As I said before, the Senate is finishing a pretty good session with a lame whimper. They are unwilling to take on anything even slightly controversial. Sadly, I think that if Trump wins the presidential nomination, Wisconsin Republicans will likely lose the state senate as Conservatives sit home. This may have been the final opportunity for Republicans to get anything done for some years to come.

Also, this indicates just how weak Walker is now. Even a couple of very modest ideas he introduced a couple of months ago are dead. Walker has a lot of work to do if he wants to win reelection in 2018. On the bright side, the Democratic bench is very, very weak.

Pieces of Gov. Scott Walker’s college affordability package, several bills to address Alzheimer’s, and a new round of legislation to curtail heroin addiction are headed to the governor’s desk after the Senate Tuesday wrapped up its final votes of the two-year session.

But high-capacity well legislation is likely to die after the chamber approved the Senate version rather than take up the Assembly bill. In addition, dozens of other bills are unlikely to go anywhere with neither house expected back for the rest of the year.

Walker didn’t get the full college affordability package he pushed in the State of the State. Majority Republicans, concerned about the state revenue numbers, ditched a bill that would have created a new tax deduction for the interest on student loans.

Walker also didn’t get a bill he endorsed to overhaul the rules process. Dubbed the REINS Act by backers, the Senate left the bill off the final calendar, and Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said members had too many questions about the bill to move forward on it. But he said it will likely be back next session after it’s tweaked.