The DNA changes roll back a law Republicans passed just last year to take DNA at arrest for felonies, rather than convictions. The Assembly changed course to limit taking DNA at arrest only for suspicion of violent offenses.
Alsoduring the all-night session, lawmakers approved bills to crack down on so-called revenge porn, to put limits on asbestos lawsuits and to give a tax break for aircraft maintenance.
The stakes were high in a marathon session that was expected to go overnight. If a piece of legislation hasn't at least passed the Assembly by Friday morning, it likely won't clear the Legislature at all this year. The Senate will meet one more time, on April 1, allowing senators to consider bills that advance out of the Assembly this week.
On party lines,the Assembly voted 56-38 to limit early voting, sending the measure to Gov. Scott Walker.
"Racist! White supremacist!" a protester cried from the visitor's gallery just after legislators voted.
The debate onending weekend voting in the run-up to elections contained some of the most heated exchanges of the day. Democrats decried the limits on early voting as the latest effort by the GOP to make it harder for minorities, veterans, the elderly and students to vote.
"Democrats want to fix problems. Republicans want to fix elections," an array of Democrats said in speech after speech.
Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) said if put into law, the limits would be thrown out by courts, arguing they violated the federal Voting Rights Act because urban areas with large African-American and Latino populations would have the same voting hours as sparsely populated rural areas.
"You are placing barriers — barriers — against minority people to voting," he said.
Republicans said they were advancing the measure because they want voting hours to be more uniform around the state, particularly because rural officials don't have the staff to keep clerks' offices open for early voting as late as their urban counterparts.
"This bill is equality across the state," Rep. Duey Stroebel (R-Town of Cedarburg) said.
Rep. Kathleen Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls) read from a long-standing state law that includes a statement of purpose that says absentee voting and early voting must be closely regulated.
"I want everyone and anyone who is willing and wanting to cast a vote ... to do so. But we shan't go against this law," Bernier said.
Under the bill, early voting in clerk's offices could take place solely on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and would be limited to 45 hours in total each week.
The Assembly previously passed the bill but needed to consider it again because of a change the Senate made to the measure last week. That amendment would require the state to pay for half of the expenses to offer early voting. The provision would cost about $200,000.
This is the second time Republicans have set limits on early voting since Walker and GOP lawmakers took control of state government in January 2011. That year, the Legislature cut early voting from three weeks, including three weekends, to two weeks, including one weekend.
