May 12, 2025 – The legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) began the biennial budget review process last week with the committee’s first action to remove over 600 items from the Governor’s proposal. The action starts the four-to-six-week process that the Republican-led committee will undertake in rewriting Governor Evers’ biennial budget proposal. The vote was not unexpected as Republican leaders indicated early in the process that they would build their budget from last year’s spending figures.
Included in the 600 items were several issues of interest to the State Bar of Wisconsin. The Governor’s proposed increases to Civil Legal Needs Funding were removed by the committee, but advocates, including the State Bar, proposed a more direct and targeted investment. That proposal includes $9 million in General Purpose Revenue (GPR) and an additional $8 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) federal dollars. The funding would be administered by the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation (WisTAF) to support nonprofit organizations that provide essential legal services to vulnerable populations.
Additional Items Removed
Other items with State Bar interest that were removed from the budget included a proposal to return 17-year-olds to juvenile court, as well as a provision that would change the expungement process and one that would provide additional funding for counties that operate treatment and diversion (TAD) programs.
Other State Bar items of support remain under consideration as the committee continues their work. These include pay progression for Assistant District Attorneys and State Public Defenders, additional positions for District Attorney offices and the State Public Defender and an increase in the private bar rate to $125 an hour for a serious case appointment. The committee and ultimately the legislature will still need to affirmatively approve and vote to fund those items as budget deliberations continue.
What Happens Next in the Budget Process?
The Joint Finance Committee will continue voting on funding proposals submitted by state agencies and other individual proposals put forward over the next few weeks. Committee co-chairs have both indicated they expect their work to be complete by mid- to late June. The Legislature would then debate and vote on the proposal in late June or possibly into July.
Cale Battles, is the government relations program manager with the State Bar of Wisconsin. He can be reached by
email, or by phone at (608) 250-6077.
For that timeline to stick, several big items will need to be determined at a frenetic pace. Republicans continue to indicate that a budget won’t get passed until an agreement is made with the Governor on a tax cut using the state’s current surplus. Legislative leaders recently reported that they have had discussions with Governor Evers and his team regarding a potential tax plan that could move the budget process forward. Unresolved issues beyond a tax proposal include K-12 and higher education funding, as well as looming uncertainty over federal funding reductions for certain programs including Medicaid. Republicans have also indicated a potentially longer process involving the careful drafting of spending provisions due to the Governor’s veto authority, clarified by Jeffery LeMieux v. Tony Evers.
Wisconsin is unique in that the state continues to operate on previous budget year appropriation if a budget does not pass by the end of the fiscal year on June 30th. For instance, the 2007-09 budget wasn’t signed into law until October 26, 2007. This allows Wisconsin to avoid any sort of government shutdown and allows state government to continue to operate until a budget is passed and signed into law.
What You Can Do: State Bar of Wisconsin Advocacy Network
If you wish to contact your state legislators about budget provisions such as civil legal aid or justice system funding, you can use the State Bar’s Advocacy Network to easily share your support with just a few clicks. If you have questions, contact the State Bar Grassroots Coordinator Devin Martin, dmartin@wisbar.org.
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