As the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) continued budget votes this week, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) released updated revenue numbers projecting the state will collect $753 million more in general fund taxes than previously estimated. Overall, the new projections give the state $2.9 billion more to spend in the 2019-21 budget than in 2017-19. According […]
May 16 – JFC Votes on Property Taxes, Military Affairs, Workforce Development, Other Agencies
Date Fri, May. 17, 2019 - 11:07am By Hamilton
Under, Shared Revenue and Tax Relief — Property Taxation, Democrats moved to pass several of the governor’s recommendations to expand levy limits, including: Repealing levy limit adjustments for covered services. Current law requires that municipalities receiving new revenues from fees for services previously funded by taxes reduce their levies by the new fee revenues. Creating […]
May 14 – JFC Approves Governor’s Clean Water Proposals, Rejects Lead Pipe Replacement Funding
Date Fri, May. 17, 2019 - 11:06am By Hamilton
Under the Environmental Improvement Fund, JFC approved several of the governor’s clean water proposals. JFC approved an additional $13.5 million in bonding for the clean water fund, an increase of $3.55 million in bonding for the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program (SDWLP), and increased the maximum loan term for SDWLP loans from 20 to 30 […]
May 9 – JFC Removes Key Provisions of Evers Budget
Date Fri, May. 17, 2019 - 11:04am By Hamilton
In their May 9 executive session, the Joint Finance Committee began by removing 131 major policy and fiscal provisions Gov. Tony Evers had proposed, including the removal of the governor’s plan for Medicaid expansion. (Read more about notable provisions removed.) JFC approved removing the items on an 11-4 party line vote. The committee also rejected […]
Joint Finance Committee Begins Budget Votes
Date Fri, May. 17, 2019 - 11:02am By Hamilton
The Joint Finance Committee has begun taking votes on the 2019-21 state budget. Departing from previous sessions’ procedures, JFC is working from the previous base budget instead of the governor’s proposal. If no motions are offered on a particular area, then that item remains at the base funding level. So far, JFC has voted to […]
Water Quality Task Force Meets in Lancaster
Date Fri, May. 17, 2019 - 10:57am By Hamilton
The Speaker’s Task Force on Water Quality met for its first public hearing on May 8 in Lancaster. The task force heard from several research and farm groups before taking public testimony. The Southwest Wisconsin Groundwater and Geology Study (SWIGG) started off the meeting with a discussion of their preliminary results released earlier this year. […]
Floor Report: Legislature Approves Marsy’s Law, Other Bills Taken Up by Senate & Assembly
Date Thu, May. 16, 2019 - 3:52pm By Hamilton
The Senate and Assembly both met for floor sessions on May 15. The relatively limited calendars included votes on crime victims’ rights, a water pollution trading program, record expungement, and a package of legislation on abortion. Both the Senate and Assembly approved Senate Joint Resolution 2, known as Marsy’s Law, which would elevate victims’ rights […]
PA Day at the Capitol 2019
Date Thu, May. 16, 2019 - 3:45pm By Hamilton
The Wisconsin Academy of Physician Assistants held PA Day at the Capitol on May 14. Nearly 50 PAs from across the state came to Madison to advocate in support of its Collaboration And Rural Expansion of Services (CARES) Act. The soon-to-be-introduced bill enhances physician-PA team practice, preserves the PA role in a competitive health care […]
Wisconsin Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in First Extraordinary Session Challenge
Date Wed, May. 15, 2019 - 2:02pm By Hamilton
In its last oral arguments of the 2018-19 term, the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard a case that will decide whether the Legislature constitutionally convened the December 2018 extraordinary session. The issue in League of Women Voters v. Evers is whether extraordinary sessions are “provided by law” as required by Wisconsin Constitution Art. IV § 11. […]
JFC Removes Worker’s Comp Provisions from Gov. Evers Budget
Date Fri, May. 10, 2019 - 9:51am By Hamilton
In its first executive session on the 2019-21 state budget on May 9, the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted to remove provisions of Gov. Tony Evers’s proposed budget making changes to worker’s compensation procedures. Evers’s budget had proposed unifying worker’s compensation proceedings under the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) by moving disputed worker’s compensation […]