Joint Finance unanimously approved Department of Children and Families’ request to increase its expenditure authority by $3.3 million through its federal child care and development block grant despite concerns from Dem members the agency wasn’t there to answer questions. The

The Assembly and Senate would provide a combined $412,600 in GPR over the next two years to help cover the costs of 21 new cameras in the Capitol for the public affairs network WisconsinEye, under a motion JFC approved. The

The Joint Finance Committee is taking up the state’s Tech College System when it meets next Thursday. Also on the schedule is Shared Revenue, the Historical Society and the Labor and Industry Review Commission. See the session notice: https://www.wispolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170511JFCExec.pdf …

The Joint Finance Committee jousted today over funding for Wisconsin veterans programs, particularly for the home in King, which has been the subject of several critical stories over conditions there. GOP Rep. Dale Kooyenga, the only veteran on the committee,

The committee unanimously shot down Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to no longer require journeyman electricians, plumbers and automatic fire sprinkler system fitters, along with cosmetologists and barbers, to take an exam to become licensed if they have completed an apprenticeship.

The committee rejected 12-4 a Dem motion that would have authorized public water utilities to provide financial assistance to private property owners looking to replace water service lines that contain lead. The proposal is identical to standalone legislation now pending

The committee rejected the guv’s proposal to eliminate the program that aids farmers who believe their dairy herds are being affected by stray voltage. The program, housed at the PSC and DATCP, is funded by nearly $1.1 million over the

The committee for a third time approved putting more money into broadband expansion grants. But JFC tweaked how it would impact a funding source going forward. A bill to expand the grants has already passed the committee twice and cleared

The co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee today floated the possibility of breaking transportation off from the budget and putting it into a separate bill as their caucuses continue to be at odds over how to fund road work for

A Wisconsin driver who owns a typical sedan would pay $39 more in taxes on their fuel purchases annually, while the owner of an SUV would pay $54 more a year, under Rep. Dale Kooyenga’s transportation and tax plan. In

The Joint Finance Committee will start to work through the Department of Administration when it meets Tuesday. The committee, which next meets tomorrow, also will take up the Elections and Ethics commissions, the Department of Children and Families, and State

Some Wisconsinites would end up paying more in income taxes under Kooyenga’s plan compared to current law, according to a new analysis by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Those paying more would fluctuate over the next dozen years as the state

The committee tweaked the guv’s plan to provide $1 million annually to reimburse cities for the overtime costs racked up by beat patrol police officers. JFC changed it to require the Department of Justice to lapse $2 million from settlements