MADISON - Republican lawmakers have scratched most big-ticket items off their to-do list, but they've still got plenty to do as they work to bolster their campaign positions before the legislative session ends.
Lawmakers return en masse to Madison after their holiday recess with Assembly and Senate floor debates Tuesday, kicking off a sprint to the end of the two-year session.
Republicans spent most of last year imposing sweeping changes to the political landscape, passing the state budget, making Wisconsin a right-to-work state, reshaping the state elections board, barring prosecutors from using secretive John Doe investigative tactics against politicians and reworking campaign finance law. With their main agenda accomplished, the next few months will be about passing bills to shore up their conservative credentials and ward off potential challengers in the August primary.
They'll have to move fast. The last floor debate days are scheduled for late April, but Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says he wants his chamber to wrap up by the end of February. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald hopes to finish in March.
One of the first orders of business for the Senate will be passing a bill that overhauls the state's 110-year-old civil service system on Jan. 20. The bill eliminates exams for applicants and would end bumping rights that have protected more experienced workers from losing their jobs. It also defines just cause for discipline. The Assembly passed the bill in October despite complaints from minority Democrats that the measure would open the door to cronyism.
Also awaiting action is a proposal that would ban research using tissue from fetuses aborted after Jan. 1, 2015, and prohibit the commercial sale of fetal tissue. Researchers have complained the measure could chill work on potentially life-saving cures and treatments.
The bill hasn't passed either house yet. Vos said in September he didn't have the votes to get it out of the Assembly but his members were trying to craft a compromise.
Vos told The Associated Press in late December that he hadn't seen any of the changes and didn't know if the bill would pass. Assembly Republicans have already proven their commitment to the unborn by passing bills banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and stripping Planned Parenthood of $3.5 million in federal funding, he said. Fitzgerald was vague during an interview about the research ban's chances in the Senate, saying some members of his caucus are concerned about the measure's impact on research.
"The clock is ticking. It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of give from both sides to get something done," he said.
Another flashpoint is an Assembly bill that would force transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms meant for their biological sex. Opponents insist the bill violates federal civil rights law, but Vos said in November that he supports the measure.
Fitzgerald sounded skeptical about the bill, saying he believed issues with transgender bathrooms should be decided on a case-by-case basis and the legislation "is a little bit more about prescribing how you think those situations should be taken care of instead of allowing them to work themselves out." But he said his caucus hasn't discussed the proposal.
Rep. Jesse Kremer and Sen. Devin LeMahieu, meanwhile, have introduced a bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons into college buildings. They introduced the proposal days after a gunman killed nine people at an Oregon community college, saying the measure would make campuses safer.
University of Wisconsin leaders oppose the bill. Vos said the measure probably isn't going anywhere in his house. Fitzgerald hinted the bill was all but dead in the Senate as well, saying it would be tough to take it up without Assembly support.
Lawmakers return en masse to Madison after their holiday recess with Assembly and Senate floor debates Tuesday, kicking off a sprint to the end of the two-year session.
Republicans spent most of last year imposing sweeping changes to the political landscape, passing the state budget, making Wisconsin a right-to-work state, reshaping the state elections board, barring prosecutors from using secretive John Doe investigative tactics against politicians and reworking campaign finance law. With their main agenda accomplished, the next few months will be about passing bills to shore up their conservative credentials and ward off potential challengers in the August primary.
They'll have to move fast. The last floor debate days are scheduled for late April, but Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says he wants his chamber to wrap up by the end of February. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald hopes to finish in March.
One of the first orders of business for the Senate will be passing a bill that overhauls the state's 110-year-old civil service system on Jan. 20. The bill eliminates exams for applicants and would end bumping rights that have protected more experienced workers from losing their jobs. It also defines just cause for discipline. The Assembly passed the bill in October despite complaints from minority Democrats that the measure would open the door to cronyism.
Also awaiting action is a proposal that would ban research using tissue from fetuses aborted after Jan. 1, 2015, and prohibit the commercial sale of fetal tissue. Researchers have complained the measure could chill work on potentially life-saving cures and treatments.
The bill hasn't passed either house yet. Vos said in September he didn't have the votes to get it out of the Assembly but his members were trying to craft a compromise.
Vos told The Associated Press in late December that he hadn't seen any of the changes and didn't know if the bill would pass. Assembly Republicans have already proven their commitment to the unborn by passing bills banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and stripping Planned Parenthood of $3.5 million in federal funding, he said. Fitzgerald was vague during an interview about the research ban's chances in the Senate, saying some members of his caucus are concerned about the measure's impact on research.
"The clock is ticking. It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of give from both sides to get something done," he said.
Another flashpoint is an Assembly bill that would force transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms meant for their biological sex. Opponents insist the bill violates federal civil rights law, but Vos said in November that he supports the measure.
Fitzgerald sounded skeptical about the bill, saying he believed issues with transgender bathrooms should be decided on a case-by-case basis and the legislation "is a little bit more about prescribing how you think those situations should be taken care of instead of allowing them to work themselves out." But he said his caucus hasn't discussed the proposal.
Rep. Jesse Kremer and Sen. Devin LeMahieu, meanwhile, have introduced a bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons into college buildings. They introduced the proposal days after a gunman killed nine people at an Oregon community college, saying the measure would make campuses safer.
University of Wisconsin leaders oppose the bill. Vos said the measure probably isn't going anywhere in his house. Fitzgerald hinted the bill was all but dead in the Senate as well, saying it would be tough to take it up without Assembly support.