Legislative Budget Introduced

The legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance has wrapped up its version of the state budget. This sensible budget bill makes significant but responsible investments in critical areas and avoids the type of overspending that has become too commonplace in government. 

This stands in stark contrast to what the governor initially proposed months ago, which looked far more like a wish list than a realistic budget for our state.

The legislature’s budget will save middle class tax payers $3.4 billion, eliminate the personal property tax for businesses, provide K-12 schools with two-thirds funding to keep local property taxes down, and ensure Wisconsin qualifies for federal education funding at level that was promised through maintenance of effort.

As I dive deeper into this budget proposal, you’ll hear more from me about the details.

As demonstrated in the chart below, Wisconsin taxpayer support for public K-12 education has continued to increase over time. With declining enrollment due to demographics, funding per-student has also dramatically increased.

Your Input on the Budget

Every budget cycle I send out a survey to collect feedback from you on critical state issues. I’ve always felt that the most important part of my job is listening to the people I represent. If you have thoughts on the state budget, or any other issue, please reach out.

There’s still time to fill out my budget survey online by visiting https://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/56/murphy/biennial-budget-survey/

Defending, Not Defunding, Our Police

This week, I was proud to vote for a bill that will make local governments reconsider efforts to defund police. Under SB 119, as adopted by the Assembly and Senate, state payments to a local government would be reduced by the amount they cut from their law enforcement, EMS, or fire department. This maintains local control while ensuring that state tax dollars aren’t reallocated from their intended use to programs that don’t protect our communities.

Restoring Faith in Elections

The Assembly has adopted six bills to improve transparency and security of Wisconsin elections and prevent elections manipulation by outside organizations. While there’s still a lot of work to be done to restore public faith in our elections, I’m glad we are taking this step in the right direction. Here is a summary of the bills:

• AB 201: Ensures an individual cannot claim to be indefinitely confined in order to circumvent Wisconsin’s voter ID requirements.
• SB 210: Creates fair and uniform access to recount activities throughout the state and protect every person’s right to observe election proceedings.
• SB 203: Prohibits ballot harvesting and limits widespread ballot collection initiatives like Madison’s “Democracy in the Park.”
• AB 271: Protects election records and ensure transparency of election proceedings.
• AB 198: Guarantees that only a voter may make changes to their absentee ballot. If there is missing information the voter will be notified and given an opportunity to make sure their vote counts, instead of a clerk filling in the information on their own.
• AB 179: Protects nonpartisan, transparent voting assistance for our seniors in long-term care facilities. 

Attacked for Doing My Job

The Wisconsin State Journal thinks I should stop doing my job on the Campaigns and Elections Committee and no longer look into elections best practices.

In an editorial board piece loaded with inflammatory language, the paper made the claim that elections aren’t important enough for the legislature to care about.

The worst part is that the State Journal editors are perpetuating the conspiracy theory that the ballots are being analyzed specifically for bamboo fibers from China, when in fact the ballots are being checked to ensure they are printed on actual ballot paper and not photocopy paper.

I’ve already heard from thousands of people about the importance of election integrity. It’s clear the media wants me to focus on anything but our elections procedures. What do you think?