Mediaboss Marketing

MADISON Gov. Tony Evers today released a statement after Republicans on the State Building Commission (SBC) deadlocked the Commission on a 4-4 vote on every motion that included projects in the governors capital budget recommendations, rejecting the governors proposed nearly $3.8 billion in investments in state infrastructure. Gov. Evers plan, releasedlast month, represented one of the strongest investments to date for Wisconsins facility infrastructure and included major projects in both Republican and Democratic legislative districts in 28 counties across the state. Additionally, the governors recommendations were expected to provide approximately 45,000 family-supporting jobs and an estimated $6.8 billion in economic impact.

Our capital budget addressed critical infrastructure needs across our state in a way that kept borrowing low, saved the taxpayers money in the long run, and created critical local jobs and economic development, said Gov. Evers. While Republican leaders claim to support these goals, their action today shows that they would simply rather play politics than have a meaningful discussion about how these projects would serve the needs of the folks they represent. Despite todays unfortunate outcome, we willcontinue to fight for these projects as we work to invest in and build 21st centuryinfrastructure in communities across our state.

Republicans rejected important projects such as:Continued investments in correctional facilities to further work towards closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake as juvenile facilitiesbycompletingthe Milwaukee Type 1 facilityand anew Type 1 facility on Department of Corrections-owned property in Oregon, the expansion of the Grow Academy in Oregon,and astudy and plan for a third Type 1 facility in the Northeastern region;Significant investment of approximately $1.8 billion for capital improvement projects through the University of Wisconsin (UW) System at campuses across the state. These projectsincludethe Engineeringreplacementbuilding at UW-Madison, theEauClaire Science/Health Science Building phase II, and the Camp Randall Sports Center replacement at UW-Madison. In addition, numerous critical maintenance and repair projects at Central Utility Plants, replacement of deteriorating facilities such as the Humanities building and Music Hall at UW-Madison, and important renovation work to address deferred maintenance at key campus buildings atUW-Oshkosh and UW-Stevens Point, and many more;Upgrades to the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King and purchasing the Wisconsin Veterans Museum location for future upgrades;Investments in state parksandforests and upgrades to Fire Response RangerStations;Investmentsin health services facilities, including utility infrastructure, support services, and patient care;Projects withfederal support for Wisconsin National Guardfacilities;Additional investmentto complete thenew Wisconsin History Museum; andAddressing the states backlog of deferred maintenance by providing the largest investment to date for all state agencies, including the UW System, for small to mid-sized capital maintenance and repair projects across the state in theAll AgencyProgram.This action is a repeat of the same obstruction by Republican SBC members during the 2019-21 Capital Budget and the 2021-23 Capital Budget by abandoning the decades-old institutional tradition of recommending project requests with bipartisan support. Todays decision by Republicans on theCommission marksthethird time in SBC records the Commission has failed to collaborate on a State Building Program. This action is contrary to the regular meetings when SBC memberscome together multiple times throughout the year toagreetoprovideauthority to construct projectsin the State Building Program.

The complete 2023-25 Capital Budget agency requests and the governors recommendations can be foundhere.The SBC is chaired by Gov.Eversand made up of the following members:Sen. RobertWirch;Sen. JoanBallweg;Sen.AndrJacque;Rep. Jill Billings;Rep. Rob Swearingen;Rep. RobertWittke; andBarb Worcester, citizen member. An online version of this release is availablehere.

Read the original:
Gov. Evers: Reacts to Republican rejection of historic investment in ... - WisPolitics.com