MADISON, Wis. — The budget process continues as lawmakers on the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee (JFC) focused on funding for state agencies Thursday.
Finance committee members unanimously approved a $10 million emergency fund Thursday to support veteran nursing homes in case of another pandemic or natural disaster.
“We want to make sure that there are resources there that if a natural disaster or another national pandemic or something would come along that, hopefully, the governor will step up and use those resources and make sure that we don't have the failures that we had,” State Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said.
Veterans Affairs isn't the only agency that could be seeing a boost. More funding for supporting organizations like the American Legion and VFW is also being proposed.
“Those are the groups that are connected to our local veterans, provide incredible services to our veterans, and I am happy that we can increase the funding there,” State Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) said.
Republican leaders on the Legislature's budget-writing committee also told reporters they would be increasing funding for suicide prevention for veterans. The approved measures will ultimately go in the budget bill that needs approval from the full Legislature and to be signed by Gov. Tony Evers.
Eliminating about a dozen positions within several state agencies was also on the agenda Thursday.
“We looked at lapses and standard budget adjustments and found areas to reduce the bureaucracy,” State Rep. Born told reporters before Thursday's executive session.
The positions being eliminated have been vacant for at least 24 months.
During a virtual press conference Thursday morning, Democrats also talked about jobs, but from the angle of frontline employees' ability to negotiate.
“Collective bargaining keeps us safe,” State Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-West Point) said. “Collective bargaining keeps employees safe. Collective bargaining allows frontline workers to do a better job because they'll have more input on their job.”
Gov. Evers' proposal to restore collective bargaining rights was already stripped from the budget and Democrats had no plan to push for restoring them Thursday. Instead, Democratic members of the finance committee offered up a reminder that no issue is ever off the table for good.
“The majority party can decide to bring up any issue that they decide, and so those issues are never really done,” State Rep. Evan Goyke (D-Milwaukee) said. “None of the issues that we're debating in this budget are ever formally dead in the budget process.”
The process will continue to see cuts and changes in the coming weeks as lawmakers aim to pass a spending package by July.