The Joint Finance Committee today approved 11-4 along party lines reallocating $7.1 million in existing Corrections funds to address a shortfall in the general operations budget driven by continued high inmate health costs. The department budgeted $80.6 million in 2017-18

The Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to change the guv’s rural economic development fund program to target some of the money to local development organizations. Gov. Scott Walker called for directing $50 million annually to the 56 rural counties

The committee voted 16-0 Tuesday to approve requiring DWD to approve an incentive grant program for school districts that create programs to train individuals for occupations as firefighters and emergency medical responders. Currently, the Department of Workforce Development must award

The Joint Finance Committee unanimously voted Tuesday to approve an additional $8 million in 2018-19 to increase child care subsidies under the Wisconsin Shares program. The program helps low-income working families cover the costs of quality child care when the

The Joint Finance Committee voted 13-3 Tuesday to change the guv’s plan to create a reinsurance program in the federal marketplace under the Affordable Care Act. That includes stripping out the state funding of $50 million for the $200 million

GOP Rep. Travis Tranel, the lead author of legislation to create a $50 million rural economic development fund that Gov. Scott Walker wants, pitched the Joint Finance Committee on Monday to re-work the bill. Walker’s proposal seeks $50 million distributed

Groups representing Wisconsin’s hospitals, doctors and insurers today backed the guv’s plan to create a reinsurance plan for the individual market under the Affordable Care Act. Still, Dems questioned why the guv was willing to rely on additional federal money

The Joint Finance Committee unanimously approved a plan to boost state aid for small, rural school by $6.5 million and allow low-spending districts to collect more in property taxes. While members voted 16-0 for the bill, the debate became a

The Joint Finance Committee voted 12-4 to approve two of the guv’s welfare bills, including one that would create a pilot program to send monthly payments to recipients of the Earned Income Tax Credit instead of a lump sum after

A bill that would spend $6.8 million on an effort to attract workers to Wisconsin cleared the Joint Finance Committee on a 11-3 party-line vote.  Dem committee members, though, argued the bill was a misuse of resources and that it

Joint Finance Committee members voted 14-1 to boost the historic rehabilitation credit to $3.5 million per project starting July 1, instead of $500,000. Only Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, voted against it, while Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, was out sick and did

School officials lined up in support of a bill to boost sparsity aid and raise low-revenue caps, saying the changes would help them recruit and retain teachers while providing a higher-quality education to students. Still, Joint Finance Committee Dems sought

The co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee said today they’re considering changes to the guv’s proposal to create a new tax credit of $100 per child, but declined to get into specifics. The guv has proposed the $100 credit kick

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau today upped its projected ending balance for the 2017-19 budget by $137.5 million with revenue projections for the two-year period improving slightly. That’s less than 0.4 percent of the overall GPR spending projected for the full

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald today appointed Sen. Duey Stroebel to the Joint Finance Committee. The Saukville Republican, who was elected to the Senate in 2015, replaces Sheila Harsdorf, who last month became DATCP secretary. He also was one of three