With $2 billion at stake, Legislature and Evers rush to get state budget done

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Two of the most powerful motivators known to humankind, money and time, spurred Gov. Tony Evers and the GOP-controlled Legislature to push for the immediate passage and signing of the next two-year state budget.

Wisconsin's state government is in a race to enact its new budget before Republicans in Congress get their federal budget bill to President Donald Trump.

One provision in the federal bill would prohibit states from raising the fees they charge hospitals. The federal cap is 6%, and with Wisconsin's fee currently at 6%, Evers and Republicans agreed to raise Wisconsin's fee to 6%.

The increase would generate $1.1 billion for Wisconsin hospitals while also boosting the state's Medicaid program. There's also a federal match, so adopting the fee increase would be a $2 billion boost for the state's hospitals.

In a final accounting, the $111 billion budget spends most of the state's $4 billion surplus. The new budget reduces the surplus to about $800 million.

Debate in the Senate stalled for about five hours Wednesday afternoon over a technical amendment.

Eleven hours after it first went into session, the Senate passed the budget by a 19-14 vote. Five Democrats joined 14 Republicans in voting for the budget. Joining Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) were senators Kristin Dassler-Alfheim (D-Appleton), Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska), Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) and Jamie Wall (D-Green Bay.)

Four Republican senators, Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) and Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) voted against the budget.

Felzkowski's rejection was especially jarring given her position as the Senate's president. She said it was because the hospital provision did nothing to lower health care costs. When asked if she could pursue such changes after the budget's passage, Felzkowski said the best time to negotiate changes was through the budget.

"I've been beating this drum for four years, A.J. I'm not stopping now," she said. "Of course I'm gonna beat this drum, but that means you have to have a governor who's not in bed with special interests, like the hospitals, to actually sign a reform."

The bipartisan agreement grants key items negotiated by Evers and Senate Democrats with GOP legislative leaders.

For Republicans, the key items included were $1.3 billion in tax cuts, mainly targeted toward the middle class, as well as looser regulations on child care and a cap on positions at the University of Wisconsin System.

"This isn't a budget that if we had all three branches [of government] that we would've adopted," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said. "But it is a reasonable, good, compromise budget, and there are some things in there that I'm really proud of."

Democrats supportive of the bill touted the increased funding for K-12 education, particularly for special education, as well as increased funding for the UW System and continued direct state payments to child care providers.

"What we have on the floor today is better than it would've been if Senate Dems had not been at the table," Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Madison) said. "But let me be clear. It is not perfect."

Democrats voted against the bill in larger numbers than Democrats, including 10 senators. A common reason Democrats against the bill gave for voting no was a belief it failed to provide enough of a general aid increase for public school districts.

"Don't get me wrong. I support items in here," Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) said. "I mentioned some of them already, and there are others that matter to me and my district that I'm glad Senate Democrats were able to achieve through our negotiations, but when I talk to folks in my district, it's not enough."

In a departure from past budgets where Evers was deliberate about using his partial veto powers, Evers was expected to quickly sign the budget bill into law. It is another sign of how the race to beat the federal budget spurred bipartisan cooperation in ways previously unseen during three previous budget cycles under divided state government.