This week, the Legislature passed the biennial state budget. This concludes months of work and dozens of hearings across Wisconsin. I voted in favor of the budget, which provided a significant increase in funding to public schools, eliminated the personal property tax, expanded the shared revenue program for local governments, and provided income tax cuts for all tax brackets. The budget bill will now go to Governor Evers’s desk for him to sign into law.
Additionally, I am proud of being able to help make sure that our municipalities see increases in shared revenue included in this year’s budget. This has been an important issue since I was elected, and I am glad to see the joint finance committee and the Legislature include this in the state’s budget. After months of negotiations with local leaders and holding a public hearing in the committee on local government, which I chair, municipalities will see significant increases in shared revenue to spend on fire, EMS, and police because of the work the legislature has done on creating a budget for all of Wisconsin.
I worked to have several specific items included in the state budget relating to supporting the healthcare sector. I submitted a successful budget motion that increased funding for free and charitable clinics. These clinics provide crucial medical care to uninsured and underinsured Wisconsin residents, ensuring that people from all walks of life have access to quality and affordable healthcare.
I also successfully added a provision to the budget that expanded the Graduate Medical Education (GME) program. The GME program is a grant program that is administered through the Department of Health Services (DHS) to provide rural clinics and hospitals assistance in operating residency training programs. This program allows recent medical school graduates the opportunity to continue their training and practice medicine in Wisconsin. This program is vital to ensuring that rural healthcare facilities have the doctors they need to serve their community, especially during a time when providers throughout the state are struggling with a medical professional shortage.
During a recent tour of SSM Health Monroe Hospital, I learned that nearly 90% of Monroe’s GME participants continue to practice in Wisconsin, and 65% are practicing in a rural community. That is why I am so glad to see this provision be included in the budget. It is so crucial that we continue to invest in rural healthcare while successfully training and retaining young healthcare professionals.
I want to thank the incredible staff at SSM Monroe for working with me on this important issue. This investment will help support rural healthcare facilities throughout my district and Wisconsin.
Below I highlight a breakdown of several other key provisions from the budget:
● $325 per pupil increase for K-12 schools
● $30 million increase for school-based mental health services
● $150 million investment in the Agriculture Road Improvement Program (ARIP)
● $666,300 for matching grants for arts facilities available through the Arts Board
● $93 million in state funding for childcare support programs
● $9.4 million increase for general aid to Wisconsin Technical Colleges
● $7 million increase for youth apprenticeship programs
● $600 million reduction targeting the property tax burden in Wisconsin Legislature
● Over $38 million in new money for wage increases for DA’s, ADA’s and other new prosecutor positions.
● $146.4 million for increasing the nursing home support services portion of the MA reimbursement program
● $7.5 million for Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs)
● $1.6 million for meat processor grants
● $2 million for the nitrogen optimization pilot program
● $1.6 million for Cover Crop rebates
● $2 million for the agriculture export program
● $500,000 for producer-led watershed protection grants
— Rep. Todd Novak represents Wisconsin’s 51st Assembly District. He can be reached at 608-266-7502 or email rep.novak@legis.wisconsin.gov.
