People who work hard and play by the rules should be able to earn a family sustaining wage. The economic opportunities provided by Wisconsin's prevailing wage law support families from Superior to Platteville and everywhere in between. This law would be abolished under a bill that was heard by a Wisconsin Senate committee last week. The bill has seen opposition from some Republicans in the Assembly and Senate.

Over 100 people came to the public hearing to voice their strong opposition to this bill.

Federal and state prevailing wage laws were enacted in the 1930s. The wages are established by regulatory agencies to apply to workers on public construction projects.

Recently, the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau released a paper which found that prevailing wage laws assure public projects are done right and support the economy through higher wages. Even Speaker Robin Vos last week acknowledged that "(it) is an actual cut in wages to an awful lot of folks around the state". This 'race to the bottom' brand of politics is harming Wisconsin's hard working families.

Prevailing wage standards provide value through efficient work, performed safely, while preserving pathways to the middle class for Wisconsin's construction workforce.

Should this bill make it to the Assembly floor, I will be a strong 'No' vote.

20-Week Abortion Ban Introduced

Women must be afforded the freedom and opportunity to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. Injecting political beliefs into these choices is irresponsible and represents big government at its worst. I am appalled that Republicans in the Assembly and the Senate introduced a bill that would ban abortions after 20-weeks of pregnancy.

The politicians who are in support of this bill are the same politicians who have voted to restrict access to preventative women’s health care and methods for reducing unintended pregnancies. Over the past four years, we have seen Republicans enter into healthcare decisions that are deeply personal in nature. This legislation would hurt women and families who are facing heart-wrenching loss and unimaginable pregnancy complications.

There are currently zero doctors in the Wisconsin state legislature, yet this bill presumes that politicians know what is best rather than honoring personal choices between women and true medical professionals. We need to respect people’s ability to make their own life decisions – not introduce overreaching, ill-informed legislation.

Republicans to take over Dane County Water Quality

Clean water provides our community the freedom to enjoy our natural world and the ability to lead a healthy life. Unfortunately, the Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee have attacked Madison's ability to provide clean water for its residents last week. Sen. Marklein (R-Spring Green) introduced a motion to single out Dane County without consulting any Dane County Representatives or Senators. This motion prohibits Dane County from advising the DNR on area water quality management plans. Instead, it puts the DNR, an agency riddled with position and budget cuts, in charge of Dane County's water quality.

Marklein said he put forward the measure at the behest of developers but claimed he couldn't recall their names.

My question is why is Senator Marklein spending so much time on Dane County when he should be concerned with his own district?

Under the plan, The DNR would have to approve or reject any applications to revise the plan within 90 days. Otherwise, the proposed changes would automatically be adopted.

Dane County is now the only county in the State of Wisconsin that is prohibited from providing local input to the DNR concerning the management and the health of our water resources. Instead, under this motion the GOP allows other undefined entities, including those outside of Wisconsin, to provide input on Dane County’s water quality issues.

Criminalizing the Poor

People in need of temporary assistance have been under attack in Wisconsin for the past four years. The pattern of criminalizing our poor neighbors, family and friends across Wisconsin rather than providing the support and protections of basic humanity is egregious and continued in the Capitol as three awful bills were debated in the Assembly Committee on Public Benefit Reform. I would not be who I am today without the assistance provided by free lunches, food stamps, and other supports.

I am vehemently against the latest wave of extreme hateful legislation by the GOP. A quick rundown of these bills:

Assembly Bill 177: Limits the foods that may be purchased under FoodShare. This bill has huge unintended consequences, limiting even the types of cheese that can be purchased! We must stop treating those who are trying to better themselves as criminals.

Assembly Bill 191: This bill requires drug testing and treatment to be eligible for certain benefits. While this is also in the budget, the Republicans are trying to make sure this is passed one way or another. Other states have shown that laws such as this are not only unconstitutional, they are also ineffective. Florida has shown less than 3% drug use for their extremely expensive program.

Assembly Bill 192: Similar to AB191, this bill would require a drug test in order to receive unemployment insurance. Again, this micromanaging of people takes our focus away from job creation, instead choosing to demonize job seekers.

UBER Bill Signed in the Dark of Night

Safety in our communities must be a legislative priority. That is why I was so disappointed to learn that Governor Walker signed AB 143, which allows Uber and other ridesharing companies operate in Wisconsin without local oversight, late Friday night.

This bill supersedes city ordinances, like the one Madison's Common Council passed in April, which would require companies like Uber and Lyft to follow the same rules as cab companies.

As a former Dane County Board Supervisor, I know that our local government's work and they understand the unique needs of each community. They should be the one's regulating these companies.

There are ways to create more oversight to make our communities feel safe. However, I am very concerned that we continue to do things in the dark of night. The GOP continues to push things through quickly without taking into account what is right for our people.

After two reported assaults by Uber drivers in the past few weeks, I am extremely disappointed that the Governor didn't even consider holding off on signing this bill until safety concerns were addressed.

I thank my colleague, Rep. Lisa Subeck, for her strong leadership on this issue.
 

FoodShare under attack
 

While all these increased penalties may indicate a widespread issue of fraud, the evidence suggests otherwise. An audit conducted by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Audit Bureau reviewed UI overpayments and found that almost 90% of all erroneous UI benefits paid by DWD (called "overpayments") were caused by unintentional mistakes in the claims process by the claimant, not by intentional fraud (concealment).

Governor Walker should be focusing on creating jobs rather than attacking those who are mired in a economy that is failing due to his policies.

Growth of Poverty Wage Jobs

The freedom and opportunity provided by an increase in access to family-sustaining jobs and quality health care would benefit our entire society from top to bottom. A recent report by Citizen Action Wisconsin shows that the combination of the growing number of poverty wage jobs with no health benefits and Governor Walker’s continued rejection of federal Medicaid expansion dollars for BadgerCare are already having a major fiscal impact on the state budget, which will grow worse for the foreseeable future.

The number of Wisconsin workers eligible for BadgerCare and who work for large poverty wage employers has increased by 8% over the last year, according to data released last week by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Highly profitable corporations such as Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Kwik Trip and Target now have more employees on BadgerCare than they did in 2013. New federal data released last week shows that Medicaid enrollment in Wisconsin has increased more than 6.8% over the last year.

The Republican's failure to create family-supporting jobs is clearly one of the main drivers behind this increase in BadgerCare enrollment. The two fastest growing occupations in Wisconsin are retail and fast food jobs. Recent reports from the UW-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty and the UW-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development confirm that poverty wage jobs are the major source of job growth in Wisconsin, and that poverty continues to increase even as more of these jobs are created.

The disturbing growth in poverty wage jobs is making the fiscal impact of Governor Walker’s decision to reject enhanced federal dollars for BadgerCare even worse. This is because Wisconsin is needlessly paying 40 cents on the dollar for many BadgerCare enrollees who could be entirely paid for with federal dollars. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates each individual on BadgerCare not covered with the enhanced federal funding Walker rejected costs Wisconsin $4,596 per year. According to the most recent estimate, the decision to reject enhanced federal Medicaid dollars will cost the state $345 million in the next budget, unless the Legislature reverses it.

Governor Walker's policies continue needlessly denying affordable health care to tens of thousands, shrinking the middle class, and leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table that could be used to support education, long term care, and other vital investments needed to expand opportunity.

Teacher Appreciation Week

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