Wisconsin Legislative Spotlight

The Week of September 27, 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.

Primary Election

The primary election for state officers and legislative seats was held on Tuesday, September 14. One member of the legislature, Senator Jeff Plale of South Milwaukee (D-7th) was defeated. Two other legislators, Senator Dan Kapanke of La Crosse (R-32nd) and Senator Julie Lassa of Stevens Point (D-24th), won their party’s nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 3rd and 7th Districts, respectively.

All odd-numbered senate districts and all assembly districts will be contested by the nominated candidates in the general election on November 2nd.

Committee Activity

See the Schedule of Committee Activities for information about locations and times of committee hearings during the interim.

Bill Statistics for 2009-2010 Legislative 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.

Recent Publications

• The Legislative Reference Bureau published a Tap the Power on Going Green and a Wisconsin Brief on State Agencies, Boards, Commissions, or Councils Created, Repealed, or Revised by the 2009 Legislature.
• The Legislative Council Staff published an informational memorandum on the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, recently signed by President Obama. The memorandum describes the provisions of the act that require compliance by the states, as well as provisions in Wisconsin law which relate to the act.
• The Legislative Audit Bureau published a report on Minorities and Women in Construction Trade Apprenticeships.
• The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has released information on Preliminary 2009-10 General Fund Tax Collections.

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

From the LRB Library

Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, published Rural America at a Glance, 2010 edition. This report “highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas.” The LRB Library has gathered a list of resources from our collection on economic development in rural areas in Wisconsin. This list, along with other useful lists of noteworthy publications in our library, can be found on the Library Services page of our Web site.

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Last revised: November 13, 2012