While many of the 2018 interim study committees held their last meetings this month, a few are planning to meet at least once more in January 2019. The committees on Direct Primary Care, Investment and Use of School Trust Funds, and Use of Police Body Cameras have all wrapped up their work and provided recommendations – legislative or otherwise – to the legislature for 2019-20. Other committees continuing to meet include:

The committee on Bail and Conditions of Pretrial Release met this month and plans to meet again in January to further refine their draft bills. So far, the committee has discussed a constitutional amendment to allow courts to more easily use the pretrial detention process, reforms to bail jumping penalties, and the addition of risk assessment tools in Wisconsin’s criminal justice system.

The committee on Alcohol Beverages Enforcement met for what could be the last time in November, though the chairman said they may meet again after the gubernatorial transition. The committee approved two bills related to alcohol shipping and declined to address the “wedding barns” licensing issue.

It is unclear whether the committee on Property Tax Assessments will meet again. At their meeting this month, the committee discussed three draft bills attempting to clean up Wisconsin’s assessment processes. The committee did not vote to make any recommendations on the bills and has not yet scheduled another meeting. Some are expecting the property tax assessment bills from last session to resurface in 2019-20, either as legislation or in Governor-elect Evers’s state budget.