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It’s the start of the 2025-26 Wisconsin Legislative Session and the start of a new partnership between The Wheeler Report and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.
The Wheeler Report
The Wheeler Report was started in 1972 by Dick Wheeler, a seasoned reporter who moved to Wisconsin specifically to start covering the Wisconsin Legislature. I came on in 1995, working side by side with my dad (Dick Wheeler). When Dick died in 2011, I took over the company and have been true to his mission, with a few additions, ever since.
When asked, I like to tell people my job is like “keeping stats at a baseball game.” I follow every piece of legislation, every bill, every committee, every vote, without taking a side or offering political commentary. We provide a daily newsletter of bill introductions, referrals, committee notices, committee votes, floor calendars, floor votes, reviews of important court cases, state administration (Governor and DOA) activity, and some state agency activities. Additionally, we maintain a real-time bill tracking system allowing subscribers to follow legislation as it moves through the process.
Partnership
The Wheeler Report has always had a strong relationship with The League of Wisconsin Municipalities. We used to do a podcast together with the Wisconsin Counties Association called #LocalGovMatters. We covered a lot of exciting and important issues regarding local government. I am a firm believer that local government is vital to every citizen. What The League does at the state level to support all the municipalities in Wisconsin is essential for local governments to thrive. That’s why I am so excited about this new partnership, being able to provide informational updates directly to you – the local government.
A New Session
The 2025-26 legislative session just started. A Constitutional Amendment on Voter ID was passed in the Senate last week (Wednesday, January 8) and will be taken up in the Assembly this coming week (Tuesday, January 14). If the proposal passes the Assembly, it will be on the April ballot.
One part of my job I really enjoy is doing interviews. I regularly meet with legislators to talk about legislation they are proposing, I meet with committee chairpersons to discuss legislation being presented in committees, and I speak with entities about issues important to their membership. At the end of every year, I meet with legislative leadership for an end-of-year interview to ask them their thoughts on the previous year and to look ahead at the upcoming session. This year I met with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, Senate President Mary Felzkowski, and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein.
In those interviews both Assembly Speaker Vos and Senate President Felzkowski said the next agenda item for them is a tax cut. While it is unclear what type of tax cut that will be – property tax cut, income tax cut, changes to the tax brackets, or reductions on retirement income – both leaders made it perfectly clear ‘the $4 billion state surplus is either being used for a tax cut of some sort or it will stay put’ – they will not spend it. Both leaders said they want a tax cut Governor Evers will sign but stated that Evers “keeps moving the goal post” on what that looks like. Both Vos and Felzkowski said they’d like to see the tax cut done and signed by the end of February. They both said there will be no budget until the Governor signs a tax cut. When asked to clarify if the Governor doesn’t sign a tax cut that they won’t have a budget, they say it's a “possibility.” Time will tell how this ends, but it seems likely the next budget won’t be done early in the year.
The next issue impacting the legislative process and the budget – Governor Evers’ line-item veto which created an annual per pupil increase without legislative action. The case is currently in the Supreme Court and while oral arguments are over, everyone is waiting for their opinion. The Supreme Court ends its session and should release all its current case opinions by June 30. The Republicans have been clear they are reluctant to proceed with budget action until this issue is solved. If the Supreme Court waits until June 30 to release that opinion, or even into July, then the budget could be delayed that much longer.
What does that mean for you? The League will be monitoring the budget process and how all these things play out for the budget, but don’t expect a quick budget this year. Unlike Congress, Wisconsin does not shut down government services if the state budget does not get passed on time. It continues at the current funding levels until a new budget is passed. Watch your notices from The League and be patient as the budget process plays out.
Extended End of Year Leadership Interviews
Senate President Mary Felzkowski - Grants.
The State has been offering a lot of grants to municipalities, local governments, and schools over the past several budgets, but with that have also come a lot of complaints over not having grant writers. It’s hard to apply for a grant when you don’t have someone who can write the grant application for you, and when you’re competing against others for grants, it can be frustrating. Some recommendations in the past have been grants to pay for grant writers, but in the interview Felzkowski admitted it becomes a hamster wheel – where you’re just running without getting anywhere. She said she’d like other options. She wants to know other ways to distribute those grants, or those funds. She was open to listening to other recommendations that could help. When asked how funds are distributed in other states, she said, “That’s a good question. Maybe NCSL would have an answer.” She said it also offers the perfect opportunity for communities to get creative and efficient, suggesting that Towns, Municipalities and Counties could work together using one grant writer for all the local government entities, sharing the costs and the expertise to help the community.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos – Local Government Eliminating Policies or Mandates.
The Assembly started a new committee this year, the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency, chaired by Rep. Amanda Nedweski. Vos said the committee will be similar to the federal DOGE Committee. The goal of the committee, according to Vos, is “to look for ways to reduce costs.” When asked how this will impact local governments or were there ways to reduce mandates to lower operational expenses, Vos said, “We’re going to have the same discussions for local governments, but we already have the innovation fund. I would say if it’s not working or there are strings that were attached that make the program not able to accomplish our goals, I’m open to changing or tweaking it. Same with our housing package. We have got to be open minded to that from my perspective. I feel like we already kind of dealt with the funding formula for local governments with shared revenue, so we want to see how that’s going to work before we make any changes, but we have some of the same concerns. Frankly, declining enrollment because of the way that we fund schools is a bigger challenge because we don’t necessarily fund the communities by population.”
Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein – Funding Education
Hesselbein said her caucus is “really interested in funding K-12 education. That’s important. Supporting colleges, universities, and child care counts. Those things are the top of the iceberg. We’ve spent a little bit of time talking about ROFR, Right of First Refusal.” She highlighted that she was happy the last budget increased shared revenue but wants to do more this session to make shared revenue more equitable.
Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer – Two Key Priorities – Investing in Education and Lowering Costs for Wisconsinites
Neubauer said her caucus is excited to begin the new session. She said she heard “from person after person on the campaign trail about their challenges making it through the end of the month, and our members, like the people of Wisconsin, are very frustrated by rising costs and wages just not keeping up.” She said her caucus will “continue to work on policy that will lower costs and put dollars back in people’s pockets, in the areas of childcare, housing, prescription drugs, and focusing on ensuring Wisconsinites are able to have access to great jobs."
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