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A bill to re-establish the Wisconsin Conservation Corps, which ceased operations in 2003, was passed by the JFC.

The amended bill delineates $400,000 to fund the WCC until the 2011-13 budget.

Today's meeting was likely the last for the JFC in this floor session and therefore the last time they'll take up bills for this session, co-chair Mark Miller said.

-- By Greg Bump

Anglers would have a chance to buy a one-day license under a bill approved today by the JFC.

The bill would require the DNR to sell an $8 license to state residents and a $10 license to non-residents for one day of fishing. There would also be a fifty-cent issuing fee tacked on to the license.

Currently, an annual licesne costs $20 for residents and $50 for non-residents. Under the bill, individuals who purchase a one-day license would be able to buy a discounted annual license.

If passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, the licenses would be available beginning on April 1, 2011.

-- By Greg Bump

A bill to try to bring more transparency to the state's contracting process passed on a partisan 11-4 vote.

Sen. Julie Lassa, one of the authors of the bill, noted several recent state contracting boondoggles. She said the Department of Transportation has 950 to 1,000 full-time equivalent contracted consultants.

The so-called "Truth in State Contracting" bill would provide more accountability and transparency in the process and includes peformance measurements for contractors, Lassa said.

"To me it shouldn't matter if the state's having work done in-house or using consultants. What should matter is that taxpayers are getting the biggest bang for their buck," Lassa, D-Stevens Point, said.

The bill would require state agencies to submit in their biennial budget requests the amount of contracted labor and its costs. The bill also provides for the electronic notification of some stante contract bids and creates penalties for those who make false claims for products and services not provided to the state.

In addition, the bill requires that the Department of Transportation conduct inspection duties rather than contract them out.

According to a summary, the legislation allows contracting for services if at least two of the following three conditions are met: 1) The services may be performed more economically by contract than by state employees; 2) When considering expertise, the services can be performed more efficiently by contract than by use of current full−time state positions; or 3) When considering timeliness, the services can be performed more efficiently by contract than by state employees.

-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee today passed legislation that would set energy and water conservation standards for new state buildings.

Under the bill, newly constructed state buildings of 10,000 square feet, or renovated buildings of that size, would be required to conform to requirements
under the LEED Green Building Rating System at the silver performance level.

Upon completion of a major state construction project, the bill directs DOA to obtain certification from the U.S. Green Building Council that the project conforms with the requirements for certification under the LEED system.

Republicans said the bill is similar to a provision in the Clean Energy Jobs Act, and that it is too expensive for the state to undertake. The DOA estimated it would cost between $100,000 and $250,000 to document and obtain the certification depending on the size and complexity of the project.

Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, said the energy consumption reduction brought by building to the standards would save taxpayers money in the long run.

The bill passed with 11 Dems voting in favor and four Republicans against. Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, is absent.

-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee will meet at 2 p.m. to take up a host of bills, a bill to re-establish the state conservation corps, and a bill to allow the DNR to issue 1-day fishing licenses.

A telecomm deregulation bill was referred to Joint Finance by the Senate but is not on today's calendar. The bill is on the Assembly agenda for Tuesday.

See today's calendar here.

-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee passed a sweeping election reform bill on a partisan vote, clearing the way for the legislation to come to a vote before the Legislature's floor session ends this month.

The election reform legislation would, in part, enable the Government Accountability Board to use select state agency records to automatically register voters, reform the procedures for both overseas and pre-Election Day absentee voting, and take steps to prevent voter intimidation at the polls.

The committee also approved a substitute amendment that makes changes to how electors can be challenged under the bill. The original bill requires that challengers be from the ward of the elector. The sub says that challengers can be from the county of the elector. An amendment introduced in JFC by Sen. John Lehman removed a provision that would have required a challenger to come from the aldermanic ward of the elector in Milwaukee, putting the city under the same rule as the rest of the state.

The sub also includes provisions to allay the fears of municipal clerks of the costs of the reforms, including allowing clerks to apply to the GAB for reimbursement for the cost of postage for absentee requirements.

The substitute amendment also clears the way for online voter registration, including provisions from legislation authored by Sen. Fred Risser and Rep. Terese Berceau, both Madison Democrats.

Under the legislation, a voter with a driver's license or state ID card would be able to register or change registration information up to 20 days prior to an election on a Web site administered by the GAB. The clerk or board of election commissioners of the elector's municipality of residence would verify the registration by sending a letter or postcard to the registrant and, if the
registrant is voting for the first time in Wisconsin, the registrant must
provide proof of residence before voting in the election.

Lehman, D-Racine, said despite the "spin and negativism" from Republicans on the bill, the legislation is essentially a modernization effort to allow easier military and overseas absentee ballots.

He said there are a million eligible voters who do not vote in Wisconsin elections, and the reforms "foster democracy."

"This is a move toward modernization and a move toward fairness so Wisconsin can continue to be what they have been for years and years, and that's a model for fairness and participation," he said.

Republicans hammered the reform effort.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said the proposal is moving too fast, and she was concerned about the sharing of people's personal information.

"A lot of people are very upset about all their data being used by other people without their permission," she said.

Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, said the bill makes it easier to scam the system, and noted that the public is not that trusting of government in the current environment.

"People are very, very distrustful of government right now. I don't think we want to do anything that would fuel that mistrust," he said.

-- By Greg Bump

The JFC approved a bill to increase the amount of wage subsidies to employers who hire participants in the state's Trial Jobs and Transitional Jobs programs. The funding for the program comes from a temporary assistance for needy families emergency fund created by the federal government in the stimulus bill.


The bill, authored by Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, specifies that an employer who hires someone in the programs would receive a 100 percent wage subsidy at minimum wage for up to 40 hours per week, and a maximum of 1,040 hours per six months. Currently the maximimu subsidy is $300 per month.

The legislation passed 13-2, with GOP Reps. Robin Vos and Phil Montgomery voting against it.

-- By Greg Bump

Republicans and Democrats today sparred over job creation initiatives in the Joint Finance Committee, with Republicans saying the initiatives don't do enough but in some cases eventually voting for the proposals despite their objections.

The session, which Rep. Mark Pocan, the Madison Dem who co-chairs the committee, dubbed "jobsapalooza," resulted in the passage of legislation such as a bill that allows employers to retain some withholding taxes for full-time employees, a bill to incentivize clean energy manufacturing and investment, and a bill to extend the diary farm investment tax credit by two years.

Pocan said job creation has been and remains "the number one priority of this Legislature."

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, said the more appropriate name for the agenda was "spinapalooza," saying the bills were an effort by Democrats "to shore up their political backside, not Wisconsin’s economy."

Also passed by the JFC were bills to give a tax break to businesses located in an enterprise zone that develops a supply chain with one or more state businesses, investment tax credits for food processing plants and food warehouses and for the harvest and processing of woody biomass, and grants to put Web cams in 20 job centers around the state to facilitate worker training.

The committee had to pass amendments with the bills to allow the expenditure because the state's general fund is estimated to be below the required statutory balance of $65 million.

The committee also approved $10 million in bonding for a dental school in Marshfield that would focus on rural outreach. The bonding is contingent upon Marshfield Clinic providing $10 million of non-state funding for the project.

Vos said the project was "pork" and that there is no demonstrated need for another medical school, adding that the state’s current dental school at Marquette University is underfunded.

Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point, and author of the bill, said it's common in the central Wisconsin district she represents, which includes Marshfield, that waiting lists for dental care and difficulty finding a practitioner to take on difficult cases is common.

"I know my district is not alone," she said.

-- By Greg Bump

A $710,000 grant program for the Wisconsin Workforce Development Association to install Web cams in 20 job centers around the state passed on an 11-4 partisan vote.

The Web cams are being installed to facilitate meetings, career guidance workshops and other video conferencing tasks.

The committee had to pass a "notwithstanding clause" to allow the expenditure because the state's general fund is estimated to be below the required statutory balance of $65 million.

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, said there are inexpensive Web sites that offer a similar service to Web cams.

He called the bill "a typical government solution," and bemoaned that the commitee "couldn't use the private sector creatively to save money," Vos said.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said the bill has bipartisan support, naming a list of Republicans who signed on as sponsors of the bill. He said the Web cams are particularly important for rural areas.

"Perhaps the rhetoric may not match the reality when it comes to what this bill actually accomplishes," he said.

-- By Greg Bump

A bill to create a manufacturing business loan program to entice businesses to pursue energy efficiency and to create or expand clean energy manufacturing operations passed on a partisan 11-4 vote.

Rep. Cory Mason, an author of the legislation, said the bill not only creates jobs to retrofit facilities with energy efficient products, it will make the businesses who implement those products more competitive because they lower their energy costs.

In addition, he said, it will expand the market for energy efficient products made here in Wisconsin.

The so-called "Green to Gold Fund" would be funded from existing Wisconsin Development Fund and federal money, meaning there will be no increase in state expenditures, according to the LFB. The LFB does note, however, that fewer Wisconsin Development Funds would be available for other projects.

Sen. Alberta Darling and other Republicans were concerned the program would reduce flexibility for the Department of Commerce to fund other programs that grow jobs and the economy.

"By restricting what Commerce can actually do we are restricting our ability to attract and retain jobs," Rep. Robin Vos said.

Loans would be repaid to a program revenue account to make future loans under the program.

The JFC also approved a sub to the bill, which substitutes prevailing wage language in the original bill and replaces it with a requirement that workers paid by the grants be paid at least 150 percent of the federal minimum wage. Other provisions of the sub set goals for job creation and retention for the loans and allow the loans to be used for recently closed facilities.

-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee approved spending $500,000 in federal stimulus funds to allow the Department of Regulation and Licensing to join Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, and Missouri to create a physician licensing collaboration. The request passed unanimously.

The project is scheduled to be completed by Feb. 28, 2012.

The primary goal of the initiative is to reduce statutory and regulatory barriers to
telemedicine.

-- By Greg Bump

The state refunded $1.86 billion in income tax in 2009, the ninth straight year refunds have reached a record high, according to an analysis from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

"This is one of those good news-bad news situations," said WISTAX President Todd Berry. "For taxpayers who like the forced savings and windfall that refunds represent, these findings might be good news. ... On the other hand, for those who view them as problematic, refund totals approaching $2 billion represent a substantial short-term, interest-free loan from taxpayers to state government."

-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee's agenda tomorrow includes an election reform bill and a several bills aimed at encouraging job creation and investment. The meeting begins at 10 a.m.

The election reform legislation would, in part, enable the Government Accountability Board to use select state agency records to automatically register voters, reform the procedures for both overseas and pre-Election Day absentee voting, and take steps to prevent voter intimidation at the polls.

Other bills include: tax credits for hiring new employees; loans to manufacturing businesses for energy improvements, job creation clean energy production; a bill authorizing the Department of Commerce to create two additional enterprise zones; a bill for dairy and livestock investment tax credits; and a bill for an income and franchise tax credit for equipment used to harvest or process woody biomass.

Another bill on the agenda would require the Department of Health Services to award funding to an organization to oversee a program to assist people in obtaining and maintaining health care benefits.

See the agenda here.

-- By Greg Bump

The state will begin taxing the gross revenues of rural hospitals the same as other hospitals are currently assessed under a bill passed by the JFC today. (AB 770)

The JFC approved the bill on a 13-3 vote, with Sen. Luther Olsen of Ripon the only Republican to vote yes.

Under the bill, the state's 59 rural hospitals -- defined as a hospital located outside a metro area that is more than a 35-mile drive from another hospital and maintaining no more than 25 beds for acute patient care -- would be assessed approximately 1.6 percent of gross revenues, as other hospitals are. Also known as critical access hospitals, the rural facilities were excluded from the hospital assessment passed in a budget repair bill last year.

The assessment became necessary because the DHS previously reimbursed critical access hospital 100 percent of MA costs. That was cut by 10 percent at the beginning of this year to allow the agency to realize $600 million in savings required as part of the 10 percent spending reduction mandated in the state budget.

The assessment will increase MA benefits funding by $27.7 million in 2010-11, and increase SEG revenues by $10.6 million in 2010-11, according to the LFB.

-- By Greg Bump

The maximum burial and funeral expenses for indigent individuals will go from $3,500 to $4,500, under legislation approved by the JFC. (SB 338)

The bill does not provide additional funding to the Department of Health Services for the increased reimbursement rate, so DHS would be required to support the increase by reallocating current funds.

Total program expenses were $6.1 million in 2006, nearly $7 million in 2007, about $7.4 million in 2008, and are estimated to reach $7.8 million this year.

Under an amendment approved by the committee, the effective date of the reimbursement increase is put off until Jan. 1.

The bill was approved unanimously by JFC.

-- By Greg Bump

Attempts to provide more money for district attorneys facing increased costs due to enhanced drunken driving enforcement were unsuccessful.

The JFC approved a package of funding for the drunken driving reforms passed by the Legislature earlier this month, including an additional $700,000 annually for DA salaries and fringe benefits. According to the LFB, the appropriation addresses funding cuts prosecutors endured in the 2009-11 budget, but the DA budgets would only balance if assistant DAs stick to the state mandated plan of eight furlough days.

District attorneys have argued that it will cost at least an additional $2.5 million annually to meet the mandates of the DUI bill, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

A majority of the committee rejected alternatives to provide more funding -- a total of $943,800 annually -- in order to cut the assistant DA furlough days to five were defeated, as did a motion to boost funding for a handful of selected counties.

A motion from Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, and Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, to provide $2 million in each of the next two years for 27 new assistant DA positions failed on a 5-11 vote.

Rep. Mark Pocan, the co-chair of the committee, said while he agrees there is a need for more assistant DAs, he said some committee members were confusing the issue before them, which was to approve funding for the DUI bill, not fix the DA funding situation.

The committee approved nearly $2 million annually for equipment and staffing costs for the Department of Corrections to supervise offenders on probation for second and third offense DUI.

Also passed was $480,500 2010-11 to create four new toxicology analyst positions and purchase two gas-chromatography units for the state crime lab. In addition, to meet the increased case load in district courts, $231,100 was approved for reserve judges.

An additional $144,900 in 2010-11 was approved for the Office of the State Public Defender's private bar to meet costs associated with an increased criminal caseload.

-- By Greg Bump

A request to fund a community program aimed at serving felons who are entering parole caused partisan rifts to show in the JFC.

The Department of Corrections requested a $10 million transfer -- $70,000 GPR in 2009-10 and $9,930,000 GPR and 9.0 GPR positions in 2010-11 -- for the Becky Young Community Corrections progrm. The center is designed "to provide services to persons who are on probation, or who are soon to be or are currently on parole or extended supervision, following a felony conviction, in an effort to reduce recidivism," according to an analysis from the LFB.

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, said in these tight economic times, there are surely better ways to spend the funds, and said it was a prime example of Dems' "misplaced priorities."

"The Democratic Party is saying the best way to spend $10 million is on criminals -- on giving coming home parties for criminals," Vos said.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said Vos was polishing up election rhetoric.

"I thought maybe we could get more than a half hour into this meeting before we got into our fall election speeches," Pocan, the committee co-chair, shot back. "Sometimes we have to be statesmen and do something right, something every state around us is doing ... and rise above the petty partisan politics we have around here."

Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said without reforms like the Becky Young program costs will continue to climb and "bankrupt our state."

"Today we are saying we are going to spend our dollars in a way that will reduce recidivism," Taylor said.

Services the center will provide include residential and outpatient treatment for alcohol and other drug addiction, cognitive group intervention, day reporting centers and other services that have shown to be successful in reducing recidivism.

The request was approved 13-3, with Sen. Luther Olsen of Ripon the only Republican to vote for it. He said anything the state can do to reduce recidivism is a wise investment.

"These folks cost us a lot of money when they screw up and go back to prison," he said. "Sometimes you have to spend a little to save a lot."

-- By Greg Bump

A pair of requests to spend federal stimulus funds received unanimous approval by the JFC.

The first is a request by the Department of Health Services to spend $186,000 in 2009-10 and $929,800 in 2010-11 to support expansion of chronic disease self-management programs targeted at older adults.

Also passing with unanimous support was a $6 million request from the Department of Workforce Development for workforce investment and assistance in jobs in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.

A request by the DNR to spend $475,847 in 2009-10 for supplemental snowmobile trail also passed without opposition.

-- By Greg Bump

The Joint Finance Committee tomorrow will vote on a funding request to provide $4.2 million over the next two years -- including $1.4 million for district attorneys -- to fund drunken driving reforms passed by the Legislature earlier this year. The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m.

Wisconsin District Attorneys Association president Ralph Uttke sent a letter to the JFC earlier this month saying the funding wasn't enough, estimating it will cost more than $2.5 million annually to retain experienced prosecutors and meet the mandates in the legislation.

See the full 13.10 request agenda here.

-- By Greg Bump

Assembly members of the Joint Finance Committee sparred Wednesday over past and future state budgets at an event sponsored by the Wisconsin Realtors Association.

JFC Co-chair Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said the budget picture is beginning to stabilize, noting a Legislative Fiscal Bureau report that showed a shortfall of just more than $9 million heading into the next session. But Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, said lawmakers are going to have to take a serious look at public employee wages and benefits, health insurance cost sharing and education changes in order to get the state's finances under control.

Both legislators agreed the next budget could be balanced without a large-scale tax increase.

Pocan said this session's cuts to state agencies would likely remain through the next budget cycle, but that revenues are likely to stabilize after a "rough first six months" of 2011. He said the main budgetary issue the state faces is its structural deficit, which he noted has been in place through both GOP and Dem governors.

"It's a terribly disingenuous way to balance a budget," Pocan said of increasing the structural deficit. He also said that although Democrats are loathe to suggest cuts to K-12 education, members of both parties could likely acknowledge that "426 school districts is probably a little too many."

Vos noted that Wisconsin typically divides control of the Capitol between parties and predicted that with the GOP will win at least one house of the Legislature this fall. He said that will result in tax and fee increases in the next budget being much more modest than the 2009 budget and said the state eventually has to get a handle on the wages and benefits paid to local government employees. The JFC's ranking Republican also ripped the Dems' budget procedure for its tax hikes and lack of bipartisanship.

"Few of the incentives that we have in Wisconsin were able to remain," Vos said of last year's budget. He attributed the job losses at many of the state's larger corporations to the enactment of combined reporting and said Wisconsin taxpayers funded most of the increase in the landfill tipping fee.

Vos also criticized Dem efforts at job creation both in the budget and later in the session, saying their strategy amounts to "very targeted tax cuts funded by massive tax increases." Vos added that Republicans are preparing to introduce legislation that would provide all employers a $1,000 tax deduction for each employee.

Pocan said that proposal would be a welcome change, charging that Republicans in this session have been "a wasteland when it comes to ideas or proposals offered." He defended the tax incentives passed so far and suggested that more jobs bills would be churning through the Legislature as the session winds down -- many likely to receive bipartisan support.

"I could spend 45 minutes going through the proposals and the companies that came in," Pocan said.

-- By Andy Szal