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JFC Meets for the First Time in 3 Weeks
The Joint Finance Committee, the committee which puts together the state budget, met on Thursday, May 29 for the first time since May 8 when they met to take out ‘policy’ from the budget document. They took up a few smaller agencies. The JFC Chairs then asked the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) to distribute a large portion of papers pertaining to the rest of the budget, but didn’t notice another meeting.
Usually only after the Committee has scheduled the next meeting and noticed what agencies will be taken up are the papers released, so this was a break from the traditional procedure. Many in the Capitol suspect this is because legislative leadership are attempting to negotiate with the Governor for a budget deal.
The additional LFB papers released include:
- Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection -- Departmentwide
- Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection -- Regulatory Programs
- Board of Commissioners of Public Lands
- Circuit Courts
- Educational Communications Board
- Elections Commission
- Environmental Improvement Fund
- Ethics Commission
- Financial Institutions
- General Fund Taxes -- Excise Taxes
- General Fund Taxes -- General Sales and Use Taxes
- General Fund Taxes -- Income and Franchise Taxes
- General Fund Taxes -- Public Utility Taxes
- General Fund Taxes -- Refundable Tax Credits and Other Payments
- Higher Educational Aids Board
- Insurance -- Agency Operations and Current Programs
- Insurance -- Drug Costs and Pricing
- Insurance -- Health Insurance
- Legislature
- Medical College of Wisconsin
- Revenue -- Departmentwide
- Revenue -- Excise Tax Regulation and Enforcement
- Revenue -- Lottery Administration
- Revenue -- State and Local Finance
- Revenue -- Tax Administration
- Supreme Court
- Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
- Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority
Limits on Local Government Emergency Powers
Reps. Brent Jacobson (R-Mosinee) and Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D-Milwaukee) and Sen. Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee) are circulating a proposal to “replicate the state-level checks on emergency power at the local level.” In Wisconsin, when the Governor declares a state of emergency, it is limited to 60 days. Once the 60 days have passed, in order for an emergency to be extended, a joint resolution must be passed by the legislature. The legislature may end the declaration before those 60 days as well.
Local governments do not have the same rules. Currently if the governing body of a town, village, city, or county is unable to meet promptly, the chief executive officer of a local unit can unilaterally exercise all powers conferred on the governing body until the governing body can meet. There are no statutory time limits on how long the chief executive can continue the power without action by the local governing body.
According to the Legislative Reference Bureau analysis, “This bill limits the length of such proclamation to 60 days, unless extended by the local unit of government’s governing body. The bill also defines “chief executive officer” as any of the following: 1) the county executive of a county, the county administrator of a county, or, in a county with an administrative coordinator, the county board chair of a county; 2) the mayor or city manager of a city; 3) the village president of a village; 4) the town board chairperson of a town; or 5) a person acting as one of the above stated persons.”
LRB-2805 Memo Emergency Powers (Jacobson, Brent) Time limits on local unit of government chief executive officer emergency power proclamations. Deadline: Friday, May 30, 2025 12:00
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