Wisconsin Senate votes down budget surplus bill passed by Assembly

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Senate voted 18-15 against a bill that was approved by the Assembly after a 10-hour recess on Wednesday night.

The Assembly approved the budget surplus bill with a 61-32 vote.

All Senate Democrats opposed the bill and three Senate Republicans voted against it.

The bill was a $1.8 billion budget surplus agreement between Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu.

The bill included an income tax refund, an end to income tax on overtime and tips and includes $300 million in special education funding along with $300 million in general school aid that would replace property tax funding for the same.

After reviewing the details of the supposed “bi-partisan” agreement between the Governor and outgoing legislative leaders, I feel it is a very bad deal for the people I work for. We have a one-time budget surplus that should be returned as a one-time refund to the Wisconsin…— Sen. Chris Kapenga (@SenatorKapenga) May 12, 2026

“Wisconsin’s kids and schools aren’t going to get the investments they desperately need this year because Tom Tiffany and a few Republican and Democratic lawmakers chose to blow up a bipartisan plan to invest in our K-12 schools, lower property taxes, and help working families afford rising costs, all because they’d rather do what’s best for the next election than what’s right for the people of our state,” Evers said in a statement. “So many Wisconsinites feel left behind, frustrated, and disillusioned by politics these days because they think a lot of politicians in the Capitol are only here to serve themselves.”

Republicans in the Assembly said that the bill was a compromise that did good things while spending $1.8 billion of the state’s budget surplus but it wasn’t perfect and didn’t have everything they wanted.

“I wish rainwater was beer, but it’s not,” Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, said about the compromise.

Vos, R-Rochester, said that lawmakers needed to “put aside the things that cannot happen and focus on the things that can.”

Republican Sen. Steve Nass, who is against the bill, told reporters that Evers and legislative leaders were “once again behind closed doors buying votes to make a bad deal even worse.”

The tax deal is a test of leadership. Evers & LeMhieu appear to be failing. From Sen Nass”As has been the ongoing crisis of integrity in the State Capitol this session, Evers and leg leaders are once again behind closed doors buying votes to make a bad deal even worse”— BenYount1130 (@yount1130) May 13, 2026

The bill includes $300 income tax refund for individuals and $600 for those married and filing jointly based upon the 2024 tax year and those who earned more than the tax refund and 90% of their income was earned in Wisconsin.

The refund, scheduled to be sent by September, will cost the state $870 million as lawmakers spend down $1.8 billion of the projected $2.37 billion surplus at the end of the current budget cycle. A new report from the state’s Legislative Audit Bureau says that tax collections are tracking $300 million to $350 million ahead of January estimates.

The bill mirrors federal law by eliminating state income tax on overtime, which will amount to a $328 million tax cut statewide over two years, and eliminate income tax on cash tips, amounting to a $102 million cut over two years.

The delay include an online dispute between Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, and Evers Communications Director Britt Cudaback over the benefits of the general school aid portion of the bill.

Well, you’re also wrong. General aid *does* go to schools, and can be used on whatever districts want to use it for, unlike categorical aid. Schools get more resources and property taxpayers get tax relief.— Britt Cudaback (@BrittCudaback) May 13, 2026