The committee spent the last 20 minutes discussing a motion by GOP members to make welfare fraud a felony offense. It failed 10-6, with Dems Rep. Mason and Sen. Lehman voting with the four Republicans.

Subsequently a motion from Sen. Miller and Rep. Pocan to provide $4.6 million in federal stimulus cash to DHS to allocate supplemental funding for income maintenance costs relating to administration of the FoodShare program to counties and tribes passes. The motion also includes a direction to specify that counties and tribes use their current income maintenance allocations to support fraud prevention activities.

The committee then passes alternative 1 to budget paper 444 on income maintenance assistance to counties and tribes.

-- By Greg Bump