Section 13.95. Legislative fiscal bureau.

  There is created a bureau to be known as the “Legislative Fiscal Bureau" headed by a director. The fiscal bureau shall be strictly nonpartisan and shall at all times observe the confidential nature of the research requests received by it; however, with the prior approval of the requester in each instance, the bureau may duplicate the results of its research for distribution. Subject to s. 230.35 (4) (a) and (f) , the director or the director's designated employees shall at all times, with or without notice, have access to all state agencies, the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority, the Wisconsin Aerospace Authority, the Lower Fox River Remediation Authority, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, and the Fox River Navigational System Authority, and to any books, records, or other documents maintained by such agencies or authorities and relating to their expenditures, revenues, operations, and structure.

(1)   Duties of the bureau. The legislative fiscal bureau shall perform its services for the legislature objectively and impartially and to the limits of its facilities and staff. The bureau shall:

(a) Develop, and make available to the legislature and its standing, procedural, special or statutory legislative committees, such fiscal information as will assist the legislature or any legislative committee in its deliberations. As part of its fiscal analysis activity, the bureau shall study, and may recommend alternatives to the legislature and to any legislative committee, concerning the following:

1. The state budget and its long-range implications for every state fund.

2. The revenues and expenditures of the state.

(b) Perform fiscal and program analysis for the legislature and its appropriate committees.

(c) Review existing and proposed programs and present such alternatives to the governor's recommended programs and budgets as will assist the legislature or its appropriate committees.

(d) Review and evaluate requests for appropriations, including proposed plans and policies related to such requests, and make recommendations to the joint committee on finance and the legislature in relation thereto.

(e) At the direction of the legislature or its appropriate committees, or on its own initiative, conduct such other studies and perform such other duties as the legislature, its committees and members may require in dealing with the financial affairs of the state.

(g) In connection with the duties enumerated in this subsection, have access to any computerized databases of state agencies that are required to aid the bureau in the performance of its duties, except that any statutory requirements regarding privacy of individuals' records shall be observed in providing such access.

(1m)   Duties of the bureau; biennial budget bill.

(a) In this subsection, “version of the biennial budget bill or bills" means the executive biennial budget bill or bills, as modified by an amendment offered by the joint committee on finance, as engrossed by the first house, as concurred in and amended by the 2nd house or as nonconcurred in by the 2nd house, or as reported by any committee on conference.

(b) The legislative fiscal bureau shall prepare a statement of estimated general purpose revenue receipts and expenditures in the biennium following the succeeding biennium based on recommendations in each version of the biennial budget bill or bills.

(1r)   Earmark transparency report.

(a) In this subsection, “earmark" means a provision in a bill or amendment that does any of the following:

1. Authorizes or requires the payment of state moneys to a specific beneficiary or beneficiaries in a manner not determined by laws of general applicability for the selection of the beneficiary or beneficiaries.

2. Creates or modifies a tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or exemption that applies to a specific beneficiary or beneficiaries in a manner not determined by laws of general applicability for the selection of the beneficiary or beneficiaries.

(b) The legislative fiscal bureau shall prepare an earmark transparency report on each biennial budget bill and on each amendment thereto. The report shall contain all of the following:

1. A list of all earmarks.

2. The cost of each earmark.

3. The beneficiary of each earmark. If the beneficiary is an individual, the legislative fiscal bureau shall identify the assembly and senate district in which the beneficiary resides. If the beneficiary is an entity, the legislative fiscal bureau shall identify the assembly and senate district in which the beneficiary is located, incorporated, or organized. If the legislative fiscal bureau cannot determine the identity of a beneficiary, the legislative fiscal bureau shall note that fact in the report. If the earmark is a tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or exemption, all of the following shall apply:

a. All businesses and associations that are members of the same controlled group of corporations shall be treated as a single beneficiary.

b. All shareholders of a corporation, partners of a partnership, members of an association or organization, or beneficiaries of a trust or estate, respectively, shall be treated as a single beneficiary.

c. All employees of a single employer shall be treated as a single beneficiary.

d. All health or other benefit plans of an employer that are qualified under the federal Internal Revenue Code shall be treated as a single beneficiary.

e. All contributors to a charitable organization shall be treated as a single beneficiary.

f. All holders of the same bond or note issue shall be treated as a single beneficiary.

g. If a corporation, partnership, association or organization, or trust or estate is the beneficiary, the shareholders of the corporation, the partners of the partnership, the members of the association or organization, or the beneficiaries of the trust or estate shall not be considered beneficiaries.

4. If an amendment, the name of the representative to the assembly or senator who proposed the earmark.

(2)   Duties of the director. The director of the legislative fiscal bureau shall:

(a) Supervise and train the personnel assigned to the director.

(b) Supervise all expenditures of the legislative fiscal bureau.

(c) Attend, or designate a representative who shall attend, all meetings of the joint committee on finance.

(e) Attend such midwest and national meetings as will benefit the operation of the bureau.

1971 c. 215 ; 1973 c. 333 and supp.; 1975 c. 39 ; 1977 c. 196 s. 131 ; 1977 c. 273 , 418 ; 1979 c. 34 ; 1983 a. 27 ; 1991 a. 316 ; 1995 a. 27 , 225 ; 1999 a. 185 ; 2001 a. 16 ; 2005 a. 25 , 74 , 335 ; 2007 a. 20 , 97 ; 2009 a. 28 ; 2011 a. 7 , 10 , 220 ; 2013 a. 20 .