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Legacy of Motion 999: Will Killed Measures Come Back to Life in Wisconsin?

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As the Wisconsin State Assembly takes up the proposed state budget today, the Senate passed the budget by an 18-15 vote late last night. The substantial last-minute additions to the budget bill, called Motion 999, last Thursday led to an uproar on both sides of the aisle for its proposal to overhaul the state’s open records law.

That element of the bill was removed in one amendment, along with several other controversial plans including one related to the state’s retirement system. But will that be the end of these political trial balloons?

Lake Effect news analyst Bruce Murphy has been trying to keep track of all the changes in his role as editor and columnist at Urban Milwaukee.

Murphy says Motion 999 included "all sorts of legislative provisions that maybe wouldn't do as well if they were free standing bills. And a number of these provisions have absolutely no fiscal impact, so arguably they don't belong in the budget to begin with."

"We don’t even know which legislator or legislators proposed this thing. And if you don’t know who the legislator is, it’s hard to trace – well was it somebody from outside the legislature who wanted this passed and connected with this legislator?," Murphy wonders.

With news of Gov. Walker's office and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald'sinvolvement with the open records law changes, Murphy says, "it is pretty clear that this is something that the Republican leaders wanted to happen. They just didn't want their fingerprints on it."