The Senate met on Wednesday, May 6, to vote on a number of bills, including several that passed the Assembly.  I am happy to say that one of the bills the Senate concurred in was Assembly Bill 99, a bill I introduced with Sen. Terry Moulton and Rep. Kathy Bernier, which will require the Wisconsin DOT to include the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Chippewa Falls on the list of veteran sites found on official state highway maps.  The Chippewa Falls facility joins the veterans homes at King and Union Grove.  AB 99 will now go to Governor Walker for his approval.

The Senate also concurred in an amended version of Assembly Bill 27, which as passed by the Assembly would have generally raised the speed limit on freeways and expressways from 65 m.p.h. to 70 m.p.h.  Freeways are state highways with at least four lanes of traffic separated by a barrier or median that are accessed only by interchanges.  Expressways are similar, but they do allow some access through at-grade intersections, including driveways.  The substitute amendment the Senate passed would raise the speed limit on freeways to 70 m.p.h., as in the original bill, but limit the bill's effect on expressways to those stretches that are accessible only by interchanges.  Because the Senate amended the bill, AB 27 will return to the Assembly for concurrence in the amendment.

The Senate also passed Senate Bill 95, sometimes called the "stolen valor bill", which will make it a Class A misdemeanor for a person to falsely claim, with the intent to receive a tangible benefit, that he or she is or was a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or that he or she has received any of a specific list of military decorations or honors.  Such acts are currently illegal under federal law, but criminalizing them at the state level may make it more likely that they are prosecuted.

The Joint Committee on Finance continues to hold executive sessions on the 2015-2017 state budget bill, Assembly Bill 21 and Senate Bill 21.  Since my last E-Update, it has met three more times, on April 22, May 5, and May 7.  The committee has scheduled two more meetings for next week, May 12 and May 14, and it will continue to meet until it has worked its way through the entire budget.

Earlier this week, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the nonpartisan agency that assists the Legislature on budget issues and other fiscal matters, released an updated revenue estimate, comparing year-to-date tax collections to revenue estimates made in January.  The January estimate of revenue growth, 3.7%, has proven fairly accurate, actual collections growing 3.3%.  While a higher rate of growth would have given the finance committee more flexibility, members of the finance committee have announced plans to eliminate the $150-per-pupil reduction in school aids that had been included in the original budget bill.

As the budget process nears its conclusion, you may follow the finance committee's activities on WisPolitics' Budget Blog.

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!