Wisconsin lawmakers voted to approve a state budget late Wednesday night that spends more than $111 billion over the next two years, cuts more than 300 state positions and increases funding for the child care industry and the Universities of Wisconsin system. It also cuts taxes by about $1.4 billion.
Governor Evers signed the bill, wielding his powerful partial veto pen on several dozen items but maintaining the core of a bipartisan deal announced earlier this week.
The bipartisan deal included what Governor Evers described as the largest increase to the state’s special education reimbursement rate in history and the largest funding increase to the Universities of Wisconsin in two decades.
The bill also cuts taxes by restructuring the second tax bracket, eliminating the sales tax on household utility bills and exempting some retirement income tax for seniors.
Republicans celebrated an overall reduction in state jobs by 303 positions, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. In his initial proposal, Evers’ budget would have added about 881 jobs to the state rolls.