Senate approves $7 million campaign to bring workers to Wisconsin

A bill that would set aside funding for a multi-million dollar marketing program to attract more workers to Wisconsin is now heading to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk after clearing the Senate 17-15. While the bill received some bipartisan support in the Assembly when it cleared that chamber last month, GOP Sen. Rob Cowles joined all Dems in opposing the plan. Prior to the legislation’s passage, Dems argued the bill showed the guv and Republicans were open to “foolishly spending” in the final days of the spring session, in the words of Sen. Tim Carpenter. “You might as well just drive

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Senate passes bill adding new regulations to landlord-tenant relations

The Senate signed off 18-14 on a bill that would make sweeping changes to landlord-tenant laws. The legislation, which previously cleared the Assembly, now heads to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk over Dem objections that it would disadvantage tenants by chipping away at provisions aimed to protect them. Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, said as a former landlord he can attest that tenants are often unfamiliar with the law and often “can be intimidated.” “What this bill does is takes even more resources away from tenants, and that would be terribly true for low-income tenants,” he said. But proponents of the bill have

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TUE PM Update: GOP legislative leaders make progress on child tax credit, youth corrections overhaul, school safety bills

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — GOP legislative leaders today made progress on saving legislation to replace Wisconsin’s troubled youth prison, create a $100-per-child tax credit and implement school safety measures, reviving proposals that stalled amid Republican bickering. The Senate today approved the child credit, including a scaled-back sales tax holiday,… Please log in to access subscriber content. If you don’t have a subscription, click here for a WisPolitics free trial and to view the different subscription options. Username or E-mail Password * Remember Me     Forgot Password

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Senate approves pre-empting local employment laws after nixing Assembly change

The state Senate today approved legislation prohibiting municipalities from creating their own local labor laws after stripping out a change the Assembly made last month. That means the bill would have to be approved by the Assembly, which plans to be in Thursday in extraordinary session, before it could head to the guv’s desk. The Assembly provision that was stripped from the bill would have made clear the legislation did not apply to Foxconn. The changes aimed to assuage concerns from some that provisions in the bill could potentially have unintended consequences on Foxconn’s future development plans in Racine County.

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Petri says recent Dem wins show need to work across party lines

A retired Republican congressman is calling Democrat Conor Lamb’s victory in Pennsylvania an example of why incumbents should be stressing their bipartisanship this election year. Former U.S. Rep Tom Petri of Wisconsin’s 6th CD figures the special election results in Pennsylvania, plus the election in December of Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama, is a wake-up call for incumbents across the nation. “And what does the wake-up call tell you? It tells you that if you want to get re-elected, you better start working across political lines and looking for solutions rather than just throwing mud at the other side,” Petri

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Senate unanimously approves amended youth prisons bills

The Senate this afternoon unanimously passed a juvenile corrections bill that’s largely in line with the version the Assembly passed last month reviving a bill that had been stalled over Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s objections to several provisions as well as the process. There was no debate before the Senate voted 32-0 to approve a substitute amendment that would close Lincoln Hills youth prison by Jan. 1, 2021, and require in its place new DOC type 1 facilities for the most serious youth offenders, along with several county-run facilities for less serious offenders. The $80 million plan is nearly

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Republicans approve revised child tax credit with Dem vote

The state Senate today signed off on a $100 per-child credit and a scaled back sales tax holiday as part of a deal GOP legislative leaders struck to move the stalled proposal. It only cleared the Senate because Sen. La Tonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, joined most Republicans in backing the plan. The initial roll call finished 16-14 with Republicans Rob Cowles, of Green Bay, and Luther Olsen, of Ripon, voting against the plan. Sens. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, were out of the chamber for the vote, and Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, sought to send the bill

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Wisconsin companies targeted by cyber attacks

Compromised business email accounts are among the top online threats to Wisconsin companies in 2018, according to Byron Franz, a cybersecurity special agent for the FBI. He spoke yesterday at the Wisconsin Tech Summit, held at the GE Healthcare Institute in Waukesha by the Wisconsin Technology Council. Email accounts can be hacked through technological means, but also by targeting the most vulnerable part of any company’s security system: its people. Spear-phishing is a method for precisely targeting decision-making individuals in the company. It’s often done by sending misleading emails, using data mined from the internet to customize the message in

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Senate approves resolution to move along stalled budgets

The Senate approved 18-14 along party lines changing chamber ruled to add a trigger to move the budget along if the Joint Finance Committee fails to complete by a deadline. The committee would have until June 30 in a budget year to finish its work on the document. If it failed to do so, the majority leader would introduce stand-alone legislation the Senate would then work on. The proposal comes after the budget dragged into September last year.  

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Senate concurs on Assembly change to drunk driving bill

The DOT would permanently revoke a license if the driver had two or more “qualifying convictions” and two OWI offenses within a 15-year period. The offenses that would be “qualifying convictions” include: second-degree reckless homicide, homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicles or homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle. The original bill included a 25-year window. Under the amendment, the fourth conviction would have to occur within 15 years of a previous one. The Senate originally approved the bill unanimously in November. It then cleared the Assembly 84-10 with the amendment.

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Fitzgerald says Senate near deals on juvenile justice, school safety

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said this morning his caucus has agreed to do the guv’s $100 per-child tax credit with the sales tax holiday the Assembly added and was working out final details on a deal on the juvenile justice overhaul and school safety measures. Senate Republicans had balked at doing the sales tax holiday as part of the guv’s tax credit due to the more than $50 million p… Please log in to access subscriber content. If you don’t have a subscription, click here for a WisPolitics free trial and to view the different subscription options.

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Pat Duffy: Glitch in federal tax law harms independent grain operators

Because of a mistake in the tax bill Congress passed last year, we have watched trucks that usually stop at our grain elevators drive a little further up the road to sell to someone else. The reason for this uncertainty is an unintended glitch in the tax bill that gives farmers an enormous incentive to sell to cooperatives, not independent businesses like mine.

Read More »

Senate approves $7 million campaign to bring workers to Wisconsin

A bill that would set aside funding for a multi-million dollar marketing program to attract more workers to Wisconsin is now heading to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk after clearing the Senate 17-15. While the bill received some bipartisan support in the Assembly when it cleared that chamber last month, GOP

Read More »

Senate passes bill adding new regulations to landlord-tenant relations

The Senate signed off 18-14 on a bill that would make sweeping changes to landlord-tenant laws. The legislation, which previously cleared the Assembly, now heads to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk over Dem objections that it would disadvantage tenants by chipping away at provisions aimed to protect them. Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona,

Read More »

TUE PM Update: GOP legislative leaders make progress on child tax credit, youth corrections overhaul, school safety bills

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers From WisPolitics.com … — GOP legislative leaders today made progress on saving legislation to replace Wisconsin’s troubled youth prison, create a $100-per-child tax credit and implement school safety measures, reviving proposals that stalled amid Republican bickering. The Senate today approved the child credit, including a scaled-back

Read More »

Petri says recent Dem wins show need to work across party lines

A retired Republican congressman is calling Democrat Conor Lamb’s victory in Pennsylvania an example of why incumbents should be stressing their bipartisanship this election year. Former U.S. Rep Tom Petri of Wisconsin’s 6th CD figures the special election results in Pennsylvania, plus the election in December of Democrat Doug Jones

Read More »

Senate unanimously approves amended youth prisons bills

The Senate this afternoon unanimously passed a juvenile corrections bill that’s largely in line with the version the Assembly passed last month reviving a bill that had been stalled over Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s objections to several provisions as well as the process. There was no debate before the

Read More »

Republicans approve revised child tax credit with Dem vote

The state Senate today signed off on a $100 per-child credit and a scaled back sales tax holiday as part of a deal GOP legislative leaders struck to move the stalled proposal. It only cleared the Senate because Sen. La Tonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, joined most Republicans in backing the plan.

Read More »

Wisconsin companies targeted by cyber attacks

Compromised business email accounts are among the top online threats to Wisconsin companies in 2018, according to Byron Franz, a cybersecurity special agent for the FBI. He spoke yesterday at the Wisconsin Tech Summit, held at the GE Healthcare Institute in Waukesha by the Wisconsin Technology Council. Email accounts can

Read More »

Senate approves resolution to move along stalled budgets

The Senate approved 18-14 along party lines changing chamber ruled to add a trigger to move the budget along if the Joint Finance Committee fails to complete by a deadline. The committee would have until June 30 in a budget year to finish its work on the document. If it

Read More »

Senate concurs on Assembly change to drunk driving bill

The DOT would permanently revoke a license if the driver had two or more “qualifying convictions” and two OWI offenses within a 15-year period. The offenses that would be “qualifying convictions” include: second-degree reckless homicide, homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicles or homicide by negligent operation of a

Read More »

Pat Duffy: Glitch in federal tax law harms independent grain operators

Because of a mistake in the tax bill Congress passed last year, we have watched trucks that usually stop at our grain elevators drive a little further up the road to sell to someone else. The reason for this uncertainty is an unintended glitch in the tax bill that gives farmers an enormous incentive to sell to cooperatives, not independent businesses like mine.

Read More »