Wisconsin Legislative Spotlight

The Week of May 21, 2012

The Wisconsin Legislature stands adjourned at the conclusion of the 2011-12 legislative session's final general business floorperiod which ended on March 15. The 2013-14 legislative session will commence on January 7, 2013.

News

Legislative Council Special Committees

Legislative Council has received and tabulated ballots to select the special committees for the 2013-2014 biennium. The results are available here.

BadgerCare Plus

On Wednesday, May 2, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported to the Joint Committee on Finance on BadgerCare Plus Basic. Effective July 1, 2012, BadgerCare premiums will be increasing for many residents and others will lose coverage. Participants will receive a letter and fact sheet in the mail.

Redistricting

The Department of Justice is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a March 22 federal district court decision that concluded that the line between Assembly Districts 8 and 9 needed to be redrawn under the Voting Right Act. In a press release, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen stated, “Any time a federal court rejects a state redistricting statute, and decides to redraw or adjust a legislative district, it is a serious matter and appropriate for appellate review.”

Signed into Law

During the 2011-12 legislative session, 286 acts have been signed into law. They can be found under the acts section of the Legislative Documents site. All enrolled bills from the current session have now either been signed into law or vetoed.

Stay Updated

The Legislature has RSS feeds for recent session activity. Also see our Facebook page and Twitter.

Committee Activity

The Senate Committee on Public Health, Human Services, and Revenue will meet on Wednesday, May 9, on a clearinghouse rule relating to changes in sales and use tax. For details of upcoming committee meetings, see the Schedule of Committee Activities.

Election Information

Recall Candidates

Recall primary elections were held on May 8, and unofficial vote totals have been tabulated. The candidates in the June 5 recall elections will be:

Governor

• Scott Walker (R-I)
• Tom Barrett (D)

Lieutenant Governor

• Rebecca Kleefisch (R-I)
• Mahlon Mitchell (D)

Senate District 13

• Scott Fitzgerald (R-I)
• Lori Compas (D)

Senate District 21

• Van Wanggaard (R-I)
• John Lehman (D)

Senate District 23

• Terry Moulton (R-I)
• Kristen Dexter (D)

Senate District 29

• Jerry Petrowski (R)
• Donna Seidel (D)

For a compilation of resources on recall elections and the voter identification law, see the Government Accountability Board Web site.

Resources from the LRB Library

The Library recommends the following resources on current events:

• Clemmitt, Marcia. “Student debt: is the college-loan system fair?” CQ Researcher 21, no. 27 (2011): 895-899. [377.25 C762]
• Eagan, Kinnic. “Public Lands.” Governing Wisconsin, no. 32 (2010).
• Stuiber, Paul. Medical Assistance Program, Department of Health Services: an evaluation. Madison, WI: State of Wisconsin, Legislative Audit Bureau, 2011.

Recent Publications

• Legislative Audit Bureau released Report 12-8 on FoodShare Wisconsin.
• Legislative Council issued IM 2012-08 on Collective Bargaining on Base Wages for General Municipal Employees and IM 2012-9 on Legal Custody, Physical Placement, and Child Support.
• Legislative Reference Bureau recently released Wisconsin Brief 12-2, "Executive Vetoes of Bills Passed by the 2011 Wisconsin Legislature (Except the 2011 Executive Budget Bill)".

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

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Send comments to LRB.Reference@legis.wisconsin.gov

Last revised: April 18, 2013