(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is under fire after a recent bill alleges he has illegally kept more than $170 million in taxpayer dollars from interest earned on unspent funds since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, would require Evers and Department of Administration Secretary-designee Kathy Blumenfeld to hand over $170 million in earned interest on the funds to the state’s General Fund.
The state of Wisconsin received $3 billion from the federal government during the pandemic.
In 2023 the Legislative Audit Bureau discovered the interest earned from these funds during an annual audit of the state’s finances, according to Wimberger.
That interest has now ballooned to more than $170 million.
“Gov. Evers exploited federal programs, turning interest payments on relief funds into his own $170 million slush fund,” Wimberger said in a statement. “State law is clear: the governor needs to return this slush fund to the people of Wisconsin. Every week he fails or refuses to do this, the governor is violating state law.”
State law requires all money with no specified purposes to be credited to the General Fund weekly unless otherwise provided by law, according to Wimberger.
A memo from Wimberger and Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Caledonia claims the administration misclassified the interest earnings as funds from the federal government. The memo argued the interest itself was not received from the federal government, and no federal restrictions may apply to its use.
Wimberger argues Evers has kept the $170 million illegally for every week he has failed to give the interest earnings to the General Fund.
This bill would force Evers to return the money to the people of Wisconsin, Wimberger said.
An email to Evers’ office seeking comment was not answered at the time of publication.
“Taxpayer money, including the interest it earns, should never be at the sole discretion of one individual,” IRG executive vice president Chris Reader said in a statement. “Lawmakers have a duty to ensure every public dollar – including the $170 million in interest from federal COVID funds – is spent responsibly, transparently, and with oversight.”
The bill isn’t just about money, but about maintaining the checks and balances that protect Wisconsin’s taxpayers and uphold the integrity of the state government, Reader said.

(The Center Square) – The Republican lawmakers who will write Wisconsin’s next state budget say they need to hold the line on spending as much as they can.
Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said the latest revenue estimates for the state show a need for “cautious budgeting.”
“The cost-to-continue remains high and our [tax] collections are down slightly compared to January estimates, therefore we must continue the success of Republican budgets of the past in order to ensure that we can meet our ongoing obligations,” the two said in a statement.
Marklein and Born, and their budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance, have already held several budget hearings, and they even stripped non-budgetary policy issues from Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal.
But they have not made any spending decisions yet.
The two said they were waiting for the May revenue estimates from the Legislative Finance Bureau. The LFB released those numbers Thursday.
“Based on our review of collections data and the economic forecast, general fund taxes will be higher than previous estimates by $22 million in 2024-25, and lower than the previous estimates by $321 million in 2025-26 and $36 million in 2026-27,” the LFB wrote. “The three-year decrease is $335 million.”
The LFB report shows Wisconsin will not lose money. The state expects to bring in more money for each year of the new, two-year state budget. The estimates, however, say there will be less new money than previously expected.
“While we are not surprised by these new estimates, we remain cautious as we work to craft a budget that invests in our priorities, funds our obligations, and puts the State of Wisconsin in a strong fiscal position for the future,” Born and Marklein said. “We are calling on Gov. Evers to take these revenue re-estimates seriously. Come to the table with legislative leaders and work with us to craft a reasonable budget that works for Wisconsin.”
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu on Thursday said Evers needs to meet with top Republicans by the end of next week if he wants to see a new state budget on time.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Senate approved a measure that will require public agencies that release public records only when they are sued to pay for attorney’s fees and court costs for the filing.
Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, sponsored Senate Bill 194 in an attempt to encourage public entities to follow open records law and release records in a timely manner.
“Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski had to settle a court case for records,” Wanggaard said in a statement. “Superintendent Jill Underly withheld records for 8 months and was threatened with a lawsuit before complying with a request. The Madison School District has been sued repeatedly for failing to respond to open records requests. Everyone, regardless of party, should agree that these actions were wrong.”
Current law allows the records requester to receive court costs and attorney’s fees if they prevail in a lawsuit, but entities that release the records before a court order is issued are not subject to paying the fees.
The bill would change that, allowing the requester to receive fees once a lawsuit is filed and the records are then released.
Van Wanggaard said he believes there has been an increase in officials not complying with open records law since the 2022 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling requiring a court order before the fees must be paid for not disclosing public records.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Senate approved a deal to spend $2.25 million on both a nuclear siting study and holding a nuclear power summit.
The Senate voted 28-5 to approve Senate Bill 146, which includes spending $1 million on a nuclear power siting study, more than $140,000 while adding a full-time employee focusing on nuclear power and $250,000 to organize a Nuclear Power Summit in Madison at a new University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering building.
Nuclear power represents 45% of the United States’ carbon-free electricity from just 94 reactors and Wisconsin is in need of additional electrical capacity with the potential for several new large-scale data centers to go online in coming years, according to Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin.
“This is huge for our state,” Bradley said. “This is great for economic development. It is great for all of our ratepayers. It’s got great bipartisan support.”
During a committee meeting on the bill, Rep.. David Steffen, R-Howard, said that a planned Microsoft data center in Pleasant Prairie would use as much power as the entire city of Madison and a potential Cloverleaf data center in Port Washington would as much power as the entire city of Los Angeles.
A Meta data center is also reportedly in planning for Beaver Dam.
Sen. Robert Wirch, D-Pleasant Prairie, said that he was concerned about the costs and risks related to nuclear energy.
“Chernobyl and Fukashima,” Wirch said. “Two of the greatest disasters we have ever seen happened because something went wrong with nuclear power.”
Bradley said the state already was receiving positive nuclear energy news with EnergySolutions announcing it was beginning planning and looking for a permit to reopen Kewaunee Power Station in Kewaunee County while working with WEC Energy Group.
With rising energy demand driven by data centers, artificial intelligence and industrial growth, the need for reliable, carbon-free power has never been greater,” President and CEO of EnergySolutions Ken Robuck said in a statement. “ By bringing our nuclear licensing and project development expertise to the table, we look forward to supporting WEC in the early planning stages for new nuclear generation in Wisconsin.”

(The Center Square) – A years-long plan to provide reliable, affordable high-speed internet access to people in rural Wisconsin now faces delays in funding and administration.
The Broadband, Equity, Access and Development Program, created by Congress in 2021 to provide high-speed internet to rural and unserved communities, is in trouble in Wisconsin after the state legislature declined to provide state funding in the last biennial budget process and the Trump administration initiated a review of the program.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disagree on how the $42.4 billion program should move forward.
In a letter to Lutnick, Evers said the Trump administration and National Telecommunications and Information Administration should continue to support Wisconsin’s BEAD Program in a timely fashion so thousands of Wisconsin homes and businesses in need of high-speed internet access can get online soon.
“Our state has already spent tremendous time and effort to achieve the shared goals of the BEAD Program,” Evers said. “I urge NTIA not to delay our states’ efforts at this final, critical stage, but to use the program review to create efficiencies that will accelerate broadband deployment to unserved Wisconsin residents.”
The lack of reliable funding and Lutnick’s recent initiative to review the program are an obstacle to the Evers administration, which has allocated more than $345 million in state and federal funds toward high-speed internet access since 2019.
The legislature rejected Evers’ proposed $750 million state investment, citing federal investments into the BEAD Program Wisconsin already expected to receive.
According to Evers, if those investments never come, the legislature’s rejection of his proposal would be futile.
“Wisconsinites are counting on these investments,” Evers said. “Internet Service Providers have planned their projects and are ready to put shovels in the ground. NTIA must not require any program changes that will delay Wisconsin’s plans–Wisconsinites in rural and unserved areas have waited long enough.”
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin estimates more than 450,000 homes and businesses in rural areas alone are unserved, underserved or have no service at all.
However, Lutnick asserted the BEAD Program needs to change course.
One reason for this is that the program prioritizes DEI favoritism over equal access to high-speed internet for all communities.
“Because of the prior Administration’s woke mandates, favoritism towards certain technologies, and burdensome regulations, the program has not connected a single person to the internet and is in dire need of a readjustment,” Lutnick said in a statement.
The new administration seeks to deliver high-speed internet access at the lowest cost for states by removing delays, waste and diversity preferences before getting homes and businesses connected, according to Lutnick.
Additionally, the Evers administration and PSC imposed DEI policies requiring the BEAD program to give preference to race or other minority statuses, such as mandating subgrantees to dole out preferences to woman-owned and minority-owned businesses, according to Daniel Lennington, an attorney for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
“Wisconsin’s BEAD plan is filled with racial preferences, treating some groups better than others, which is unconstitutional race discrimination,” Lennington wrote on X. “The Admin should mandate race-neutrality from @GovEvers, & withhold money until he certifies compliance w/ federal law.”
Despite pushback from the Trump administration, Evers and Wisconsin Democrats are adamant that the BEAD Program harbors no discrimination and seeks to equally serve all Wisconsin communities.
“This is about equity, not race,” Sen. Melissa Ratcliff, D-Cottage Grove, said in a statement. “This is about making sure that every resident, regardless of ZIP code, no matter where one lives, has a shot in today’s economy.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil is not far off from the state’s senior U.S. senator on President Donald Trump’s so-called big, beautiful bill.
Steil was on News Talk 1130 WISN on Thursday, and said he shares Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s worries that the federal reconciliation package doesn’t do enough to trim federal spending. But he said there is plenty in the package to like.
“When we are looking at a long-term structural deficit, where we are spending $2 trillion more than we’re bringing in every year, rough math, we need dramatic and transformational change,” Steil said. “The bill in the House takes us a step in the right direction. So, it’s progress. It’s not as much progress as, overall, I think we need to do to fully get the country back on track.”
Johnson has said he can’t vote for the plan as it’s written now.
Steil wouldn’t go that far, saying with a slim Republican majority “every vote counts.”
Steil said the bill does get some things right in his opinion.
“It extends President Trump’s tax cuts that really brought economic growth going into the recession. And makes real and substantive reforms, everything from canceling out electric vehicle subsidies, so that people can purchase a car or a bus that they want, or that the market tells you should, to making sure we have work requirements in our welfare programs for able-bodied childless adults,” Steil explained.
Democrats on Capitol Hill, and in Wisconsin, are portraying those work requirements at Medicaid cuts.
“Wisconsin Republicans like Bryan Steil and Derrick Van Orden have tried to save face by claiming that Wisconsinites’ Medicaid benefits ‘will not be cut by a nickel.’ Yet, the budget blueprint they voted for – calling for $2 trillion in cuts, including as much as $880 billion from Medicaid – makes it impossible for Medicaid to go untouched,” the Democratic Party of Wisconsin said in a statement.
Steil said Democrats are focused on the wrong thing when looking at Medicaid.
“And so what the Democrats want to focus on is how much money is going into the program. That’s the Democrats play card time and again,” Steil added. “Instead us as Republicans, what we are looking at this, is saying ‘Let’s look at the outputs.’ Let’s, in particular, make sure if you have able-bodied childless adult of working age that they’re working at a minimum of 20 hours a week.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s labor market remains at positive levels while the unemployment rate went up to 3.3% in April, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Chief Economist Dennis Winters said.
Winters said that Wisconsin numbers haven’t shown an impact from federal policy or tariff policy at this point. Winters said that the ongoing and initial unemployment rates have not risen or spiked in any way.
“As far as we know, that is going to continue until we see effects of what federal policies may have on the labor markets in the weeks and months to come,” Winters said.
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate remains below the 4.2% national rate while the state labor force participation rate was 65.5% in April compared to a 62.6% national rate.
The overall number of those unemployed in the state is higher than in 2024.
“That’s about 10,000 above year ago levels but still in a round number that we are very comfortable with,” Winters said.
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate was 3.2% in March.
Winters added that an impact could still be seen as federal trade policies and personnel policies become rules.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Republican Senate leaders say they need to meet with Gov. Tony Evers by next week to keep the state on schedule to pass a budget before the end of the fiscal year.
At the same time, Senate Democratic leadership said Republicans haven’t done anything but gut Evers’ proposals in the 87 days since his budget was introduced.
An essential part of the budget process for Republicans is a tax cut measure that will exempt some retirement income from taxes while also lowering the tax rate for the state’s second from the bottom tax bracket, a proposal Republicans made last year that Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said would be less than what was proposed a year ago.
“It’s imperative that we meet by the end of next week at the latest to stay on schedule to pass a budget by the end of the fiscal year,” LeMahieu said at a Thursday press conference. “It’s as simple as that. Time’s ticking. End of the fiscal year is coming and, if we’re going to work through finance to get a budget passed, we need to meet with the governor next week.”
Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein, D-Middleton, said that the state’s Joint Finance Committee made “irresponsible actions” when it removed 612 items from Evers’ budget proposal. She said that Republican leaders have not met with her about a proposal.
“Our doors are open,” Hesselbein said. “We want this budget process done on time at the end of June. We believe we can get it done. And my door is open so hopefully we can get it done and get enough people in the state Senate to a yes on this budget and we can continue to work for the people in the state of Wisconsin.”
But Republican leaders want to meet with Evers. Hesselbein was asked if she would be part of those conversations.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get all of us in the same room because of timing and schedules and stuff like that,” Hesselbein said.
LeMahieu said that he expected to receive updated revenue estimates for the next two fiscal years later Thursday and those would be key to discussions. The state’s April revenue numbers showed a 6.3% decline in year over year April tax collections, a trend that continued from a March drop in the numbers.
LeMahieu said that he and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos sent a list of available times to meet with Evers through next week.
“The governor and his staff have had our plan that we worked out with the Assembly to provide meaningful tax relief to hard-working families since March,” LeMahieu said. “In response, we have asked for specific items he would need to see in his budget to agree to cutting taxes.
“His staff has not been able to provide any of those details over the last six or seven weeks.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin tax collections were down an adjusted 6.3% year over year in April, according to numbers released by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
That comes after those same collections were down 2.9% year over year in March, a revenue trend that will have an impact as state legislative leaders work on the state’s biennial budget.
Overall, fiscal year tax collections are 3.2% more than the previous fiscal year to this point. But that increase is getting slimmer by the month. After the March numbers, Wisconsin was 4.8% better than the year before in fiscal revenue.
The largest percentage decrease in April collections were corporate collections, down 13.2% year over year, a decrease of more than $57 million. Individual income tax collections in April were down an adjusted 9.1% year over year while sales tax collections were 4.1% higher this year than April 2024.
Overall, Wisconsin collection an adjusted $142 million less in taxes and fees in April 2025 than a year before.
For the fiscal year, Wisconsin has collected nearly $512 million more than a year before with two months of collections remaining.

(The Center Square) – Women in Wisconsin are a step closer to having a new choice for birth control.
The State Assembly approved a plan to allow pharmacists in the state to prescribe the pill or a birth control patch. Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, sponsored the plan.
“Birth control is 99.9% effective when it is used according to directions, and regularly,” Kitchens explained. “The lack of access is the biggest reason that it sometimes fails. Women will leave home for a couple of days and forget about it, or they can’t make it to an appointment with their doctor. And this bill is going to help with all of that.”
Some pro-life Republicans voted against the legislation, claiming they have concerns about women being able to get birth control without speaking to a doctor first.
Kitchens, however, said his proposal is pro-life and pro-family.
“Along with drug addiction, unplanned pregnancy is the number one contributor to generational poverty,” Kitchens added. “Forty percent of unplanned pregnancies are aborted. The abortion rate is about a third of what it was in 1990, in Wisconsin and across the country, and the primary reason for that is increased access and education about birth control.”
Democratic lawmakers said it’s about time Wisconsin expands access to birth control in the state.
The plan passed the Assembly on an 87-10 vote, with both Republican and Democratic votes.
And Republicans may need Democratic votes in the Senate as well.
Kitchens wouldn’t say if he has enough Republican support in the upper chamber to pass the plan.
The Assembly has approved the same, or similar legislation, twice before but it never made it past the Senate.
Kitchens said he’s hopeful this time is different.

(The Center Square) – The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and several environmental groups spent two days testifying about the potential harm of a Line 5 reroute project to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Enbridge applied for permits and proposed to reroute the line in 2020 by replacing 20 miles of existing pipeline – including the 12 miles currently within the reservation – with a 41-mile-long stretch of pipe around the reservation in northern Wisconsin.
Line 5 transports 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario for 645 miles through a 30-inch diameter pipe.
The Band is both concerned about water contamination on the reservation, in Lake Superior and in the wetlands that serve as the Band’s wild rice beds and as a critical migratory bird habitat.
“The Line 5 pipeline is a daily threat to our clean rivers and lakes, our fish, and our wild rice,” Bad River Band Chairman Robert Blanchard said in a statement. “If Enbridge is allowed to move this nightmare upstream to get around our borders, it will only endanger more of our homeland. Our drinking water, our way of life, and our very future hang in the balance. During the hearing, our message to Enbridge and to the US Army Corps was consistent and clear: Issuing this permit will violate our water quality standards.”
Enbridge told The Center Square that it has received five years of public review and input, making it the most-studied pipeline project in Wisconsin history.
“We’re confident construction impacts from the project are temporary, will have no measurable impacts on water quality, and will not exceed the Bad River Band’s water quality standards,” Enbridge told The Center Square through a spokesperson.
The band and the environmental experts testified that hundreds of downstream wetlands and streams would be polluted by trenching, drilling and backfilling for the reroute.
They also believe that the water quality will decline in the Kakagon-Bad River Sloughs, where the band harvests wild rice. The Band also pointed to how Enbridge spilled more than 69,000 gallons of crude oil in Oakland, located in Jefferson County east of Cambridge, from Line 6 due to a failed gasket flange. The spill was initially reported as a two-gallon spill but further investigation found that it was a much larger spill.
“An oil spill along Line 5 is just a matter of time,” Senior Attorney Stefanie Tsosie of Earthjustice said in a statement. “Enbridge is notorious across the region for its oil spills and aquifer breaches. In fact, one of the largest oil spills in Wisconsin’s history was caused by an Enbridge pipeline several months ago. This week’s hearing covered only a small number of the many good reasons why this project should be denied.”
Hearings will continue on Aug. 12 at Northwood Technical College in Ashland, where the public can testify related to permits from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
There will be a trial-like hearing in Room S149 at the Hill Farms State Office Building in Madison from Sept. 3-12 where environmental groups will present a case against the WDNR permits.

(The Center Square) – A bill adding a pair of film tax credits in Wisconsin worth up to $10 million while also creating a film office with three full-time employees passed Wisconsin’s Senate Assembly Committee on Ways and Means and could now head to the full Assembly.
The bill would start film tax credits again in Wisconsin after they were previously halted in 2013. Wisconsin is one of four states currently without film tax credits.
The 30% tax credit would apply to income paid to Wisconsin residents up to $250,000 apiece, transferable credits for film-related expenses in the state and credits for acquiring or improving property that wasn’t owned before Dec. 31, 2025.
The bill would cost $199,300 in financial year 2027 and $254,000 the next year to fund three full-time employees in a film office.
The tax credit is co-sponsored by Rep. Dave Armstrong, R-Rice Lake, whose full-time job is the Economic Development Director in Barron County.
Film credits like those larger credits used in Georgia were supported by Armstrong but have been panned by economists as a tax cost that isn’t worth it for taxpayers.
Economist J.C. Bradbury of Georgia’s Kennesaw State University extensively studied Georgia’s larger film credit program, writing in a peer-reviewed paper that the state spent $230 per household on foregone tax revenue because of the initiative, which has cost taxpayers the equivalent of $110,000 per full-time job in the industry without bringing the promised benefits from the program.
The Wisconsin bill received support from the committee but Rep. Nate Gustafson, R-Fox Crossing, said that he is not a “huge fan” of the bill despite voting for it.
“This bill is not quite fully ready for showtime but I think we have enough to have a bigger conversation with our colleagues,” Gustafson said.