MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on the Legislature’s finance committee’s actions on the state budget (all times local):
5:05 p.m.
Democrats on the Legislature’s budget committee are ripping Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel for spending thousands of dollars on gifts for police who attend training seminars.
Liberal group One Wisconsin Now obtained documents through an open records request Tuesday that show the state Department of Justice has spent nearly $53,000 on such items as backpacks, golf towels, commemorative coins, notebooks, tumblers and bracelets between the 2013-14 fiscal year and the current fiscal year. Schimel’s administration is responsible for $37,675.
The Joint Finance Committee’s Democrats offered a motion Tuesday to cut DOJ funding by $54,000. They said that’s how much the agency has spent on the items, even though their figure is about $1,000 too high. They said Schimel could have used that money to test sexual assault kits.
Republicans on the committee killed the motion. Schimel spokesman Johnny Koremenos says the items were either supplies for training conferences or gifts for the attendees, many of whom paid to attend.
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3:45 p.m.
Wisconsin lawmakers have inserted provisions in the state budget that would create grants for community institutions’ safety.
The Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to require the state Department of Justice to administer the grants. Tax-exempt community institutions such as community centers could use the grants to reimburse themselves for security costs in response to ongoing threats. The money for the grants would come from DOJ’s legal settlement winnings.
The committee’s move comes after a Jewish community center in suburban Milwaukee received three threats in six weeks earlier this year.
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3:35 p.m.
The state Department of Justice would get half of the new money Gov. Scott Walker planned to give the agency for drug investigations under changes the Legislature’s finance committee has made to the governor’s state budget.
Walker’s budget would have given DOJ $1 million over the next biennium to support DOJ drug investigations. The money would have come from DNA and crime lab surcharges on criminal defendants and municipal offenders. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the surcharge fund faces a projected deficit.
The Joint Finance Committee voted 16-0 on Tuesday to give DOJ $500,000 from the surcharge revenue over the biennium and require the agency to spend $500,000 of its discretionary settlement funds in additional support of drug probes.
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3:20 p.m.
The Legislature’s budget committee wants to take control of how Attorney General Brad Schimel spends money the state Department of Justice wins in legal settlements.
Right now the attorney general has the discretion to spend settlement dollars as he or she sees fit. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the DOJ will end the fiscal year with $8.4 million in discretionary funds.
The Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to require the attorney general to submit a plan to the panel for spending those funds. Committee members would have 14 days to object.
Sen. Alberta Darling, one of the committee’s co-chairs, says the move is a reaction to the amount of money DOJ has accrued. She says she wants more accountability and transparency in how the attorney general spends the money.
A spokesman for Attorney General Brad Schimel didn’t immediately respond a message.
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2:20 p.m.
Wisconsin lawmakers have approved provisions in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget that would provide local police with $2 million in grants over the next years to cover beat officers’ overtime.
The Joint Finance Committee approved the plan Tuesday on a 16-0 vote. The panel amended the budget plan to make only cities with at least 25,000 people eligible for the grants and require the state Department of Justice to shift $2 million from its discretionary funds back to the state to cover the grants. DOJ’s discretionary funds are built through gifts, grants and settlements. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the agency will end the current fiscal year with $8.4 million in discretionary funds.
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2 p.m.
The co-chairs of the Legislature’s powerful budget committee say the panel will reject Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to move the state to a self-insurance model.
Walker has included provisions in the state budget that would shift the state to self-insurance. Under such a plan, the state pays for health insurance for about 250,000 state workers and family members directly rather than purchasing insurance through HMOs. Walker believes the move would save $60 million, which he plans to invest in education.
Walker’s fellow Republicans say they’re worried about the state taking on risk and whether the $60 million in savings will actually materialize.
The move is subject to approval by the Joint Finance Committee. The panel’s co-chairs, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling, told reporters on Tuesday that the committee will reject the idea. They say the current insurance model is working and they can find savings elsewhere.
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1:40 p.m.
The Legislature’s finance committee has scrapped provisions in Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget that would have provided money for local police to create crowd-control units.
Walker’s budget laid out $500,000 in grants for local police to create so-called mobile field force units to manage large crowds and saturate areas with police to maintain the peace. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the grants would provide enough money to create 50 12-officer units across the state.
The Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday to strip the grants from the budget. There was no discussion.
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12:15 p.m.
The Legislature’s budget committee has restored the state’s troubled jobs agency’s ability to issue business loans.
The current state budget repealed the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s ability to originate new loans to businesses after June 30, 2017. Gov. Scott Walker’s 2017-19 budget allows WEDC to issue new loans but funded with money from repayments of other loans.
The Joint Finance Committee voted 12-4 on Tuesday to allow WEDC to start issuing loans again. The panel removed the requirement that the loans be funded solely through repayments of other loans, however.
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11:55 a.m.
The leaders of the Legislature’s budget committee say they plan to adopt a modified version of Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to reinstate a loan program at the state’s troubled economic development agency.
The current state budget repealed the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s ability to originate new loans to businesses after June 30, 2017. Gov. Scott Walker’s 2017-19 budget allows WEDC to issue new loans but funded with money from repayments of other loans.
The Joint Finance Committee is expected to vote on the proposal on Tuesday. The panel’s co-chairs, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling, told reporters before the committee convened that they will adopt a version of the governor’s plan. They didn’t elaborate.
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8:51 a.m.
The Legislature’s budget committee is set to take its second round of votes on Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget.
The Joint Finance Committee was slated to vote Tuesday on the Department of Justice, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Military Affairs’ budgets.
The DOJ’s budget includes grants to cover local police overtime, $2 million for upgraded DNA analysis kits and an additional $1 million for drug investigations. WEDC’s budget calls for lifting a prohibition on the agency’s ability to issue new loans. DMA’s budget provides $500,000 in grants to help police form crowd-control units.
The finance committee took its first votes on Walker’s budget earlier this month, rejecting the governor’s plan to give the state Supreme Court control of an independent commission that investigates judges.
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