Following the Democratic Senate seat win in the January special elections, Gov. Scott Walker, in his State of the State address, unveiled an ambitious legislative agenda for the remainder of the 2017-18 session. The agenda includes a child tax credit, money for rural schools and economic development, a health care stability plan, and welfare reform. With only a few floor dates left in 2018, the legislature has been in a rush to push this legislation out of committees and onto the floor. The Assembly met twice this week to vote on several of these proposals. Both the Senate and Assembly will meet on Tuesday, and the Assembly will also meet on Wednesday and Thursday next week for more votes.

Floor sessions this late in session can bring surprises, as seen on Feb. 13 when Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) proposed a motion to withdraw a property tax increase bill from committee for consideration by the Assembly. Republicans (with the exception of Rep. Kevin Petersen (R-Waupaca)) voted down Hintz’s motion, but later in the session voted to draw Rep. John Nygren’s (R-Marinette) sparsity aid bill up from committee. Part of Walker’s 2018 agenda, this bill for rural schools passed on a widely bipartisan basis.

The Assembly approved a variety of other bipartisan bills in their Feb. 13 session, including the Foster Forward package from the Speaker’s Task Force on  Foster Care.

The Feb. 15 Assembly session started with votes on Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Sen. Chris Kapenga’s (R-Delafield) package of ten bills as part of the Special Session on Welfare Reform. The Assembly added several amendments to the bills that passed out of the Committee on Public Benefit Reform, including one on Special Session Bill 3 that requires the Department of Health Services and the Department of Children and Families to run the people eligible for welfare program through the death registry on a quarterly basis (with the exception of Wisconsin Shares participants). The bills passed on a largely partisan basis.

Also on Feb. 15, the Assembly passed a bill loosening wetland permit requirements, a bill classifying county jailers as protective status at the jailers’ own expense, and a bill that would create a tax deduction for apprenticeship tuition expenses.

The remainder of Walker’s priorities are still making their way through the committee process. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Rep. Petersen have introduced legislation creating a one-time child tax credit and sales tax holiday. The Assembly Committee on Ways and Means has approved the bill, and it is eligible for scheduling next week. Walker’s plan for a $50 million rural economic development fund has been approved by the Joint Finance Committee, with some amendments, and is on the Assembly calendar for next week.