Evers vetoes GOP bill, urging lawmakers to ‘get serious’ about childcare crisis

Wisconsin Republicans ignored pleas for direct support for childcare providers and parents, choosing to pass a broad, vague corporate tax deduction instead.

Like a teacher giving a bad grade on a report, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that Republicans claimed was a partial solution to the lack of affordable childcare in Wisconsin, saying not once but twice in his veto message: “Get serious.”

Evers released a veto memo Friday for the bill (Senate Bill 291) saying the GOP proposal to add broad,  vague corporate tax deductions to offset some employer and employee childcare expenses would invite waste and fraud.

“The Business Development Tax Credit is a powerful tool for our state that helps to incentivize businesses to create and retain jobs and invest in Wisconsin workers,” Evers said. “Unfortunately, this bill would enact unclear and broad changes to the credit that could be taken advantage of, all while still failing to address the serious child care needs workers and employers are facing across our state.”

He specifically called out a “catch-all” bill provision that invites businesses to claim various expenses, which would increase fraud risk and “require the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to implement detailed verification and reporting requirements to ensure compliance.”

Under the bill, businesses could claim a 15% credit on “any other cost or expense incurred due to a benefit provided by an employer to facilitate the provision or utilization by employees of child care services.” That could include reimbursing employees for childcare expenses, supporting the operation of a childcare center, and contributions to an employee’s flexible spending account.

“Child care professionals across our state have been explicitly clear that direct, sustainable investments are necessary to continue providing high-quality care for our kids and families,” Evers said. “The Legislature must get serious about developing real, meaningful, and holistic solutions that respond to these important challenges.”

Evers used federal pandemic aid to create the Child Care Counts program as a way to provide direct support to providers, enabling them to stay in business, improve wages for workers, and give parents security that their kids’ childcare center could keep its doors open without having to pay even higher fees. In the 2023 budget, Evers sought to use part of the state’s multi-billion dollar surplus to continue the program. Republicans on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted at 2:30 a.m. to kill the request and rejected similar requests from providers, parents, and employers in the 2025 budget.

“I welcome the Legislature’s new interest in finding meaningful ways to support our state’s child care industry,” Evers said at the conclusion of his veto message. “I remain hopeful the Legislature will get serious about passing legislation that balances all of these important obligations.”