Published: January 27, 2011
Tags: Ballweg, Building Commission, Dean Kaufert, Division of State Facilities, Fred Risser, Plale, Russ Decker, Scott Walker
By James Briggs The new Division of State Facilities administrator is switching seats at the Building Commission table and says he’s glad to be on the nonpartisan side. Gov. Scott Walker has named former Democratic Sen. Jeff Plale to lead DSF and serve as secretary to the state Building Commission. The panel, which last year [...]
Published: January 25, 2011
Tags: Cathy Stepp, Department of Natural Resources, DNR, Jeff Plale, jobs, Pat Stevens, Russ Decker, Scott Walker, Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, WTBA
How do you sort out all the rhetoric about the need for tort reform in Wisconsin? And why is it so important that Wisconsin reform in order to create jobs? Most of us probably don’t know the difference between a tort (a wrongful act other than a breach of contract for which relief may be [...]
Published: December 23, 2010
Tags: Assembly, Chvala, collective bargaining, Doyle, Jeff Plale, Legislature, Pommer, Russ Decker, Scott Walker, Senate
By Matt Pommer Old divisions among Democratic legislators bubbled up during the recent votes on new labor contracts for more than 35,000 unionized state workers. The Democratic-controlled Assembly narrowly approved the agreements, but the contract measures failed in the state Senate on tie votes. Democrats had an 18-15 margin in the now lame-duck Senate. The [...]
Published: December 16, 2010
Tags: Assembly, Beil, contracts, Risser, Russ Decker, union, Wisconsin State Employees Union
Comments: 2
By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Dejected Democrats quietly ended a messy lame-duck session to approve state contracts Thursday, hours after one of their key leaders unexpectedly turned on them and voted the deals down. Senate President Fred Risser gaveled the Senate in and gaveled it out seconds later to officially end [...]
Published: December 15, 2010
Tags: contract, Russ Decker, Senate, unions
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A legislative committee has approved new contracts for state workers, clearing the way for the full Assembly and Senate to vote on them. The Joint Committee on Employee Relations approved 16 contracts that cover the two years that end June 30. The committee also approved a 2011-2013 contract for home care [...]
Published: November 12, 2010
Tags: Mike Sheridan, Obama, Pommer, Russ Decker, Scott Walker, Wisconsin Assembly, Wisconsin Legislature, Wisconsin Senate
Comments: 1
By Matt Pommer The Wisconsin Republican landslide has pushed Democrats off the political stage for the next two years and perhaps for a decade. Huge GOP majorities in the Legislature means Gov.-elect Scott Walker can ignore Democrats and get anything he wants from the incoming Senate and Assembly. Wisconsin voters made it clear they aren’t [...]
Published: September 15, 2010
Tags: 39/90, Dave Hansen, Doyle, Fred Clark, Gottlieb, Grothman, Holperin, Interstate 39/90, Lasee, Meyerhofer, Michael Ryan, Mike Sheridan, Petrowski, Russ Decker, Sobczak, Steinbrink, TPC, Transportation Projects Commission
Comments: 1
The Transportation Projects Commission will meet Oct. 19 for the first time in Gov. Jim Doyle’s tenure, according to a statement from State Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan’s office. The 14-member TPC will review eight proposed highway projects in the state, including the estimated $1.02 billion Interstate 39/90 expansion. Once the TPC, which was created in [...]
Published: April 22, 2010
Tags: bill, Buchen, Doyle, energy, Neumann, renewable energy, Russ Decker, Scott Walker, Tom Barrett
By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press Writer MADISON, Wis. (AP) — As outdoor lovers celebrated Earth Day’s 40th anniversary, state lawmakers pulled the plug on a bill that would have set aggressive new renewable energy standards. The state Senate finished its two-year session Thursday without voting on the bill after Democratic leaders balked at reports that [...]
Paul Snyder paul.snyder@dailyreporter.com Replacing the state budget’s proposed oil-assessment fee with a 3-cent gas tax increase will do nothing to ease the political battles brewing over transportation project money, lawmakers said Tuesday. “It’s just the worst timing for a tax increase,” said Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau. “You’re going to tell a guy just [...]
Published: March 11, 2009
Tags: Jim Doyle, Mark Gottlieb, Mark Reihl, Russ Decker, Wisconsin State Council of Carpenters
Paul Snyder paul.snyder@dailyreporter.com Depending on which side of the political aisle is talking, changes to the state’s prevailing wage rules and transportation financing formula are either poorly timed, expensive ideas or nearly law. That was the mixed message waiting for the Wisconsin State Council of Carpenters as the union descended on the state Capitol on [...]
