The 16-member committee, split evenly between eight senators and eight Assembly members, does much of the heavy lifting in drafting the state spending plan. The appointments were announced Tuesday and are among the latest leadership decisions as Democrats organize for the coming session.

The stakes are unusual. The last time Democrats wrote a budget, for the 2009-2011 session, the state faced a roughly $6 billion shortfall. Wisconsin is expected to enter 2027 with about a $3 billion surplus, a far different starting point that will shape the choices Johnson and McGuire make.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton), who handles committee assignments, said Johnson has "demonstrated her ability to connect with people across the state and fight for their needs during her time on JFC." Hesselbein added that Johnson has the "judgment and leadership to deliver a budget that reflects the needs of this moment in our state's history."

Johnson, first elected to the Senate in 2016, previously ran an in-home childcare center and has served on the budget committee since the 2018 session. In a statement, she said it has been a privilege to hear from residents around Wisconsin and promised to "keep listening and to carry your stories with me into the Capitol as we write a responsible budget investing in the people because I know what having opportunity means to a family, and how much can change when people have a fair shot to build a better life."

Incoming Assembly Speaker Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) named McGuire as the Assembly co-chair, saying he has "spent his career fighting for working families" and brings "deep experience in the budget process."

"I know that he is going to make sure that the next state budget truly reflects the will of the people," Neubauer said. "He understands that every appropriation and every line item affect people in communities across Wisconsin."

McGuire, a former Kenosha County special prosecutor and Milwaukee County assistant district attorney, was first elected to the Assembly in an April 2019 special election and has served on the budget committee since the 2023-24 session. He said he is "humbled" by the chance to help craft the budget.

"For nearly fifty years in America, working men and women have struggled while the rich get richer and corporations get bigger," McGuire said. "When I first ran for office, I made it my No. 1 priority to fight to restore the middle class and advocate for the working people of our state. I am more committed than ever to that mission."

The committee's work will set the terms of debate over taxes, school funding, health care and local government aid at a moment when the state's finances give lawmakers room to make choices rather than simply close gaps. For communities across Wisconsin, the two chairs will decide which priorities get funded and which wait.