by Dan Rossmiller | Oct 4, 2019 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
The Wisconsin Senate will meet in floor session on Tuesday, Oct. 8, beginning at 11:00 a.m. This will be the only day in October the full Senate will meet.
Among the bills on Tuesday Senate calendar will be:
Senate Bill 160 — Relating to: the method for providing notice of a special meeting of a school board.
By Senators Olsen, Bewley, Kooyenga and Wanggaard; cosponsored by Representatives Gundrum, Ballweg, Brandtjen, Edming, Felzkowski, Horlacher, Knodl, Kulp, Milroy, Skowronski, Subeck, Tittl, Tusler and Wichgers.
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by Dan Rossmiller | Sep 6, 2019 | State Budget, State Issue
Split party control of Wisconsin state government appears to have greatly slowed the flow of legislation being enacted into law in the current 2019-20 legislative session and it appears unlikely the pace will pick up anytime soon.
According to the Wheeler Report, neither the state Senate nor the state Assembly are expected to meet in floor session during the month of September. Lawmakers had set aside the period from Sept. 17 to 26 for a floor period when they organized the session schedule back in January. The next scheduled floor period is October 8-10. (more…)
by Chris Kulow | Jun 26, 2019 | State Budget
The state Senate concurred in the state budget bill today (June 26) as passed by the state Assembly. This clears the bill to head to Governor Tony Evers, who has the option to sign the bill as is, veto the bill in whole or in part, or allow it to become law without his signature by taking no action within the six-day review period (Sundays excepted) specified in the State Constitution.
The bill was approved 17-16 with GOP Sens. Steve Nass (Whitewater) and Dave Craig (Vernon) joined by all Senate Democrats in voting No. (more…)
by Chris Kulow | Jun 26, 2019 | State Budget
The state Assembly passed the budget bill on a 60-39 vote late in the evening of June 25 after 10 hours of floor debate. GOP Reps. Brandtjen (Menomonee Falls), Gundrum (Slinger) & Ramthun (Campbellsport) joined all Assembly Democrats in voting No on the bill.
The Assembly added a last minute amendment that was designed to garner support from certain GOP Senators after two have already announced they intend to vote No. The amendment also modified language in the bill to make it more difficult for the governor to use his powerful partial veto pen to alter the modified provisions. The bill now heads to the state Senate and is scheduled to be taken up today (June 26) at 10am along with several other bills. Watch the debate LIVE on WisconsinEye. (more…)
by Chris Kulow | Jun 24, 2019 | State Budget
The state Assembly will act first on the state budget (Assembly Bill 56), beginning at noon on Tuesday, June 25 with the state Senate following the next day on Wednesday, June 26 at 10:00 am. Major changes to the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) budget are not expected, but some last minute changes have been discussed amid two GOP Senators announcing they did not support the JFC package. You can follow the budget debates LIVE on WisconsinEye. Stay tuned…
One side benefit of having different parties controlling the governorship and legislature is a dramatic reduction in the amount of non-fiscal policy jammed into the budget bill. Non-fiscal item items often do not receive the attention and deliberation that a typical stand-alone piece of legislation would (some recent examples include changes to open records laws and voucher expansion). (more…)
