February was an extremely busy month at the Capitol as the Assembly met for the final floor period of the 21-22 legislative session. The last days of the floor period were dominated by issues that will serve as the GOP’s political talking points in the November election such as restricting, voting for people with disabilities, breaking up the Milwaukee School District, and providing school vouchers to all families regardless of income.
Governor Evers has called for a special session of the legislature on March 8th to take up his plan for Wisconsin’s record budget surplus of over $3 billion. The Governor’s plan includes a $150 tax refund for every Wisconsin resident, along with $130 million for child and caregiver tax credits and $750 million for public education. The GOP will not allow a debate or vote on these proposals.
One measure that passed and addressed an actual problem was funding to build a new youth prison in Milwaukee. This would allow the closing of the Lincoln Hills facility in northern Wisconsin. This very troubled institution was slated to close one year ago.
Workforce Challenges: Another area where Republicans failed to effectively address an important issue was their package of employment bills that were presumably an attempt to address a “labor shortage.” Included in the package were new drug testing and work requirements for FoodShare programs that have previously been found to be illegal and impractical. The most drastic proposals, however, were focused on changes to the state’s unemployment insurance laws.
These proposals, fashioned by a new far-right Wisconsin “think tank”, Institute for Government Reform, would reduce the number of weeks allowed for UI benefits and require many more bureaucratic hoops for applicants and employers. Wisconsin already has one of the lowest rates of qualified applicants for UI in the nation.
These “get tough on workers” policies fail to address the cause of Wisconsin’s workforce shortage. Driving this shortage is the lowest unemployment rate in history and a wave of older workers retiring faster than new workers entering the workforce.
Rather than using punitive measures to solve this problem, my Democratic colleagues and I introduced amendments to these bills that would make Wisconsin a more attractive place for new workers to relocate to. Our proposals included items that would attract new workers like better access to affordable healthcare, childcare, and broadband. Not surprisingly our amendments were rejected by the Republican majority.
Education: The Governor has proposed using about 20% of the budget surplus to increase funding to K-12 schools ($750 million) and a lower amount to the UW system. In the budget period, the GOP cut the Governor’s funding proposal for schools by $1.4 billion. The Governor has sought to replace half of that amount.
The majority party has refused to engage in any meaningful discussion of funding our public schools and instead has attempted to enact measures that would badly weaken them such as a voucher system for all incomes. There is no question that if this were enacted it would devastate many school districts.
While Democrats focused on addressing these long-term funding issues, the GOP has decided that they would rather score points by micro-managing classroom discussions on American history through their newest wedge issue, “critical race theory.” Their other major issue in regard to education is to prevent trans-gender kids from participating in competitive sports. (Note: There is not one instance of this happening in the entire state.)
These proposals are little more than election-year stunts and fail to address the challenges faced by many students in underserved school districts such as high racial disparities in educational achievement, old and overcrowded schools, teacher shortages, etc. I hope that we will not revisit these divisive issues and instead focus on how we can responsibly use our budget surplus to benefit our schools and taxpayers.
Elections: Republicans seem to disagree amongst themselves on the best way to manage the very loud minority in their party who are still pushing unproven conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. However, that has not stopped them from using the uproar from the “fringe right” to push legislation that limits Wisconsinites' access to the ballot box.
In February’s final session, Republicans passed new requirements for using an absentee ballot and to limit local election officials' control over managing election operations such as completing addresses on absentee ballots. They also proposed a new constitutional amendment that would add voter ID laws to The Wisconsin State Constitution.
By reducing options for absentee ballots and vilifying local election officials in cities like Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay, Republicans are continuing a decades-long strategy of making it harder to vote for people of color and those who live in metropolitan areas who typically vote for Democrats.
New Committee Assignment
With the end of the term looming, there was a rush by Republican leaders to push bills through the committee and get them to the floor before the session ended. That rush meant that I spent much of the month running from one committee meeting to the next with many of the committee meetings overlapping.
In addition to my current committee assignments, February marked my appointment to the Special Committee on Trade and Supply Chain. This special committee is focusing on the impact of workforce shortages and supply chain interruptions for businesses and consumers.
Supreme Court Chooses the Evers’s Map in Redistricting Case
On March 3rd, the Wisconsin Supreme Court handed down a 4-3 decision in the State’s redistricting case, ruling in favor of maps proposed by Governor Evers. Although the decision is a small step in the right direction and favorable to the prospect of my re-election, I believe the underlying reasons for the decision are wrong.
First, the decision affirms the undemocratic maps drawn by the GOP in 2010. The "Evers" map was submitted in order to meet the “least change” criteria that the court had established as their measure for deciding the case. In other words, the court chose Evers’ map because it would move the fewest number of people from their current legislative districts. Republicans established these districts in 2010 to maximize their advantage.
Second, the decision further legitimizes the practice of politicians drawing maps. While I am pleased that the court rejected the maps proposed by the GOP that would have further gerrymandered our legislative districts, it is imperative that we establish a non-partisan commission to draw legislative maps.
Our current legislative map has resulted in a Republican-led legislature, which had no incentive or interest in addressing the issues supported by the majority of Wisconsinites.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal has produced interactive maps that allow you to compare current districts to the Evers proposed districts.
Current District 48 Map:
New District 48 Map:
State of the State
On February 15th Governor Tony Evers delivered his State of the State Address. Governor Evers used his address to highlight Wisconsin’s remarkable economic recovery from the pandemic and to call for a special session to address his plan to redistribute a portion of the state’s record $3.8 billion budget surplus.
My special guest for the event was Andrea Romer, a resident of District 48. Ms. Romer is Critical Care and ICU nurse at UW Hospitals’ Trauma Life Center where she served on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Romer has also been active in the fight by UW’s hospital staff to have their collective bargaining rights restored.
Blue Books Still Available
State of Wisconsin Blue Books 2021-22 are still available please completethis form on my website to get yours.
2/25/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 1068 Relating to: automatic voter registration, deceptive election practices, voter intimidation and suppression, voter rights, polling place posting and language requirements, election manual requirements, granting rule-making authority, and providing a penalty. (FE)
2/25/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 1069 Relating to: counting individuals confined in state prison to determine population for redistricting purposes. (FE)
2/25/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 1070 Relating to: establishing a plan to register qualified electors who are detained in jail and to allow the electors to vote while detained.
2/25/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 1071 Relating to: restoring the right to vote to certain persons barred from voting as a result of a felony conviction, changing the information required on voter registration forms, and changing voting procedure for certain persons who are convicted of felonies. (FE)
2/17/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 1053 Relating to: online clearinghouse of information for small businesses in Wisconsin. (FE)
2/17/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 1049 Relating to: phasing out parental choice programs and the Special Needs Scholarship Program, repealing the achievement gap reduction program and the student achievement guarantee program, creating a new student achievement guarantee program, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)
2/17/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 1055 Relating to: grants to technical college districts for nurse aide training, special education funding, and making an appropriation. (FE)
2/16/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 1013 Relating to: the additional child and dependent care tax credit, a rebate for individual residents, and a family caregiver tax credit; various changes to statutes related to elementary and secondary education in this state; increasing funding for the University of Wisconsin System, technical college system, special education, general equalization aids, and per pupil aid; granting rule-making authority; and making an appropriation. (FE)
2/15/2022: 2021 Assembly Resolution 28 Relating to: withdrawing authorization of Wisconsin State Assembly partisan election review efforts.
2/15/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 990 Relating to: an increase in county and municipal aid. (FE)
2/3/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 958 Relating to: going armed at a polling place and providing a penalty.
2/2/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 955 Relating to: hazard pay, paid medical leave, and health coverage for frontline health care workers, eligibility expansion under the Medical Assistance program, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)
2/2/2022: 2021 Assembly Bill 952 Relating to: mental health consultation program and making an appropriation. (FE)
My Committees
Committee on Local Government
Committee on Regulatory Licensing Reform
Committee on Rules
Committee on Science, Technology, and Broadband
Committee on Small Business Development
Committee on Information Policy and Technology
Special Committee on Trade and Supply Chain
If you have any questions or concerns related to state policies and practices please contact me by email or by phone.
Rep. Samba Baldeh State Capitol, Room #11 North PO Box 8952 Madison, WI 53708 Toll-Free (888) 534-0048 or (608) 266-0360 Rep.Baldeh@legis.wi.gov| |
