No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Assembly passes earmark reform

by @ 23:21 on March 13, 2008. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

With all the bad news, I guess I should report on some good news. The Assembly passed the Earmark Transparency Act (AB 739) late last night on a voice vote. If it makes it thorugh the Senate and past Jim Doyle’s veto pen, it would:

– Prohibit state agencies from requesting earmarks when making their budget requests to the Department of Administration.
– Require the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to prepare an “Earmark Transparency Report”, including cost, location, beneficiary and sponsoring representative/senator, to be released to the public at least 48 hours before any action on a budget bill is taken by the Joint Finance Committee, the Assembly or the Senate.
– Prohibit a conference committee from “airdropping” earmarks or other non-fiscal policy items into the budget that were not previously part of an approved version of the budget.

Do note that this passed through the Assembly on a voice vote. That usually doesn’t happen with a controversial bill, so the ball is squarely in the Senate’s court.

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