Inauguration
Day
The 2015-2016 legislative session
officially began on Monday, January 5, when members of the Assembly and
Senate were sworn in. I was honored to have as my guests Pastor
Eldon Carlson of Bloomer Baptist Church and his wife, Sue.
Earlier in the day,
Governor Scott Walker,
Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch,
new Attorney General Brad
Schimel, and new State
Treasurer Matt Adamczyk took their oaths of office in a ceremony in the
Capitol Rotunda. (Secretary of
State Doug La Follette was unable to attend but took the oath
separately.) You may watch Governor Walker's segment of the ceremony,
including his inaugural address,
here, or you may watch the
entire ceremony (in addition to the
Assembly and
Senate ceremonies) on
WisconsinEye, which offers extensive coverage of state government.
Back to Work
The Assembly returned to the floor on
Wednesday, January 7, to consider a proposal,
Assembly
Resolution 3, that set out ground rules for debate, including
requiring the majority leader and the minority leader "to adopt
reasonable recommendations for time limits and schedules for floor
debate" on scheduled legislation. AR 3 passed 62-36.
The
Assembly judiciary committee, of which I am a member, held a hearing on
Thursday, January 8, on a number of bills. These included
Assembly Bill 8,
a bipartisan proposal I cosponsored that would make it a Class I felony to
use cameras or other devices to view someone's body under their clothes
without their consent (a practice called "upskirting"). In addition,
the committee heard testimony on
Assembly Joint
Resolution 1, a constitutional amendment to change the selection process
for chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Currently, the chief
justice is simply the most-senior member of the Supreme Court. Under
AJR 1, justices of the Supreme Court would elect a chief justice from among
themselves to serve a two-year term. The 2013 Legislature had already
passed an identical proposal, and should the 2015 Legislature pass AJR 1,
the proposed amendment will go to Wisconsin voters in a statewide
referendum. You may
watch the hearing on WisconsinEye.
I also had the opportunity on Thursday to
meet one-on-one with Attorney General Brad Schimel. I enjoyed meeting
the Attorney General, and I am particularly interested in his plans to build
on steps taken in recent years to combat heroin and other drug abuse in
Wisconsin.
Free Fishing
Weekend, January 17-18
The
Winter 2015 edition of Wisconsin's Free Fishing Weekend will be next
weekend, January 17-18. Residents and nonresidents alike will be able
to fish without a license or trout stamp. Follow the link to the
Department of Natural Resources' website for additional information.
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