The Assembly unanimously approved a series of bills that would raise wages for collective bargaining employee contracts for construction projects. The move came after the Joint Committee on Employment Relations approved the contracts last month. AB 706, 708,709, 710 and 711 would ratify employee contract agreements between UW-Madison, the UW System or the state of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State Building Trades Negotiating Committee for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 fiscal years. The contracts would boost wages by 2.13 percent in 2018-19 and 2.44 percent in 2019-20. Payment for previous dates would be provided to employees in a lump sum retroactive

A split Assembly today signed off on a set of bills that would overhaul aspects of the state’s adoption system. The eight-bill package stemmed from an adoption task force commissioned last year and chaired by freshman Rep. Barbara Dittrich, who said she learned through the process that there was no “quick and easy fix” to the ails of the adoption system. But the Oconomowoc Republican touted the package as a “tiny step forward” towards making Wisconsin an “adoption-friendly state.” But Rep. Lisa Subeck, the vice-chair of the task force, said the package was “derailed by the Speaker of the Assembly.”

The Assembly today approved a nine-bill package designed to update placement and support obligations for children whose parents are divorced or separated. The package, which passed via voice vote, includes proposals that would: *create a process for temporary delegating custodial duties during a parent’s military service. *allow a court to approve a contingency plan that modifies a custody agreement based on future events such as a child’s school or extracurricular activities.  *update the Department of Children and Families’ administrative rules to reflect that shared physical placement arrangements of a child are now commonplace and should not be considered “special circumstances.”

Three Dems sided with Gov. Tony Evers to deny GOP lawmakers a veto on a bill that would have reduced the number of training hours required for nursing assistants. Republicans needed at least three Dems to flip their votes to override the veto and Dem Reps. Don Vruwink, of Milton, Beth Meyers, of Bayfield, and Steve Doyle, of Onalaska, voted for the proposal when it originally passed on the Assembly floor. But all three flipped their votes and the override failed to gain the necessary two-thirds support on a 63-36 vote along party lines. AB 76 would’ve prohibited the Department