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Dems introduce climate change bills

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Democrats in the Wisconsin Legislature are introducing a set of bills to deal with climate change in Wisconsin. Representative Greta Neubauer says the package of 22 bills will form a framework to build on to protect Wisconsin from future climate disasters.

“This package of bills includes everything from resources for farmers to sequester carbon in the ground to programs for Union to train the next generation of renewable energy workers.”

Neubauer says the bills are needed to protect Wisconsin and its residents from the future hazards of climate change.

“With additional money for the state’s successful Focus On Energy program we can support low-income homeowners to weatherize their homes and we can build larger clean-energy projects with resources for school districts, businesses, and municipalities.”

Neubauer attempted to get these bills through the Legislature in 2019 as well. They are unlikely to make it to the floor of the Assembly.

DNR holds public hearing on new PFAS regulations

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The Department of Natural Resources is now taking public comment on a proposed rule to regulate PFAS and other forever chemicals.

That includes what has to be done to dispose of the chemicals, and how people who use fire-fighting foam have to respond to spills. At a public hearing on Thursday, Erik Cantor from Clean Wisconsin says the new rules don’t go far enough. 

“Clean Wisconsin remains extremely disappointed the legislature, that originally directed the department to develop containment disposal measures, intervened to water down the measures and benchmarks proposed by DNR in the emergency rule, which were also left out of this rule.”

Peter Burress with Wisconsin Conservation Voters asked for the D-N-R and the Natural Resources Board to pass the rules. 

“Wisconsin Department of Health Services has advised that exposure to certain PFAS may contribute to a number of negative effects including increased cholesterol levels, increase risk of thyroid disease, high blood pressure in women, lower infant birth weights, and decreased fertility in women.”

The rule is open for public comment for another week before heading to the Natural Resources Board for a vote. 

State Senate will vote Monday on redistricting bills

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New legislative and congressional district maps are ready for a vote in the full state Senate next week. Senator Kelda Roys (D-Madison) was a “no” in Thursday’s committee vote

“The maps before us are based upon the worst gerrymander in the nation, by many accounts,” Roys said.

Rots noted that more than a hundred people testified against the Republican drawn legislative and congressional district maps last week.

“I’ve been in this building long enough to know that when you have a public hearing and you have a whole lot of people show up, that is not necessarily indicative of the sentiments of all residents of the state of Wisconsin,” said Senator Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville).

The maps as drawn would solidify Republican majorities in the Wisconsin Legislature and the state’s congressional delegation. Governor Tony Evers has already pledged to veto the Republican drawn maps, which will send a final redistricting decision to either a federal court, or the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said the redistricting votes will take place on Monday.

State Sen. Bernier says she’s not convinced of legal charges in Racine nursing home voting case

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The head of the State Senate elections committee says she doesn’t agree with a claim that the Wisconsin elections commission committed a crime in Racine County.

State Senator Kathleen Bernier tells Capital City Sunday that she does think the elections commission dropped the ball on serving elderly people in nursing homes. 

“They needed to make sure the people who are assisting them, they knew exactly who they are, they had to be trained, they had to take an oath of office and there should have been some protections.”

Bernier says that really doesn’t matter, though. 

“That’s not for me to say. As I keep explaining to everyone there’s the separation of powers and the legislature creates that the law or the policy, the executive branch carries it out, and the judicial branch enforces it.”

Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling says the Commission itself should face charges for keeping special voting deputies out of nursing homes in 2020. He claims that allowed nursing home staffers to cast false ballots in the name of patients. No charges have been filed by the DA’s office.

State Senate Republicans pass package of anti-abortion bills

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Republicans in the State Senate have passed a package of abortion restrictions on party-line votes.

Among those bills are requirements for doctors to offer so-called abortion reversal treatments, a measure to prevent abortion based on a fetus’s race, gender or genetic abnormality, and a bill that would cut off clinics that provide abortions from the Medical Assistance program.

Democrat Kelda Roys says it’s a cynical ploy to rile up the Republican base. 

“This bill and a few others on the calendar, Mr. President, insert political judgment for the most personal intimate choices in people’s lives.”

Democrat Senator Chris Larson called the bills just another method of removing healthcare from women and said you don’t get these sorts of measures when it comes to male vasectomies. 

“The state does not require that that man to be patted on the head and say, ‘you go home and you think about this for 24 hours. This is a really big decision fella.'”

The only Republican to comment on the bills was Senator Chris Kapenga, who defended the bill on abortion reversal, saying it was there to provide choices for women. 

“It’s more information so that she can make a better-informed decision and she knows that she can continue the pregnancy she may continue the pregnancy if she chooses.”

All four bills will likely be vetoed by Governor Evers. 

 

Dane County judge orders Speaker Vos to turn over records from elections investigation

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Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will have to turn over documents related to his investigation of the 2020 presidential election.

That’s after an open records request from Washington DC-based watchdog group American Oversight. Spokesperson Melanie Sloan says they’re looking for documents connected with Vos’ decision to hire former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and others.

“We’ve been requesting documents for many months. We have numerous requests outstanding and basically, they’ve been refusing to provide those, and so we were left with no option but to go to court to enforce our records request. Neither Speaker Vos nor the Assembly has provided any documents related to the hiring or work product of the contractors they hired to do this audit, including any records of former Justice Gableman.”

The judge’s order said Vos has “unjustifiably withheld and refused to release the contractor records to which Petitioner is entitled.” Vos called the lawsuit frivolous. 

Senate Republicans pass “Born Alive” bill

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A Republican-authored bill that would require doctors to perform life-saving care on babies who survive late-term abortions has passed the State Senate.

Republican Senator Roger Roth says the bill ensures care for all children. 

“Many across the aisle talk about the importance to lower mortality rates for babies and for every baby to be able to get the care they need here in Wisconsin. Should that not include babies who survive abortions?”

But Democrats say the bill’s premise is just an excuse to attack abortions. Senator Kelda Roys says if Republicans really wanted to save the lives of children, they should start with the ones that have already been born, by accepting Medicaid expansion. 

“It’s one of the easiest ways, one of the most cost-effective ways to save the lives of women and babies, and yet time and again this body has refused to do just that.”

The bill will now head to the Assembly for a vote, before heading to Governor Evers.

Assembly Republicans pass bill banning anti-racism messages and efforts in K-12 schools

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Assembly Republicans brought a number of bills related to anti-racism education to the floor on Tuesday.

One of the bills requires that districts be more transparent about what they’re teaching their students. Republican Representative Elijah Behnke says districts would have to put their curriculum on public display on the internet. 

“It doesn’t tell you what to teach it just makes what is being taught available to the public which is I think a great idea.

The measure comes in response to complaints from conservative groups that some anti-racism messages being taught in schools are harmful to white students. Democrat LaKeisha Myers says it’s a republican strategy to divide America and quoted one of the proponents of the push. 

“‘We have de-codified the term and will re-codify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.’ So there you have it, Southern Strategy 2.0. Go back and read Nixon and go to Reagan and here we are today.”

The bill passed the Assembly and is likely to be vetoed by the Governor if it passes the Senate. 

New bill seeks to move Wisconsin Elections Commission to Wausau

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A Republican lawmaker from Green Bay is looking to move the state elections commission to Wausau.

Representative David Steffen says that the days of keeping offices in Madison for the sake of being in Madison are over. 

“It made sense 173 years ago to have everything together when a person like myself had to get on a pony, put on a powdered wig to walk over, to get over to someone else’s office, to sit by whale-oil light to make a decision but that’s no longer the situation.”

He says Wausau is a central location in the state on two major highways, and rent would be much cheaper than in Madison. 

“Their lease is expiring at the end of the year for office space that cost twice that of almost every other community in the state.”

This is not the first attempt to start moving state agencies out of Madison. There’s been an effort to move the DNR farther north for many years.

Evers vetoes 6 Republican elections bills

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At the Capitol in Madison on Tuesday, Democratic Governor Tony Evers vetoed six Republican bills which were crafted to restrict Wisconsin election laws.

“At the end of the day, these bills add unnecessary and damaging hurdles, for Wisconsinites to participate in our democracy,” Evers said.

Among the bills were efforts to cut down on the number of absentee ballot drop boxes and limits on how long people could get help voting in assisted living homes.

“Wisconsin has long been a laboratory of democracy, but in recent years we are used as a Petri dish for Republican plans to undermine that democracy,” said Evers. “Well not anymore, not today, not as long as I’m governor of the great state of Wisconsin.”

Many of the bills would have acted on complaints from former President Trump and his allies in the wake of his loss in 2020.

“The governor is making another momentous mistake with his veto pen. While he claims these bills are ‘anti-democracy,’ his actions speak louder than words. He is satisfied with the status quo and refusing to improve future elections.

“These bills closed loopholes, standardized procedures, established uniformity, guaranteed only the voter can correct their own ballot and protected votes of seniors in long-term care.

“I am very disappointed Governor Evers refuses to do the right thing.”

*SB 212 sought to prohibit local elections clerks from filling in missing information on absentee ballot envelopes.

*SB 210 sought to allow election observers to be no more than 3 feet from tables at which voting activities are occurring. Current law says observers must be between 3 feet and 8 feet away.

*SB 205 sought to overhaul policies for special voting deputies that assist voting in assisted care facilities.

*SB 204 would have revamped procedures for those who claim indefinitely confined status due to age, infirmary or illness. That includes a provision that sought to require those voters to provide a copy of their voter ID with their application if they have one.

*SB 203 would have explicitly authorized the use of drop boxes to collect absentee ballots, but also sought to place various restrictions on their use.

*SB 292 sought to require municipalities that broadcast canvassing proceedings live to record it and retain the recording for 22 months.