Wisconsin Senate leaders have chosen eight lawmakers who will serve on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee — a simple bureaucratic move with major implications.
The 16-person committee, which meets in its very own conference room in the east wing of the state Capitol, reviews and controls how state government spends its money.
When budget season launches in early 2025, the finance committee will take the governor’s proposal and rework it, giving the panel considerable power when it comes to spending billions of dollars and dictating Wisconsin’s financial priorities for two years.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, announced his six picks for the committee, and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, announced her two picks.
The other eight members will be appointed from the Assembly, where Republican Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Democratic Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, have yet to announce their picks.
Among the Republican members of the committee are returning co-chair, Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green; Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Green Bay; and Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point.
Sen. Romaine Quinn, R-Cameron; Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin; and Sen. Rob Stafsholt, R-New Richmond, will be serving on the powerful group for the first time.
“I’m confident the new Senate finance team will responsibly utilize our state’s $4 billion surplus to shrink the size of government and reduce the tax burden on hardworking Wisconsin families,” LeMahieu said in a statement.
For Democrats, Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, and Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, were both reappointed.
On Tuesday, Governor Evers requested to present his budget proposal — which will be one of his largest public addresses for the year — on either February 25 of March 4 of next year. Republican leadership will have to approve his request. That will kick off several months of discussion in the budget committee’s conference room to decide what Wisconsin will invest in through 2027.