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Governor Evers signs state budget with some vetoes to GOP policy items

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Wisconsin families should be seeing an average income tax cut of 800 dollars under a new state budget signed today by Governor Tony Evers.

Evers says he’s used his veto powers to target those tax cuts to families across the state. 

“I’m newly providing tax relief to more than 1.6 million Wisconsin taxpayers at a time when our economy and Working Families across our state need it the most.”

Republicans had sent the Governor a budget that was far below the spending he requested in February, but Evers says there’s still room for tax cuts for Wisconsin families, along with increases in spending. 

“When combined with prior reductions 2.4 million filers will be receiving tax relief in Wisconsin.”

The Governor also cut a number of policy decisions the GOP added to the budget, including a cut in spending for the lieutenant Governor’s security detail, as well as a proposed drug testing requirement to get unemployment insurance. 

Legislative Republicans say they should be getting credit for the tax cuts.

Joint Finance Committee co-chair Mark Born says Evers made changes that will hurt people, like not changing income tax withholding tables.

“He vetoes the updates to the tax withholding tables that takes money out of people’s paychecks and keeps it instead with the government.”

Evers also shot down a removal of the personal property tax, and Born says they’ll work to get that passed through other means in the future.

Assembly Republicans pass bill to ban trans women from high school and college women’s sports

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Republicans in the state Assembly have passed a pair of bills that restrict how trans women can take part in high school and college sports.

The bill’s author, Republican Barb Dietrich, says the bill would create a separate but equal co-ed branch of youth sports that trans women would be allowed to participate in.

“If a biological female is perfectly comfortable competing against a biological male, this legislation provides a way to do so!”

Democrat Lee Snodgrass says the move is a cynical way to attack trans athletes. “If we really truly care about women’s sports issues, we should be working on closing the pay gap in women’s sports. We should be making investments in sports and promoting equal economically opportunities for these girls and women.”

Snodgrass says trans women already have it tough competing. “They suffer from higher rates of bullying, anxiety, depression, all of which – news flash – make it more difficult to train and be competitive.”

Dietrich says that children who are trans need mental help rather than help competing in sports. “Let’s get them the care that they need on the mental health level, rather than allowing them to displace women who have worked so hard to reach this achievement level.”

Governor Evers says he’ll be vetoing the bill if it makes it to his desk.

Governor Evers pleased with Supreme Court decision not to hear ACA challenge

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Governor Tony Evers says he’s pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear a challenge to the Affordable Care Act.

In a 7 to 2 decision released on Thursday, the Supreme Court said that a group of Republican states couldn’t show that the Affordable Care Act was harming them, because the mandate to have insurance doesn’t carry a penalty. 

Evers said that healthcare isn’t just for the wealthy, quote “Today’s decision is a critically important victory for our work to make sure everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare coverage.” Governor Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul withdrew from the lawsuit in 2019 .

Nekoosa lawmaker asks for 50 million dollar loan for restarting idled papermill in Wisconsin Rapids

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A bill authored by Representative Scott Krug of Nekoosa which calls for W E D C to issue a fifty million dollar loan to the co-op looking to buy the idled Verso paper mill will get a hearing Wednesday in Madison.

Krug says the plant was a vital part of business and industry in the Northwoods. 

“I honestly get more emails and phone calls from people in the Northwoods than people from Wisconsin Rapids because that’s how much of an impact this has on the upper 2/3 of the state of Wisconsin.”

Others who have signaled their support for the bill include Republicans Patrick Testin, Pat Snyder, Jim Edming, and John Spiros. 

Krug says he’s proposed the single bill to take politics out of the project, especially after Governor Evers’ comments about possibly vetoing the entire state budget:

“I don’t want Politics on this. I just want a clean bill, a yes or no vote. A day for Wisconsin Rapids to be heard in the Assembly. A day for Wisconsin Rapids to be heard in the Senate. A day for the Wisconsin Rapids area to be heard by the Governor.”

It’s unclear if the governor would sign the bill. 

DWD says employers may have to step up if they want to find and retain workers

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The Department of Workforce Development says employers may have to step up their game if they want to hire and retain employees post pandemic.

DWD Employment Training administrator Michele Carter says the Department has seen a shift in employment away from food service and tourism industries. 

“We see them moving from those, maybe trying to find more secure, steadier work schedules, right? Knowing how much money they’re going to make.”

Carter says employers who offer more competitive wages and job benefits like child care are having a better time retaining their workers, and enticing those who have left the job market back into the workforce. 

Anyone who’s looking to find a better job themselves can always come to find training, says Carter.

“I think as people come to us we can help guide them and match them with some of those employer needs. The needs of the future, not just what we used to do.”

DWD says many people who left the workforce due to the pandemic are unable to get back to work because of a lack of services to assist them, like affordable child care. Republicans are blaming the lack of workers on improved unemployment benefits.

 

State Senator Roys calls for repeal of Wisconsin’s 170 year old ban on abortions ahead of possible Roe v Wade ruling

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Two Wisconsin legislative Democrats want to pull Wisconsin’s 172 year old abortion ban off the books.

That’s in response to the US Supreme Court taking up a case that could challenge the Roe v. Wade ruling. Senator Kelda Roys says losing women’s health protections in Wisconsin will be devastating to the poor and underprivileged. 

“Women of privilege and women of means will always be able to travel elsewhere to get abortions. It’s women who don’t have privilege and families don’t have those privileges that are going to be most adversely affected.” 

Roys says the hearing and lawsuit is just another attack on women’s health by anti-choice groups. 

“Conservative anti-choice interests have been so effective at undermining access to abortion.  They’ve done it through harassment, threats, forcing clinics to close.”

Roys says she understands that it’s unlikely that the bill will pass through the Republican controlled legislature, but that women deserve the right to choose their own medical decisions. 

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.