I spoke with LRB Chief Steve Miller this afternoon and he informed me that there has been some changes regarding the Revisor of Statutes move. As I posted earlier, in an amendment to the proposed 2007 state budget (Senate Bill 40), the Wisconsin Revisor of Statutes Bureau is slated to be eliminated as an agency.
As reported last week by the Wisconsin Law Journal, if passed, the workload would be split amongst the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) and the Joint Legislative Council (JLC) – with no additional personnel to handle the increased workload.
I’ve since learned from Steve that per a recent Joint Finance Committee motion, all RSB duties are now to be transferred to the LRB. Additionally, three RSB staff members will transfer to the LRB (of seven employees total, three more will retire and the other will take a position elsewhere).
Steve sounded very positive about the transfer of duties and staff. When I asked him about the RSB’s project to digitize the back issues of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, he felt optimistic that it would continue. He was committed to furthering projects that would benefit users. And given LRB’s progressive nature on other technology projects, such as podcasting, I’m inclined to feel optimistic, too.