MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is looking ahead to 2026 with ambitious goals as the state prepares for a gubernatorial election year, highlighting both bipartisan accomplishments from 2025 and his legislative priorities for the coming year.
Vos talked with TMJ4'S Chief Political Reporter Charles Benson.
Bipartisan Budget:
Vos praised the bipartisan budget passed in 2025, calling it a significant achievement that benefited both Republicans and Democrats.
"If you remember, who would have ever thought that we would have a bipartisan budget that cut taxes and made investments that were important to the state? It was all done by July 4th, so on time, on budget, we still have a big surplus," Vos said.
The Assembly Speaker emphasized that "affordability is real for Wisconsinites," identifying five main areas.
"We are blessed, but look —affordability to me are five parts: How much government can we afford, housing, healthcare, food, and utilities. That's what people worry about," said Vos.
"We had a pretty good package that we adopted that's beginning to take root to help create starter homes all across Wisconsin. We put money into healthcare by having a new hospital revenue stream to be able to keep the cost down of hospital care, and we put more money into Obamacare to buy down premium increases," Vos said.
2026 Priorities:
For 2026, Vos outlined several priorities, including lowering property taxes and passing a constitutional amendment to prevent governors from raising property taxes unilaterally. This proposal references Governor Tony Evers' partial veto two years ago that increased per-student school funding for the next 400 years.
Governor Evers said the new biennial budget fell short of what he proposed but pointed to his previous partial veto in 2023 to "ensure new spendable authority for public school districts would be predictable and substantial."
Vos also supports targeted tax cuts, including eliminating income taxes on overtime pay and tips for servers.
"I think that we need to say that if you are a hard worker and you put in overtime, or you're a server and you get tips, you shouldn't pay income tax on that. I think that's a great idea. We'll take that up," Vos said.
When asked about similarities to proposals from President Trump, Vos confirmed the connection, saying they plan to bring up the legislation in January and hope Governor Evers will sign it.
Vos also thinks Wisconsin could add to the kids' Trump accounts. Perhaps $500 from the state and matched by the parents. The new federally funded Trump accounts are $1000 a year for every child born between 2025 and 2028.
Vos's future:
As Wisconsin prepares to elect a new governor in 2026, Vos expressed optimism about Republican chances and hinted at his own political future as the state's longest-serving Assembly Speaker.
"So my optimistic vision is I'd love to go back and get the chance to work with a Republican governor again. I hope we'll get that chance in 2026," Vos said.
When pressed about whether he might continue in his role, Vos said he and his wife, Michelle, discuss the decision over the holidays and typically announce their plans in January or February.
Watch: Vos addresses election administration reforms
Election Administration Reform:
Vos also addressed election administration reforms, particularly around absentee ballot processing. Nearly half of Wisconsin voters cast ballots early in the 2024 presidential election, mostly through in-person absentee voting. Current law prohibits opening, processing, or counting these ballots until Election Day.
Polling shows Wisconsin voters broadly support allowing clerks to start processing absentee ballots one day before Election Day, which would involve validating them, opening envelopes, and preparing them to be counted on Election Day.
"We have passed it in the assembly 2 or 3 different times because look, Florida does it, Texas does it. Other Republican states, this is not some kind of a conspiracy theory, right? Why would we not want to process the ballots so that when they walk in on election day, they are ready to feed into the machine and we can make sure that they are counted accurately to have the answer before midnight," Vos said.
He expressed confidence that the reform could be in place by November 2026.
Gov. Evers 2025 Wins:
Meanwhile, Governor Evers highlighted his administration's accomplishments in 2025, including signing a biennial budget that invests in education and childcare, approving new rules to combat lead poisoning, ending the year with $4.6 billion in the state's general fund, and securing large investments in the University of Wisconsin system.
The Evers Administration also secured a win in November to continue funding and payments for all Wisconsin FoodShare members during the federal government shutdown after a federal court ordered the Trump Administration to stop withholding SNAP payments to states.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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