I had an amazing conversation with a number of constituents who attended my budget listening session last week. The attendees, who were strangers to each other, shared personal and heartfelt stories. They made it clear that the decisions made by their legislators truly do affect them and their communities.

Budgets are necessary to keep us on track, lay out our priorities and work toward what we want to accomplish. Every two years, the Governor introduces a budget that reflects the values of our state. The state budget is a moral document just as much as it’s a financial map for the years ahead. When state leaders approve the budget, we’re showing the world who we are and what we stand for.

This morning Governor Evers signed the budget forwarded from the legislature, but added 78 partial vetoes. The end result is a budget that is a compromise between Evers' budget proposal and the bill passed by the Republican-controlled legislature. The entire veto messages is included below, but some of the primary items of interest include

The state budget has gone to the Governor's desk, and at this point, he has a choice of signing it, doing a full veto of the budget, or doing a  partial veto. The partial veto in Wisconsin is much more powerful than in most states. This article, originally published at WisContext, explains how the Wisconsin Governor has ended up with peculiar veto power (though somewhat less peculiar than it used to be).

During the past two months, I traveled throughout the 31st Senate District and met with constituents to hear their thoughts on the budget introduced by Governor Tony Evers. I joined Governor Evers at listening sessions in Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Kenosha, Superior and sat alongside Joint Finance Committee (JFC) members in River Falls for a public hearing. These were opportunities to listen to the comments and reactions from hundreds of Wisconsinites.

The Governor's Budget Listening Tour rolled into Eau Claire on April 16 at the Western Wisconsin Technical College. This session was unusual in several ways for Wisconsin. For one, it has been a long time since a Wisconsin Governor has held open listening sessions where the public was invited. For another, the new Governor held this somewhat differently than normal. After an address from the Governor, Lt.

Turnout was very heavy at the JFC Budget Hearing in River Falls on Monday. The general tone of this hearing was very different than the hearings during the Walker administration, as almost all of the testimony this time around was in favor of the Evers budget, which is much more liberal in its spending plans.

The budget hearing process started today - opening remarks from Republicans and Democrats. Thanks to Wisconsin Eye for the video.

#000000;">As leaders and policy makers in Wisconsin it is our job to ensure that our state government and operations run smoothly. Our agencies must be funded properly, people must be paid and projects should be moving forward in a timely fashion. It doesn’t need to be complicated. There are processes in place that have worked for decades.

Great News! A big tech company called Foxconn is coming to southeast Wisconsin and bringing with it a lot of new jobs. The new company will build a big factory and make flat screens for computers.

The Governor tells us the company will create 13,000 jobs that pay nearly $54,000. Other businesses will benefit because the company will buy things from Wisconsin businesses.