This post originally appeared at https://wifamilycouncil.org/radio/election-consequences-budget-priorities/
2025 | Week of March 17 | Radio Transcript #1610
If it’s spring in odd-numbered years in Wisconsin—and it is, then that means it’s budget time in our state legislature—a time when the priorities of our lawmakers are on full display.
Last month, Democrat Governor Tony Evers introduced his Executive Budget in a joint session of the legislature. He laid out some of his priorities, including significant increased funding for public schools, for mental health, for free breakfasts and lunches for all public-school students, and for some other areas he says involves, as he calls them, “kids,” deeming this year “the year of the kid.” In fairness, he also offered some proposals that he says will bring tax relief to middle-class Wisconsin citizens.
The big picture is that the spending side of the governor’s proposed $119 billion two-year budget represents a 20.5% increase from the current budget, with plans to spend the significant surplus that’s been built up the last few years.
Once the details of the Governor’s budget proposal were available, it became clear his priorities include much more than the big-ticket, so-called “pro-kid” items. In fact, this budget, officially Assembly Bill 50, has caught national attention because of its identity politics-based language, especially the substitution of “inseminated person” for “mother,” a change that rightly has offended many.[1]
Evers has been challenged on this publicly and has said he’s not going to change, noting that the term is used in reference to IVF, which doesn’t make this change any better, by the way.
Interestingly, since 2021, birth certificates in Wisconsin have used the term “parent giving birth” in place of “mother,” and parents have had the option of having themselves identified as simply “parent” instead of “mother” or “father” on the child’s birth certificate. These changes happened because Governor Evers ordered all departments to begin using gender-neutral terms.[2] This term, “parent giving birth,” is also used throughout this proposed budget.
The governor also recognizes same-sex marriage in the budget by swapping out the words “husband” and “wife” for gender-neutral terms such as “spouse.” In another area, the governor is proposing that marijuana be legalized for both medicinal and recreational use.
These non-fiscal items we’ve just discussed and numerous others will no doubt be removed by the Joint Finance Committee that is now in control of the next steps with the budget. Because Republicans still have the majority in both the Senate and the Assembly, they also have the majority on this powerful committee. In recent Evers-proposed budgets, one of the first actions by the Finance Committee is to remove policy items and strip the budget down to fiscal issues.
When important policy items are included in the budget, not only are they not fiscal issues, they don’t get the robust debate and exposure they deserve. That, at a minimum, reduces citizen input which is critical for such significant policy proposals. If liberals want these introduced, they will need to do so as stand-alone bills.
Once these policy items are removed and the JFC majority members have a handle on what remains in the budget, they will begin scheduling public hearings around the state. Those usually happen around mid-March to mid-April. These hearings are the opportunity for “we the people” to let our elected officials know our opinions on this proposed budget that is about how our money is going to be spent.
After the public hearings and after JFC hears from all the departments about their t priorities, then the final version of the budget bill will be put together in preparation for a strict up or down vote in the Senate and the Assembly. Once that stage is reached, no amendments can be offered to the state’s two-year revenue/spending bill.
Ideally, the budget is passed and the governor has done his vetoes by June 30 of this year so that on July 1, the beginning of our state’s fiscal year, the new budget is in play.
Governor Evers has let us know his priorities in his proposed budget—increased spending with an emphasis on public education and public programs and sweeping policy changes that if enacted have a profound impact on marriage and family. Now we wait to see what the Republicans as the majority party show us as their priorities. And all of this is a powerful reminder that every election has very real consequences—consequences that show up as pushed budget priorities.
For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling, reminding you that God, through the Prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
[1]https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/22/republican-group-criticizes-wisconsin-gov-evers-after-woman-language-changed-to-person-inseminated/79494127007/
[2]https://fox11online.com/news/state/wisconsin-birth-certificates-to-offer-parent-option-instead-of-mother-father
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