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Assembly Task Force on Racial Disparities delivers final report

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The State Assembly’s Task Force on Racial Disparities has released its final report after 7 months of work.

That panel was formed in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, and Madison Assemblywoman Sheila Stubbs says it’s a good start at solving issues in Wisconsin. 

“We are hoping in the month of May that bills are introduced, and in the month of June bills are passed in both houses, and I’m hoping that Governor Evers signs 17 recommendations into law! That would be huge!”

Among the bill’s recommendations is making it a crime for fellow officers to stand by when another officer is using excessive force. One topic that was not addressed was that amount of force would be, and Stubbs says they’re going back to discuss and codify that for the Legislature as well. 

“And when that’s done I really think that our colleagues on both side of the aisle will listen,” says Stubbs.

It’s unclear if Republicans controlling the legislature would pick up the recommendations and pass them into laws, but Stubbs is hopeful to see bills passed by the Governor later this year. 

 

Wisconsin DOJ to perform full investigation of clergy abuse

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The Wisconsin Department of Justice is launching an investigation into clergy abuse at Wisconsin’s Catholic Dioceses.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obtained a letter from Attorney General Josh Kaul that was sent to the state’s five dioceses laying out his intent to do a full investigation and determine the scope of the abuse.

The letter goes on to request a meeting with the leaders of the dioceses next Monday to discuss the investigation, and requests that Catholic leadership preserve all documents and information.

The Church has previously released lists of priests and other clergy known to have abused people, but never listed out who the victims might be or how many of them there are.

State agencies defend budget priorities at Republican controlled Joint Finance Committee

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Tuesday was the start of the Legislature’s review of Governor Evers’ proposed state budget.

Joint Finance Committee Co-Chair Howard Marklein says that Wisconsin will be receiving a massive influx of aid from the federal government, and that Republicans are keeping an eye on things. 

“The total amount that a federal money that’s come into the state is huge and, in terms of us doing the budget for the next two years, that is something that we’re going to have to consider.” 

Marklein says he’s unhappy with the size of Evers’ budget, and that it will dip into the state’s rainy day general fund balance. 

“That’s unacceptable to me. We cannot reverse the strong trajectory that we had in the past.”

Two days of hearings brought four different agencies to the floor for questions and presentations to the committee.

Republicans grilled State superintendent of schools Caroline Stanford Taylor over whether or not schools would be open this fall, and Stanford Taylor says that’s up to the local school districts. She also said this was not a lost year. 

“But the one thing that I want to make clear to everyone is that there was a continuation of learning, no matter how. Whether it was virtual hybrid or in-person, the learning never stopped.” 

Stanford Taylor says that they do hope that students are back in school this fall, but says that the pandemic has to be under control before many districts will feel safe to make that switch.  “In person is the best avenue for our students because there are some things that you just can’t replicate in terms of relationships and those things, but number one is to make sure that kids are safe.”

The state will be receiving over 2 billion dollars in federal aid for schools in the upcoming budget cycle, and much of that will go to large districts serving underprivileged kids. 

The Department of Workforce Development got the second hearing on Tuesday, and Republicans grilled Secretary Amy Pechacek over the failures of the Unemployment System during the height of the pandemic last year. Pechacek says they’re looking to expand their programming on job training and education to ensure that people will be able to find jobs in a post-pandemic world. 

“In order to keep growing our economy and really invest long term, we want to make sure we’ve got programs in place that are going to help these jobseekers transition so that our employers can also continue to grow.”

Chairman Howard Marklein says business people are competing with unemployment to find workers, and Secretary Pechacek says that’s unlikely. 

“So to think that folks could sustain on $370 [a week], without Healthcare, without benefits… I don’t really think that that’s reality.”

The next hearing came on Wednesday with Department of Natural Resources Secretary Preston Cole.

Cole says the agency is planning to expand funding to remediate and remove an emerging contaminant from Wisconsin’s ecosystem. “These forever chemicals are a public health concern, that build up and move through our soil, seep into our groundwater and carry through the air. PFOS are known to build in our bodies and our fish tissue, and wildlife tissue.”

Republicans, alongside the state’s business lobby, say that the DNR doesn’t have a mandate to regulate PFOS under state law. The DNR is currently in the process of codifying those rules. 

Cole says the state is working to keep up with fish stocking demands, while also keeping Wisconsin’s waters clean.  “It ain’t about the numbers it’s about the habitat they go into. So for us, to make sure that what we put in can survive, the healthier the habitat, the better off we are.”

That question came in response to Republican concerns that more people have been getting fishing licenses during the pandemic as a means to do something safe outdoors. 

The state’s effort to increase broadband connections to rural Wisconsin got a focus on Wednesday at Joint Finance’s budget hearings. Public Service Commission Chairperson Rebecca Cameron Valcq says the Commission doesn’t have the power to regulate how and where broadband lines are installed. 

“They’ve been deregulated now for more than 10 years so we don’t have the ability to say if you’re going down County Highway O you must provide service on both sides of the highway.”

Valcq says one fix to the issue would be to allow for municipalities to apply for those broadband grants themselves, provided they can prove that no other provider is willing to install lines in their area. “It’s not a matter of pushing Private Industry out. It’s a matter of recognizing that there are areas of the state where Private Industry is refusing to go.”

The Budget hearings are now set to go on the road, with several in person hearings and one virtual hearing before the whole budget comes to the legislature for debates and votes.

Supreme Court strikes down Governor’s mask order and health declarations

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The State Supreme Court has ruled that Governor Evers cannot keep issuing emergency declarations for COVID-19.

In a 4 to 3 decision, the court ruled on Wednesday that Governor Evers has overstepped his bounds on issuing declarations for the same emergency event past the original 60 day window. After that, the Governor does need to get Legislative approval.

The move would strike down the current health emergency that has served as the basis for statewide mask orders.

The Governor was told to come to the Legislature last year after emergency rules were stuck down the first time by the Court, but his request for a rules extension was immediately dismissed, which led to the repeated orders.

State Assembly passes flurry of bills on Tuesday, Vos threatens court action on ARA funding

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Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says the Assembly is ready to go to court if Governor Tony Evers doesn’t allow Republicans to decide how the state will spend federal COVID-19 recovery funding.

On Tuesday, the State Assembly spent over 7 hours in debate on a series of contentious bills and resolutions signaling a return to tense standoffs with the Governor’s office. One of those bills was a measure that would require the Governor’s office to clear any plans on how to spend over $3 billion in federal funds with the Republican controlled Legislative Joint Finance Committee.

Vos says the Legislature has a right and duty to manage those relief dollars.  “If for some reason the governor chooses to veto this bill we will have no choice but to go to court because the Constitution is crystal clear.” Vos also challenged Democrats in the Assembly to vote for the bill as well. “Because instead what you’ve chosen to do is just reflexively say I work for Tony Evers not my own District.”

Vos and other Republican leaders say the Governor should have no issue allowing the Legislature to oversee those funds, because that’s what happened during the Obama Administration, when Democrats asked for oversight for funding . The difference was that both the Legislature and the Governors office were in Democrat hands.

Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz had a simple message for Republicans. “If there’s anybody among you that would like to be Governor, then run for Governor. But don’t try to take measures that tie the governor’s hands, that micromanage, because you don’t agree with him.”

Democrat Dianne Hesselbein agreed with Hintz, and said Governor Evers did a fine job spending money from the previous stimulus bill last year, and he’ll continue doing a fine job. “People needed our help and the Governor answered the call. Vote no on this bill. Once again, if you want to run for governor, have at it.”

The bill passed after over two hours of debate, but will almost certainly meet with a veto by Governor Evers.

A number of other bills passed the Assembly, and will also likely meet the veto. One bill requires the Governor’s office to start sending state office workers back to the office. Many non-essential employees are working from home while state buildings are closed due to the pandemic.

Speaker Vos says the Governor needs to come up with a plan to put all of Wisconsin’s state workers back into state buildings. 

“Why are some people allowed to work from home While others like those who guard our prisons take care of those in nursing homes are on the job every day doing overtime?”

But Democrat Jodi Emerson says this is once again Republicans overstepping their authority in trying to directly control the executive branch. 

“This is another example of the majority party wanting to control both the legislative branch and the executive branch. Well folks, we live in a world of shared government not Republican-controlled government.”

Other bills passed in the session would prevent both the state government and private businesses from requiring mandatory vaccinations and would prevent local health departments from closing places of worship because of the pandemic.

Republicans also signaled that they would be performing another investigation into the 2020 Presidential Election, and how the state collected votes.

State Assembly passes resolution to honor the life of Rush Limbaugh, matching Senate vote on Tuesday

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Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature will be honoring the life of Rush Limbaugh after a resolution was approved in the Assembly on Wednesday. 

But the move did not come without objection from Democrats, who passionately argued against the measure for an hour. 

Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz says that Republicans seemed reluctant from the start to bring the bill to the floor. “If a sponsorship is a measurement of enthusiasm for a bill or resolution appears that less than a third of the Republican caucus felt strongly enough to put their name on this resolution.” The bill was originally on Tuesday’s calendar, but was pulled until the Senate passed the measure. 

Representative Francesca Hong says that Rush Limbaugh’s rhetoric perpetuated a cycle of hatred among Americans. “Racism kills. We saw it last night. We’ve seen it on so many nights these past couple of years. Misogyny kills. Discrimination kills. Hate kills.” Hong referenced a killing spree in Atlanta earlier this week that left 8 people dead, most of them Asian women. 

Representative LaKeisha Myers says Republicans tried to bargain with the Black Caucus on a Black History Month resolution, and turned around to pass one for Limbaugh instead. “‘But we can let you have a Black History Month resolution if you take our people that we want to put in it and you all don’t talk about it.’ So silence? Silence is what we were given. That’s the option. My name is LaKeisha Myers not Stepin Fetchit.”

Myers says Republicans are showing their true colors by passing the resolution.  “When is enough enough and what the hell is the bar? Because if you wouldn’t honor the People’s Revolution, Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris, what is the bar? That’s what I want to know. It is disgusting that we have to sit here and go through this and deal with this.”

The only Republicans to support the plan on the floor were Representatives Scott Krug and Shae Sortwell, who authored the resolution. Sortwell says Democrats were speaking ill of the dead. “Because let’s be honest if you agree with him I absolutely everything I’d be shocked I mean we have disagreements on things but the personal attacks on a man, deceased, is a little bit disappointing.”

He went on to say that everyone offends everyone, and Limbaugh was no different. “Chances are at some time or another you’re going to say something that somebody objects to, that somebody may find offensive, that may even be offensive to most of us. President Biden certainly doesn’t have an innocent record on saying things with racial charges in there.”

The bill passed on a 56 to 35 vote, with only one Republican member of the Assembly voting against it. Rush Limbaugh is a Missouri native, with no connection to Wisconsin.

 

State Senate honors Limbaugh but doesn’t take up Black History Month resolution

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A proposal in the Wisconsin Senate to honor the late conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh drew stiff opposition from Democrats on Tuesday.

Senator La Tonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) read selected quotes from Limbaugh during floor debate.

“In 1988 he called Amy Carter the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country and in the early 1990s he called Chelsea Clinton the White House dog.”

“Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a s*** and a prostitute after she publicly advocated for universal contraception coverage. He also said the NAACP should have a riot rehearsal, they should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

“Another one of his quotes: ‘I think it’s time to get rid of this whole National Basketball Association call it the TBA: the Thug Basketball Association and stop calling them teams, call them gangs.'”

Johnson and other Democrats painted Limbaugh as a racist bully, and said that conservatives need to own that side of him, if they want to honor his work in radio.

Republicans voted in favor of the resolution 18 to 12, after earlier rejecting a resolution recognizing Black History Month. Johnson did succeed in getting that resolution read aloud by the Senate clerk.

The State Assembly shelved its own version of the Limbaugh resolution, but was scheduled to be on the floor again on Wednesday.

 

DNR awards over $6 million in clean water grants to local groups

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The Wisconsin DNR is awarding over 6 million dollars to local groups in order to help clean up and maintain lakes and rivers.

DNR Lakes and Rivers Team Leader Alison Mikulyuk says nearly 250 groups will be working to restore Wisconsin waters. 

“Grants are available to groups that want to take on projects to protect and restore lakes, rivers and wetlands, and help control invasive species. Together we can ensure we have healthy waters far into the future”

Among the projects are trout habitat restoration in Forest County, watershed management near Lake Winnebago, and multiple projects to reconnect wetlands to streams and rivers. 

Mikulyuk says this is part of the Department’s overall approach of keeping Wisconsin’s waters clean at the local level. 

State Dems say Republican efforts to control COVID-19 funding are partisan

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Legislative Democrats say attempts by the state GOP to take over control of COVID-19 relief funds are short-sighted partisanship. 

Democrat State Senator Melissa Agard says GOP requests to audit funding and debates over bills that would delay getting relief funds out to residents will harm Wisconsinites. 

“We do not have time for partisan bickering and partisan rhetoric. What we need right now is real true leadership that has a track record of doing the best thing for the people in the state of Wisconsin.”

Agard says Governor Tony Evers and his administration are perfectly capable of getting the funds to where they’re needed.

“Ensuring that they have access to affordable, quality healthcare, ensure that our schools are adequately funded, that our transportation budget isn’t being kicked down the road for future generations, and that we get our Main Street businesses back in order.”

Republican leaders say that they only want to ensure oversight and transparency in where those funds are going. Agard and other Democrats say that if Republicans wanted control over the funds, then Congressional Republicans should have voted in favor of the package. 

Senator Baldwin backs efforts to expand ACA coverage, Navigator programs

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Senator Tammy Baldwin is backing President Biden’s push to return funding back to the Insurance Navigator Program.

Baldwin says those funds will make it easier for people to get the coverage they need on the Healthcare Marketplace. 

“During a deadly pandemic we should be working to make it easier not harder for Americans to get the health care they need and that’s exactly what President Biden is doing.”

Former President Trump cut funding to the Navigator program during his administration.

Baldwin says she’s cosponsoring legislation that will reduce premiums and deductibles for low income families. “To expand Health Care coverage two more than 4 million Americans who are currently uninsured and reduce healthcare costs for millions of additional individuals who are already have coverage.”

Enrollment for the A C A marketplace is currently open through May 15th.