Legislature Wraps Up Fall Session 

After three full weeks of legislative business, both the Assembly and Senate concluded this week their scheduled Fall Floor period. Both houses now stand adjourned until January 17, 2012. Many Capitol followers believe it is possible for either or both houses to return back to the Capitol in early December to conduct a special legislative session that focuses primarily on proposed mining legislation.

During the past three weeks of session, both houses were in both regular and special sessions and considered a myriad of bills that ranged from job creation initatives to sex education legislation to legislation that allows for residents to protect themselves in their own homes with firearms.  

Below is a list of the bills that passed in both regular and special session over the past three weeks that are now enrolled for the Governor's signature.

Assembly Bills

Special Session Bills

SS-SB-2.  WHEDA/Business.  WHEDA small business loan guarantees. Am. 1 tabled, 71-24. Am. 2 tabled, 59-36. Am. 3 tabled, 66-29. Am. 4 tabled, 60-35. Passed, voice vote. To Be Enrolled.

SS-SB-3.  Film Credits. Film production services tax credit application fee. Am. 1 returned to author (Clark). Passed, voice vote. To Be Enrolled.

SS-SB-12. Attorney Fees. Defines factors for a court to consider in determining the reasonableness of attorney fees and limits attorney fees to three times the award with certain limiting factors and exemptions including whether non-monetary relief is awarded or in cases involving both compensatory damages and non-monetary relief. Sub. 1 tabled,58-37. Am. 1 returned to author (Staskunas). Am. 2 tabled, 59-36. Passed, 55-39. To Be Enrolled.

SS-SB-14. Judgment Interest Rates. Changes interest rate on judgments for the recovery of money in certain civil actions to an annual rate of 1% plus the prime rate in effect the day the judgments is entered. Currently 12%. Am. 1 tabled, 57-38. Am. 2 tabled, 57-38. Passed, 59-36. To Be Enrolled

SS-SB-20.  WHEDA. Changes to agricultural production loan guarantees administered by WHEDA. Passed, 95-0. To Be Enrolled.

SS-SB-22. Trespass. Duty of care owed to trespassers. Passed, 80-15. To Be Enrolled.

SS-SB-23.  DOR. Changes affecting various duties of the Dept of Revenue. Passed, 72-22. To Be Enrolled. 

Action on Senate Amendments to Assembly Bills 

AB-102. Children (LeMahieu) Penalties for crimes against children by certain persons.  Senate Am. 1 adopted, voice vote. To Be Enrolled.

AB-69. Self Defense (Kaufert) Privilege of self defense. Senate Am. 1 adopted, voice vote. To Be Enrolled. 

Senate Bills Passed and Messaged (To Be Enrolled)

SB-77. Trails Council (Leibham) Membership on State Trails Council. Passed, voice vote.

SB-85. Theft (Zipperer) Makes theft of services a crime. Passed, voice vote.

SB-86. Felons - Hiring (Darling) Permits an educational agency to refuse to employ or to terminate from employment an unpardoned felon.  Passed, voice vote.

SB-95. School Flexibility (Olsen) Granting high school credit for extracurricular sports; services provided by a special education program; transportation aid paid to school districts; the use of moneys received by a school district from the common school fund; using the results of standardized examinations to evaluate, discharge, suspend, or discipline a teacher or for the nonrenewal of a teacher's contract; the number of teaching days scheduled in the Milwaukee Public Schools; permitting a school district to limit the grades in which to reduce class size under the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education Program; permitting a school board to deny enrollment to a pupil who has been expelled from an out-of-state school or from an independent charter school in this state and permitting an independent charter school to expel a pupil; use of law enforcement records to take disciplinary action against a pupil under a school district's athletic code; and changing the date by which a school district must certify the amount of its property tax levy. Am. 1 tabled, 57-37. Am. 2 tabled, 58-36. Am. 3 tabled, 89-5. Passed, 54-38.

SB-117. Actions Against the State (Vukmir) Venue in actions and appeals in which the sole defendant is the state, a state board or commission or certain state officers, employees or agents.  Passed, 58-34.

SB-136. Vacant Land Sales (Schultz) Disclosure reports for sellers of vacant land. Passed, voice vote.

SB-151. Employee Compensation (Cowles) Modifies Act 354 (SB-552) of the last session to remove language related to make certain employee referrals of customers do not constitute "consideration", allowing employees in Wisconsin to participate in prize drawings conducted as part of employer-sponsored customer referral contests. Passed, voice vote.

SB-196. School Spending (Olsen) Excludes from the calculation of expenditure restraint payments expenditures made pursuant to a purchasing agreement with a school. Passed, voice vote.

SB-199. Private Sewage Systems (Galloway) Delays until 2021the requirement for adoption by governmental units of a maintenance program that applies to private sewage systems. Passed, 57-37.

SB-204. Epinephrine Injectors (Galloway) Allows certain pupils to posses and use an epinephrine auto-injector.  Am. 1 tabled,56-38. Passed, 88-5.

SB-212. Nursing Homes (Galloway) Makes various changes in regulation of nursing homes. Sub. 1 returned to author. Am. 1 returned to author. Passed, 70-22.

SB-215. Trailers (Galloway) Creates a new weight registration category for trailer registration (12,000-14,000 lbs, pulled by a vehicle other than a truck tractor). Passed, voice vote.

SB-217. Accidents (Lasee) Suspension of operating privilege or registration for unsatisfied judgment for damages resulting from a motor vehicle accident. Passed, voice vote.

SB-224. Shorewood (Darling) Exception to local levy limits for the Village of Shorewood. Passed, 93-0.

SB-228. Transporting Hunting Equipment (Moulton) Placing, possessing or transporting a firearm, bow or crossbow in or on a vehicle or in or on a motorboat.  Am. 1, 2, 3 returned to author (Molepske) Am. 4 tabled, 60-36. Passed, 65-31.

SB-234. Parental Choice (Vukmir) Pre-accreditation and accreditation of private schools participating in the MPCP and the choice program for eligible school districts, certificates of occupancy for participating private school buildings, verification of income eligibility for pupils to participate in the programs, fees and tuitions charged to pupils attending participating private schools, standards of conduct for administrators of participating private schools. Am. 1 tabled, 86-8. Passed,65-27.

SB-242. B&B (Leibham) Changes definition of and applicability of one-family and two-family dwelling rules to a bed and breakfast.  Passed, voice vote.

SB-253. Environmental Contamination (Galloway) Liability of certain persons for environmental contamination on property on which a cleanup has been conducted.  Passed, voice vote.

SB-259. Milw. Co. (Darling) Creates office of county comptroller for Milwaukee County. Objection to unanimous consent request to take from the Senate Message and take up immediately. Motion to take up passed 82-11. Am. 1 tabled, 78-15. Motion to give third reading, 84-8. Passed, 79-11. * information taken from the Wheeler Report.