The Assembly today voted to approve a measure that would make it a felony to trespass or damage oil or gas pipelines.  AB 426 would expand existing state law that made it a felony to trespass on the property of an energy provider or cause damage with the intent to

The Senate approved via voice vote a resolution expressing support for basing F-35 fighter jets at the Air National Guard Base in Madison after some residents near the airport have raised concerns over noise from the new planes. Truax Field is now home to F-16s and the debate over the

The Senate unanimously signed off on creating a statutory procedure for handling, processing and storing rape test kits. It also unanimously backed a new process to notify victims how their kits are being handled. The bills come on the heels of a backlog of untested kits becoming an issue in

The Senate voted today to make it a felony to have sexual contact with an animal, allow minors to operate food stands without a license and match the state’s hemp program to federal law. Under current Wisconsin law, it’s a class A misdemeanor to commit an act of sexual gratification

The Senate unanimously backed five of Tony Evers’ picks to serve in his cabinet, the first confirmation votes since the guv’s agency heads all began their jobs nine months ago. Without debate, the Senate voted 33-0 to confirm: Peter Barca at Revenue, Joel Brennan at Administration, Kathy Blumenfeld at Financial

The state Senate signed off on four transportation bills, including three that cleared the Assembly last week. The package is part of a promise Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, made as the Joint Finance Committee worked on the budget to approve additional reforms

The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously signed off on a plan to use additional revenue from online sales to reduce income taxes by $136.1 million in tax year 2020, clearing the way for the proposal to go to the guv. The plan would work in concert with a separate income

The state’s troubled youth prisons would close six months later than originally planned, while counties would get additional time to apply for grants to fund the regional facilities slated to help reshape the juvenile justice system in Wisconsin, under legislation the Senate approved today. The bill, which next goes to

The Assembly today also approved a measure that would use additional sales tax revenue collected from online retailers to lower income tax rates. The bill would target the reductions in the bottom two brackets while also capturing more online transactions to increase the amount of sales tax the state would

The Assembly today approved four measures from the so-called Road to Sustainability package authored by Rep. Joe Sanfelippo: *AB 273 would offer ways for the DOT to source materials at lower cost. *AB 275 would require the DOT to up the number of design-build projects in its pipeline to ensure

The Assembly signed off on a bill modifying a law passed last session that restructured the state’s juvenile justice program. The bill, which received a joint public hearing last week, would push back the closure of the state’s troubled youth prisons and give counties more time to apply for grants

The Assembly today passed a pair of bills that stiffen penalties for drunken drivers. AB 15 and 17 would require those charged with first-offense OWI to appear in court and would implement a presumptive mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for OWI homicide, respectively. Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon,

The Assembly today voted to ensure the sales tax created to pay for the Milwaukee Brewers stadium would end in 2020. The 0.1 percent sales tax on the five-county area — which includes Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha and Racine counties — has been in place in 1996. Under the bill

The Assembly approved by voice vote a bill that boosts a loan forgiveness program to incentivize more minorities to pursue a career in education. The bill, which boasted bipartisan support, would expand the program form Milwaukee to any school district in the state where at least 40 percent of the

The Assembly today approved a package of measures stemming from recommendations made last session by the Interagency Council on Homelessness. But the proposed funding for the measures, which comes out to roughly $3.8 million, can only be released at the discretion of the Joint Finance Committee. Assembly Majority Leader Jim

A bill that would set standards and fees for wireless providers when they seek to install 5G infrastructure was approved by voice vote in the Assembly today. The bill now heads to Gov. Tony Evers’ desk after the Senate voted 25-5 to pass it earlier this month. But the measure

The Senate today approved a bill that would set standards and fees for wireless providers when they seek to install 5G infrastructure after Dem Sen. Tim Carpenter temporarily blocked a final vote on the measure. The Milwaukee Dem brought forward a number of amendments to the bill, ranging from a

The state Senate today approved a measure that would make the insurance appeals process easier. The proposal addresses the so-called “step therapy” process, a cost-saving method employed by insurance companies that makes patients try a number of drugs recommended by the insurer before “stepping” up to cover the cost of