Governor Takes Final Action on Legislation
On Friday, the Governor completed action on all the remaining bills passed by both houses of the Legislature during the 2021-2022 session, including the following two bills of interest to municipalities:
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Signed SB-508 into law as Act 255, allowing municipal highway maintenance vehicles to be equipped with green emergency lamps in addition to red and amber. The League supported this bill.
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Vetoed SB-900, establishing a process for clarifying title to historically filled and formerly submerged Great Lakes and commercial waterway shore lands and providing Great Lakes communities with opportunities to redevelop blighted and unused parcels along the shoreline. The League helped initiate this legislation. Our thanks to Senator Stroebel (R-Saukville) and Representative Wittke (R-Racine) for introducing this legislation on our behalf. The League will continue to work on this issue for our coastal communities and we will be prepared to introduce legislation again next session.
Joint Legislative Study Committees Announced
Joint Legislative Council is a 22-member committee comprised of both Republican and Democratic state Senators and state Representatives. Every two years, the committee votes to establish special legislative study committees, which are created to meet and study certain issues and come up with legislative recommendations. Typically, both legislators and industry stakeholders serve on those study committees. The League will be following the action of the Study Committees.
The Joint Legislative Council has approved the following study committees for this summer and fall:
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Study Committee on the Commercial Building Permitting Process (Senator Duey Stroebel, Chair, and Representative Rob Summerfield, Vice Chair)
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Study Committee on Increasing Offender Employment Opportunities (Senator Mary Felzkowski, Chair, and Representative Michael Schraa, Vice Chair)
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Study Committee on Occupational Licenses (Senator Rob Stafsholt, Chair, and Representative Shae Sortwell, Vice Chair)
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Study Committee on Shared School District Services (Representative Robert Brooks, Chair, and Senator Dan Feyen, Vice Chair)
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Study Committee on Uniform Death Reporting Standards (Senator Joan Ballweg, Chair, and Representative Jesse James, Vice Chair)
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Study Committee on Wisconsin National Guard Sexual Misconduct Procedures (Representative Tony Kurtz, Chair, and Senator Eric Wimberger, Vice Chair)
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Special Committee on State-Tribal Relations appointment of Representative Jeffrey Mursau, Chair, and Senator Janet Bewley, Vice Chair
Future Legislative Updates
The final Legislative Bulletin for this session was published last week. All new legislative information for the remainder of 2022 will be distributed through the Capitol Buzz or another Alert. The Legislative Bulletin will resume when the next legislative session begins in January of 2023.
