This week's survey

Last month, in his State of the State address, Governor Evers called for a special session of the legislature to address the state's agriculture crisis. Assembly Republicans have introduced five bills to assist Wisconsin farmers.

Assembly Special Session Bill 6 would require DATCP to team up with the Wisconsin Economic Development Commission in the export-promotion effort, and to promote not just the dairy industry but meat and crop exports as well. The bill would spend $5 million, but not until the 2021-2023 budget cycle. 

Assembly Special Session Bill 7, proposed by Governor Evers, adds $600,000 to an existing program of promotional grants DATCP makes to dairy processing plants, and would require the department to favor small plants for the program. Assembly Republicans introduced an amendment that would cap eligibility for the program to processors of less than 50 million pounds of processed products, annually. With that ceiling, it would include all but a dozen dairy processing plants in the state.

Assembly Bill 873

Agriculture contributes $104.8 billion annually to Wisconsin's economy. Our 64,793 farms account for more than 150,000 of the state's jobs. Recognizing the consequentiality of the state's dairy industry, we drafted Assembly Bill 873.

Assembly Bill 873 will provide immediate tax relief to farmers in the form of a refundable income tax credit. The credit begins in tax year 2020, and sunsets after tax year 2022 and will equal two-thirds of the property tax levied on buildings and other improvements, excluding residential property, that are used exclusively for farming. 

The credit is capped at $7,500 each year to ensure that Wisconsin's small and medium-sized farms see the greatest benefit. In order to claim the credit, the farm must generate at least $35,000 in annual gross cash income from farming, ensuring that the credit is going to help those who are trying to make a living by farming. 

Assembly Bill 874

Assembly Bill 874 requires the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents to direct a study that includes examining and evaluating the following:

1. Funding and staffing levels for agricultural programs both on a system-wide basis and at each institution or college campus, including addressing current and historical data for total authorized faculty and research positions and, of these, the numbers of filled and vacant positions.
2. Current curriculum for agricultural programs, including certificate programs offered at institutions and college campuses, along with proposals for enhancing the curriculum. 
3. The financial, technical, and other problems that Wisconsin farmers currently face, along with proposals to solve or mitigate these problems. 
4. The study shall include all data considered in this evaluation and assessment and the data relied upon to support the study's conclusion. 

Assembly Bill 875

Assembly Bill 875 is a pivotal piece of legislation that will impact farmers directly. This bill allows farmers and individuals who are self-employed, the ability to deduct their health insurance from their taxes. 

Assembly Bill 875 lessens the limitations on a person's income tax deduction for health insurance payments made by those who are self-employed. This will help farmers since their jobs often require physical labor and is mentally exhausting with a growing rate of farmer suicide every day. Large farms and corporations are already able to do this. It is discriminatory to not allow small farms as well.

Assembly Bill 876

Assembly Bill 876 requires the University of Wisconsin-Madison to conduct a research study on developing a science and technology program specific to agriculture. To be clear, Assembly Bill 876 does not establish a new program. Rather, it directs a "research study," that will take into consideration everything agriculture-related, that is already housed within the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Under Assembly Bill 846, a final report would include findings, conclusions and recommendations, including potential curriculum that includes enhanced farm practices and coordination between the UW-Madison program and any agricultural program offered at another institution or college campus. 

Please, take a minute to answer this week's survey question regarding Wisconsin's agriculture crisis. 

Click here for my survey

Survey Results 

Thank you to everyone who responded to last week's survey question relating to regulatory updates relating to the Pharmacy Benefit Manager program. In total, 80 individuals answered, with 90 percent of respondents in support of the proposed regulatory updates relating to Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Conversely, just 4 percent of respondents opposed making these regulatory changes. Six percent of respondents answered "other." Responses include:

"Government regulation is destroying our economy and making it more difficult for individuals to obtain career--sustaining jobs."

"Requiring PBMs to jump through a bunch of new regulatory hoops is not going to lower their costs.

Assembly Floor Session

This week, the legislature had a marathon floor session where it approved legislation on a myriad of issues. The following represents an analysis of some of the most consequential bills approved by the Assembly, this week. 

 Assembly Bill 86: Town Municipal Judge Bond

Assembly Bill 86, one that I co-authored with Senator Duey Stroebel, was approved unanimously, via voice vote, during this week's floor session.

Last session, the legislature passed Act 51, which modernized official bonding requirements for municipal officials. The act made filing of an official bond permissive, not mandatory, as many municipalities already purchased employee dishonesty and other insurance coverages to protect against losses due to employee wrongdoing.

Act 51 created an ambiguity regarding the official bond requirements for town municipal judges. Assembly Bill 86 clarifies that the filing of an official bond for town municipal judges is optional, not obligatory. If the town board does not utilize an official bond, the town must obtain a dishonesty employee policy or other insurance coverage for the judge. This is akin to existing law for city and village municipal judge filing procedures.

Assembly Bill 222: Four Strikes Trailer

2017 Wisconsin Act 172 revoked the license of repeat drunk drivers that received four OWIs, or a combination of OWIs and OWI-related offenses such as homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. After ten years, individuals may apply for reinstatement of their license if they meet certain criteria and do not commit any traffic violations while on revocation. 

Assembly Bill 222 makes some technical fixes to Act 172. First, it clarifies that the provision would not be retroactive, but would apply for subsequent offenses after the fourth offense. The bill also removes confusing language regarding the 15-year look-back period that applies to the offense that would trigger revocation of driving privileges. Language in current law could be interpreted to mean that the third and fourth offenses had to happen within 15-years of each other to trigger revocation, regardless of subsequent offenses.

Assembly Bill 222 was approved unanimously, via voice vote.

Assembly Bill 444: Campus Free Speech

Campuses across the country have erupted in protest, including violent riots, as the growing debate over who has the right to speak threatens our nation's first amendment. This bill will protect free speech and ensure the free exchange of ideas at our institutions of higher learning. Too often across our state, we have seen viewpoints marginalized and attacked in both the UW System and our Wisconsin Technical College System. Disruption has led to a chilling effect on discourse. We can all agree to disagree respectfully but no one should feel that their voice cannot be heard, or that their viewpoint is going to be suppressed.

Assembly Bill 444 is a commitment to protect the freedom of expression on college campuses in order to encourage the broadening of thought and growth of ideas. This bill directs the Board of Regents to develop and adopt a policy on free expression, allowing students and faculty the freedom to express themselves as the first amendment permits. Additionally, the bill expands these protections to students who are enrolled in technical colleges.

The bill directs the Board of Regents and the Technical College System Board to implement disciplinary measures for anyone who engages in violent and disorderly conduct interfering with the free expression of others, while allowing a person whose rights have been violated to take action. Suppressing a viewpoint to ensure the protection of another stifles the growth of new thought. We must ensure that universities remain a place of openness and diversity for all opinions and viewpoints.

Assembly Bill 444 was approved 62-37.

Assembly Bill 480: Increased Penalties for Crimes Against Elder Persons

Assembly Bill 480 was one of four bills that came about from former Attorney General Brad Schimel's elder abuse task force. The bills were a good first step in protecting vulnerable adults from elder abuse. Assembly Bill 480:

• Increases the penalty for sexual assault on an elderly person from a Class C to Class B felony.
• Models physical abuse of elderly persons to that of physical abuse of a child.
• Allows a person of 60 years or older seeking a restraining order to appear in a hearing via telephone or video. 

Assembly Amendment 1: Under Wisconsin's current battery law, it is a Class H felony to intentionally cause bodily harm to another by conduct that creates a substantial risk of great bodily harm. If a victim is 62 years of age or older, there is a rebuttable presumption that the defendant's conduct created a substantial risk of great bodily harm. Assembly Amendment 1 repeals this presumption.

Assembly Amendment 2 makes the following changes to the bill's procedure for freezing assets:

• Clarifies the probable cause standard that applies at the hearing on the prosecutor's petition to freeze assets.
• Allows for an ex parte hearing on a prosecutor's petition to freeze assets, without any conditions.
• Clarifies that the rules of evidence do not apply in hearings for the freezing of assets.
• Requires that the court's order freezing assets be binding on financial institutions and any third party that is in possession of the assets.
• Removes the bill's procedure governing a petition for release of frozen assets and instead subjects such petitions to a procedure governing requests for the return of seized property under current law. 
• Clarifies that if the defendant is convicted of the underlying criminal charge, the court may order that the frozen assets be released only for the purpose of paying restitution.

Assembly Bill 480 was approved unanimously, via voice vote.

Assembly Bill 481: Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable Adults

Akin to the previous bill, Assembly Bill 481, was a product of the elder abuse task force. This bill:

• Allows financial service providers to delay transactions if a service provider suspects that financial exploitation of an adult has occurred or has been attempted, the financial service provider may, but is not required to, refuse or delay a financial transaction on an account of the vulnerable adult.
• The bill requires certain notice if a financial service provider refuses or delays a financial transaction under these circumstances and establishes certain time limits applicable to the refusal or delay of the financial transaction. 
• Provides a process for financial service providers to create a list of individuals that a vulnerable adult authorizes to be contacted if financial exploitation is suspected.

Assembly Bill 481 was approved unanimously, via voice vote. 

Assembly Bill 653: DOC Medication and Prescriptions

Assembly Bill 653, a bipartisan proposal I authored with Senator Alberta Darling, was approved unanimously, via voice vote, during this week's floor session. 

Typically, when inmates are released from a DOC facility, they are provided with two weeks of medication and a four-week prescription for any current medications. Assembly Bill 653 directs DOC to provide up to a six-week supply of initial medication and a six-week prescription to inmates upon their release. 

Based on conversations with DOC, Substitute Amendment 2 was drafted. According to the DOC pharmacy team, most medications are available in 30-day packages and federal regulations prevent the packs from being broken up and distributed in differing quantities. The substitute amendment adds clarifying language to account for the standard packaging of most DOC-administered prescription drugs. Product packaging for most medications is not available in six-week increments, so the amended language allows inmates to obtain an eight-week prescription upon release. Substitute amendment 2 simply doubles current DOC practice and inmates will be released with a four-week supply of medication and an eight-week prescription. 

Additionally, Substitute Amendment 2 provides more prescriber oversight of inmates' health and safety when determining medications. The amendment adds language to ensure that prescribers verify that all medications and quantities are not clinically appropriate for individual inmates. The DOC psychiatry team recommended this change, as not all medications should be prescribed in 60-day increments due to health concerns. 

Society wins when offenders are successfully released from prison and do not recidivate. According to DOC, 75 percent of its inmate population is taking some type of medication. Reentry to society is not easy, and lack of prescription medication for health issues can make it even harder.

Assembly Bill 653 had overwhelming bipartisan support and was approved unanimously, via voice vote.

Assembly Bill 734: Relating to Mail Theft

Assembly Bill 734 creates a penalty for individuals who steal several packages or items from porches and other locations near a residence. While the act of theft is currently in statutes, the act of stealing multiple items from multiple residences cannot be considered under the same charge. This bill clarifies that an individual can be charged under one crime for stealing property from one or more owners during a course of conduct. It further clarifies that theft of any package or piece of mail delivered by any carrier to any building would be charged as mail theft.

Federal statutes are unclear at best when addressing the crime of mail theft. They appear to only address packages or other mail delivered by USPS and left in an approved mail receptacle. It does not clearly address packages delivered by private delivery companies such as UPS, FedEx, DHL, or Amazon that are left on a porch or other location. 

It is important for Wisconsin statutes to keep up with the shift in consumer trends as more individuals are choosing to shop from home and have packages delivered to their homes. This bill addresses the continued growth of so-called "porch pirates" in Wisconsin. 

Assembly Bill 734 was approved 84-13.

Hometown Hero

I also had the opportunity to present a constituent, Keith Jenks of Port Washington, with a Hometown Hero award for his service in Operation Desert Storm. Thank you, Keith, for your service to our country. 

State of Wisconsin Blue Books

My office still has an abundance of 2019-2021 State of Wisconsin Blue Books. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, please click the following link. My staff and I will make it a priority to ensure that your copy arrives in a timely fashion.

Events

The following are events that will be held this week in the 60th Assembly District. If you have any upcoming events you would like included, please contact my office.

Port Washington Winter Market, February 15, Port Washington

46th Annual Winter Festival, February 15-16, Cedarburg

Friends of the Cedarburg Library Winter Boog Sale, February 14-16, Cedarburg

Willy Porter Live--Annual Advocates of Ozaukee County Benefit Concert, February 14, Cedarburg

Stay up to date

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