Dear Friends and Neighbors,
 

I hope you had a safe and happy 4th of July celebration. After a long weekend, I returned to the Capitol where the focus has been on health care and on the stalled state budget. During the last week, I have participated in three separate rallies calling on the federal government to expand, not roll back, health care access.

As truly devastating as the federal Republican health care proposals would be for so many families across our state and nation, it has been heartwarming to see people coming together to fight for our shared values and to stand up for what is right. Yesterday, I spoke to physicians, parents, and advocates at a healthcare rally right here at the State Capitol. Events like this one sponsored by grassroots activists in Indivisible Madison help keep my energy up as my Democratic colleagues and I continue to fight for healthcare for all.

In this week’s newsletter, you will find an update on the state budget, more health care news, and information about the release of voter data to the Trump administration.

If you have any questions or need assistance with any matter, please feel free to contact my office.

Sincerely,

Lisa Subeck
State Representative
78th Assembly District

Budget: One Week Past Due
The in-fighting between the Governor, Senate Republican and Assembly Republicans over the budget continues. The State budget bill is now nearly a week past due and there have not been any future budget meetings scheduled for the Joint Finance Committee.

In the Senate this week, Republicans are meeting among themselves to review the entire budget bill. Rather than focusing on agency budgets not already addressed by the Joint Finance Committee, the review will include the entire budget proposed by the Governor Walker and a review of all the modifications made to the budget by the Joint Finance Committee to date. Whether these meetings are intended to develop ideas in an effort to further negotiations or are serving as a precursor to Senate Republicans moving ahead with their own version of the budget remains to be seen.

The budget impasse continues to be centered largely on transportation. The Senate Republicans want to borrow $850 million, an unsustainable and untenable proposal. Assembly Republicans first floated a convoluted proposal that raises taxes on middle and lower income families, gives the wealthiest even greater handouts, and targets hybrids and electric vehicles for higher fees. When that proposal failed, the Assembly Republicans suggested a tax on heavy trucks. That proposal was almost immediately shot down by Senate Republicans and interest groups.

The Governor, who has otherwise been content to simply put more of our road and infrastructure work on the state’s credit card to be paid for by future generations, now suggests asking the federal government for more money. In fact, his wishful thinking would rely on an unimaginable increase in transportation funding from the federal government of 10 times more money than the state has ever received in the past. Even if the federal government did provide the Governor with his bailout, the solution is unsustainable, and we would be right back in the same mess two years from now.

The inability of Republicans to get the job done not only threatens the livelihood of Wisconsin road construction workers, but could stymie economic development efforts. It has already been determined that the Republican failure to address transportation funding is jeopardizing the creation of 10,000 jobs in southeastern Wisconsin alone.

Trump Wants Wisconsin Voter Data
The Trump Administration, through the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity created by Executive Order, made a request of states for voter information that is publicly available.

In Wisconsin, voters’ names, addresses and voting history are considered public record and are available for purchase. While the Wisconsin Election Commission must provide these records, it would charge the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity $12,500 for the records. State law doesn’t contain any provisions for waiving the fee.

The state does not collect any data about a voter’s political party preferences or gender. While the state does have birth dates, driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers, that information can only be shared with police and other state agencies. The Director of the Election Commission has indicated the Presidential Commission would not be entitled to that information under state law.

What is troubling for voting rights advocates is that in addition to the request for voter data by the Election Commission, the United States Department of Justice sent states a letter asking for them to outline the efforts they have taken to follow the National Voter Registration Act. The Act was enacted to help people register to vote, but also specifies when voters may be removed from voter registration rolls.

Voting rights advocates are concerned that this could be a coordinated effort to restrict voting rights. While it was not entirely unusual under prior administrations for the Department of Justice to seek information about compliance with the Act from specific states, former Justice Department officials have said it is unusual for such a broad request to be made of all states. This leads to concerns that the Department of Justice is fishing for cases of non-compliance in order to justify lawsuits aimed at purging the voter rolls.

BadgerCare for All
This week the BadgerCare for all bill was officially summited for introduction with broad support among Democratic legislators. This bill would allow individuals and small businesses to purchase BadgerCare coverage on the health insurance exchange. The bill also requires that individuals receiving health insurance through a BadgerCare buy-in program have access to the same premium supports available to those who purchase private insurance on the exchange.

A BadgerCare Public Option would save consumers on average over 15% versus existing health insurance options in Dane County and 30% versus lowest silver plan on average statewide.

All Wisconsinites deserve access to high quality, affordable health insurance. BadgerCare would be a way to cover hundreds of thousands of people across the state who cannot otherwise afford their health care.

Healthy Wisconsin Initiative
In May, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) launched its new Healthy Wisconsin initiative, which is the state’s strategic plan to improve issues affecting the health of Wisconsin families by 2020. The initiative highlights five priority areas for improving health: Alcohol, Nutrition and physical activity, Opioids, Suicide, and Tobacco. There is an additional focus on adverse childhood experiences and resilience.

The Department is enlisting help from the public, along with insights from people working closely on these issues, to seek and gain commitments to proceed with specific activities and specific interventions.

Click here to visit the Healthy Wisconsin website to view the state plan, goals, data and information about how you can get involved in making progress on the five priority health areas.

Wisconsin Private College Week
The Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU) has announced the 21st annual Wisconsin Private College Week will take place July 10-15, 2017. Prospective students and their families are invited to visit Wisconsin’s private, nonprofit colleges across the state.

During Wisconsin Private College Week, visitors have the opportunity to tour campuses, learn about majors, attend information sessions, discuss financial aid opportunities, meet with admissions counselors, and connect with current students and faculty.

Wisconsin Private College Week participants are encouraged to take a “road trip” to find the campus that best fits their educational and career needs. Visiting students will be eligible to win one of two iPads, with one entry for each campus they visit. Click here to register.

Wisconsin’s private, nonprofit campuses include:
Alverno College, Bellin College, Beloit College, Cardinal Stritch University, Carroll University, Carthage College, Columbia College of Nursing, Concordia University Wisconsin, Edgewood College, Lakeland University, Lawrence University, Marian University, Marquette University, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Mount Mary University, Nashotah House, Northland College, Ripon College, St. Norbert College, Silver Lake College, Viterbo University, and Wisconsin Lutheran College.

Fake Amazon Cancellation Emails Making the Rounds
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is aware of a phishing scam involving fake Amazon order cancellation emails and asks consumers to be suspicious of any similar emails they receive. If you click any links in the email, you could unintentionally download malicious software onto your device or be driven to a site that aims to collect your Amazon account username and password or other personal information.

If you receive a cancellation email and you wish to inquire further, do NOT click the links in the email. Instead, go directly to Amazon.com or use the company's app to check your account. If you share access to an Amazon account with a family member, check with that person to see if they did cancel the supposed order before you take any additional action.

In most fraudulent emails, you can check the sender's email address for an easy tipoff – the web address (URL) referenced in the sender's email address does not match the actual URL for the business in question (see screenshot example #1). For example, a fake email that claims to come from Amazon may have a sender address of "JoeSchmo@somefakecompany.com" instead of "___@ amazon.com."

But some of these phony Amazon cancellation emails have had "spoofed" sender addresses that actually appear to come directly from "___@ amazon.com" (see screenshot example #2). Consumers should be aware that spoofing of email addresses is possible and that the displayed sender address may not be legitimate.

With this in mind, the best way to avoid being scammed is to simply delete similar emails and go directly to Amazon.com or the company's app to check your account.

Follow these additional tips to spot and avoid spam emails:

Fun Wisconsin Fact
The House on the Rock was designed by Alex Jordan, Jr. and was built in the early 1940s. It is considered an architectural marvel and is perched on a 60-foot chimney of rock. The 14-room house is now a complex of rooms, streets, buildings, and gardens covering over 200 acres. The Infinity Room contains 3,264 windows.