This Week in the Legislature: February 8, 2016

Floor Sessions 

The Wisconsin State Assembly plans to be in session on February 9, 11,16, 17, and 18. The Assembly expects to wrap up the session on February 18.

The Wisconsin State Senate is expected to on the floor February 9 and February 16. It is anticipated that the Senate will be in session until March 15.

Committee Hearings for the Week of February 8, 2016

Note: The Committee hearings and bills listed below reflect action on legislation impacting county government.   See a complete listing of weekly hearings here.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Assembly Committee on Environment and Forestry, 11:00 a.m.

Assembly Bill 477 - approvals for high capacity wells, designation of sensitive resource areas, providing exemptions from emergency rule procedures, and granting rule-making authority. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Committee on Agriculture, 3:00 p.m.

Assembly Bill 613 - requirements for automatic fire suppression systems at certain buildings on fairgrounds. WCA supports this bill.

For a listing of all bills impacting county government and WCA's positions on those bills, please visit the WCA website here.

Assembly Floor Session: Tuesday, February 9, 1:00 p.m.

Assembly Bill 210 - an additional local sales and use tax for maintenance of streets and highways and making an appropriation. WCA supports this bill.

Assembly Bill 478 - disclosure of pupil records that are pertinent to addressing a pupil's educational needs to the Department of Children and Families, a county department of human services or social services, or a tribal organization that is legally responsible for the care and protection of the pupil. WCA supports this bill.

Assembly Bill 497 - residency requirements for sexually violent persons on supervised release. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 522 - reimbursement of counties for probationers, parolees, and persons on extended supervision who are placed with the county pending disposition of revocation proceedings. WCA supports this bill.

Assembly Bill 523 - replacement of certain nonconforming structures that are destroyed by vandalism or certain natural forces and manufactured home communities that are nonconforming uses. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 563 - authorizing towns located in populous counties to withdraw from county zoning; requiring certain towns to enact a zoning ordinance and a comprehensive plan; removing plat and certified survey map approval authority from a county if the town in which the subdivision or land is located has withdrawn from county zoning; farmland preservation ordinances of towns that withdraw from county zoning and eligibility in those towns for the farmland preservation tax credit; and prohibiting restrictions on land that is not shoreland or that is not within a floodplain. WCA opposes this bill.

Assembly Bill 575 - determining equalized property values. WCA supports this bill.

Assembly Bill 576 - the special supervision of property tax assessments. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 577 - suspending an assessor's certification. WCA supports this bill.

Assembly Bill 582 - government actions affecting rights to real property; the regulation of shoreland zoning; the substitution of hearing examiners in contested cases; and the property tax treatment of unoccupied property. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 583 - lodging establishments and restricting a local government's ability to prohibit or restrict a person from renting out of the person's residential dwelling. WCA opposes this bill.

Assembly Bill 584 - rate regulations, assessment levies, and dividends for the local government property insurance fund. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 600 - the regulation of navigable waters and wetlands. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 603 - restrictions in a county shoreland zoning ordinance on activities within the shoreland setback area. WCA supports this bill.

Assembly Bill 615 - serving certain documents relating to restraining orders and injunctions. WCA is monitoring this bill.  

Assembly Bill 627
- repeal of the Interstate Compact on Juveniles and requiring a juvenile from another state who is on supervision in this state under the Interstate Compact for Juveniles for a sex offense to register as a sex offender before entering this state. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 633 - copies of certain vital records. WCA supports this bill.

Assembly Bill 663 - restitution owed to victims of crimes. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 673 - creating a program to protect the confidentiality of addresses for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures; and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 724 - Various changes to the worker's compensation law; granting rule-making authority; and making an appropriation. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 808 - prohibiting issuance of citations for alcohol beverage violations to certain underage persons in connection with sexual assault or certain other crimes and prohibiting certain disciplinary sanctions if the underage person is a student. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 97 - including orders pertaining to household pets in certain restraining orders and injunctions. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 202 - appeals of denials of kinship care payments based on arrest or conviction record. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 243 - approval, reporting, and fee requirements for certain wells. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 314
- adverse possession against the state or a political subdivision. WCA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 323 - granting victims of certain crimes the right to be accompanied by a victim advocate. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 325 - repeated acts of physical abuse of the same child and providing a criminal penalty. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 390 - lines transporting manure within highway rights-of-way and providing a penalty. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 448 - implements of husbandry and agricultural commercial motor vehicles operated or transported on highways. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Floor Session: Tuesday, February 9, 11:00 a.m. (tentative)

Senate Bill 192 - requiring the payment of health insurance premiums, and establishing a loan program, for survivors of a law enforcement officer, emergency medical technician, or firefighter who dies, or has died, in the line of duty and making appropriations. WCA opposes this bill.

Senate Bill 295
- electronic voter registration, verification of certain registrations, proof of residence for voting in an election, authorizing Wisconsin to enter into agreements to share information related to the registration and voting of electors; election registration officials; testing election officials after training; electronic poll lists; election equipment approval; overvoted ballots; voter registration proof of residency for an individual in a residential care facility; counting of absentee ballots; witness address required for valid absentee ballot; and granting rule-making authority. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 300 - the sales and use tax imposed on a jukebox. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 344 - limiting adverse possession of real property. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 372 - single trip permits for the movement of oversize factory-built homes. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 383 - providing immunity from civil and criminal liability to certain health care providers for performing a body cavity search. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 387 - procedures for changing the placement of a child who is subject to a TPC order or TPR order of the juvenile court, procedures for amending a consent decree of the juvenile court, emergency change-in-placement procedures for a child who is placed in his or her own home under a dispositional order of the juvenile court, venue in post-dispositional proceedings under the Children's Code and Juvenile Justice Code, procedures for requesting and objecting to a proposed change in placement of a child and for changing the placement of a child when no objection is filed, the appointment of a successor guardian for a child who is subject to a TPR order of the juvenile court, case closure orders with respect to a child whose dispositional order is terminated, and the effective period of a TPC order of the juvenile court. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 402 - establishment of a dietetic internship program and granting rule-making authority. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 418 - a nonprofit organization grant program administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs and making an appropriation. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 419 - a veterans employment and entrepreneurship grant program, veteran employment grants, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 434 - taxes on managed forest lands, eligibility for the managed forest land program, management plans for managed forest land, sale or transfer of managed forest land, productivity of managed forest land, closed managed forest land, forest production areas, natural heritage inventory, wildlife action plans, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, and granting rule-making authority. WCA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 462 - suspension of operating privilege for failure to pay monetary judgment. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 466 - authorizing certain libraries to notify collection agencies and law enforcement agencies of delinquent accounts. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 488 - creating a program to protect the confidentiality of addresses for victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking; providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures; and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 509 - seasonal weight limitations for certain vehicles transporting agricultural crops. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 527 - notice of unclaimed funds held by a county treasurer. WCA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 541 - planting trees, shrubs, or hedges on the side of certain highways. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 567 - the review of water quality standards and variances to water quality standards by the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Administration from the requirement to promulgate rules relating to the statewide water quality variance for phosphorus. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Senate Bill 591 - mental health services in schools. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 39
- jurisdiction and venue in adoption proceedings and investigation of suitability of a home for adoption of a child. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 40 - preadoption preparation requirements and referrals to postadoption resource centers. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 41 - readoption of a child adopted by a resident of this state under an order of a court of a foreign jurisdiction. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 42 - including a statement as to whether a child has been adopted in a petition for a proceeding under the Children's Code or Juvenile Justice Code, in a petition for guardianship of a minor, in an informal disposition under the Children's Code or Juvenile Justice Code, or in a voluntary out-of-home care agreement under the Children's Code, and requiring an annual report to the governor and the legislature on children who enter out-of-home care after they have been adopted or placed under a guardianship. WCA is monitoring this bill.

Assembly Bill 580 - the width and weight limits of certain motor vehicles operated on a highway. WCA is monitoring this bill.

For a listing of all bills impacting county government and WCA's positions on those bills, please visit the WCA website here

WCA Upcoming Meetings

See a complete listing of upcoming WCA meetings here.

March 9 - WCA Health and Human Services Steering Committee
March 11 - WCA Board of Directors
March 18 - WCA Judicial and Public Safety Steering Committee
March 24 - WCA County Organization and Personnel Steering Committee
March 31 - WCA Taxation and Finance Steering Committee
 
 
Questions? Contact Our Government Affairs Team 

If you have any questions about anything happening at the state level, please feel free to contact any member of the WCA Government Affairs Team at 866.404.2700 or via email:

Kyle Christianson - Director of Government Affairs 
Sarah Diedrick-Kasdorf - Deputy Director of Government Affairs 
Daniel Bahr - Government Affairs Associate 
 
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