2019-20 Legislative Standing Committees Taking Shape

Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos have announced the Republican members of the Senate and Assembly Committees for the 2019-20 session.

The Democratic appointments have not been made yet.  If your legislator has been appointed to one of these committees, consider reaching out to congratulate them and to share WEMTA's legislative priorities. 

Senate Committee on Education

Senator Luther Olsen, Chair

Sen. Alberta Darling, Vice-Chair

Sen. Steve Nass, member

Sen. Dale Kooyenga, member

Sen. Kathy Bernier, member

Senate Committee on Universities, Technical Colleges, Children & Families

Senator Dale Kooyenga, Chair

Sen. Steve Nass, Vice-Chair

Sen. Albert Darling, member

Sen. Luther Olsen, member

Assembly Committee on Education

Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, Chair

Rep. Joel Kitchens, Vice-Chair

Rep. John Jagler

Rep.-elect Robert Wittke

Rep. Jessie Rodriguez

Rep. Ron Tusler

Rep. Jeff Mursau

Rep. Romaine Quinn

Rep.-elect Timothy Ramthun

Rep. Chuck Wichgers

Assembly Committee on College and Universities

Rep. Dave Murphy, Chair

Rep. Travis Tranel, Vice-Chair

Rep.-elect Robert Wittke

Rep. Romaine Quinn

Rep. Rob Summerfield

Rep. Warren Petryk

Rep. Joan Ballweg

Rep. Scott Krug

Rep. Rob Stafsholt

Rep. Cindi Duchow

Assembly, Senate Legislative Committees Announced

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) have announced the 2019-20 legislative standing committees and their chairs. Committees are the first stop for all bills introduced in the Senate and Assembly. They are tasked with holding public hearings and voting to advance bills to the full Legislature. 

Senator Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) will continue to chair the Senate Committee on Education, and Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac) will continue to chair the Assembly Committee on Education. 

Full Senate Committee Listing can be seen here. 

Full Assembly Committee Listing can be seen here. 

Sen. Olsen

Sen. Thiesfeldt 

Gov. Walker Signs Extraordinary Session Bills Into Law

Governor Walker signed the three extraordinary session bills passed by the legislature into law today. While Walker had previously said he was considering possible vetoes, he signed all of the bills into law as passed by the Legislature.

This includes a change to the way discretionary settlement funds are handled. Currently, the Attorney General has discretion over how to use these dollars, but the legislation requires all funds to be deposited into the general fund. WEMTA believes these funds should be deposited into the Common School Fund based on the Wisconsin State Constitution, which requires all fines, forfeitures and unspecified grants to the state to be deposited into the Fund.

The bills also limit early voting to two weeks, create new legislative oversight processes, place limits on the Attorney General’s ability to withdraw the state from lawsuits, and put the new work and cost-sharing requirements for childless adults on BadgerCare into law. 

You can read a summary of all the bills, here: http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lfb/bill_summaries/2017_19/0002_december_2018_extraordinary_session_bills_as_passed_by_the_legislature_12_6_18.pdf 

Gov.-elect Evers Survey, Listening Sessions on Budget Priorities

Governor-elect Evers is holding budget listening sessions across Wisconsin over the next 7 days to get ideas from Wisconsinites about policies they would like to see funded. One of Evers first acts as Governor will be introducing a state budget, likely in February of 2019.

It is critical that Evers and his team hear from members of WEMTA about the importance of the Common School Fund, the need for educational technology funding, and school staffing.

If you can't make a listening session, you can take a survey online: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScHfkoflPcl76h5m8KKaIJ7oxYjdYpne2Dpt2YUikwfp21S2g/viewform

You must register in order to attend the in-person listening sessions. 

Dec. 17 in Superior: 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Superior Middle School, 3626                            Hammond Ave. Register at http://bit.ly/WIBudgetSuperior

Dec. 18 in La Crosse: Noon to 1:30 p.m. at American Legion Post 52, 711 6th St. South. Register at https://bit.ly/2EamsSE .

Dec. 19 in Milwaukee: 4:30 to 6 p.m. at United Way of Greater Milwaukee, 200 West Pleasant St. Register at https://bit.ly/2B3PoJ6

Attend a Budget Listening Session with Gov-elect Evers

Governor-elect Evers is holding budget listening sessions across Wisconsin over the next eight days to get ideas from Wisconsinites about policies they would like to see funded. One of Evers first acts as Governor will be introducing a state budget, likely in February of 2019.

It is critical that Evers and his team hear from members of WEMTA about the importance of the Common School Fund, the need for educational technology funding, and school staffing.

Anyone interested in attending the sessions may register online at the links for each stop of the tour. The sessions are:

Tuesday (December 11) in Green Bay: 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Phoenix Room at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Union. Register at https://bit.ly/2SCUh30. 

Wednesday (December 12) in Wausau: Noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Wausau Labor Temple, 318 S. Third Ave. Register at https://bit.ly/2UrKkqC. 

Dec. 18 in La Crosse: Noon to 1:30 p.m. at American Legion Post 52, 711 6th St. South. Register at https://bit.ly/2EamsSE.

Dec. 19 in Milwaukee: 4:30 to 6 p.m. at United Way of Greater Milwaukee, 200 West Pleasant St. Register at https://bit.ly/2B3PoJ6.

Ask Governor Walker to Veto Changes to Discretionary Settlement Funds

WEMTA is greatly concerned by changes to the deposit of discretionary settlement funds contained in one of the special session bills passed this week (Senate Bill 884/Assembly Bill 1070). The bill requires all discretionary settlement funds to be deposited into the general fund rather than giving them to the Attorney General who can choose how the funds are spent. WEMTA believes the state constitution is clear—discretionary funds belong in the Common School Fund.

Contact Governor Walker and ask that he veto changes to settlement funds contained in Senate Bill 884/Assembly Bill 1070. Tell him that these funds belong in the Common School Fund.

Email. govgeneral@wisconsin.gov.

Phone: (608) 266-1212.

Talking Points You can Use:

·         The state constitution requires that the Common School Fund receive “all moneys and the clear proceeds of” fines, forfeitures, escheats and unspecified grants paid to the state. Settlement funds are no different than forfeitures and belong in the Common School Fund, not the general fund.

·         Senate Bill 884/Assembly Bill 1070 further diverts these funds from the Common School Fund by placing them in the general fund. Please veto this change.

Legislative Council Study Committee on Common School Fund Concludes its Work

The Legislative Council Study Committee on the Investment and Use of the School Trust Funds met for the last time today. They spent the entire meeting debating proposed legislation. 

The Committee  decided against introducing a constitutional amendment that would have modified the investment strategy of and distributions from the Common School Fund. Many of the public members of the Committee were concerned by potential unintended consequences of the draft constitutional amendment. Ultimately, they chose to make a recommendation to re-evaluate the investment of BCPL funds once information about the results of their new investment strategy is available.

The Committee will prepare a final report, which will be presented to the Joint Legislative Council Committee when the Legislature re-convenes in 2019. 

Here is a summary of their final recommendation and the draft bills they voted in favor of introducing. 

Recommendation for Further Study:  The Committee decided to make the following recommendation in their final report.

“The Study Committee on the Investment and Use of the School Trust Funds:

•  Appreciates the importance of the school trust funds to fund beneficiaries
•  Supports the goal of ensuring intergenerational equity through increasing the returns on the funds
•  Recognizes the value of recent legislative changes relating to the investment of the funds
• Acknowledges that implementation of these changes is ongoing
• Recommends that the Legislature further study issues relating to the investment of the funds, in consultation with beneficiary groups, once information on the results of the changes becomes available for study.”

Allowing SWIB to Use the Prudent Investor Standard if BCPL Contracts with Them for Investment Services: The Committee voted to introduce legislation allowing SWIB to invest the Common School Fund using the prudent investor standard  if BCPL chooses to contract with them for some investment services. BCPL has the ability to delegate some investment authority to SWIB under current law.   BCPL gained the ability to use prudent investor standard in 2015 but the current statutory language related to BCPL’s ability to delegate to SWIB was not updated to reflect the prudent investor standard legislation. WEMTA is comfortable with the current draft of this bill because it does not mandate that Common School Fund dollars be transferred to SWIB.   

Promissory Notes:  The Committee voted to introduce legislation allowing banks to lend to municipalities for terms of up to 20 years (they are currently limited to 10 year terms). This bill was drafted due to concerns raised by the banking community that BCPL had an unfair advantage over private banks because they could make loans to municipalities for longer terms than banks.