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Republicans begin detailed work on a new state budget by announcing they’ll also kill the governor’s standards for clean water.
The committee that oversees the state’s budget process has scheduled a hearing for this Thursday where it will take up changes to Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed budget, essentially doing a complete revision that drops many of the governor’s initiatives, including an expansion of BadgerCare health coverage that would save taxpayers more than $1 billion.
The agenda for the hearing includes a motion to remove large sections of what Evers revealed in February. Republicans control the Joint Finance Committee by a 12-4 margin, all but ensuring the motion will pass.
Legislative Republicans have been saying for weeks they planned to re-write the budget or at least remove some key provisions. “Unfortunately, I assume we will probably have to start from scratch,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said.
RELATED: ‘No More Corners to Cut’: Northern Wisconsin Asks Legislature for More Money In Budget
Some of the measures Republican leadership has signaled will be on the chopping block include: expanding BadgerCare, which would bring in an additional $1.6 billion in federal Medicaid funds to the state, legalizing marijuana, raising the state’s minimum wage, and repealing some of the anti-union provisions of Act 10, which was signed into law a decade ago when Republicans took control of the state Assembly, Senate, and governorship.
Some of the other sections slated for removal by Joint Finance include:
- Implementation of Juneteenth as a state holiday
- Establishing offices of sustainability and clean energy and an office for environmental justice
- Landlord-tenant protections
- Broadband expansion initiatives
- A provision to bar housing discrimination on the basis of gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation
- PFAS standards, testing and clean-up
- Juvenile justice reforms
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