The State Senate convened for the final time this year on March 12th, effectively concluding the legislature’s 2023-24 bi-annual session. While its possible the legislature could reconvene under certain circumstances, like a veto override attempt, all bills that didn’t pass both houses on the 12th are effectively dead.

While the redistricting process loomed in the background of the entire session, a number of high profile issues were dealt with along the way. The legislature did pass a huge per-pupil spending increase for all schools. They also passed a shared revenue plan that provides money to local governments, that bill allowed Milwaukee County and City to increase their sales tax, an allowance they’ve been requesting for years. There was a bi-partisan spending package that provided support to the Milwaukee Brewers for Am-Fam field upkeep and another bi-partisan bill that overhauled alcohol enforcement policy in the state. The Governor and legislature also found compromise on a bill that provided funding to the University of Wisconsin for an Engineering bill while at the same time eliminated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion positions.

Unfortunately, it was the areas where they couldn’t find compromise that languished and will have to be brought back another day. Most of it surrounded the $3 billion surplus that the state is sitting on. Republicans in the legislature passed multiple tax cuts that the Governor vetoed. The Governor also advocated strongly for increased funding for childcare. While some thought they could do both in one bill, compromise eluded them. Assuming the surplus is still intact going into next session it should be expected we’ll see another version of tax cuts vs. childcare increases round 2. The Governor and Legislature failed to find compromise on PFAS funding, as well as funding for health care in western Wisconsin. A medical marijuana proposal also failed to gain enough support to move.