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The statewide budget hearings have concluded and legislators have been mentioning in press possible budget changes for the Bucks arena and UW System funding. We now wait for the Joint Finance Committee to begin taking votes on the budget in the coming weeks. The legislature has not been in session since March 19th, but committee hearings and bill introductions have filled legislators' schedules, which you can read about in Tidbits. And while Governor Walker has been busy on the impending campaign trail, a new deputy secretary for the DNR has been named and Voter ID has been upheld in Wisconsin. You can read about all of these news items and more below.
Stay up to date on the state budget process! Check our State Budget Issue Update page and follow us on Twitter.
If you wish to receive additional information about a topic addressed in Tidbits, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Hamilton Consulting Team.
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| Hutton, Vukmir Champion Bill to Repeal State's Prevailing Wage Law |
Representative Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) and Senator Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) have introduced Assembly Bill 32/Senate Bill 49, companion bills to repeal the state's prevailing wage law. Wisconsin's prevailing wage law requires state and local units of government to pay "prevailing wages" - not market wages - to workers who work on certain public works projects. To determine prevailing wages in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) collects wage data via employer surveys and uses a statutorily-set process to set wages to be paid on public works projects. Prevailing wage law opponents contend the state's prevailing wage laws inflate the cost of public works projects and suppress contractor competition for such projects. Supporters of the law argue such laws ensure workers are paid a fair wage and that there is insufficient evidence that repealing the prevailing wage law would result in meaningful savings on public construction projects.
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| Joint Finance Committee and the Calm Before the Storm |
The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) has finished up its round of public hearings across the state and will begin to vote on whether to approve, amend, or delete provisions from the governor's budget.
The JFC is waiting for the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) to complete the budget papers, which provide alternative budget provisions. JFC members tend to follow the budget papers by choosing one of the options put forward by LFB. In past years, large parts of a governor's budget pass through the JFC with minor adjustments, but early indications show that the committee is poised to have a greater input than normal.
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| Governor Names DNR Deputy Secretary |
Governor Walker has announced Kurt Thiede will be the new Deputy Secretary of the Department of Natural Resouces (DNR).
Thiede has been hired from within the DNR, having served fourteen years with the agency. Prior to his new appointment he was Land Division Administrator, a position which oversaw 500 personnel working in wildlife, parks and recreation, natural heritage conservation, land acquisition, master planning and capital development. Prior to this position, Thiede was Wildlife Management Regulation and Policy Specialist, DNR Liaison to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, and Customer Service and Licensing Program Supervisor for Southern Wisconsin.
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| Highest Court Denies to Hear Voter ID Challenge |
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up a challenge to Wisconsin's Voter ID law, ending the dispute and upholding the law that was passed in 2011.
However, the law was still on hold after the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision because Judge Lynn Adelman of the United States District Court (Eastern Dist. of Wisconsin) had previously ruled that Act 23 was unconstitutional and enjoined the law from being implemented.
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| Amending Wisconsin's Non-Compete Agreement Statute |
A bill that would amend Wisconsin's current statute governing non-compete agreements has been introduced to the legislature and if passed would preemptively override the State Supreme Court decision on Runzheimer Int'l v. Friedlen (2013AP1392).
Wis. Stat. § 103.465 is Wisconsin's current statute governing non-compete agreements. The current law allows employers to restrict the ability of employees to compete within a certain geographic area, in a certain professional field, for a limited amount of time after the termination of employment. These restraints are only enforceable if they are reasonably necessary for the protection of the employer. If one portion of the agreement is found unreasonable by the courts, then the entire agreement is unreasonable unless the clauses are separate enough that one can be struck down and others upheld and the non-compete can still work (this is a judicial innovation).
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| Bills of Note Gone Dog Wild |
In this week's edition of Political Tidbits we cover the furry-sided legislation that's making its way through the Wisconsin Legislature: pets included on protective orders, dogs and felons, and a proposal for the State Lizard.
Pets on Protective Orders
A bipartisan bill introduced by Representative Andrè Jacque (R-De Pere) and Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) would allow restraining or injunction orders to extend to household pets. The bill would bar the subject from coming into any contact with the household pet, and would allow the victim of the abuse or a person acting on their behalf to retrieve the household pet from the person subject to the order.
Vicious Dogs
A bill that would prohibit serious felony offenders from possessing, controlling, or residing with a vicious dog has been introduced with bipartisan authors Rep. Jacque and Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay). If passed, the law would act similarly to the prohibition of felons possessing firearms. The State Lizard
Mrs. Grimm's 4th grade class at Edward Bain School of Language and Arts in Kenosha has proposed legislation for the five-lined skink to be named the Wisconsin State Lizard. The bill draft is currently circulating for sponsors, but authors already include a bipartisan group of legislators from the Kenosha area.
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| Budget Hearings Wrap Up | |
Budget hearings concluded last week after the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) held four public hearings across the state to hear citizens' testimony on Governor Walker's 2015-2017 proposed state budget.
In total, over 1,000 people testified at the hearings, held in Brillion, Milwaukee, Rice Lake and Reedsburg. With over 25 hours of testimony, JFC members heard mostly about K-12 funding, proposed budget cuts to the UW System, school choice, tobacco prevention, FamilyCare and the IRIS program.
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| Election Next Week | |
Wisconsinites head to the polls on April 7th to vote in many local races, but those in Wisconsin politics are following two races: the special election for the 20th Senate District and the open seat for Waukesha County Executive. Also on the ballot is a referendum that if passed would change the way Wisconsin's supreme court chief justice is selected.
The 20th Senate District seat became open after Congressman Glenn Grothman vacated the position to take his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to represent the 6th Congressional District.
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| CAFTA - 10 Year Anniversary |
The Class Action Reform Act (CAFTA) turned ten years old a month ago. Introduced by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in early 2005, it passed overwhelmingly in both houses of Congress and was signed into law on February 18, 2005. This Act reformed two problem areas associated with class action lawsuits.
CAFTA loosened diversity jurisdiction for certain class action lawsuits to reduce forum-shopping by plaintiffs, and changed the way "coupon settlements" are audited and redefined in plaintiffs' lawyer fees in conjunction with these settlements.
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| UPDATE: Kentucky Elk Arrive in Wisconsin | |
[UPDATE]: The project between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources is nearing completion as 26 elk arrived in Wisconsin last week, after finishing their 45-day quarantine period in Kentucky.
The elk will spend 75 days in a seven-acre acclimation pen in the Black River State Forest, before being released.
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