Capitol Notes: Weekly Political and Legislative Update 4/6/12

Capitol Notes

WI: Weekly Political and Legislative Update

TO: Clients/Friends of Capitol Consultants, Inc./Wimmer & Company, S.C.

FROM: Capitol Consultants, Inc.
              & Wimmer Company, S.C.

DATE:  April 6, 2012

SUBJECT:   Weekly Political and Legislative Update

In This Issue

Recall Update: Barrett Enters Race

Governor Signs Several Bills

State Capitol Happenings

Recall Update: Barrett Enters Race

This week saw a major candidate enter the race for Governor.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett announced over the past weekend that he would run for the Democratic nomination for governor with the goal of facing Governor Scott Walker in the state's unprecendented recall election on Tuesday, June 5. Barrett, who was defeated by 5 points by Governor Walker in the 2010 election, was recently re-elected to a third term as Milwaukee's mayor.

In making his announcement, Barrett, 58, said, "Scott Walker came into the governor's office promising to create 250,000 jobs, and to bring us together. Instead, he divided our state like never before and presided over a Wisconsin economy that last year lost more jobs than any state in the country. He 'dropped the bomb,' as he said, and ended 50 years of labor peace and worker protections - something he never said he'd do during the 2010 campaign. I know, because I was there. As governor, I will fight to restore collective bargaining rights, because it's the right thing to do, and it's necessary to heal Wisconsin."

Since his announcement last week, Barrett has picked up the endorsements of several leading Democrats in the state including U.S. Representative Ron Kind (D-La Crosse), state Senators Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee)and Tim Cullen (D-Janesville) and state Representatives Terese Berceau (D-Madison) and Tony Staskunas (D-West Allis).

Barrett's entry into the race drew the following reaction from the Walker campaign. "Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's time in office has been dominated by painful tax and spending increases and devastating unemployment. Because of his failed leadership, Wisconsin voters will not send Mayor Barrett to Madison so that he can emulate his previous policies and take Wisconsin back to the days of billion dollar deficits, higher taxes and record job loss."

Barrett will face former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk (D-Madison), state Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) and Secretary of State Doug La Follette (D-Madison) in a Democratic Primary on Tuesday, May 8.

Governor Signs Several Bills

This week, Governor Walker traveled the state and signed several dozen bills that were passed as part of the Spring Legislastive Session that adjourned last month. The bills cover a myriad of issues ranging from wolf hunting (Act 169) to education reform (Act 166) to tax credits for hiring disabled veterans (Act 212).

List of bills signed by the Governor this week include:

SB-315. Juvenile Records (Olsen) Use of law enforcement or juvenile court records to take disciplinary action against a pupil under a school district's athletic code. Act 165.

SB-461. Read to Lead (Olsen) The Governor's Read to Lead development fund, the Read to Lead Development Council, grants in support of literacy and early childhood development programs, teacher licensure, screening kindergarten pupils for reading readiness, remedial reading services for certain pupils, evaluating teacher preparatory programs and educator effectiveness. Act 166

SB-326. DNR Permitting (Kedzie) Issuance of, and exemptions from, certain individual permits, contracts, and general permits for structures, deposits and other activities near navigable waters; areas of significant scientific value that are areas of special natural resource interest; repair and maintenance of boathouses and fixed houseboats; information required to be published on the DNR website; expedited procedures for certain plan approvals; deadlines for action on certain approval applications. Act 167

AB-311. Sporting Recruitment (Steineke) Creates sporting recruitment and retention program. Act 168

SB-411. Wolves (Moulton) Hunting and trapping of wolves, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, extends the time limit for emergency rule procedures. Act 169

SB-472. Shoreland Zoning (Lasee) Certain shoreland zoning standards and ordinances that regulate the repair and expansion of nonconforming structures. Act 170

AB-467. Air Pollution (Klenke) Consideration of certain greenhouse gas emissions in determining requirements applicable to a stationary source of air pollution. Act 171

AB-259. Youth Athletics (Fields) Directs DPI to develop materials and program relating to concussions and other head injuries sustained in youth athletic activities. Act 172

AB-55. Failure-to-Yield (Pridemore) Change affecting failure-to-yield violations. Act 173

AB-56. Flea Market Sales (Kleefisch) Retail theft; proof of ownership for flea market sales Act 174

AB-59. Small Winery Wholesalers (Steineke) Repeals semi-annual meeting and report requirements for small winery cooperative wholesalers. Act 175

AB-144. Financial Aid (Legislative Council) Creating a commission on financial aid consolidation and modernization. Act 176

AB-176. Commercial Fishing (Bies) Minimum harvesting requirements for commercial fishing in the Great Lakes. Act 177

AB-228. Securities (A. Ott) Exemption from certain securities registration requirements. Act 178

AB-290. Wine Manufacture (Kooyenga) Expands coverage of wine and beer not for sale exemptions. Act 179

AB-377. Rough Fish (Craig) Definition of rough fish and taking of rough fish with a crossbow. Act 180

SB-502. Child Placement (Lazich) Case planning for a child placed in out-of-home care, including concurrent permanency goals, trial reunifications, and planned permanent living arrangements for such a child. Act 181

SB-475. Savings Banks (Grothman) Audits and reports of state savings banks and state savings and loan associations. Act 182

SB-409. Workers Compensation (Wanggaard) Various changes to the worker's compensation law. Act 183

SB-341. Emergency Vehicles (Lazich) Open doors on authorized emergency vehicles. Act 184

SB-476. Fire Prevention (Grothman) Changes the date of fire prevention week from the week of October 8 to the week of October 9. Act 185

SB-314. DOT. (Olsen) Collection of money owed for failure to pay for gasoline or diesel fuel and obtaining information with personal identifiers from DOT. Act 186

SB-370. Refrigerants (Grothman) Regulates certain substitutes for ozone-depleting refrigerants. Act 187

SB-402. Water Pollution (Harsdorf) The waiver of requirements to the discharge of water pollution for certain research projects. Act 188

SB-487. Health Care (Galloway) The provision of information regarding health care benefits provided to certain assistance program recipients. Act 189

SB-489. Barbers (Grothman) Separation of the licensing requirements for barbering and cosmetology, creation of the barbering examining board. Act 190

SB-297. Surgical Centers (Galloway) Eliminates ambulatory surgical center assessment. Act 191

SB-474. Medical Assistance (Galloway) Matching financial records for Medical Assistance eligibility. Act 192

SB-522. Barbering (Taylor) The use of tuberculocidal disinfectants in a barbering or cosmetology establishment. Act 193

SB-274. Plastic Containers (Wanggaard) Regulates sales of plastic bulk merchandise containers to scrap plastic dealers. Act 194

SB-517. Milk (Lasee) Licensing of plants that process certain foods made with milk or milk products. Act 195

SB-518. Gasoline (Lazich) Gasoline vapor recovery requirements. Act 196

SB-185. No Call List - Texting (Wanggaard) Regulates text messages as telephone solicitations for purposes of the no call list. Act 197

SB-219. UC (Wanggaard) Various changes in the unemployment insurance law. Act 198

SB-388. Snow Sports (Grothman) Duties of ski area operators and participants in scow sports, liability of ski area operators. Act 199

SB-395. Wine (Ellis) Homemade wine and fermented malt beverages. Act 200

SB-407. Batteries (Olsen) Zinc air button cell batteries. Act 201

SB-426. Public Assistance (Darling) Intentional program violations of public assistance programs. Act 202

SB-539. Condominiums (Grothman) Information related to condominiums that must be furnished with real estate condition reports. Act 203

SB-308. Public Depositories (Grothman) Deposit placement programs of public depositories. Act 204

SB-356. Credit Unions (Grothman) The authority of credit unions to make donations and grants. Act 205

SB-416.Uniform Commercial Code (Grothman) Adopts amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code Article 9, relating to secured transactions, recommended by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Act 206

SB-537. Aquaculture (Holperin) The regulation of aquaculture. Act 207

SB-354. ATVs (Leibham) Registration and operation of all-terrain vehicles and utility terrain vehicles. Act 208

SB-338. Veterans (Galloway) Waives fess for certain professional and occupational licenses issued to veterans. Act 209

SB-550. Service Members (Wanggaard) Professional or occupational licensure renewal requirements for active duty service members and their spouses and requirements concerning licensure in this state of spouses of service members temporarily stationed in this state. Act 210

SB-339. Veterans (Galloway) Non competitive appointment of certain disable veterans to classified positions in the state civil service system. Act 211

SB-369. Veterans (Lassa) Income and franchise tax credit for hiring unemployed disabled veterans. Act 212.

(taken from www.thewheelerreport.com).

State Capitol Happenings

This week was a sad week for many Capitol observers due to the death of former Railroad Commissioner and state Senator Roger Breske. Breske, 73, died Monday from an apparrent heart attack.

Breske, a Democrat from Eland, was elected to the state Senate in 1990 and served there until 2008, when then-Gov. Jim Doyle appointed him as state railroad commissioner after he opposed a statewide smoking ban, one of Doyle's centerpiece initiatives. He resigned from that job in March 2011. Republican Gov. Scott Walker replaced him with former Democratic state Sen. Jeff Plale (www.greenbaypressgazette.com).

This week saw more retirements from the legislature as well.

Representative Mark Radcliffe (D-Black River Falls) announced that he is retiring from the legislature after serving two terms representing western Wisconsin's 92nd Assembly District, which includes Black River Falls, Sparta and Tomah. Also, State Representative Barbara Toles (D-Milwaukee) announced she would not be running for re-election.

State Senator Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee), who has served in the legislature for more than 20 years, announced that he would not be seeking re-election to his seat since due to his recent election as Milwaukee County Treasurer in Tuesday's election. However, he will serve out the remainder of his term in the state Senate where the chamber is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans at 16 to 16.