Issue Updates

Wisconsin operates under a biennial budget, meaning the legislature passes a budget every other year. The budget process begins in the fall of each even year, when state agencies submit their budget requests to the governor and the Department of Administration.

The Department of Administration’s State Budget Office crafts a budget based on the agencies requests and the governor’s desires. The governor then presents his budget to the state legislature for its consideration.

Health care policy in the 2011-12 Legislative Session centered on the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the impact of the new federal health care reform law on both the state’s commercial insurance market and its medical assistance program.

Wisconsin Health Care Developments: The 2011-12 Legislative Session and the Impact of Federal Healthcare Reforms by Hamilton Consulting’s Patrick Osborne and Emily Kelchen illustrates of the complex and ever-changing status of health policy in Wisconsin and beyond.

Although the recall elections have accelerated the process and drawn the attention of election-watchers away from the general elections, the biennial fight for control of the Wisconsin legislature has quietly begun along with Congressional elections and the race for the White House.

This year, Wisconsin has moved its partisan primary election date up one month to August 14 to give military and overseas voters more time to cast their ballots. That change affected the time period for circulating nomination papers.

2012 might be the year Wisconsin voters make history by recalling a sitting governor. Recall elections were introduced in Wisconsin in the 1920s, and since that time less than 20 public officials have been recalled, but never a governor.

With the political intrigue, the vast amount of money being spent, and the balance of power in the State Senate on the line; Wisconsin could be in the national political spotlight until well after the dust settles on June 5th.

In a defining effort, the Wisconsin Legislature, with Gov. Walker’s leadership, enacted sweeping civil justice reforms during the contentious 2011-12 Legislative Session. Landmark reforms relating to product liability, expert opinion testimony, risk contribution, and caps on punitive damages, among others, turned Wisconsin’s souring litigation and business climate into one of the most competitive jurisdictions in the country from a litigation standpoint.