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State Assembly to meet virtually on Tuesday to pass coronavirus relief package

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The State Assembly is poised to meet virtually on a Coronavirus relief package.

A number of state representatives will be digitally taking part in Tuesday’s session, while some members will be making the trip out to the Capitol to take part in person.

The basic part of the bill would supplement a sweeping federal aid package that’s set to come to Wisconsin. It will eliminate the one week waiting period to apply for unemployment, delay late fees on tax payments, and modify how many hours students have to be in school to graduate.

Republicans had tried to add language to the bill that would give the Joint Finance Committee unfettered access to cutting the state budget, but that language has apparently been removed from the bill after Governor Tony Evers threatened to veto the package. 

At odds but negotiating: Evers and legislative leaders working on COVID-19 package

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Governor Tony Evers WRN image

Will Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders be able agree on coronavirus relief legislation for the state?

At this point, the answer would appear to be “maybe.” The Democratic governor told the Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that Republican provisions in a COVD-19 bill, allowing the Joint Finance Committee to reduce spending and school funding on its own means he’d likely veto the package.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (WRN image)

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said in a statement that negotiations are continuing, and for Evers to publicly suggest a veto while that’s going on is “irresponsible.”

Both the Senate and Assembly have practiced holding virtual sessions in order to not spread COVID-19. Evers said lawmakers need to act within two weeks, to demonstrate state government’s seriousness about the the threat posed by coronavirus.

No action on special session to delay Wisconsin’s April 7 election

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No action was taken on Saturday, in a special session of the Wisconsin legislature called by Governor Tony Evers. The Democratic governor on Friday asked lawmakers to convene in Madison for the purpose of delaying the spring election scheduled for Tuesday, April 7.

With just a handful of members present in either chamber, the Senate and Assembly both gaveled-in and gaveled-out. Republican leaders, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, said in a joint statement issued on Friday that in-person balloting should proceed as scheduled on Tuesday.

Evers, who said he may consider other means to delay the election, through a court order or additional executive action, issued a statement on Saturday, “Republicans in the Legislature are playing politics with public safety and ignoring the urgency of this public health crisis. It’s wrong.”

Evers had cited concerns about spreading COVID-19 during in-person voting, and a critical shortage of poll workers, in seeking to postpone the election until May 19 and requiring that voting be by mail-in ballots only.

 

Evers calls for special session to delay spring election and require all mail-in voting

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Governor Tony Evers (WRN image)

Following an order this week from a federal judge that extended the time available to turn in absentee ballots, Governor Tony Evers wants lawmakers to put some more time on the clock for Wisconsin’s spring election. Republican leaders said the election should go ahead as planned, as Evers had been calling for.

Evers on Friday called for a special session of the Wisconsin legislature on Saturday, to vote on a plan to postpone Tuesday’s election and make it mail-in balloting only, with local clerks short thousands of poll workers, and municipalities reducing the number of polling places due to coronavirus,

“And that’s exactly why I called the session for tomorrow. I believe we can get to a place that works for all of Wisconsin. But clearly if the number of polling places is down, that’s going to make it much more difficult for social distancing.”

Speaker Robin Vos (WRN image)

He’s looking for the legislature to cancel in-person voting, send everyone a ballot by May 19th, and to push the deadline to get ballots in to May 26th.

“The virus sets a timetable, not me, not Robin Vos and not Scott Fitzgerald. So the time is now. We have a plan that I believe can work, and we’re looking forward to a solution.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald responded in a joint statement: “We continue to support what Governor Evers has supported for weeks: the election should continue as planned on Tuesday.”

Evers said he’s been calling for several of these measures since last week, and had hoped the Legislature would come in and handle it without being called into a special session. 

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (WRN image)

The governor’s request to the legislature came just hours after a federal judge clarified his order regarding absentee balloting for Wisconsin’s spring election.

U.S. District Judge William Conley on Friday ordered that there be no reporting by elections officials, of any results from next Tuesday’s election until extended absentee balloting is complete the following Monday, April 13.

Conley granted a request from the Wisconsin Elections Commission following his order of Thursday for extended absentee voting. More than 1 million people have requested absentee ballots.

The election ballot includes the Democratic presidential primary, a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and hundreds of local elected offices.

Democrat State Senator Jennifer Shilling decides to not run for re-election

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Long time Democrat Senator Jennifer Shilling says she’s stepping away from the Legislature.

Shilling says that after 20 years in office, it’s time to step back from her role in the Capitol. Her two children are nearly grown, and Shilling says she’d like to spend more time with them.

Shilling was a state representative before being elected to the Senate in 2011, and then named as Senate Minority Leader in 2014.

She says she’s proud of her role in modernizing healthcare and pushing for criminal justice reforms while in the legislature. 

State Senator Fred Risser announces retirement

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The nation’s longest serving state legislator will not be a candidate for re-election this fall.  State Senator Fred Risser (D-Madison) broke the news in a press release Friday afternoon.

Risser is 92, and in his 64th year as a Wisconsin legislator, the release said. He is the longest serving state or national legislator in the nation’s history, and the last World War II veteran serving in either the state or nation’s legislatures.

Risser was elected to the Assembly in 1956 and to the Senate in 1962. He has served as Senate Minority Leader and 25 years as Senate President.

Risser has worked with 13 different governors – 7 Democrats and 6 Republicans – and has never missed a legislative roll call.

Risser’s announcement opens the way for a wide-open primary in the heavily Democratic 26th Senate District. Also on Friday, state Representative Chris Taylor (D-Madison) announced she won’t seek reelection after a decade of service in the Assembly.

Senator Scott Fitzgerald postpones final session day

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Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (WRN)

The Wisconsin state Senate will not be on the floor next week.  Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Tuesday he is postponing the March 24 floor period “out of an abundance of caution” for senators and their families during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Fitzgerald said he and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos plan to call an extraordinary session of the Legislature sometime in spring.

Next week was to be the final general business day for the current legislative session. Fitzgerald said coronavirus is a public health issue that should be taken seriously.

Two Senate committees are scheduled to vote Tuesday, on a bill on a bill that would raise the legal smoking age to 21, and a joint resolution that calls for a constitutional convention of the states to approve a balanced federal budget and place term limits on members of Congress.

Thus far, the only restrictions at the Capitol building have been cancellation of public tours.

Task force would address Wisconsin’s missing and murdered indigenous women

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Missing and murdered indigenous women were on the agenda at the Capitol Wednesday.  Native American and Native Alaskan women and girls are murdered at rates more than 10 times the national average. Representative Beth Myers (D-Bayfield) has co-sponsored a bill to address that with a task force in Wisconsin, which is home to 11 tribes.

“As a state and a country we are failing these women and their families,” Myers told the Assembly Committee on State Affairs.

Families like that of Alysse Arce, a Menominee tribal member whose mother, Rae Elaine Tourtillott, was killed in 1986. “My mom’s disappearance was 33 years ago and I feel some the same issues that negatively impacted her investigation continue to impact investigations today,” Arce said.

Arce’s stepdaughter, Aurora Arce is a student at the University of Wisconsin. “Being an indigenous woman in a city like Madison, and being on the campus, it’s scary to think about being stolen, and think about my case never being solved.”

Lindsey Matthews is a Lac du Flambeau tribal member and student at UW Madison. “So my cousin, she was murdered in the spring of 1990 and there’s still no information out there on that case. The first thing that you see when you enter my reservation is a billboard asking for information.”

The National Crime Information Center reports that, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, though the US Department of Justice’s federal
missing persons database only logged 116 cases.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that murder is the third-leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women and that rates of violence on reservations can be up to ten times higher than the national average. However, no research has been done on rates of such violence among American Indian and Alaska Native women living in urban areas despite the fact that approximately 71% of American Indian and Alaska Natives live in urban areas.

IN November of 2019, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced a national strategy to address missing and murdered Native Americans.

The issues are complex, and advocates say the task force could help sort those out. It would allocate $30,000 for the task force, which would report to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The bill (AB 548) was introduced in September, 2019 and only now received a public hearing, after the state Assembly has ended its work for the current legislative session.

Evers signs dozens of bills

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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed a plethora of legislation into law Tuesday. More than five dozen bills in all, including four that are part of the HOPE agenda combating the opioid epidemic in the state, which Evers said has torn apart families and communities across Wisconsin.

Rep. John Nygren

“While there is always more work to be done, more lives to save, and more avenues to recovery that need opening, today’s actions are another arrow in the state’s quiver to combat substance abuse.” said Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette), author of 34 bipartisan pieces of legislation aimed at combating substance abuse.

Other bills Evers signed include one that makes bestiality a state felony, one mandating a Lyme Disease awareness campaign by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and another permitting 12 and 13-year-olds to be employed as caddies at Wisconsin golf courses.

Evers vetoed bills that sought to allow paddlewheel raffles and another that sought changes to disclosure laws governing sweepstakes.

Sanders leads rivals in new Marquette Law School poll

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New results from the Marquette Law School Poll show that Senator Bernie Sanders has taken a commanding lead over his rivals heading into the Democrat Presidential Primary in April.

Among people who identified themselves as Democrats to the poll, 29 percent said they had Sanders as their first choice for president. That was followed up by 17 percent for former mayor Michael Bloomberg, 15 percent for former vice president Joe Biden, 13 percent for Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and 11 percent for Senator Amy Klobuchar. 

Since November when the current round of presidential polling started, Sanders has risen from 17 percent approval up to 29 percent, while support for Biden has dipped from 30 percent to 15 percent. 

This month’s poll from Marquette mirrors results from recent polling from the UW-Madison Elections Research Center.  That poll placed support for Sanders at nearly 30 percent of respondents. Following Sanders, all around 13 and 12 percent are former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, former Vice President Joe Biden, mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Senator Elizibeth Warren.

Sanders also holds the field’s only lead over a potential election over President Donald Trump. Sanders leads Trump by 48 to 46 percent, and the rest of the field is a point or two behind Trump. Pollster Charles Franklin notes that all of these results are within the margin of error, so it’s still a close potential race. 

In Wisconsin, the poll also shows that most of the state approves of the job that Governor Tony Evers is doing, 51 percent to 38 percent.  A surprising number of respondents also said that they would prefer that a commission, rather than the state Legislature, handle upcoming redistricting maps, 70 to 20 percent. Support for schools over tax cuts continues to weigh in favor of school spending 56 to 38 percent.