State finances and appropriations, constituting the executive budget act of the 2015 legislature

The bill repeals and recreates the appropriation schedule in chapter 20 of the statutes, thereby setting the appropriation levels for the 2015-2017 fiscal biennium.

The descriptions that follow relate to the most significant changes in the law that are proposed in the bill. In most cases, changes in the amounts of existing spending authority and changes in the amounts of bonding authority under existing bonding programs are not discussed.

For additional information concerning this bill, see the Department of Administration's publication Budget in Brief and the executive budget books, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's summary document, and the Legislative Reference Bureau's drafting files, which contain separate drafts on each policy item. In most cases, the policy item drafts contain a more detailed analysis than is printed with this bill.

__________________________________________________________________ Guide to the bill As is the case for all other bills, the sections of the budget bill that affect statutes are organized in ascending numerical order of the statutes affected.

Treatments of prior session laws (styled "laws of [year], chapter ...." from 1848 to 1981, and "[year] Wisconsin Act ...." beginning with 1983) are displayed next by year of original enactment and by act number.

The remaining sections of the budget bill are organized by type of provision and, within each type, alphabetically by state agency. The first two digits of the four-digit section number indicate the type of provision:

91XX Nonstatutory provisions.

92XX Fiscal changes.

93XX Initial applicability.

94XX Effective dates.

The remaining two digits indicate the state agency or subject area to which the provision relates:

XX01 Administration.

XX02 Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

XX03 Arts Board.

XX04 Building Commission.

XX05 Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board.

XX06 Children and Families.

XX07 Circuit Courts.

XX08 Corrections.

XX09 Court of Appeals.

XX10 District Attorneys.

XX11 Educational Communications Board.

XX12 Employee Trust Funds.

XX13 Employment Relations Commission.

XX14 Financial Institutions.

XX15 Government Accountability Board.

XX16 Governor.

XX17 Health and Educational Facilities Authority.

XX18 Health Services.

XX19 Higher Educational Aids Board.

XX20 Historical Society.

XX21 Housing and Economic Development Authority.

XX22 Insurance.

XX23 Investment Board.

XX24 Joint Committee on Finance.

XX25 Judicial Commission.

XX26 Justice.

XX27 Legislature.