Despite moving quickly through the Assembly earlier this month, a proposed overhaul of Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board appears to have stalled in the state Senate.
While many Republicans in the Senate do appear to back the legislation, which would split elections and ethics oversight between two partisan-appointed panels, some members have voiced concerns about plans remove the judges that currently head up the GAB. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said this week that it’s an issue they are open to taking another look at, noting that the original bill did still include judges in the panels…but it was removed at the request of the Senate. “If they wanted to have a negotiation to talk about it, to say how can we make the bill stronger and better, as long as they were productive, positive ideas, of course we would take a look at them,” Vos told reporters this week.
Vos maintains that he’s “very confident” that the GAB will reformed.
Senate Republicans met in closed caucus Tuesday to discuss the GAB bill and legislation overhauling campaign finance laws. Myranda Tanck, a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), said Wednesday that “We are looking at several potential changes and will be discussing the legislation with Assembly leadership and members of our caucus going forward. Sen. Fitzgerald is still optimistic that we will see both the GAB and Campaign Finance legislation on the Senate floor next week, potentially with some amendments to the current versions.”