Evers signs Wisconsin budget shortly after Legislature’s approval

In evening sessions that began after a series of delays, the Wisconsin State Legislature passed the state’s biennial budget early Thursday morning.

Gov. Evers signed it within an hour, and with it included 23 partial vetos, including a provision that would have closed Green Bay Correctional Institution by 2029. The Gov had proposed a plan for closing the prison in his budget proposal.

“Green Bay Correctional Institution should close—on that much, the Legislature and I agree. It simply is not responsible or tenable to require doing so by a deadline absent a plan to actually accomplish that goal by the timeline set,” the Gov. wrote in a veto message.

In the State Senate, the final vote was 19 to 14. Five Democratic senators joined 14 Republicans in favor, and four Republicans joined 10 Democrats in opposition. 

After hours of speeches that stretched past midnight, lawmakers in the Assembly voted 59 to 39 to approve the budget. Fifty-three Republicans and six Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while 38 Democrats and one Republican voted against.

Early on Tuesday, June 1, Gov. Tony Evers announced a budget agreement with legislative leaders, including Democratic Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu.

The State Senate emerged as the key chamber in budget negotiations. Despite having an 18-15 majority, Republicans did not have the votes to pass the budget with only Republican votes. 

In the Senate, Democrats voting for the bill include Hesselbein, Sen. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim, Sen. Jamie Wall, Sen. Brad Pfaff, and Sen. Jeff Smith.

“While this budget is far from perfect, it’s considerably better for our state than the budget that the majority party was considering just weeks ago, or no budget at all,” said Sen. Pfaff in a press release. 

Hesselbein joined budget negotiations last week, and said during discussion on the floor that the bill is “better than what we would have gotten if Republicans had passed with just their votes.”

Republicans opposed to the bill include Sen. Rob Hutton of Brookfield, Sen. Steve Nass of Whitewater, Sen. Chris Kapenga of Delafield, and Senate President Mary Felzkowski of Tomahawk. 

Felzkowski delivered a lengthy speech focused on the cost of health care, where she criticized the Democratic governor, saying, “Gov. Evers, you failed Wisconsin. You failed constituents. You failed employers.”

In the Assembly, votes largely fell along party lines, but as in the Senate, several Democrats voted in favor. Democrats voting in favor of the bill include Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, Lori Palmeri, Jodi Emerson, Steve Doyle, Tara Johnson, Maureen McCarville, and Jill Billings. Republican Scott Allen of Waukesha was his party’s lone “no” vote.

Throughout the day, there was a level of urgency to pass the budget that some lawmakers had expressed, in part due to potential complications for Medicaid because of the major federal budget reconciliation bill making its way through Congress — the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” as President Donald Trump and Republicans have called it — that could jeopardize some funding. 

This post has been updated to include information about the Governor’s vetoes.