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State Senate leader slams the door on legalized marijuana in Wisconsin

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There’s no way forward for legalized marijuana of any sort, in the Wisconsin state Senate.

During a WisPolitics virtual event Thursday, Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oosburg) said law enforcement has a lot of concerns – as do employers.

“That it might . . . cause them more problems with people who are high on the job.”

Some Assembly Republicans are willing to consider medical marijuana. Not in the Senate, LeMahieu said. “I don’t think we have support at this point.”

LeMahieu said marijuana should be dealt with at the federal level. “If there’s advantages to it, if it helps out people I have no problem with it, as long as a doctor’s prescribing it,” he said. “But I think that discussion needs to be done at the federal level, and not have some rogue state doing it, without actual science behind it.”

Twenty states, including Minnesota, allow marijuana use for medical purposes. Another 16, including Illinois and Michigan, allow recreational use by adults. Governor Tony Evers proposed legalized medical marijuana in his state budget.

 

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.

Assembly Republicans want state’s American Recovery Act money used to provide property tax rebate

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State Assembly Republicans want some things out of the latest COVID-19 relief package from D.C. – including a tax rebate for property owners.

“We want to make sure our homeowners receive the assistance they need after a difficult year. So we are suggesting providing one billion dollars, to give the equivalent of ten percent return on property taxes to property owners in Wisconsin,” said Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam).

Born co-chairs the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, which will have no say in how the state’s $3.2 billion share the latest federal stimulus will be allocated. Governor Tony Evers this week vetoed a bill passed by Republican lawmakers last week to give JFC oversight  over federal COVID-19 spending.

Born said the tax rebate would pass legal muster, even though the federal money can’t be used for tax relief.

“We’re not impacting tax law or taxes in any way,” he said Tuesday. “This is aid to households. We’re using property taxes that were paid to arrive at the amount.”

Also during Tuesday’s press conference at the Capitol, Representative Barb Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) asked for more money for long-term facilities.

“It’s important that we recognize this industry, and the difficult year its been through. And yet the governor didn’t even mention it in his priorities,” she said.

Evers said he’s got that covered in his budget, and in the state’s share of the American Recovery Act. “We will also be prioritizing nursing homes, especially as it relates to the things that they need in order to maintain a safe environment.”

Republicans also want $500 million for broadband expansion. Evers this week said he’ll allocate $600 million for businesses, $200 million toward infrastructure, including expanding broadband access, and another $500 million for continuing the state’s pandemic response.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said Republicans may go to court, in order to get that oversight of the federal money.

Representative Pat Snyder (R-Schofield) said that remains a possibility, and that if the shoe was on the other foot, Democrats certainly wouldn’t want a Republican Governor to have control of the funds. “I think my colleagues across the aisle would love to see the Joint Finance Committee get ahold of those funds,” Snyder told WSAU. “I think that would be the right thing to do as well.”

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.

 

Senate approves bill that would require schools to teach about Holocaust and other genocides

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The Wisconsin Senate has passed legislation that would require schools to teach about the Holocaust and other genocides.

Milwaukee Democrat Lena Taylor proposed an amendment that would have added the African slave trade to the bill.

“Two million Black people are estimated to have died. Ten to fourteen million were forcibly transported,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s effort failed, on a day Senate Republicans also refused to consider a Black History Month resolution, but did approve one honoring the late Rush Limbaugh. Under the bill, schools would have to instruct on the Holocaust and other genocides at least once in grades 5-8 and once in grades 9-12.

“It is funded by a foundation specifically to fund a model academic curriculum, for this particular issues and all other genocides,” said the bill’s author, River Hills Republican Alberta Darling. “So there is room to talk about, and it should spark the conversation about what’s happening in our world today. Because that’s the point of studying the Holocaust. What happened, and why it should never happen again.”

Dem lawmakers propose ending tipped minimum wage in Wisconsin

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Two Democratic state lawmakers propose ending what they term a “sub-minimum wage” that is paid employees in Wisconsin restaurants.

Senator Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said Monday that the tipped minimum wage can be as little as $2.33 an hour. “This is simply not enough,” Larson said. “The understanding is, when a person is paid that, the tips that they make will get them over $7.25 an hour.”

Larson introduced the bill with Representative Francesca Hong (D-Madison), who owns a restaurant. “We’re keeping some restaurants from being bad actors, and really working towards a greater vision of restaurants that have equitable pay structures, that contribute to their community, that empower their workers, so that their workers can go out and continue to spend that money at other restaurants and other local shops, and that our economies can really become stronger when we empower our restaurant workers.”

Seven states, including Minnesota, have all eliminated the tip credit. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 would also eliminate the lower tipped wage in restaurants nationwide.

The Capital Times reports that a statement from the Wisconsin Restaurant Association said the organization supported “a discussion” over the current federal minimum wage, but that now is not the time to change the tip credit.

Joint Finance co-chairs announce public hearings on budget

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The co-chairs of the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance have announced public hearings on the state budget will be held next month.

There will be three in-person hearings: Friday, April 9 at UW-Whitewater, Wednesday, the 21st in Rhinelander and Thursday, the 22nd at UW-Stout in Menomonie. A fourth, virtual hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28.

None of the hearings are in Milwaukee. “I guess this will be one of those things where people will define it how people wish to define it. I certainly feel that Whitewater is in southern and southeastern Wisconsin,” said Assembly co-chair, Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam).

“We certainly feel that we’ve chosen locations in different parts of the state, as well as the virtual option which is statewide,” Born said. WisPolitics reported that the last time JFC didn’t hold a public hearing in Milwaukee or its suburbs was 2005, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

In-person public hearings will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m. The format will be similar to past hearings and attendees will be asked to fill out a form upon arrival to be added to the queue to testify.

Pre-registration will be required for the virtual hearing. The registration process and details are in development and will be released as soon as possible via the new JFC website, which is also a portal for constituents to provide input: www.legis.wisconsin.gov/topics/budgetcomments.

The JFC has also developed a dedicated email address for input only: [email protected].