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Republican state Senator wants to block UW System COVID-19 protocols

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Senator Steve Nass

A Republican state legislator is seeking to block the University of Wisconsin System’s COVID-19 plans for the fall.

State Senator Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) wants the UW System to get legislative approval for any virus-related regulations. Nass co-chairs the legislature’s administrative rules committee. Nass explained his decision in media release on Wednesday.   

Unfortunately, some chancellors in the UW System consider themselves mini-Andrea Palms not beholden to following state law and moving quickly to take advantage of the Delta-variant hysteria to enact excessive Covid-19 mandates.  The legislature should not drag its feet in utilizing the powers we have to prevent state agencies from abusing the statutory and constitutional rights of citizens as was done in 2020.

 

Interim UW System President Tommy Thompson

Senator Kelda Roys (D-Madison) serves on the rules committee, and her district includes the Madison campus. “It’s just hard to see how any rational person could think that prohibiting any COVID precautions is a good idea. I mean unless you really think that unmitigated spread of COVID is a good thing,” said Roys.

Interim UW System President Tommy Thompson did not directly address Nass’ proposal, but expressed his concerns in a statement released on Thursday.

Given my experience as a former United States Health and Human Services Secretary, I know the biggest threat to in-person classes this fall would be actions that strip the UW System of the tools it has so successfully used to date to address outbreaks and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Nass plans to hold a paper ballot vote Tuesday in the committee, in which Republicans hold a 6-to-4 majority. His effort to restrict the UW System’s efforts come with Wisconsin the midst of an increase in new COVID-19 infections.

Assembly Republicans fail to overturn veto on federal unemployment benefits

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Assembly Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to overturn Governor Evers’ veto of a bill that would have ended federal unemployment benefits.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says it’s unfair that businesses have to compete with the federal government. 

“If you pay people over $17 an hour tax free to stay home and not work there are going to be fewer people working it’s not rocket science.”

Minority leader Gordon Hintz says the numbers that Republicans and business leaders are quoting just don’t make sense. 

“You can look right at the unemployment numbers. They continue to go down.  Fewer people are filing unemployment; they’ve gone down the $300 bump.”

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is 3 point 9 percent, and is below the national average, and many workers have left the retail and service sectors for other positions during the pandemic. 

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.

Lawmakers wait for Evers to act on state budget

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Republican legislative leaders are urging the governor to sign the state budget bill passed this week. For the first time in 14 years, the two-year spending plan got bipartisan support.

Seven Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly joined Republicans in voting for it this week.

Governor Tony Evers said in Green Bay Thursday that he is “looking forward” to spending time going through it. When he officially gets the budget he will have six days to sign it, make changes, or veto it.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says members of the Joint Finance Committee worked hard to minimize opportunities for Evers to make changes. The budget spends $87.5 billion, which is far less than what Evers proposed in his original document.

Assembly passes Republican state budget bill

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The Wisconsin Senate takes up a Republican authored state budget bill on Wednesday. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said the $87.5 billion plan passed by that chamber Tuesday night is a big improvement, over what Governor Tony Evers proposed.

“His budget had dramatic tax increases, it had massive increases in spending, expansions of welfare, legalizing marijuana, all kids of social policy issues that the Joint Finance Committee took out of the budget and reconfigured, to make sure that this reflects the priorities of all of Wisconsin, not just liberal Democrats in certain parts of the state,” Vos said.

“Budgets are about priorities, and the Republicans’ biggest priority has been doing everything possible to undermine this governor, to obstruct oppose and minimize the success of Governor Evers,” said Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh).

Four Assembly Democrats joined all Republicans in voting for the budget. Once the Senate passes it, Evers can veto portions, or all of it.

The Republican budget plan increases state spending by 5.4 percent over current levels. Democratic Governor Tony Evers wanted to spend some $91 billion over two years. Once the Senate passes it, Evers can veto portions, or all of it.

 

Elections related bills headed to Evers

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Several elections related bills are headed to Governor Tony Evers, after passing the state Assembly on party line votes.

Representative Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) is Minority Caucus Chair. “These bills are designed to add more hurdles for voters to get over, and more pitfalls that voters need to avoid,” Spreitzer said. “They are actively hostile to voting, to voters and to the right to vote itself.”

Speaker Robin Vos said the bills are needed. “The goal is to make sure . . that every single person has the chance to vote, but that we guarantee that the confidence in the election, which has been severely undermined by the actions of a few over the last election cycle, hopefully are a thing of the past,” Vos said.

The bills include SB 204, which would require indefinitely confined voters to apply for absentee ballots annually and end an exemption for providing proof of ID. It would also require all absentee voters to include their ID each time they apply for a ballot. Currently, voters are only required to provide ID verification the first time they vote absentee.

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 .

Assembly passes ‘2nd Amendment sanctuary’ bill

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Rep. Treig Pronschinske

Wisconsin gun owners would not be subject to federal gun laws under a bill that passed the the state Assembly on Wednesday.

The “2nd Amendment sanctuary” bill is from Representative Treig Pronschinske (R-Mondovi).

“Gun sales have spiked over the past couple of years, and we’ve seen politicians and elitists say that we are going to take weapons away from people,” Pronschinske said. “And I think that one thing we have to remember, the 2nd Amendment says it shall not be infringed.”

The bill (AB-293) requires Wisconsin manufacturers to stamp “Made in Wisconsin” on their firearms, and bars law enforcement from confiscating guns or ammunition.

Representative Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha) said that could pose a legal problem.

“Domestic abuse is obviously something that is difficult within our communities, and we’ve seen homicides and other deaths that are the result of this. Thankfully, the federal government back in the 90’s had passed a law that allowed for the confiscation of firearms from known domestic abusers. And this bill would limit, hamstring law enforcement’s ability to maintain that public safety.”

The bill passed on 61-36 vote, with only one Democrat in favor. Governor Tony Evers is likely to veto the bill, it if it passes the Senate.

Evers announces he’s running for reelection

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Governor Tony Evers made it official over the weekend: he’ll run for a second term.

“Wisconsin, I’m in. I’m running for reelection. We’ve accomplished a lot in the last three years but we’re just getting started. We have more work to do, together.”

Evers made that announcement Saturday, during the state Democratic party’s virtual convention. Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes has yet to announce if he’s running for a second term, or if he’ll join the growing field of Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate.