The Latest: Panel expands exemptions for Marquette, camps

The Labor and Industry Review Commission weighs appeals from administrative law judges' decisions in disputes involving unemployment benefits, worker's comp and workplace equal rights.

The Joint Finance Committee voted Thursday to retain the commission but eliminate 7.8 vacant positions and ask state Supreme Court Justice Pat Roggensack to survey LIRC decisions and report back by mid-2018.

The governor included a proposal in his last budget to eliminate the board and move its responsiblities to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, arguing the move would eliminate unnecessary financial and regulatory burdens on colleges.

Walker's 2017-19 state budget called for freezing resident tuition at 2016-17 levels and handing the technical college system an additional $5 million in state aid annually to offset the lost revenue.

Republican Rep. John Nygren, a committee co-chair, told reporters before the committee convened that technical college tuition is already a good bargain and freezing tuition would require more tax dollars to offset revenue loss.

Walker's 2017-19 state budget calls for freezing resident tuition at 2016-17 levels and handing the technical college system an additional $5 million in state aid to offset the lost revenue.

The Joint Finance Committee's Republican co-chairs, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling, told reporters Thursday the panel will remove the freeze from the budget but bolster financial aid for technical college students by $2.5 million per year.

Nygren says technical college tuition is already a good bargain and freezing tuition would require more tax dollars to offset the revenue loss.

Republicans on the finance committee last week voted to lift prohibitions on the agency's loan program despite Democrats' warnings to wait until the audit was released.

The Labor and Industry Review Commission weighs appeals from administrative law judges' decisions in disputes involving unemployment benefits, worker's comp and workplace equal rights.

The Labor and Industry Review Commission weighs appeals from administrative law judges' decisions in disputes involving unemployment benefits, worker's comp and workplace equal rights.