13.10 Joint committee on finance approvals.

(1) Except as otherwise expressly provided by law, all matters before the joint committee on finance which require the affirmative action of the committee, except those related to the receipt of reports for which no committee action is required and except those related to the drafting, introduction, consideration, modification, adoption, rejection, enactment or defeat of any bill, resolution, amendment, fiscal estimate or nomination, shall be considered by the committee according to the procedures under this section. The joint committee on finance shall hold regular quarterly meetings and shall hold special meetings upon call of the governor or upon call of the cochairpersons for the purposes of considering matters under this section.

(2) Requests for an appropriation change under s. 13.101 in an amount not exceeding $5,000 and requiring immediate committee action may be resolved by mail ballot to be formally recorded at the next ensuing special or regular meeting. The committee may employ such assistants as it deems necessary and fix their compensation. For the purposes of this section the secretary of administration, or a designated representative, shall serve as secretary of the committee. The state auditor and the director of the legislative fiscal bureau, or their designated representatives, shall attend such meetings if the committee requests.

(3) All requests for action by the committee shall be filed with the secretary of the committee in writing and shall contain a statement of the action requested, the purposes therefor, the statutory provision authorizing or directing the performance of the action, and such other information as the committee may require. The governor shall submit a recommendation on the request to the committee. The committee shall afford all such requests a public hearing and the secretary of the committee shall give public notice of the time and place of such hearing.

(4) All actions under this section shall be determined by a roll call vote. A copy of the minutes shall be signed by the secretary and approved by the presiding officers and be transmitted to the department of administration, the state auditor and the legislative reference bureau. All requests for action by the committee under this section may be approved in whole or in part by the governor and the part approved shall be so ordered, and the part objected to shall be returned to the committee for reconsideration. If the governor neither approves nor objects to a request within 15 working days after the committee takes action on the request, the request is approved in whole. The cochairpersons of the committee shall call a meeting or conduct a mail ballot within 15 working days after receipt of the governor's objection and if, after reconsideration, two-thirds of the members of the committee by a roll call vote or recorded ballot sustain the original action it shall be so ordered by signature of the cochairpersons of the committee.

(5) Appropriation changes approved by the joint committee on finance shall be reported to the department of administration and expenditures therefrom shall be shown in the state budget report as an additional cost of the state agency or programs to which the changes were made.

History: 1981 c. 20 ss. 3b, 3c, 3e, 3g, 3m; 1983 a. 27; 1993 a. 184.