Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers urges GOP Legislature to advance priorities

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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers urged the Republican-controlled state Legislature to move on a wide range of Democratic priorities during his final year in office, saying lawmakers should be willing to work longer than scheduled to finish the job. Speaking to reporters Monday, Evers said he has a year left and argued that the remaining time can still be used to address issues he outlined in a letter to lawmakers.

Evers acknowledged the Legislature is scheduled to wrap up its work by mid-March, with the Assembly planning to quit in mid-February, but he rejected the idea of shifting immediately to election campaigning. “I think it’s bad politics to say we’re done in February, we’re done in March, and we’ll see you at the polls,” Evers said, adding, “That doesn’t work. I don’t think it’s a good message. We have the opportunity to do some good things.”

In his call for action, Evers said Republicans are unlikely to support many of the proposals he has advanced, including because some were previously rejected in his state budget a year ago. Even so, he said he is optimistic that bipartisan agreement is near on several issues, including protecting funding for SNAP, the country’s main food aid program, and combating water pollution caused by PFAS chemicals.

Evers also said both parties are close to reaching deals involving PFAS and SNAP. He said Democrats and Republicans were close on releasing $125 million in funding to combat PFAS pollution. He added that the two sides were also close to an agreement that would put safeguards in place to ensure Wisconsin is not penalized by the federal government for errors in who receives SNAP benefits.

On education, Evers urged lawmakers to spend $1.3 billion more on public schools as part of an effort to reduce property taxes. He said the push comes after homeowners across Wisconsin received higher tax bills, and he pointed to what he described as longstanding funding challenges for schools—saying the state’s funding has not kept pace with expenses, pushing schools to ask voters for property-tax referendums to cover the gap.

Evers said that without more money, “we’re in a world of hurt” because property taxes would continue to rise. Republicans have blamed Evers for school funding fights, including because of a veto he issued that allows schools to increase spending limits for 400 years, but Evers and school officials have said the broader formula still leaves many districts under pressure.

In response to Evers’s request for more general school aid, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said the state has to take a longer-term approach to funding schools rather than simply putting more money into the same formula. “We have to have a bigger conversation about how we’re going to fund schools long term than just saying we’re gonna put more money to the same formula doing the same thing,” Vos said.

Evers also urged progress on his plan to close a 128-year-old prison in Green Bay as part of a larger overhaul of Wisconsin’s corrections system. He said the state building commission approved $15 million in October for planning, but he warned that once that money is spent, and absent additional action, the effort would stall. “We have to get this across the finish line,” Evers said.