• Allocates $750,000 GPR annually for free and charitable clinics, allowing these clinics to continue providing their vital services to Wisconsinites in need of care.
• Provides $2 million GPR over the biennium in the Joint Committee on Finance supplemental appropriation to establish a telemedicine crisis response pilot program in order to provide faster and more efficient care.
• Provides $60.5 million all funds in fiscal year 2023-24 and $67.7 million all funds in fiscal year 2024-25 for the administration of the Medicaid and FoodShare programs.
• Fully funds the county income maintenance consortia, the FoodShare Employment and Training program, and the Supplemental Security Income program and Caretaker Supplement.
• Provides $230 million all funds in each fiscal year to reinsure high-cost individuals across all health insurance exchanges, in addition to fully funding the Wisconsin healthcare market. This provision helps stabilize the individual healthcare market and lower premiums for all Wisconsinites.
• Provides $76,300 PR in fiscal year 2023-24 and $101,600 PR in fiscal year 2024-25 to the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance to support 1.0 FTE PR position in the Division of Market Regulation. This position will manage the increased regulatory responsibilities in areas such as licensure application reviews and renewals, rate and form filings and reviews, consumer complaints, and expanded consumer outreach.
• Provides $214,800 PR in fiscal year 2023-24 and $286,400 PR in fiscal year 2024-25 to the Office of Commissioner of Insurance to support 3.0 FTE PR positions in the Division of Financial Regulation. These positions will manage increased regulatory duties and complexity, implement legislation, and continue to meet state accreditation requirements to maintain Wisconsin’s reputation as a trusted insurance regulator.
• Restores funding for the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance’s general program operations.
• Fully funds the Board on Aging and Long-Term Care’s Medigap Helpline, which provides seniors with information on the health insurance options available to them.
• Provides $225.7 million all funds over the biennium to continue the 5 percent rate increase for home and community-based services that were implemented using the federal funds provided to the Department of Health Services through the American Rescue Plan Act. This continuation not only ensures that home and community-based care providers can stay in business, but Wisconsinites can continue to receive the vital care they need.
• Provides $38.4 million all funds over the biennium to increase the direct care and services portion of the Family Care capitation rate, which will further support access to in-home care.
• Increases the amount of funding individuals living in skilled nursing facilities are able to retain for personal needs from $45 to $55 per month.
• Provides $146.4 million all funds over the biennium and requires the Department of Health Services to implement a priced rate for nursing home support services based on the median facility cost plus 25 percent.
• Provides $31.2 million all funds over the biennium to exclude provider incentive payments from the profit limitation in support services. Allowing these incentive payments to be excluded means that providers can focus on the quality of care they provide, rather than the quantity of patients.
• Provides $10 million all funds over the biennium to increase the ventilator dependent resident reimbursement rate for nursing home care from $726 to $926 per day. This $200 per day increase makes it easier for nursing homes to provide the highest quality of care to their most complex residents.
• Provides $2.5 million GPR in fiscal year 2023-24 and more than $5 million GPR in fiscal year 2024-25 to increase funding for Aging and Disability Resource Centers, which serve as a vital bridge between Wisconsin families and systems of care.
• Provides $5 million GPR in fiscal year 2023-24 in the Joint Committee on Finance supplemental appropriation to create a complex patient pilot program to assist hospitals in finding long-term care placements for complex patients.
• Provides $1 million GPR in each year to increase funding for adult protective services.
• Provides $2 million GPR in fiscal year 2024-25 to fund the WisCaregiver Career Program to help address the state’s shortage of certified nursing assistants.
• Provides $225,000 GPR annually to increase funding for home delivered meals that provide countless Wisconsinites across the state with the vital nutrition they need to thrive.
• Provides $2.5 million GPR in each year in the Joint Committee on Finance supplemental appropriation to support the state’s veterans homes, as needed, so that these vital facilities can retain staff, address building and operational needs, and provide the quality of care that our state’s veterans deserve.
• Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to contract with a vendor to study the Wisconsin Veterans Homes during the upcoming biennium to ensure that our state’s veterans are receiving quality care.
• Allocates $330,200 SEG in each year to increase funding for grants to county and Tribal veterans service offices by 25 percent, ensuring that Wisconsin’s more than 300,000 veterans have access to vital services regardless of their ZIP code.
• Provides $3.5 million GPR in each year of the biennium to the Medical College of Wisconsin to support the recruitment and training of psychiatry and behavioral health residents throughout Wisconsin.
STATE BUILDING COMMISSION
Part of ensuring Wisconsinites have access to healthcare is ensuring we have the infrastructure needed to provide quality, affordable care. Using our state’s historic GPR surplus, this budget:
• Provides $17.7 million SEG to improve the patient admissions area at Winnebago Mental Health Institute. This project will create a new intake and assessment area and a new 12-patient bed wing, which will accommodate increasing admissions and provide space to more efficiently observe, diagnose, and determine placement of patients in the facility.
• Provides $10.7 million SEG to assist with the cost of construction and equipment upgrades for the Marquette University School of Dentistry. The expansion will help increase the supply of dentists in the state, improving accessibility to dental care and improving dental health outcomes.
• Provides nearly $4.8 million SEG from the state’s historic surplus to assist with the expansion costs of the Children’s Hospital Dental Center. This expansion will improve access to dental care for our kids, contributing to healthier kids with healthier smiles and reducing the burden on the state’s urgent and emergency care departments, which will in turn lower overall dental care costs.
HOUSING
Access to safe, reliable, and affordable housing is a critical part of supporting Wisconsinites’ life-long health and well-being—from providing shelter from extreme weather and cold winters to ensuring individuals working to overcome a substance use disorder have a safe place to focus on recovery. To increase the supply of safe, affordable housing and help address the workforce shortages impacting our state, this budget:
• Provides $50 million in one-time funds to the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) which, as a result of a partial veto, can be used to support a housing rehabilitation program to offer grants or forgivable loans to low- to moderate-income households to renovate or repair their current home and address hazards like lead and mold.
• Invests $275 million in one-time funds for the newly created Residential Housing Infrastructure Revolving Loan Fund at WHEDA to provide low-interest loans that support the creation of new affordable and senior housing.
• Provides $100 million in one-time dollars to fund the newly created Main Street Housing Rehabilitation Revolving Loan Fund at WHEDA to provide low-interest loans to improve rental workforce housing on the second or third floor of existing buildings.
• Allocates $100 million in one-time funding for the newly created Commercial-to- Housing Conversion Revolving Loan Fund at WHEDA to provide low-interest loans for the conversion of vacant commercial buildings to new residential developments of workforce or senior housing.
• Increases the limit on notes and bonds that WHEDA can issue that are secured by a capital reserve fund from $800 million to $1 billion to continue to finance projects supported with an allocation of state and federal housing tax credits.
BUILDING STRONG, SAFE COMMUNITIES
As Governor, I have made fixing our roads, improving our infrastructure, and investing in our local communities a top priority, and this commitment remains unchanged in my second term. This budget continues to invest in these priorities.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND SHARED REVENUE
For too long, the state has asked local communities to do more with less, forcing local partners to make difficult decisions to cut critical services, including fire and EMS. While the revenue Wisconsin sends back to our communities had been held flat for years, costs to operate local governments have increased. Local partners should have the resources they need to meet basic and unique needs alike. This budget, in combination with 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, finally addresses the dire need for increased shared revenue and funding to local emergency services. • 2023 Wisconsin Act 12 is a historic piece of legislation that reflects a bipartisan compromise to address the dire need for increased shared revenue and funding to local emergency services. This budget funds the funding structure that was created in Act 12 and provides a $275 million boost to state aid to localities by funding the supplemental county and municipal aid program. This momentous investment in local communities across Wisconsin includes a $68 million increase in aid for counties and a $207 million increase in aid for municipalities in fiscal year 2024-25, representing a 36 percent increase over current county and municipal aid entitlements. • The legislation provides additional aid to counties and municipalities in fiscal year 2025-26 and beyond by linking both current and supplemental county and municipal aid to the growth rate in the state sales tax.
• The legislation seeks to incentivize local governments to provide the most efficient and cost-effective ways to deliver county and municipal services by providing up to $300 million in innovation grants.
• The budget provides $173.8 million in aid payments to local governments to hold them harmless from Act 12’s repeal of the burdensome personal property tax.
• The budget provides $4 million to boost utility aid payments to counties and municipalities for the presence of production plants that generate power using alternative energy or are located on or adjacent to brownfields.
• The budget improves our emergency services network by increasing funding for the Department of Military Affairs’ Public Service Answering Point (PSAP) grants by $12 million in fiscal year 2024-25. This budget also increases funding for the Next Generation 911 GIS grants by $4.5 million in fiscal year 2024-25.
• This budget increases funding for Department of Justice law enforcement training grants by $2.3 million by providing $8.8 million annually from the new Local Government Fund.
• When a crisis occurs, we need our ambulance service providers to respond quickly and have all the necessary equipment to provide lifesaving care. This budget increases the Department of Health Services’ emergency medical services funding assistance grant program by $22.8 million by providing $25 million annually from the new Local Government Fund.
o The budget also expands the eligibility for the Department of Health Services’ emergency medical services grants to include emergency medical responder departments and allows the use of grants to include nondurable and disposable medical supplies, equipment, and medications.
• The budget provides $3.6 million in the Joint Committee on Finance supplemental appropriation to compensate counties and, as a result of a partial veto, municipalities impacted by a 2022 federal court decision that exempted from property taxes property within certain reservations owned by a Tribe or Tribal member, regardless of any prior non-Tribal ownership.
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
The 2023-25 biennial budget makes key strategic investments in our state’s critical infrastructure while wisely managing our state finances to save taxpayers money. From increased support for local roads to new investments in important roads used for agricultural transport to bolstering transit funding, the 2023-25 biennial budget will ensure Wisconsin’s infrastructure is more resilient and reliable. Specifically, this budget:
• Invests $555.5 million from the General Fund to the Transportation Fund to fund transportation projects underway or under development, reducing Transportation Fund debt service payments into the future and saving Wisconsin taxpayers money.
• Supports the Transportation Fund with transfers of $39.3 million in fiscal year 2023-24 and $55.1 million in fiscal year 2024-25 from the General Fund calculated by estimating the sales tax revenue generated by the sale of electric vehicles. Since electric vehicle drivers do not buy gasoline for their vehicles and thus do not pay the gas tax, this innovative solution will help to improve the sustainability of the state’s Transportation Fund and enable future road improvement projects as electric vehicle adoption continues to increase.
• Provides a 2 percent increase in general transportation aids (GTAs) for municipalities and counties in both calendar year 2024 and calendar year 2025. GTAs help local governments pay for road construction, maintenance, traffic operations, and critical support for local Wisconsin communities, and the investments in the 2023-25 biennial budget result in the largest amount of funding for the program in the state’s history.
• Provides a 2 percent increase in mass transit aids funding to assist local transit systems in operating costs, which lowers local tax burden. The budget also provides a 4 percent increase in paratransit aids funding and increases funding for specialized transit aids for seniors and persons with disabilities, ensuring these Wisconsinites have equitable access to public transportation needed to travel to work, receive healthcare, or get an education.
• Provides additional, one-time funding for local roads through two programs:
o First, the budget provides a new round of supplemental funding for the Local Roads Improvement Program (LRIP) at $100 million in fiscal year 2023-24. LRIP assists local communities by paying for up to 50 percent of local projects that improve deteriorating county highways, town roads, and city and village streets, and this $100 million supplement to the program will enable more local communities to complete more critical projects.
o In addition, the budget includes $150 million to fund the new Agricultural Roads Improvement Program (ARIP) created via 2023 Wisconsin Act 13. ARIP will enable local communities to make targeted investments in eligible projects that support agriculture that would likely otherwise not receive funding from other state aid programs. • Provides bonding authority and funding levels adequate to keep the following high priority projects on schedule:
o The Blatnik Bridge replacement project in Superior in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation;
o The replacement of the I-94/90/39 bridges over the Wisconsin River;
o The expansion of I-41 in the Fox River Valley;
o The expansion of I-43 in southeast Wisconsin; and
o The expansion of I-94 East-West in the city of Milwaukee.
• Allocates $50 million for a third, southern bridge over the Fox River in Brown County, which will help ease traffic congestion and spur economic development for the region.
• Continues to invest in our Harbor Assistance Program to fund harbor improvements, such as dock reconstruction, mooring structure replacement, dredging, and construction of facilities to hold dredged material.
• Allocates funding to the Airport Improvement Program for aeronautics air traffic control system upgrades, as well as $7 million to the Appleton International Airport to support a terminal expansion.
STATE BUILDING COMMISSION
• The 2023-25 capital budget includes $2,384,186,200 in funding or bonding authority for a robust state building program.
• Historically, the state funds these projects with a mix of bonding authority, existing agency funds, and contributions from gifts and grants. With the state’s historic surplus due to sound financial management, over $1.2 billion of the General Fund’s existing balance is used as an investment in the state’s capital needs. This investment avoids nearly $500 million in future interest costs as borrowing won’t be necessary for projects funded with this money.
• This budget provides $32.6 million from the state’s historic surplus and $45.8 million of existing General Fund supported borrowing to build a Type 1 Juvenile Corrections Facility in Milwaukee County, which would allow justice-involved youth to be housed in a facility closer to family, setting them up for better outcomes when they return to our communities.
STABILIZING OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM
Department of Corrections
• In a historically tight labor market, the state has struggled to recruit and retain enough employees, especially at the Department of Corrections, which has grappled with low pay and high vacancies for many years. This budget:
o Increases the starting wage for correctional security positions to $33 per hour to reduce staffing vacancies,
o Supports the continuation of the $5 per hour add-on at high vacancy facilities,
o Increases the maximum-security add-on to $3 per hour, and
o Creates a $1 per hour medium-security add-on.
• Additionally, one specific way the Department of Corrections is working to combat opioid use is through medication-assisted treatment, which uses medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to treat opioid use disorders. This budget provides $4,683,300 over the biennium to expand a medication-assisted treatment program.
• The Opening Avenues to Reentry Success (OARS) is a voluntary program that supports the prison-to-community transition of persons in the care of the Department of Corrections living with a serious and persistent mental health illness who are medium to high risk of reoffending. The program has been a success to aid in reentry for people in the department’s care. This budget builds on the success of OARS and invests $2,272,300 over the biennium in the program.
District Attorneys, Public Defenders and Courts
Our justice system relies on honest, hardworking staff in district attorney and public defenders’ offices across the state. Adequately staffing the different components of the justice system is vital to ensuring reasonable caseloads, reducing burnout, and meeting constitutional protections for justice-involved individuals. This budget:
• Provides $8,121,200 in each year for market-based salary adjustments for assistant and deputy district attorneys, providing a competitive starting rate of $36 per hour.
• Provides $2,104,500 to allow a one-step pay progression for assistant and deputy district attorneys to increase retention of experienced attorneys.
• Provides $926,200 to increase compensation for elected district attorneys, beginning with their new term in 2025.
• Provides an additional 4.4 FTE assistant district attorney positions across the state over the biennium.
• Provides market-based salary adjustments for assistant state public defenders to increase retention of experienced attorneys. This would result in $8,148,600 in fiscal year 2023-24 and $10,260,200 in fiscal year 2024-25. The funding would be sufficient for a starting rate of $36 per hour and a one-step pay progression in fiscal year 2024-25.
• Improves the State Public Defender’s ability to recruit and retain private attorneys by providing $8,797,200 in each year to increase the private bar reimbursement rate. This funding would be sufficient for a private bar rate of $100 per hour and a travel rate of $50 per hour.
