[Note:] A.Amdt.5 established a trigger level (0.5% of general purpose appropriations) for notification, by the secretary of administration, of the governor and the legislature of an anticipated revenue shortfall.
S.Amd.1 to A.Amdt.5 proposed an entirely new procedure, not sanctioned by the state constitution, whereby the governor's recommendation to deal with a revenue shortfall "shall be effective" if the legislature failed to act on the fiscal imbalance within 30 days of notification.
S.Rule 50 (4), "an amendment to an amendment must be germane to the amendment as well as to the original proposal", deals with senate amendments to senate amendments.
When the senate considers an assembly amendment to a senate proposal, the business before the senate is limited to the assembly amendment.
Consequently, the question of germaneness of a senate amendment to an assembly amendment (to a senate bill) falls under S.Rule 50 (1) which prohibits senate consideration of senate amendments: "intended to accomplish a different purpose .... or [which] would totally alter the nature of the original proposal".
The chair [Pres. Risser] ruled the point of order well taken.
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Assembly Journal of March 25, 1980 .......... Page: 3068
Point of order:
Representative Johnson rose to the point of order that assembly amendment 8 to assembly substitute amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 1285 [relating to increasing the excise tax on motor fuel and special fuel, adjusting the appropriations for connecting highways, swing and lift bridges and highway maintenance, increasing automobile registration fees and other transportation fees, imposing vehicle permit fees based on the excess size and weight of the vehicle, changing the computation of the cost factor for local transportation aids, authorizing the contracting of public debt for highway construction, providing inflationary supplements for department of transportation appropriations, granting rule-making authority and making an appropriation] was not germane under Assembly Rule 54 (5) [amendment to amendment].
160 [Note:] 1979 AB 1285 was a multi-issue bill which, according to its title, dealt with 7 substantive and 2 derivative issues.
A.Sub.1 reduced the number of substantive issues to 2: "increasing the excise tax on motor fuel and special fuel and imposing vehicle permit fees based on the excess size and weight of the vehicle".
A.Amdt.8 (above) proposed to deal with a 3rd substantive issue (contained in the original bill but not in the substitute): "changing the computation of the cost factor for local transportation aids".
Similarly, A.Amdt.10 (below) proposed to deal with "changing the cost factor for local transportation aids".
The chair [Speaker Jackamonis] ruled the point of order well taken.
Assembly Journal of March 25, 1980 .......... Page: 3069
Point of order:
Representative Johnson rose to the point of order that assembly amendment 10 to assembly substitute amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 1285 was not germane under Assembly Rule 54 (5).
The chair [Speaker Jackamonis] ruled the point of order well taken.
Assembly Journal of June 13, 1979 .......... Page: 801
Point of order:
Representative Jackamonis rose to the point of order that assembly amendment 2 to assembly amendment 4 to Senate Bill 79 [relating to state finances and appropriations, constituting the executive budget bill of the 1979 legislature, and making appropriations] was not germane under Assembly Rule 54 (3) (a), (3) (f) [substantial expansion of scope] and (5) [amendment to amendment].
[Note:] A.Amdt.4 exempted from Wisconsin income tax the first $75,000 of capital gain from the sale of a principal residence. AA-2 to AA-4 tried to eliminate the small business program at UW extension.
The chair [Rep. Kedrowski, speaker pro tem] ruled the point of order well taken.
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Senate Journal of February 14, 1980 .......... Page: 1341
[Point of order:]
Senator Van Sistine raised the point of order that senate amendment 1 to senate amendment 2 to senate substitute amendment 2 [to Assembly Bill 239,
relating to the term of appointment for the adjutant general] was not germane. The chair took the point of order under advisement.
[Note:] S.Sub.2 proposed a 6-year term for the attorney general. S.Amdt.2 was a handwritten floor amendment which, apparently, intended to reduce the term to 4 years but said, instead, to substitute "6-year" for "4-year".
While it might have been proper to request a chief clerk's correction of S.Amdt.2, using an amendment (SA-1 to SA-2) to turn the amendment around violated the rule that an amendment to an amendment must be germane to the amendment as well as to the proposal.
S.Amdt.3 (below) properly proposed to substitute "4-year" for "6-year".
161Senate Journal of February 14, 1980 .......... Page: 1343
The chair was prepared to rule on the germaneness of senate amendment 1 to senate amendment 2 to senate substitute amendment 1.
By request of Senator Kleczka, with unanimous consent, senate amendment 2 was returned to the author.
The chair [Pres. Risser] ruled the point of order moot. [Intervening text omitted.]
Senate Journal of February 14, 1980 .......... Page: 1344
[Point of order:]
Senator Goyke raised the point of order that senate amendment 3 to senate substitute amendment 2 was not germane.
The chair ruled the point of order not well taken.
Senate Journal of January 24, 1980 .......... Page: 1166
[Point of order:]
Senator Hanaway raised the point of order that senate amendment 2 to senate amendment 62 to senate substitute amendment 1 to Senate Bill 500 [relating to energy resources, granting rule-making authority, making appropriations and providing penalties] was not germane.
[Note:] S.Amdt.62 deleted from S.Sub.1 a proposed statute concerning rental unit energy efficiency. The new statute included a penalty and required a certificate of energy efficiency for any rental unit sale after 1/1/84.
SA-2 to SA-62 limited the scope of the deletion to the penalty and the energy certficate, but retained creation of the new statute in the bill.
The chair [Pres. Risser] ruled the point of order not well taken.
Senate Journal of June 6, 1979 .......... Page: 495
[Point of order:]
Senator Flynn raised the point of order that senate amendment 1 to senate amendment 263 to senate substitute amendment 1 to Senate Bill 79 [relating to state finances and appropriations, constituting the executive budget bill of the 1979 legislature, and making appropriations] was not germane.
[Note:] S.Amdt. 263 to S.Sub.1 was a 5%, across the board, cut-back imposed on all appropriations funded from general purpose revenues. SA-1 to SA-263 proposed to require DOT to allocate $18 million from segregated revenue for "construction of the 18-151 Expressway project".
The point of order was well taken.
Senator Kreul appealed the ruling of the chair. The question was: Shall the decision of the chair stand as the ruling of the Senate?
The ayes and noes were demanded and the vote was: [Display of roll call vote omitted; ayes-23, noes-9.] The decision of the chair shall stand as the ruling of the senate.
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Assembly Journal of March 31, 1978 .......... Page: 4270
Point of order:
Representative Kedrowski rose to the point of order that assembly amendment 1 to senate amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 881 was not germane under Assembly Rule 50 (5).
The speaker [Jackamonis] ruled the point of order well taken.
Assembly Journal of March 30, 1978 .......... Page: 4212
Point of order:
Representative Kedrowski rose to the point of order that assembly amendment 1 to senate amendment 1 to assembly substitute amendment 2 to Senate Bill 71 was not germane under Assembly Rule 50 (5).
The chair ruled the point of order well taken.
Assembly Journal of November 10, 1977 .......... Page: 2538
Point of order:
Representative Tuczynski rose to the point of order that assembly amendment 2 to assembly amendment 5 to assembly substitute amendment 1 to Senate Bill 2, November 1977 Special Session was not germane under Assembly Rule 50 (5).
The chair ruled the point of order well taken.
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Senate Journal of September 13, 1977 .......... Page: 1127
[Point of order:]
Senator Flynn raised the point of order that senate amendment 2 to senate amendment 4 [to Assembly Bill 216] was not germane.
The chair [Lt.Gov. Schreiber] ruled the point of order not well taken pursuant to senate rule 50 (4).
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Senate Journal of June 11, 1975 .......... Page: 867
[Point of order:]
Senator Peloquin raised the point of order that senate amendment 1 to senate amendment 111 [to Assembly Bill 222, relating to state finances and appropriations constituting the executive budget bill of the 1975 legislature, and making appropriations] was not germane. The chair took the point of order under advisement.
Senate Journal of June 13, 1975 .......... Page: 887
As it relates to the point of order raised Wednesday, the chair [Lt.Gov. Schreiber] ruled that pursuant to senate rule 50 (4), senate amendment 1 to senate amendment 111 to Assembly Bill 222 was not germane.
163Germaneness: appropriation to implement intent (addition permitted)
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Assembly Journal of June 14, 1994 .......... Page: 1022
Point of order:
Representative Prosser rose to the point of order that assembly amendment 16 to assembly substitute amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 2, June 1994 Spec.Sess. [relating to regulation of the telecommunications industry, statutes affecting telecommunications, creating a telecommunications retraining board, surveillance of state agencies and authorities, fraudulent data alteration, confidentiality of pharmaceutical records, state master lease agreements, granting rule-making authority, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, extending the time limit for emergency rules, making appropriations and providing penalties] was not germane under Assembly Rule 54 (3) (f).
[Note:] A part of the "information super-highway" bill required schools to participate in interactive telecommunications.
A.Amdt-16 to A.Sub-1, which increased each school district's revenue limit by the revenue budgeted for interactive telecommunications, did not expand the scope of the proposal, but could be held germane under A.Rule 54 (4) (d) as an "amendment adding appropriations necessary to fulfill to original intent of a proposal".
The chair (Speaker pro tempore Carpenter) ruled the point of order not well taken.
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Senate Journal of June 15, 1994 .......... Page: 1049
[Point of order:]
Senator Leean raised the point of order that the amendment [Sen.Amdt-9 to June 1994 Spec.Sess. Assembly Bill 2, relating to regulation of the telecommunications industry, statutes affecting telecommunications, creating a telecommunications retraining board, surveillance of state agencies and authorities, fraudulent data alteration, confidentiality of pharmaceutical records, state master lease agreements, granting rule-making authority, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, extending the time limit
for emergency rules, making appropriations and providing penalties] was not germane.
164 [Note:] A part of the "information super-highway" bill required schools to participate in interactive telecommunications.
S.Amdt-9 increased each school district's revenue limit by the revenue budgeted for interactive telecommunications. Because school revenue limits were not mentioned in the bill, the amendment expanded the scope of the proposal and, on that basis, was not germane.
On the other hand, the identical amendment had been held germane in the assembly [A.Jour. 6/14/94, page 1022] as an "amendment adding appropriations necessary to fulfill to original intent of a proposal"; the corresponding senate rule is found in Sen.Rule 50 (8).
The Chair [Sen. Lasee] ruled the point well taken.
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Assembly Journal of March 21, 1990 .......... Page: 975
Point of order:
Representative Radtke rose to the point of order that assembly amendment 1 to Senate Bill 190 [relating to Wisconsin conservation corps board participation in human services activities and making an appropriation] was not germane under Assembly Rule 54 (3) (f) [substantial expansion of scope].
[Note:] A.Amdt-1 added an appropriation to fund a Milwaukee project under the provisions of the substitute.
Under A.Rule 54 (4) (d), an "amendment adding appropriations necessary to fulfill the original intent of the proposal" is germane.
The chair [Rep. Clarenbach, speaker pro tem] ruled the point of order not well taken.
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Assembly Journal of May 19, 1988 .......... Page: 1116