Evers Budgets — Four Cannabis Proposals, Four GOP Removals

Gov. Tony Evers (D, 2019-Jan 2027) put cannabis in four consecutive biennial budgets — 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025 — and Republican legislators have stripped it from each. Most recently, the 2025-2027 budget’s adult-use plus medical proposal (projected $58.1 million in revenue in FY 2026-27) was removed by Joint Finance Committee on a 12-4 party-line vote on May 8, 2025 as part of a sweeping cut of more than 600 budget provisions.

Legal Disclaimer: This information reflects Wisconsin cannabis law as of May 2026 and is for educational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Laws and regulations change — always verify current rules with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) for Lydia's Law CBD; Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) for hemp or a qualified attorney. Cannabis remains illegal under federal law.

Last verified: May 2026

Four Budgets, Four Removals

2019-2021 budget (Feb. 2019) — first Evers proposal: medical plus decriminalization. Removed by Joint Finance Committee.
2021-2023 budget — full medical-and-recreational with home cultivation. Removed.
2023-2025 budget — adult-use, two ounces, six plants, expungement, projected $44.4 M segregated tax revenue plus $10.2 M general fund increase by FY 2025. Stripped on a 12-4 party-line JFC vote.
2025-2027 budget (Feb. 2025) — adult-use plus medical, 15% wholesale and 10% retail excise, expungement, intoxicating-hemp regulation, tribal-state revenue sharing. Projected $58.1 million in revenue in FY 2026-27. Removed by JFC on May 8, 2025 as part of a sweeping cut of more than 600 budget provisions.

Joint Finance Committee Co-Chairs Marklein + Born

In each cycle, JFC co-chairs Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) led the deletions. The pattern produced a structural pattern in Wisconsin cannabis-policy reform: a Democratic-governor budget proposal cleared from below by Republican-controlled JFC, then signed by Evers without the cannabis provisions.

Evers’s Response

Gov. Evers’s 2025 statement after the May 8 budget vote: "Republicans talk a lot about what they’re against, but not what they’re for. Wisconsinites are sick and tired of having a do-nothing Legislature."

The Tribal-State Compact Provision

The 2025-2027 budget proposal included compact authority modeled on existing Wisconsin Indian Gaming Compacts (Gov. Tommy Thompson, 1992) — a framework that could have facilitated tribal-cannabis programs. The provision was eliminated with the rest of the cannabis package on May 8, 2025. The Menominee 2015 federal-raid precedent has chilled tribal experimentation; federal-law uncertainty remains significant. See no-compact page.

The Initiative-Referendum Reform Provision (Also Removed)

The 2025-2027 budget also proposed creating a citizen-initiated referendum process — an avenue that could have given Wisconsin voters direct power over cannabis. The Joint Finance Committee struck the provision on May 8, 2025. Wisconsin remains one of approximately 24 U.S. states without statewide citizen ballot initiative.

The Reform Pattern

The four-budgets-four-removals pattern reflects:

Wisconsin’s split-government structure — Evers’s line-item-veto authority does not extend to forcing cannabis policy without legislative cooperation.
Republican supermajority constraints — both chambers remained Republican-controlled through 2024 election; the 2024 Wisconsin Supreme Court redistricting ruling tightened maps but did not flip control.
Lobbying influence — Tavern League of Wisconsin and beer-industry lobbying have been cited by Sen. Larson as obstacles.
Ideological opposition — Speaker Vos in December 2023 called cannabis a "dangerous drug."
Intra-GOP splits — Vos preferred state-run dispensaries; Felzkowski and LeMahieu opposed them.

The 2026 Inflection

Evers, LeMahieu, Vos, and Felzkowski are all leaving the legislature or executive branch. Democrats picked up four Senate seats and ten Assembly seats in November 2024. The 2026 session offers the most realistic chance at medical legalization in a decade; full adult-use likely waits on a Democratic trifecta and the 2027 session at earliest.