Republicans on the Wisconsin Legislature’s budget committee voted to spend $1.9 billion on building projects across the state, with the bulk of the funding tied to UW System initiatives.
The overall proposal is $600 million less than the $2.5 billion Gov. Tony Evers initially sought in his capital budget request, though the approximately $1 billion in funding for campus building projects is largely similar among both.
Members on a 12-4 party-line vote also approved freeing up $5 million to take initial steps to replace the Green Bay Correctional Institution and $100 million for a new Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison. But the motion didn’t include $98.5 million for a new state office building in Milwaukee or funding for an Alliant Energy Center expansion in Dane County.
Evers’ $2.5 billion overall capital budget request included nearly $2 billion in proposed new bonding. In all, the ask was more than three times what former Gov. Scott Walker requested in his final budget for building projects, which totaled nearly $804 million.