Governor Scott Walker signed Assembly Bill 129 into law this week, creating a new set of statues to govern the transfer of structured settlement payments. With the bill’s signing, Wisconsin joined 48 other states that previously had structured settlement transfer provisions already in place. In response to structured settlement rules at the federal level codified […]
Legislature Releases $350 Million in Additional Bonding for Transportation
Date Fri, Nov. 13, 2015 - 10:37am By Hamilton
The Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) has approved a motion to release $350 million in bonding for transportation projects. The motion will allow $200 million in bonding for 2015-2016, and $150 million in 2016-2017. The Department of Transportation (DOT) requested $200 million on October 19, which would require JFC to approve the request with no […]
Building Materials Tax Exemption Passed by Senate
Date Fri, Nov. 13, 2015 - 10:34am By Hamilton
In an extraordinary session last week the Senate passed Senate Bill 227, a bill that will allow contractors to directly purchase construction materials on behalf of their tax-exempt clients without paying the sales tax. The proposal was originally included in the tax reform package of the budget by the Joint Finance Committee. However, the governor […]
Senate Passes Campaign Finance Reforms Bill with Significant Changes to Coordination Restrictions
Date Fri, Nov. 13, 2015 - 10:31am By Hamilton
New campaign finance reforms continue to make their way through the legislative process. The reforms completely rewrite Chapter 11 in Wisconsin statutes and make significant changes. The Senate passed the bill 17-15 with an amendment, which made the following changes to the bill: Lowers the monetary threshold triggering registration for political action committees (PACs) and […]
Legislature Moves Bill to Change “Dog Bite” Statute
Date Thu, Oct. 29, 2015 - 3:29pm By Hamilton
Senator Frank Lasee (R-De Pere) introduced Senate Bill 286 on October 2. This bill proposes to change Wisconsin’s long standing, and flawed, “dog bite” statute. Under current law, Wis. Stat. § 174.02(1)(b) mandates double damages for dogs that cause injury to people, domestic animals, or property if they have previously done so. Current law does not take […]
TIF Bills Pass Committees
Date Thu, Oct. 29, 2015 - 3:14pm By Hamilton
The Assembly Ways and Means committee has passed legislation for numerous bills that are part of the tax increment financing (TIF) bill package. The package comes from recommendations from 2014 Legislative Council Study Committee on the Review of TIF. During the committee, Assembly Bill 136 had a delayed committee vote due to amendments that were […]
Governor Walker Signs John Doe Legislation
Date Thu, Oct. 29, 2015 - 3:12pm By Hamilton
Governor Scott Walker has signed legislation limiting the types of crimes allowed to be investigated using John Doe proceedings and making changes to several of the procedures and processes of John Doe investigations. The bill was approved by the legislature on party line votes in both the Senate and Assembly. Wisconsin is the only state with […]
Nygren HOPE Agenda Moves Forward
Date Thu, Oct. 29, 2015 - 3:10pm By Hamilton
The Assembly Committee on Health unanimously approved all four of Representative John Nygren’s (R-Marinette) HOPE Agenda bills during an executive session last week. Additionally, the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services unanimously approved Senate Bills 268, 271, and 272. The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety also passed the bill on law enforcement […]
Campaign Finance Reform Slows Down
Date Thu, Oct. 29, 2015 - 3:06pm By Hamilton
New campaign finance reforms continue to make their way through the legislative process. The reforms completely rewrite Chapter 11 in Wisconsin statutes and make significant changes. The Assembly passed the bill 61-0, after all Assembly Democrats recused themselves from the vote. Democrats argued they had a substantial financial interest in seeing the bill pass, therefore […]
Capitol Busy with Campaign Finance Reform
Date Thu, Oct. 15, 2015 - 5:09pm By Hamilton
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) rolled out legislation that will change current campaign finance laws in Wisconsin. While public reaction to the bill is mixed, the bills have been fast-tracked and will likely receive floor votes next week. The bill, which comes in at over 100 […]