakers are going to continue to try and legislate by constitutional amendment, then they should give the people that same power and that’s what I’ll be asking them to do in my next budget.”
Evers said that 20 other states, including Michigan, Illinois and Ohio, allow for binding citizen-led referenda.
“Ballot initiatives are what gave American farmers California’s awful Prop 12 law,” Wisconsin Farm Bureau Executive Director of Government Relations Jason Mugnaini wrote on social media. “It has destroyed family hog farms and raised costs for everyone. Consumers saw up to 40% price increases on pork in California.”