Rep. Dan Knodl’s 8th Senate District victory gives Republicans a two-thirds Senate majority, creating speculation about whether they could impeach Justice-elect Janet Protasiewicz.
Tag: wisconsin legislature
Posted inFact briefs
Did the Wisconsin Legislature pass legislation that would have extended work hours for teens under 16?
Yes. In 2021, Wisconsin’s Republican-led legislature passed a bill to extend work hours for some teenagers, which was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Posted inFact briefs
Does the Wisconsin GOP oppose all public school funding?
No. Republicans who control Wisconsin’s Legislature have routinely passed funding for the state’s public schools, most recently in the 2021–23 biennial budget. However, many Republican plans for education funding have been in conflict with Democrats’ goals.
Posted inScott Walker's Wisconsin, WisWatch Blog
Drafting notes silent on author of open records overhaul
Sixty pages of drafting documents included only initials and partial names of legislative service agency staffers.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
How drunken driving bills fared in the 2013-2014 Wisconsin Legislature
All but two of 13 bills died.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Gun bill died without shots being fired
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism filed a request with Darling’s office for her records on the bill. The 137 released pages provide some insight into what went on behind the scenes, but fall short of explaining why.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Report tracks lawmaker election trends
Significantly, in all three areas under review in the report — tenure, turnover and reelection — the trends of the past several decades have not held true in the most recent elections.
Posted inNews about Wisconsin Watch
Out of the darkness, a happy first anniversary
Exactly a year ago, the Wisconsin Legislature caught us sleeping. In a secret predawn move on June 5, 2013, legislators anonymously inserted a measure into the state budget. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jason Stein broke the news in a tweet at 5:19 a.m. — the moment we’re posting this update, as we reflect on the first anniversary. The entire Legislature soon approved the two-sentence provision, titled “Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.” It would have evicted WCIJ from offices we share with our student interns on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, and would have made it illegal for UW employees to collaborate with WCIJ. With your help, our darkest hour became our finest hour.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Lawmakers should retain, release records
Lawmakers must provide any documents they possess in response to an open records request. But they don’t need to provide documents they don’t have, and nothing compels them to keep documents.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column, Water Watch Wisconsin
Sen. Schultz exits, shaking his head
Schultz, a Republican who is stepping down after 32 years in the Legislature, most as a state senator, is dumbfounded: “Who’d have ever thought you’d be at a Republican function and have to defend Abraham Lincoln?”
Posted inOpen records, WisWatch Blog
Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council statement on claims of legislative immunity to open records law
So far as we can recall, no lawmaker has ever before tried to defeat the state’s open records law by employing this ruse. We are deeply disappointed in both Sen. Vukmir and the Attorney General’s Office, for the position it has taken.
Posted inEducation, Government
School districts paying $25 million for controversial Common Core standards
Wisconsin’s new Common Core standards for math and English cost the state very little to implement because individual districts are footing the bill, which likely will come to about $25 million.