• Joint Finance Consideration of Mining Bill- On Monday, the Joint Committee on Finance will vote on Senate Bill 1/Assembly Bill 1, the iron-ore mining reform legislation immediately following their consideration of state agency 13.10 requests.  Coverage of the debate will be covered live on WisconsinEye.  This is the last step in the process before full consideration by both houses of the Legislature, which is anticipated to be completed by the March 7th break in the Legislative calendar.
• State Assembly will be in Session on Thursday, February 28th, no calendar has been released yet.
• Full schedule of committee hearings and events below.  

• Beginning around March 18th, the Finance Committee will begin to receive briefings from the state agencies on their budget proposals included in AB 40.  They believe this will be wrapped up before or at the beginning of April.
• In April the Committee will have four to five public hearings at various locations around the state to take public input on the proposals that are included in AB 40, as well as other suggestions.
• Following the public hearings the Finance Committee will then begin voting on the individual provisions of AB 40, with the goal of completing their work by the middle of May/end of May "at the latest" according to Sen. Darling.
• AB 40 will then go to the State Assembly for consideration first, and then on to the State Senate.
• After action by the State Senate, if the bill remains in identical form to the version passed by the State Assembly, it is on to Governor Walker's desk for his veto review and signature.  
• The State's fiscal year ends on June 30th, 2013, so the goal is always to have work on the budget completed entirely by this date.     

Links:

• Initial Capitol Consultants/Wimmer & Company coverage of the budget announcement.
• Budget in Brief 
• Links to agency budgets in detail 
• Link to Assembly Bill 40 

Getting to know members of the Joint Committee on Finance: 

This week we will highlight who the Assembly members of the Joint Committee on Finance are, and next week we will highlight the Senate members of the Committee.

Co-Chair Nygren

This is Co-Chair Nygren's first session as Committee chair having served on the Committee during the 2011-2012 session.   

Nygren was first elected to the State Assembly in 2006 and is starting his fourth term in the State Assembly.  Nygren strongly believes in a "citizen legislature" and still actively works in the financial services industry at Great Lakes Financial Management Group.  Prior to working in the financial services industry, Nygren spent more than 12 years in the restaurant industry as a Manager, District Manager, and Director of Operations.  He eventually became the co-owner of a restaurant.

Together with Co-Chair Alberta Darling, Nygren released the following statement regarding the Governor's budget introduction and the path forward for the finance Committee:

Link to Co-Chair Nygren's website. 

Vice Chair Strachota

Representative Pat Strachota (R-West Bend) has served in the Wisconsin State Assembly since in 2004. She is a member of the Assembly Health Committee, as well as the Joint Finance Committee, which is responsible for the fiscal health of the state and creating the biennial state budget. Representative Strachota graduated from St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana with a B.A. in government, a minor in American History and a certificate in Urban Planning.