Walker creates committee on automated vehicles

Walker announced today he has signed an executive order creating a committee to advise him on the testing and operation of automated vehicles. The Steering Committee on Autonomous and Connected Vehicle Testing and Deployment will be chaired by DOT Secretary

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Walker urges lawmakers to approve self-insurance plan

Gov. Scott Walker is urging the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to approve his self-insurance plan to overhaul how the state provides health benefits to its employees. JFC members have expressed reservations over Walker’s plan to move state employees to a

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Walker creates committee on automated vehicles

Walker announced today he has signed an executive order creating a committee to advise him on the testing and operation of automated vehicles. The Steering Committee on Autonomous and Connected Vehicle Testing and Deployment will be chaired by DOT Secretary Dave Ross, or his designee. Others who will serve on

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AFP digital ad backs Walker plan to nix state property tax

Americans for Prosperity’s new digital ad says “some legislators won’t budge” on Gov. Scott Walker’s call to eliminate the state property tax. “They should stand with Governor Walker and put more money back in your pocket,” the narrator says. In the ad, the narrator says Wisconsin has one of the

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Elections Commission raises concerns over budget cuts

Two members of the Elections Commission are urging the Joint Finance Committee to maintain funding for 22 agency positions that have been covered with federal aid, rather than keeping 16 as Gov. Scott Walker wants. Chair Mark Thomsen, a Dem appointee, and Steve King, a GOP appointee, wrote in today’s

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JFC co-chairs float possibility of separate transpo budget

The co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee today floated the possibility of breaking transportation off from the budget as their caucuses remain at odds over how to fund road work for the next two years. But the guv and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald oppose the idea, their offices said.

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Fitzgerald doesn’t ‘see the momentum’ for Assembly GOP transpo plan

The tension between Republicans on transportation funding hit a new level today, with Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald saying he doesn’t “see the momentum” for the new Assembly Republican plan. Assembly Republicans, meanwhile, said the Senate should lay out its own proposal so lawmakers and the guv could “negotiate a

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DOR prepares analysis of Kooyenga transpo and tax plan

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 addition, a married couple with one child and an income

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JFC co-chairs applaud Kooyenga for offering transpo plan

The JFC co-chairs also applauded Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, for putting forward a transportation plan, and Nygren said he was disappointed in the guv’s response. Over the weekend, Walker knocked the proposal as a gas tax hike. It would lower the excise tax, add the state sales tax to fuel

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JFC plans to reject self-insurance contracts, DOA defends plan

Gov. Scott Walker and DOA Secretary Scott Neitzel today knocked the Joint Finance Committee’s plans to reject the administration’s moves to self-insure state workers. Walker tweeted about the JFC co-chairs’ comments that they expect the committee will reject the contracts his administration reached as part of the self-insurance plan. “Wrong

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Walker urges lawmakers to approve self-insurance plan

Gov. Scott Walker is urging the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to approve his self-insurance plan to overhaul how the state provides health benefits to its employees. JFC members have expressed reservations over Walker’s plan to move state employees to a self-insured model and consolidate the number of companies the state

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Walker says state would consider setting up high-risk pool again

Gov. Scott Walker says the House passing the American Health Care Act was a “huge victory for Paul Ryan,” though he’s heard from key senators the bill could change substantially. The bill lets states apply for waivers to opt out of several insurance industry regulations under the Affordable Care Act,

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