In a rare move, state Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, used the power of direct referral to put a campaign finance reform bill onto the state Assembly calendar for Tuesday. The move allowed the AB 843 to bypass the potentially lengthy committee process most bills must go through to reach the Assembly floor.
Jensen said in a statement that the state Legislature has tried to take the best parts of the various reform plans and put them together into a package that is comprehensive, constitutional and balanced in an attempt to curb the influence of campaign contributions through a number of measures.
State Rep. Marc Duff, R-New Berlin, co-author of the bill, said he supported the move taken by Jensen.
\If we want some kind of finance reform this session we had to speed up the process,"" Duff said.
Jensen's press secretary, Steve Baas, said the decision to force the bill onto the calendar was used only because a similar bill was tabled in the state Senate, leaving the Assembly with little time to get a campaign finance reform bill passed this session. If the bill does not pass through both houses by March 14, it will die.
""Direct referral is not normally used out of respect for the committee chair and the rules committee,"" Baas said. ""Usually we can allow the bill to pass through the normal channels without putting anything at risk, but this bill required more direct action.""
Jensen had initially hoped a similar state Senate proposal, SB 104, on campaign finance reform would pass, but state Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, blocked the bill, according to Baas.
Mike Browne, press secretary for Chvala, said the senator is not blocking the bill, but that Gov. Scott McCallum killed the bill by refusing to agree to not use a line-item veto.
""We support the Senate bill but the governor could go in and change a bipartisan action into a partisan one,"" Browne said. ""If the bill from the Assembly made it to the Senate, then it would be our intent to realize an agreement between the two bills, but the agreement of the governor would also be important.\
