Senate Chief Clerk On Budget Repair Bill Vote 'Rules And Statutes' Satisfied

Earlier it was reported widely that the Wisconsin Senate bypassed the standoff with the runaway Democratic Senators that left town to prevent a vote on Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill, by stripping the bill of the fiscal components and voting on the rest with a simply majority and not a quorum (having a set amount of Senators present to complete the vote).

Democrats have grabbed onto the argument that the GOP Senate members violated the state's Open Meetings Law, but Senate Chief Clerk Rob Marchant asserts that the requirements of the rules and statutes were satisfied by sending notice to the Conference Committee:

Tonight's Conference Committee was properly noticed. From the Senate Chief Clerk, Rob Marchant:

FYI . . .

There was some discussion today about the notice provided for the legislature's conference committee. In special session, under Senate Rule 93, no advance notice is required other than posting on the legislative bulletin board. Despite this rule, it was decided to provide a 2 hour notice by posting on the bulletin board. My staff, as a courtesy, emailed a copy of the notice to all legisaltive offices at 4:10, which gave the impression that the notice may have been slightly less than 2 hours. Either way, the notice appears to have satisfied the requirements of the rules and statutes.

I thought you might find this information to be useful.

Thanks.

Rob

Game. Set. Match.

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