Wisconsin Legislative Spotlight

The Week of June 28, 2010

The final scheduled floorperiod of the 2009-10 legislative session ended on May 26. The legislature is in an interim period for the remainder of the biennial session. The schedule for the current legislative session was established by 2009 Senate Joint Resolution 1. Senate and Assembly committees will meet during the interim to consider administrative rules and conduct informational hearings.

Joint Committee on Finance

The Joint Committee on Finance met on June 23 to consider use of federal stimulus funds allocated to Wisconsin.

Committee Activity

On June 30, Senator Mark Miller, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment, will convene a hearing of the committee. The subject of the hearing is Clearinghouse Rule 09-073, relating to safe drinking water design requirements for community water systems, and requirements for the operation and maintenance of public water supply system. The hearing will commence at 10:00 a.m. in Room 411 South, State Capitol.

For information on other upcoming hearings refer to the Schedule of Committee Activities.

Bill Statistics for 2009 Session

In the 2009 legislative session, 406 bills have been signed into law. Six bills have been vetoed in their entirety, and 5 bills were vetoed in part.

There were 978 assembly bills and 708 senate bills introduced during the 2009 session. Additionally, one senate bill was introduced during the June 2009 Special Session, and 2 assembly bills were introduced during the December 2009 Special Session. All introduced legislation can be found on the Legislature's Searchable Infobases site, or by using the "Request text and history of legislative proposals" function on the home page.

Legislative Council Committees, 2010 Interim

On May 27, the Legislative Council released a list of proposed study committees with the results of the balloting of the council. The committees are to report to the 2011 legislature.

From the LRB Library

The agenda for the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) meeting on June 23rd included approval of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) child care quality rating and improvement system plan. The Library selected the following documents as background information on implementing a child care rating system in Wisconsin.

• DCF YoungStar site (name of the proposed quality rating and improvement system for child care)
• JCF Section 13.10 meeting, June 23, 2010
• JCF Budget Paper #234, May 27, 2009: Quality Rating System for Child Care Providers (DCF)
• JCF Budget Paper #892, May 22, 2007: Quality Rating System for Child Care Providers (Deptartment of Workforce Development)
• KidsFirst: Quality Rating System for Early Childhood Care: Report of the Quality Counts Task Force to Governor Jim Doyle, December 2004
• Child care regulation, Legislative Council (Staff Brief 88-6) July 28, 1988 (347.174 W7d3) [hyperlink to library catalogue]

Recent Publications

• The Legislative Reference Bureau published Wisconsin Brief 10-3, Energy in Wisconsin and a Governing Wisconsin paper on Public Lands. The LRB also published its veto brief for the 2009-10 legislative session.
• The Legislative Council Staff released an information memorandum, Smoking Ban, which relates to 2009 Wisconsin Act 12, as amended by 2009 Wisconsin Act 276, and which takes effect on July 5, 2010. The memorandum summarizes the legislation and provides answers to frequently asked questions.
• The Legislative Audit Bureau released two new reports late in June, one on State Fair Park and one on the state's fraud hotline.
• The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has issued a publication on child care quality rating.

For more information about Legislative Service Agency publications, see the left panel of the Spotlight index page.

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Last revised: November 13, 2012