Wisconsin political news for clients and colleagues.
Gov. Evers signed his first four bills as governor this week. Meanwhile, the Joint Finance Committee has kicked off their budget process by releasing a list of items they plan to remove right off the bat at their first meeting next week. In this edition of Political Tidbits:
The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) will meet for its first executive session of the 2019-21 state budget process on May 9. JFC will begin by removing a list of items from Gov. Tony Evers's proposed budget, then taking up 15 relatively non-controversial agency sections.
The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) announced this week they plan to immediately remove 131 items from Gov. Tony Evers's budget. Also this week, the Department of Administration sent a letter to the JFC co-chairs and a letter to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau detailing several corrections the governor requests to make in his proposed budget. The list includes several provisions that JFC already plans to remove altogether.
Assembly Republicans Announce Environmental and Energy Proposals
Assembly Republicans recently announced a package of several environmental and energy proposals, including state support for electric vehicle charging stations and renewable energy rebates.
Democrat Tip McGuire won the special election on April 30 to replace former Rep. Peter Barca in Assembly District 64. Gov. Tony Evers appointed Barca Department of Revenue secretary earlier this year.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released draft preliminary guidelines for PFOA and PFOS. The interim recommendations follow EPA's PFAS Action Plan announced earlier this year. At the state level, Wisconsin currently has not set a statutory maximum contaminant level.
In the latest development in extraordinary session case League of Women Voters v. Evers, a 4-3 Wisconsin Supreme Court restored the 82 appointments that Gov. Tony Evers had rescinded. A Dane County Circuit Court judge had issued a temporary injunction on the appointments approved in the 2018 extraordinary session, allowing Evers to rescind the appointees, who included Public Service Commissioner Ellen Nowak. After a court of appeals issued a stay of the temporary injunction, there was disagreement between Evers and the legislature as to whether the appointees should be reinstated.
The Legislature's Joint Committee on Legislative Organization has voted to intervene in two cases addressing the application of 2011 Act 21. The 2011 legislation clarified that agencies may not enforce requirements unless explicitly permitted by statute or properly promulgated rule. The two cases, both titled Clean Wisconsin, Inc. v. DNR, would clarify the general scope of Act 21 in environmental cases.
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