In the interim period between biennial sessions, the Legislative Council creates various special committees – comprised of legislators and public members – to study a broad range of issues and develop policy recommendations. This week the Legislative Council co-chairs released a list of the special committees that they proposed to initiate this summer, and they distributed a ballot for members of the Council to approve the committees.

Three of the six new study committees will address issues relating to children:

• Special Committee on Permanency for Young Children in the Child Welfare System. (Rep. Kerkman, Chair and Sen. Lazich, Vice-Chair)
• Special Committee on Improving Educational opportunities in High School (Sen. Olsen, Chair and Rep. Farrow, Vice-Chair)
• Special Committee on Reporting Child Abuse and Child Neglect (Sen. Darling, Chair and Sen. Shilling, Vice-Chair)

As I noted in a Budget Project Blog post Tuesday, the content of the proposed committees is unusual in a couple of respects. First, the list being circulated now includes only 6 new special committees – a much smaller number than usual. (Last year the Legislative Council established 15 new study committees.) Second, the list includes a new sort of committee – a “steering committee” that is directed to “conduct information symposia and develop recommendations regarding Wisconsin’s income tax code.” It’s not clear to me why that subject wasn’t assigned to a typical study committee, but it sounds like the role of the committee might be more about outreach (and perhaps proselytizing) than the usual information-gathering study committee.

Among the six new study committees, the other three that are on the ballot are the following:

• Special Committee on 911 Communications. (Rep. Ballweg, Chair and Sen. Jauch, Vice-Chair)
• Special Committee on Legal Interventions for Persons with Alzeheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (Rep. Knodl, Chair and Rep. Bernard Schaber, Vice-Chair.)
• Special Committee on Supervised Release and Discharge of Sexually Violent Persons (Rep. Strachota, Chair and Sen. Darling, Vice Chair)

The results of the voting on the committees is likely to be announced next week, but that is typically just a formality once the ballot has been agreed upon by legislative leaders.

Jon Peacock