Tough on Crime Starts at the Courthouse

As a result of constitutional changes from the early 1980’s, judges may only impose bail or other monetary conditions of release to assure an individual appears in court. They are not able to consider other factors such as the need to protect members of the community or previous convictions of the accused. These conditions have set the stage for courts to set low bail for most defendants. As a result, violent repeat offenders have continued to victimize individuals in our communities while they are awaiting trial.

A Constitutional Amendment brought before the legislature would change these parameters to allow courts to consider other factors when setting bail for individuals accused of violent crimes. AJR 107 passed the Assembly floor recently, and I was proud to vote for it.

Here are a few other bills I was a part of to keep our communities safe:

AB 834: Relating to no-knock search warrants and certain expenditures of federal moneys by first class cities.

AB 836: Relating to technical college police academy programs.

AB 827: Relating to multiple acts of theft committed in concert and providing a penalty.

Supporting Our First Nations

Under current law, multiple entities are permitted to establish and operate charter schools. Out of all of the authorized entities, only tribal colleges are restricted to a specific number of schools. This bill will lift the cap on the number of independent charter schools a tribal college may authorize.

This piece of legislation, which I worked on with Senator Kooyenga, will eliminate the arbitrary cap on the number of schools that a tribal college can operate, and creates parity between tribal colleges and other authorizers of charter schools. This important change will expand school choice and educational opportunity across Wisconsin.

Adoption Bill Signed into Law

Great news! Adoptive children and their descendants will finally have access to the birth records of their birth parents after their passing. This will allow adopted children and their families to research family health history and family trees previously blocked by state law. I am proud to have authored this bipartisan legislation and know there will be many Wisconsin residents who will benefit from this change in law.