Capitol Update

HCAPITOL UPDATE

NATALIE WHITE Communications Director

The final months of the 2021-22 biennium are upon us, and a new legislative class - both old and new faces - is getting ready to be sworn in come the start of January. With the transition into a new Legislature, comes the priorities and hopes for the session, and planning for future legislation and the 2023-24 budget is already underway.

The outlook does seem to be surprisingly bright for accomplishing meaningful policy priorities in the upcoming session and biennial budget. One of the most notable developments for the forecast is the recent announcement of Wisconsin’s record surplus. In mid-October the Department of Administration (DOA) announced that the state was ending the fiscal year with a $4.3 billion budget surplus, and an all-time record high stockpile in the rainy-day fund of $1.73 billion. Though some have expressed concerns that this may be inflated due to increasing costs for goods and state spending being offset by pandemicrelated federal money, this $4.3 billion balance in the general fund is a 70% increase over last year’s fiscal year end balance of $2.58 billion according to DOA. Furthermore, the tax collections for the general fund exceeded prior estimates by over $1.6 billion – even after a recent cut to income taxes!

All of this is optimistic for the state’s budget, but Wisconsin consumers are not dealing with the same positive view of their financial circumstances, and the holidays are quickly approaching. Surely you know all too well the pains at the pump over the past several months and can be spared the “your Thanksgiving meal will cost this much more than last year” visuals. Inflation has continued to rise despite efforts to slow it, and consumers are bracing for an even more pessimistic economic horizon going into 2023.

With this reality, the people of Wisconsin will be eagerly looking to the state’s legislative leaders for financial relief – and it looks like the state may be in a position to provide some with this reported surplus. The budget process looks a little bit different with each new session but come spring it is clear that the administration and Joint Finance Committee will have some big decisions to make on where to put this surplus to the best use for Wisconsinites.

Continue to keep up to date with state politics and PIA’s advocacy efforts with the Capitol Report in every issue of the Wisconsin Professional Agent and on our blog at piaw.org.

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