Madison, WI – Governor Evers’ 2023-2025 State Budget introduced on February 15th makes important investments that will help all Wisconsin citizens enjoy cleaner water, fresher air, and more recreational opportunities.
“This budget includes proposals responding to long-standing needs that are broadly supported by Wisconsin citizens, including funding for critical conservation programs, funding for state agencies, and funding reforms that make spending decisions or conservation more democratic,” according to Fred Clark, Executive Director of Wisconsin’s Green Fire.
Clark added, “There is broad agreement across political parties and across Wisconsin that we need to accelerate the work already started to clean up our drinking water, address non-point pollution, replace the lead pipes in cities, and help communities address “forever pollutants” in community water supplies.”
The budget adds needed staff to state agencies who have struggled to help citizens get the resources they need to protect themselves and their children’s health. It also makes long-needed changes to increase transparency to the Joint Committee on Finance in approving spending decisions for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund – reflecting broad citizen support for continued investments in conservation and public lands.
“It is important to have staff that can get assistance to your city and town quickly when you have pollution show up in your drinking water,” said Tom Jerow, the president of Wisconsin’s Green Fire. “We need to have professionals testing our waters and providing funds to clean the water in both rural and urban areas and with the current historic budget surplus now is the time to begin to rebuild our state government.”