Happy Holidays! The Michael Best Strategies Wisconsin Team hopes that all clients and friends have a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year.

Our offices will be closed Tuesday, December 24th and Wednesday, December 25th in observance of the Christmas holiday. Our offices will also be closed on Wednesday, January 1st in observance of New Year's Day. This is the last newsletter of 2024.

In this update:

Legislative Updates
Election Updates
Upcoming Events

Legislative Updates

Vos announces standing committees for Assembly GOP

Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) announced this week the standing committees and their chairs and vice chairs for the upcoming legislative session. Speaker Vos also rounded out the Assembly GOP Joint Finance team by appointing Representative Karen Hurd (R- Withee) to the vacant spot on the committee. Representatives Alex Dallman (R-Green Lake), Jessie Rodriguez (R- Oak Creek), and Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls) will all return to the Joint Finance Committee next session, and Rep. Mark Born (R- Beaver Dam) will again serve as co-chair with Rep. Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc) serving as vice chair.

Attached is a list of all 36 standing committees for the 2025-2026 Legislative Session along with the committee Chair and Vice Chair (* denotes new committee): 2025-26 Assembly Committees.pdf

Joint Finance Committee membership finalized

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) announced she is reappointing Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) and Rep. Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha) to the Joint Finance Committee. With these appointments, JFC has finalized all members appointed to the committee.

Assembly Members:

Co-chair Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam)
Vice-chair Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc)
Alex Dallman (R-Green Lake)
Karen Hurd (R-Withee)
Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek)
Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls)
Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay)
Rep. Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha)

Senate Members:

Co-chair Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green)
Vice-chair Pat Testin (R-Stevens Point)
Julian Bradley (R-New Berlin)
Romaine Quinn (R-Cameron)
Rob Stafsholt (R-New Richmond)
Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay)
LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee)
Kelda Roys (D-Madison)

LeMahieu announces standing committees for Senate GOP

Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) announced this week the Senate standing committees and their chairs and vice chairs for the upcoming legislative session. The Senate reduced their standing committees from 22 to 18 for this session.

Attached is a list of all 18 standing committees for the 2025-2026 Legislative Session along with the committee Chair and Vice Chair: 2025-26 Senate Committee Chairs.pdf

WisPolitics hosts discussion with Felzkowski and Neubauer sponsored by Michael Best Strategies

Michael Best Strategies partnered with WisPolitics to host a discussion this week with Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk), Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine), Democratic Strategist Tanya Bjork, and Republican Strategist Keith Gilkes.

During the discussion, Senate President Felzkowski stated that as they enter the next budget with a $4 billion surplus, Republicans will be considering tax cuts and looking at funding one-time expenses like infrastructure. President Felzkowski stated, “If the majority of this is one-time money, we’re going to spend it on one-time projects... exactly like we did last time.” She also added that as an overall approach, Republicans plan to put forth a budget that is spending “within our means” and not “digging a hole for future budgets.” Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer discussed how Democrats’ budget priorities include housing, childcare, Medicaid expansion, and K-12 education. She added, “We are very open to considering a tax cut that is targeted, that is focused on middle class and working families.”

The panel also discussed whether a medical marijuana package will be something the legislature takes up in the coming session. President Felzkowski said Senate Republicans will work to try and find compromise with Assembly Republicans. During the previous session, a provision was added by the Assembly that would have restricted sales to only state-run dispensaries. President Felzkowski said, “We are hoping that Robin will be willing to remove that [provision] and we can do something else there and get it done this session.” Minority Leader Neubauer added that they “have seen referendums around the state and polling, of course, and conversations on the doors that medical marijuana is very popular.”

Watch the full video of the event here.

WisPolitics interviews Vos

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) sat down with WisPolitics for a year end interview. Some of the topics discussed include:

New Committee on Government Efficiency

Dubbed the “Government Oversight Accountability and Transparency Committee” or GOAT Committee for short, Speaker Vos said a major focus for the Assembly next session will be reducing waste and maximizing efficiencies in state government. To lead that effort, the Speaker said he is establishing the new committee and naming Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) as its chair. “We know that we need to shrink the size of government,” Speaker Vos said. “We need to make it more efficient; we need to embrace technology and AI.”

Tax Cuts

Speaker Vos also said he wants the legislature to pass a tax cut bill prior to passing the budget so Republicans know what level of tax cuts Gov. Evers is willing to agree to. Speaker Vos said Republicans’ willingness to spend money on state programs will be commensurate with the Governor’s willingness to cut taxes. The Speaker said he would not agree to spend any state surplus dollars currently in the general fund that are there due to Gov. Evers’ vetoes of prior GOP tax cuts during last session. Instead, the Speaker said that money could only go towards tax cuts. According to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) memo in October, that number was just over $2 billion, but Speaker Vos said he recently asked LFB to update its estimate. “I am not going to go through this process again where I know what the outcome is going to be,” Speaker Vos said. “We’ve watched it over and over, where Governor Evers takes the spending and he vetoes the tax cut, so we just can’t have that.”

Voter ID

Speaker Vos said he hopes the legislature will approve the second consideration of a constitutional amendment to require voter ID in time for the question to be included on the ballot for the upcoming April 2025 Supreme Court election. The Speaker noted the liberal candidate in the Supreme Court race, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, was part of the legal team that challenged the state’s voter ID law in 2011. “She’s already kind of pre-decided that case,” Speaker Vos said. “So, we want to put that out so we can guarantee that voter ID doesn’t go away.”

WisPolitics interviews LeMahieu

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) had a year-end interview with WisPolitics to discuss priorities for Senate Republicans for next session. He said cutting income taxes, particularly the second highest rate, is the top priority in the caucus for the 2025-2026 legislative session. Last session, Governor Tony Evers (D) vetoed a proposal to reduce that tax bracket but signed a bill to reduce the bottom two brackets. “If you’re working full-time, I don’t know where you find a job that puts you below that, that second-highest tax bracket, frankly,” Sen. LeMahieu said.

Majority Leader LeMahieu said education funding could be determined by the state Supreme Court’s ruling on Gov. Ever’s veto to the current state budget. The current state budget has a $325 per-pupil increase for the 2023-24 school year and another $325 increase in 2024-25. Gov. Evers used his partial veto authority to remove a hyphen and “20” to change the end date to 2425 instead of 2025. Sen. LeMahieu said if the courts permit the partial veto, the GOP caucus could focus on guaranteeing the state covers much of the $325 in additional spending authority school districts would have in the coming years. He also said they would consider increasing special education but most of State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly’s proposal is “just not sustainable,” referring to a $2 billion dollar request in the 2025-2027 budget.

Majority Leader LeMahieu also said he currently sees a path to pass the budget with 17 Republican votes in the Senate after previous difficulty passing large legislation in the chamber with 22 members. He is unsure how he will achieve the 17 votes, but “It’s December,” he said. Sen. LeMahieu also believes that Republicans can maintain their majority and even pick up a seat in the 2026 election cycle.

WisPolitics interviews Hesselbein

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) spoke with WisPolitics about election night and Senate Democrats’ priorities for next session in a year-end interview. She started the interview saying she was up all night on Election Day until Sen.-elect Kristin Alfheim’s win came through. Since then, she has received numerous calls from people looking to run in 2026. Although last session Senate Democrats had a super-minority, for the upcoming 2025-2026 legislative session they have narrowed the spread to an 18-15 GOP majority, setting up an opportunity to take the Senate in the 2026 election cycle. “It is not easy to get elected to the state Senate,” she said. “You have to knock on the doors and fundraise and do all the work. Some people like the idea of serving. They don’t like the idea of the campaign.”

Sen. Hesselbein anticipates opportunities for Senate Democrats to help Republicans with large bills like the Right of First Refusal. The legislation did not pass in the Senate and would have given utilities with existing infrastructure the first chance at building new transmission lines expected in the state. She would also like to work on extending the period in which new mothers could remain on Medicaid from sixty days to twelve months. Last session, the bill (SB110) passed in the Senate but died in the Assembly. She said, “I think they will need us to get things done. They still have some very extreme members of their caucus that don’t vote for much of anything, so I don’t know how they would pass a budget. For the current numbers that they have, 18-15 is pretty tight.” When discussing the budget, she said childcare and education are priorities in the caucus.

Neubauer on ‘Upfront’

State Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) appeared on' 'Upfront' last weekend. During the interview, she said Assembly Democrats will prioritize investing in schools and lowering costs for working families in the upcoming budget.

Topics included:

Assembly majority
Budget
Mass deportations

Watch the interview here.

Study committee on AI approves seven recommendations

The Legislative Council Study Committee on the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence in Wisconsin approved seven recommendations. Below are the approved recommendations for legislation on the use and development of AI.

The Legislature should focus on ensuring that data, the raw material that powers AI, remains private and consumer protected.
The Legislature should learn from the experiences of other states and avoid the potential overreach of comprehensive AI legislation and should instead prioritize high-risk areas susceptible to exploitation or abuse.
The Legislature should ensure that existing laws apply to AI models in the same way that those laws apply to individuals but should avoid creating duplicative statutes that unnecessarily single out AI.
The Legislature should ensure that programs related to education and workforce development, such as Fast Forward, have a scope that is broad enough to include AI upskilling, training, and education; are funded accordingly; and work to address any disparity in access between rural and urban communities.
The Legislature should consider establishing a permanent study committee, new legislative standing committee, or inter-branch commission to review emerging technologies, including AI, and make legislative recommendations regarding the same.
The Legislature should, as AI technology advances, examine and invest in technology powered by AI that will assist with public safety, such as gun detection software.
The Legislature should direct the Executive Branch to promulgate administrative rules to establish clear, consistent guiding principles for state-level AI governance and to provide the Legislature with oversight regarding the state’s procurement, development, and use of AI.

Election Updates

Kinser files to run for state superintendent

Brittany Kinser, an education consultant, filed to run for state superintendent in the spring. She considers herself a “Blue Dog Democrat” and runs Wisconsin Reads, a nonprofit that supports evidence-based literacy practices and the science of reading. Kinser previously led Wisconsin's Rocketship schools, which are part of a network of public charter schools. She was also past president and CEO of City Forward Collective, a Milwaukee nonprofit that advocates for increased access to great schools of all types. State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly and Sauk Prairie Superintendent Jeff Wright have both announced their bids for the position as well. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has endorsed Superintendent Underly, and WEAC’s PAC has endorsed Wright.

The election will occur April 1, 2025, and the spring primary is February 18, 2025. The nomination papers are due January 6, 2025. There has not been a conservative candidate who has announced their intentions to run.

Second Consideration of Voter ID Constitutional Amendment Proposed

Senator Van Wanggaard (R) and Rep. Patrick Snyder (R) circulated this week a co-sponsorship of the second consideration of a proposed constitutional amendment which would require photo ID to vote in any election. SJR-073 previously passed the Senate (21-10) and Assembly (62-35) last session. Should the resolution pass the legislature early in the legislative session, it would be on the ballot for the February 18th Spring Primary.

Read the full proposed resolution here:

25-0635_1.pdf

Upcoming Events

January 15th at 11:30 AM - Meet the Cabinet: Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Secretary Missy Hughes (virtual and in-person options available)

February 19th at 11:30 AM - Meet the Cabinet: Public Service Commission Chair Summer Strand (virtual and in-person options available)

RSVP to Barb Stevenson at Barb.Stevenson@michaelbest.com if you'd like to attend any of these events

ABOUT US

If you would like any additional information about the above topic, or if you would like to find time to discuss the above matter in more detail, please do not hesitate to contact your Michael Best Strategies contact.

Have a great day,

Wisconsin GR Team