Saturday, May 16: The Evers-GOP school funding and tax cut deal reaches the dead end of the road, mother sues over beating of her son in Racine County juvenile facility, and a lawsuit to reopen the door to therapy that professionals condemn as harmful.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We did not feel it was responsible to pass a proposal that would very likely put us in a deficit in the years ahead.”
– State Rep. Greta Neubauer, Democratic Assembly minority leader, summing up arguments that led to the collapse of the deal Gov. Tony Evers reached with Republican Assembly and Senate leaders to boost school funds and offset property tax increases.
Joint Finance Committee cochair Rep. Mark Born speaks during the committee’s discussion Tuesday of a bill negotiated by Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders in the Legislature that increases special education funding and cuts taxes. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)
NEW
In the past two years, a dozen states have either approved new U.S. House maps or are moving toward doing so — a highly unusual mid-decade revamp prompted by President Donald Trump and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling late last month. Pending litigation could scramble the situation even further. Anna Claire Vollers of Stateline has the current state of play across the country.
BIPARTISAN DIVISION IN THE LEGISLATURE
The property tax and school funding package negotiated between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) died in the Senate Wednesday at the hands of three Republicans and all the Democrats. Henry Redman reports on the outcome.
The day after, Redman reports, Democratic leader Rep. Greta Neubauer at a Q&A session with WisPolitics said she didn’t believe the deal’s collapse would hurt the chances of her party to win majority control of both chambers in the Legislature for the first time in more than 15 years.
The fate of the compromise was foreshadowed Tuesday when the measure passed the Legislature’s powerful Joint Finance Committee with only Republican support, Erik Gunn reports, while Democrats argued it was too risky to the state’s financial future and voted no.
It was a long fall from Evers’ triumphal announcement Monday, covered by Baylor Spears, when the Democratic governor said that “we’re in a position to actually compromise and have Republicans and Democrats, at least in the leadership level, getting something done.”
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Racine County and two juvenile detention center staff members in Caledonia, Wisconsin have been sued for allegedly using excessive force on a teen less than a month after the new facility opened. County officials say they’ve made changes since the incident. Criminal Justice Fellow Andrew Kennard has the latest.
Kennard also reports a recent Department of Corrections ceremony to recognize corrections workers seriously injured in the line of duty in 2025 as well as honoring standout staff, such as an employee who has grown fresh produce for the New Lisbon Correctional Institution’s restricted housing occupants.
HEALTHCARE AND CHILDCARE
The U.S. Supreme Court decided Thursday to preserve telehealth access to the abortion drug mifepristone until after an appeals court rules on the merits of the high-stakes federal lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration. Stateline reproductive rights reporters Sofia Resnick and Kelcie Moseley-Morris have been following the litigation.
The legal group that demanded Wisconsin rescind a professional standard for therapists that bars attempts to change sexual orientation or gender identity is now suing Gov. Tony Evers and the counselors’ professional board to kill the standard. Gunn reports on the lawsuit.
Gunn also covers early reaction in Wisconsin to Trump administration changes in federal childcare funding Monday that advocates say will amount to less regulation and undermine attempts to support childcare providers and workers.
PLUS:
More from Washington:
ICYMI
As Trump looks to punish foes, Democratic states find ways to push back | Stateline and States Newsroom
Cost of Iran war rises to $29B as US gas prices spike | States Newsroom Washington Bureau
Eric Weigel, a corrections officer who has grown fresh produce used in a corrections facility kitchen, receives an award from Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy at the Mitby Theater at Madison College. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin Department of Corrections)
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