Senator Asks Legislative Leaders to Sue UW System, Seeking Legislative Oversight of COVID Rules

The Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) held an executive session on August 3 to vote on the University of Wisconsin System’s COVID-19 policies. On a 6-4, party-line vote, the committee ordered the UW System to submit its COVID-19 protocols as an emergency rule within 30 days, arguing that measures such as […]

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Legislative Update: Special Session and Veto Override Attempt End Without Changes

On July 27, the Wisconsin Assembly met in extraordinary session to vote on a veto override of Assembly Bill 336. The bill would have ended Wisconsin’s participation in federal programs to provide or supplement unemployment benefits. It also would have prohibited the state from waiving the work search requirements for unemployment benefits for any reason […]

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Finance Committee Continues Building State Budget; Tax Cuts, Education Funding Are Highlights

The Wisconsin Legislature remains focused on assembling a state budget for the 2021-2023 fiscal biennium. In his executive budget proposal, Governor Tony Evers (D) included a two-year operating budget of more than $90 billion and a long list of changes to various state laws and programs. Immediately following the governor’s budget address in February, legislative leaders indicated they would […]

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Wisconsin Was Awarded Billions of Dollars in Federal Funds for Education and Transportation Under the CRRSA

Last month, we discussed a few aspects of the $900 billion COVID-19 response legislation passed by Congress in December of last year. The economic stimulus and COVID relief package, called the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA), was passed along with the 2021 federal budget to form a 5,600-page spending bill totaling roughly […]

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DPI Releases Guidance on K-12 Reopening

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has released guidance for Wisconsin schools on reopening safely and successfully in the 2020-21 school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Evers has said his administration is leaving the decision whether or not to reopen schools up to local districts. The DPI guidance does not place any mandates […]

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Study Committee on Investment and Use of School Trust Funds Meets

The Study Committee on the Investment and Use of the School Trust Funds met for the first time on Aug. 16, 2018. The committee, chaired by Rep. Terry Katsma (R-Oostburg) and Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), is tasked with reviewing the investment process and loan programs under the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL). The […]

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