Molly Beck

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Republican lawmakers in an unprecedented move are refusing to sign off on anything in Gov. Tony Evers' $2.5 billion spending plan for building projects.

The rejection is a symbolic rebuke of the new Democratic governor's proposed $2 billion in bonding and allows the Republican-controlled Legislature to craft their own plan to fund building repairs, renovations and new construction.

The inaction doesn't prevent lawmakers from later approving funding for building projects Evers has proposed — but it's a sign that significant parts of the governor's plan are unlikely to be approved given Republican opposition to the plan's size.

"There's some considerable heartburn within the Assembly Republican caucus on the level of bonding from the capital budget," Rep. Rob Swearingen, R-Rhinelander, said during a Wednesday meeting of the Wisconsin Building Commission, a panel that recommends building projects to the state Legislature.

The Republican show of opposition is likely to preview the challenges ahead for the Republican-controlled Legislature and Evers as lawmakers craft the next state budget.

"Disappointment is an understatement," Evers said after Republican members said they wouldn't support recommending anything in the spending proposal to the Legislature.

"This was about playing politics, plain and simple, not doing what’s best for the people of our state," Evers said in a statement after the meeting. "Republicans would rather have us sit here in gridlock than do the jobs we were sent here to do, and that’s a shame.”

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The Republican members — Swearingen, Rep. Mark Born of Beaver Dam, Sen. Patrick Testin of Stevens Point and Sen. Jerry Petrowski of Marathon — approved the building projects through committee votes earlier this week but wouldn't endorse them during the full commission meeting on Wednesday.

The lawmakers voted against recommending funding for projects they support, including replacing the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls with smaller regional facilities and funding for a cancer research facility at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

"We were hoping that the governor would provide better leadership today and try to work with us on this," Born said after the meeting. "But we look forward to ... try to move forward a capital budget that invests in our priorities at a reasonable spending level that respects the taxpayers of Wisconsin – their investments in these projects.”

'A little bit of the lunacy'

Testin, who represents a district covering Adams, Portage Waushara and Wood counties, supports Evers' proposed $3 million in funding to convert a defunct newspaper building in Wisconsin Rapids into a center for dining and job recruitment and training.

He voted against recommending the individual project Wednesday while also pledging he would continue to fight for it throughout the budget process.

Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan said Testin's opposition despite his support of the project "shows a little bit of the lunacy of some of the discussion that has gone on today."

Tony Palese, chief of staff for Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, said in a tweet the lawmakers were "going on record" being against funding for a cancer research facility, veteran nursing home upgrades, and UW classrooms, among other projects.

Republicans said the opposition represented wanting and not getting more time to work with Evers on a level of bonding their colleagues could get behind.

"We’ll go on the record in the future when we fund a lot of these projects in our budget," Born said. "We’re certainly going to make capital investments but we’re going to do it in a reasonable way so I guess that’s part of the debate moving forward."

'Unrealistic and unsustainable'

In a Wednesday letter to Evers, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said they instructed the Republican lawmakers to oppose recommending the projects given the level of bonding in the plan.

The GOP legislative leaders called the plan "both unrealistic and unsustainable."

The Democratic governor's plan would be three times as large as the one lawmakers approved last year for publicly funded construction.

"This proposal is larger by far than any building program in the last 20 years," the wrote. "While we all can agree that there are numerous projects included in your request that are necessary and beneficial to the state of Wisconsin, we believe the Legislature needs more time to thoroughly vet each proposal and arrive at a more appropriate and reliable level of bonding."

Nearly half of the $2.5 billion for building projects — or $1.1. billion — would be for University of Wisconsin System campuses, with more than $506 million of it coming from borrowing that would be paid back by taxpayers.

The rest of the funding for the UW projects would be covered with donations or revenue generated by student fees, residence hall fees and the like.

UW System President Ray Cross was in attendance Wednesday as each of the campus projects failed to receive the recommendation from the commission.

"This doesn’t diminish our need," Cross said afterward. "Everybody understands we have this need. The question then is does this accelerate or increase our risk? The safety issues continue to grow."

Under the governor's plans, taxpayers would borrow $129.5 million for a UW-Milwaukee chemistry building; $93.25 million for a UW-Eau Claire science building; $90 million for an addition and renovation of UW-Madison’s veterinary medicine building; and $83 million for a UW-La Crosse science center.

Cross said UW System officials are "looking forward to working with the Legislature through the next steps."

"I think they all share an understanding of our need," he said. "The question is can we help them see how important it is in this phase?"

Evers on Wednesday repeatedly urged Republican members of the commission to support projects that require private donations to complete because otherwise, the no votes could "send a message" that the project might not be a sure thing.

Born said Evers' comments disrespected the process and implied the commission's recommendations were binding. Evers said uncertainty affects an organization's ability to raise money.

When asked if he agreed, Cross noted a UW-Madison project in Evers' plan has a $20 million commitment from a single donor.

"We’re always concerned about those things and this is a way to reduce the cost to taxpayers and to students in the long run," he said.

Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh said the Republican votes were disappointing. He noted in past budgets they tried to limit borrowing for university buildings and other projects so they could borrow for roads — and predicted they may take the same approach again.

"I think this is just politics on behalf of the Republicans," Hintz said. "Maybe it's an early sign they're not going to be able to deal with the transportation issue for the tenth year in a row."

But Fitzgerald said Evers "is needlessly complicating a simple process and it didn’t have to be this way."

"I’ve said before that there are concerns in our caucus about the level of spending and bonding in his plan," he said in a tweet.

Also included in Evers' plan is $10 million in borrowing to build two facilities to hold a total of 288 male inmates at Jackson Correctional Institution.

In addition, Evers wants to borrow $5 million to construct barracks at Taycheedah Correctional Institution to hold 144 female inmates with substance abuse issues.

Evers also wants to increase funding for new regional facilities to replace the state's troubled juvenile prison, Lincoln Hills School for Boys. Evers would put $194 million more toward those projects, raising the total cost of them to $274 million.

Separately, Evers is seeking to delay the closure of Lincoln Hills — now scheduled for Jan. 1, 2021 — until space is available for all inmates.

He's also seeking $10 million to construct a new secure housing unit at Lincoln Hills to help convert the prison to a facility that could hold 575 adult inmates.

In addition, Evers wants to borrow $29 million to renovate the food service building at Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison. Another $20 million would be borrowed to relocate utilities on the mental health campus.

Born repeatedly asked Evers to reconsider the Republican lawmakers' motion to forward the plan without recommendations because many projects — including those that help replace the troubled youth prison — could receive support from Republicans.

"I think the ultimate goal is to get the entire book to Joint Finance," Swearingen said.

But Democratic lawmakers on the commission said the purpose of the committee is to provide guidance to the Legislature.

"For me, it's important to weigh in with a yes or a no," Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, said.

Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.