Dear Friends and Neighbors,
This week, we celebrate World Breastfeeding week, and I am proud to be
the author of a bill to ensure new moms have the workplace breastfeeding
accommodations they need to make the healthy choice of breastfeeding
their babies while providing economic sustainability for their families.
Also this week, Senator Lena Taylor and I introduced a bill that would
prohibit the practice of shackling incarcerated women during childbirth
and would provide incarcerated new mothers with needed maternal health
services and equipment for pumping breast milk.
In this week’s newsletter, you will find a link to a special video we
put together for World Breastfeeding Week, more information about our
anti-shackling bill, an update on the healthcare debate in Washington,
and information on what we now know about the proposed Foxconn facility
in southeastern Wisconsin.
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
Healthy Babies, Working Mothers Video for World Breastfeeding Week
This
week Representative Joan Ballweg (R-Markesan), Senator LaTonya Johnson
(D-Milwaukee) and I released a video in which Wisconsin moms share their
experiences returning to work while breastfeeding to promote our
proposed Healthy Babies, Working Mothers Act (AB 193/SB 147). Click on
the picture to the left to view the video.
The video highlights the importance
of breastfeeding accommodations in the workplace and the need for the
Healthy Babies, Working Mothers Act. Our bill would ensure new moms have
the space and time needed to pump breast milk when they return to work.
The bill also ensures new mothers can maintain their healthcare coverage
by counting any unpaid breaks for the purpose of breastfeeding or
pumping milk toward any minimum hours required for health care
eligibility.
Time
to End Shackling of Incarcerated Women During Childbirth
On Monday, Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) and I introduced a bill to
end the shackling of pregnant women while incarcerated. Since 2011, at
least 40 women in Wisconsin have been shackled while giving birth.
Shackling includes the use of belly-chains, which tie a woman’s wrists
to her waist and iron shackles on her legs. It is hard to believe there
is any medical or security rationale behind shackling women during
childbirth.
Federal agencies and 18 states have policies which prohibit or restrict
shackling pregnant women. The bill also provides for maternal support
services, which have been shown to reduce the need for costly medical
interventions such as caesarean sections, and support for pumping breast
milk. Additionally, the bill expands screening for STIs, which can
prevent mother-to-child transmissions through early detection and
treatment. These measures will improve health outcomes for both mother
and child and create savings for taxpayers.
No woman should suffer the indignity and the potential physical and
mental harm to herself and her infant of giving birth while shackled. It
is shameful that this practice is still commonplace in Wisconsin’s
prisons. Every new mother should have access to critical maternal health
care, no matter where her baby is born. Our legislation would protect
new mothers who are incarcerated from the harm of being shackled during
childbirth.
Click
here to view a copy of the bill.
Foxconn
My office has begun receiving calls and emails regarding the
announcement that the Governor has proposed $3 billion in tax incentives
for a manufacturing plant to be built by Foxconn in southeastern
Wisconsin. We have just received details of the proposal, which appears
to be on the fast track. As I review the details, I am approaching the
bill with a healthy dose of skepticism and proceeding with caution.
The lure of new jobs is always appealing, and given the failure of
Governor Walker and his failed jobs agency to meet their job creation
promises, it is no surprise that they have put this deal on the fast
track in an attempt to avoid scrutiny. The Governor has claimed that the
facility, located near the Illinois border, could employ up to 13,000
people. With an unprecedented corporate giveaway of $3 billion, that is
a cost to Wisconsin taxpayers of nearly a quarter of a million dollars
per job. The tax credits proposed for Foxconn would be paid to the
company, even if the company does not pay any taxes at all.
While the proposed bill outlines the plan to give $3 billion in tax
credits, it does not contain any expectations for number of jobs or
wages paid, and there is no clear plan for holding the company
responsible for its promises. To be clear, Foxconn does not have a good
track record of delivering on its promises. The company promised a $30
million facility in Pennsylvania in 2013 that still has not been built,
and a promised investment in 2014 of up to $1 billion in Indonesia never
materialized. At the same time, Scott Walker’s economic development
agency (WEDC) has a long history of losing track of loans and not
holding companies accountable for meeting the job creation terms of
grants and loans. Yet WEDC, with its failed track record on job creation
and accountability, will be charged with monitoring and enforcement of
any agreed upon terms.
The proposed bill deal would also waive a number of environmental
protections, jeopardizing wetlands and water quality for years to come.
Foxconn would not be required to submit the same environmental impact
statements that anyone else would, and the proposal even makes changes
to the law regarding water diversion under the Great Lakes Compact.
These concerns and the fast track on which the bill is traveling raise
serious concerns. I am still analyzing the bill and materials provided
by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. As I already stated, I am currently
skeptical based on the information I have reviewed thus far.
On Thursday, August 3, the Assembly Committee on Jobs and the Economy
will hold a public hearing on the bill which has been introduced as
August 2017 Special Session Assembly Bill 1. If you wish to testify,
details are below:
Assembly Committee on Jobs and the Economy
Thursday, 8/3/17
State Capitol – Room 412 East
1:30 p.m. – Hearing will begin with invited testimony.
Approx. 4:30 p.m. – Public testimony will begin.
If you wish to attend and testify, you will need to complete a hearing
slip found outside of the hearing room. You may wish to complete a slip
early to minimize your wait time once public testimony begins.
Update:
Status of the Affordable Care Act
The US Senate engaged in a series of votes to repeal the Affordable Care
Act. One of the first proposals the Senate voted on and failed to pass
was the misnamed Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). Thanks to
Senator Tammy Baldwin, her Democratic colleagues, and nine Republicans
who broke ranks with their party, this legislation - which the
Congressional Budget Office confirmed would be devastating to America’s
health care system - failed.
Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell then tried to rally
Republicans around what was called a "skinny bill." In this case, the
bill consisted of portions of previous bills, including a repeal of the
individual and employer mandates and the medical device tax. The skinny
bill was defeated with all Democrats and three Republicans (Senators
McCain, Snowe, and Murkowski) voting against it.
The actions of President Trump and Senate Republicans have only served
to put our health insurance markets into disarray. After the Senate
voted down the skinny bill, President Trump threatened to stop
government payments to insurance companies to force the collapse of the
Affordable Care Act. If he were to follow through on his threat,
millions of people who purchase insurance privately without any
government assistance would face prohibitive increases in health
insurance rates.
The actions of the President and US Senate Republicans are nothing short
of reckless. Fortunately, a few were willing to break ranks with their
party and stand with Democrats to preserve health care access.
Legalize
Opportunity
Representative Melissa Sargent recently introduced a bill which would
legalize and regulate marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes
in our state. Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have
already passed laws that have legalized marijuana in some form.
Instead of criminalizing and demonizing the use of marijuana, we can
keep our communities safer by regulating its use and taxing its sale.
Wisconsin currently spends millions of taxpayer dollars arresting and
incarcerating non-violent individuals for marijuana possession, leaving
us with some of the worst racial disparities in the nation.
African-Americans are four times more likely to be arrested for
marijuana possession than Caucasians despite nearly identical usage
rates. In Madison, the ratio is a staggering twelve to one.
In addition to co-sponsoring this bill, I have also sponsored a bill to
legalize medical marijuana introduced earlier this year by Rep. Chris
Taylor. We can and should move forward with smart regulation to legalize
the use of marijuana.
Do
Your Homework for Back-to-School Shopping Success
It's back-to-school shopping season again! Each year this shopping event
seems to come earlier, and this summer is no exception. The shelves are
stocked and the newspaper inserts are hitting doorsteps. To make sure
you get your money's worth at the register, take these tips from the
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP)
along with your shopping list.
Follow these simple tips to ensure that you are charged correctly:
-
Before setting out for your
shopping run, review the advertisements for restrictions on
quantities, sale hours, returns and rain checks. Check store
policies on price matching to consolidate your run.
Write down prices or special sales while you shop to have a better
sense of the final total before you hit the register. Most pricing
errors occur on sale items.
-
Keep an eye on the display
screen while your items are being scanned. Speak up if you think you
have been overcharged for an item.
-
If there is a pricing error,
Wisconsin law requires that a store refund any overcharge. Work with
customer service to receive a refund while you are in the store.
Double check your receipt before you leave to ensure that the totals
are correct.
-
Report pricing errors to state
or local inspectors. To file a weights and measures complaint with
DATCP's Weights and Measures Bureau, send an e-mail to
datcpweightsandmeasures@wi.gov or call 608-224-4942.
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When you are finished shopping,
save your receipts and submit any rebates immediately.
Every year DATCP's Weights and
Measures team visits stores statewide to test for price accuracy, and
the results show that consumers pay correct prices at Wisconsin stores
an overwhelming majority of the time. In 2016, DATCP inspectors tested
more than 58,000 items for price accuracy and found that prices
registered accurately or in the consumers' favor nearly 99% of the time.
Even so, it doesn't hurt to keep these back-to-school shopping tips in
mind during this busy shopping season.
Fun
Wisconsin Fact
Ethwell “Eddy” Hanson was the composer of Wisconsin’s official state
waltz, "The Wisconsin Waltz.” This week marks the anniversary of his
birth on August 1, 1893. Hanson published his first piece of music at 17
and went on to write more than 300 musical pieces in his lifetime.
"The Wisconsin Waltz" was composed in 1951. The song was adopted as the
official state waltz in 2001. Hanson retired to Waupaca in the 1960s,
but he did not stop playing. He performed at supper clubs, often playing
the piano with one hand and the organ with the other before he died in
1986.
Click here to hear “The Wisconsin Waltz.”