The state Assembly and Senate both voted Tuesday to pass separate campaign finance reform bills.
Assembly Majority Leader Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, bypassed the usual committee processes and exercised a rarely used power to bring the AB 843 directly to the parlor floor.
Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said Assembly Democrats thought the bill was weak and only voted for it to keep the campaign finance reform process from stalling.
\Assembly Bill 843 is such a modest bill that it really won't get big money out of politics,"" he said.
Black said he was disappointed the Assembly did not create a conference committee to work with the Senate to create a new bill that combines aspects of AB 843 and the Senate bill that passed Tuesday, which the Senate delayed a vote on earlier this month.
""Without a conference committee, we won't have campaign finance reform,"" he said, adding that he would propose the idea again later this session.
However, co-author of the bill Rep. Marc Duff, R-New Berlin, said Assembly Republicans voted against forming a conference committee to give the Senate a chance to pass the Assembly proposal.
""Considering the broad support the Assembly bill got from both sides of the aisle, we would really like to give the Senate some time to consider taking up AB 843,"" he said. ""I'm excited that the plan we've been working on for such a long time was able to garner such extensive bi-partisan support.""
Assembly Republicans plan to bring AB 843 in front of the Senate floor later this session according to a statement released by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison.
Steve Baas, press secretary for Jensen, said he hoped AB 843 would not encounter opposition from Chvala, who moved to reconsider SB 104 earlier this month after Gov. Scott McCallum refused to sign a promise not to use his line-item veto power.
""The position of the Senate is clear. A strong, bipartisan majority of this house support the comprehensive campaign finance reform of Senate Bill 104,"" Chvala said in a statement. ""Assembly Republicans need to compromise from their position.""
Whether or not McCallum decides to exert his influence is a key issue, according to Black. ""It's very important that the governor be involved. He hasn't shown any leadership on this issue to date,"" he said.
