The Joint Finance Committee voted 12-4 along party lines to create a new exemption from permitting requirements for placing riprap on up to 200 feet of rivers and inland lakes or 300 feet on a Great Lake. Currently, a permit is required to lay the stone on an embankment to

Returning from a two-month break, the Joint Finance Committee today went back to work on the state budget, unanimously rejecting Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to eliminate a program that seeks to encourage schools to buy locally sourced food. The committee’s action would keep $66,400 in general purpose revenue and one

The Joint Finance Committee will be in Monday to take up public instruction, the choice program and the building program. Other items on Monday’s agenda include: the Building Commission, the school levy tax credit and the lottery fund. The five areas under public instruction that will be taken up Monday

The Joint Finance Committee will end a more than two-month break from the budget today with an agenda that includes the reorganization of the DNR, the repeal of the forestry mill tax and DATCP. The guv’s call to repeal the forestry tax, the only state property tax, was originally expected

Gov. Scott Walker said today Republicans have reached a deal “in principle” on the state budget that would include a partial repeal of the personal property tax, saying he expects to sign the budget by Sept. 22, when summer ends. But he also said there are “a few little details”

The Joint Finance Committee will end a two-month break next week, coming in Tuesday for a public hearing on Foxconn and Thursday to take up several remaining pieces of the budget. Tuesday’s public hearing will be at Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant. The committee will then meet again Thursday to

The Legislature’s top Republicans disagreed Tuesday on how to move forward with an incentive package for Foxconn, while Walker said he’s open to small changes to the legislation. Among the issues: how quickly to move the bill setting up $3 billion in incentives for the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer; if the

Assembly Republicans are planning a Thursday public hearing on legislation that could provide $3 billion in incentives to Foxconn for a planned Wisconsin plant. The timeline laid out during a news conference today would set up a vote by the full Assembly possibly in mid-August. The bill, which will be

Senate leadership emerged from caucus cautious about the guv’s budget proposal, saying GOP senators are still wedded to the idea of eliminating the personal property tax. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said yesterday there’s still “no deal” yet on the budget in his caucus even though Assembly GOP leaders back

Assembly GOP leaders today notified Gov. Scott Walker they will accept his offer to redirect $203.5 million in income tax cuts he had proposed and instead pump new cash toward road projects over the next two years. But Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said this afternoon following discussions with his caucus

Looking to break the budget impasse, Gov. Scott Walker has floated the possibility of nixing his income tax cuts and instead directing that money to transportation projects, according to multiple GOP sources. The sources said the motivation behind the suggestion is twofold. One, by paying cash for some projects with

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters Wednesday his caucus is taking its time to digest the Senate’s budget proposal but the Rochester Republican raised doubts about borrowing $712 million for roads. The Senate plan to borrow that amount goes above the $500 million that Gov. Scott Walker initially proposed —

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald Tuesday challenged Assembly Republicans to come up with something “palatable” that his caucus could support after unveiling a plan that would repeal the personal property tax, wipe out the guv’s income tax cuts and raise income limits for the statewide voucher program. But Assembly Majority

Senate Republicans today proposed using the general fund and transportation revenues to cover borrowing $712 million to help pay for road construction over the next two years, laying down a marker in the ongoing budget impasse. Of that, $350 million would be supported by the general fund, while $362 million

A key piece of Gov. Scott Walker’s outline to break the budget impasse could include the state getting 10 times what it typically receives when the federal government redistributes unused federal transportation aid. In a letter to the Legislature’s top GOP leaders, the guv outlined a possible deal that would

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said today Republican budget negotiations are “back on track” after today’s meeting with the guv. Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, met with Gov. Scott Walker today as part of their weekly gathering after the two legislative leaders yesterday aired in public how

The Legislature’s top Republicans lobbed bombs at each other Tuesday over their remaining budget disputes in an unusual public airing of their differences. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, called Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’s position on transportation “laughable” as he detailed differences between the two GOP caucuses on transportation during

Joint Finance Committee Co-chair Alberta Darling said today top GOP leaders have a long way to go on reaching a consensus on transportation, another sign the budget won’t be completed by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. “We are as far apart on transportation as we were