Special Session Update: Minute-Long Session Jeopardizes Health Care Expansion and Economic Recovery Funds

Legislative Republicans took less than a minute on Tuesday to gavel in and gavel out a special session called by Governor Evers to expand BadgerCare and invest $1 billion in related savings in dozens of important projects around the state.

Expanding BadgerCare would not only increase affordable healthcare access, but would also bring into the state an additional $1 billion in federal funding that we could invest in our economic recovery. Gov. Evers has offered a strong proposal for these funds, which includes broadband expansion, replacing lead laterals, cleaning up PFAS, fixing Wisconsin’s local roads and bridges, boosting urgently-needed mental health resources, and black women’s health and infant/maternal mortality grants. At a time when Wisconsin can least afford it, the Republicans’ refusal to expand BadgerCare means less access to healthcare and fewer financial resources to aid Wisconsin’s recovery from COVID-19.

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Budget Update

The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) met last week and rejected a $70 million proposal from Gov. Evers to combat homelessness. The Governor’s proposal would invest in affordable housing and support for homeless individuals and families to get them off the streets and into housing and and also provides critical support to our most vulnerable neighbors at risk of homelessness to keep them in their housing. Majority Republicans also cut $20 million in funding to ensure low-income Wisconsinites can pay their water bills.

This week, JFC Republicans voted to cut K-12 education funding in the budget to just 10% of what was proposed. This cut puts Wisconsin at risk of losing federal dollars for our kids

JFC Republicans also voted to keep general aids for the University of Wisconsin System flat and to raise tuition for in-state students and their families after 8 years of a tuition freeze. Like the Republican vote to cut K-12 funding put federal funding at risk, the decision to inadequately fund the UW System also jeopardizes additional federal funds.

It is clear that Republican leadership has no interest in investing in our state and helping Wisconsin families recover economically from the pandemic.

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Committee Update: Energy and Utilities Committee

On Tuesday, the Assembly Committee on Energy and Utilities held public hearings on two bills:

Assembly Bill (AB) 300 would allow a water meter replacement project to be exempt from the PSC certificate process if the project has an annual average cost of less than $250,000 or 25% of the utility’s operating revenues in the prior year, whichever is less.

This would our municipal utilities more efficiently complete small projects such as meter replacements without unnecessary bureaucracy or delays. The change would be especially helpful in our smaller, rural areas.

Assembly Bill (AB) 302 would impose deadlines for certain Public Service Commission actions after a water public utility or a combined water and sewer public utility submits an application for a certificate of authority and after a water public utility submits an application for approval of lead service line financial assistance.

This bill has been introduced following legislation passed last session that enabled our local utilities to tap into financial assistance to reduce the cost of replacing lead service lines on private property. Unfortunately, the approval process for projects utilizing this assistance has taken longer than necessary. Typically, the homeowner or property owner is responsible for the cost of replacing these lines that present significant health and safety risk, so the assistance we provide is vital to getting these lines replaced and reducing lead exposure to keep our children and families safe.

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Harmful Anti-Transgender Youth Bills Get Assembly Hearing

This week, two Senate and Assembly Committees held public hearings on a pair of harmful bills (AB 195 and 196) intended to keep transgender youth from participating in sports. These bills require public and private K-12 school, as well as UW System schools and technical colleges, to limit eligibility for sports teams based on sex as determined by a physician at birth, rather than allowing transgender youth to participate on teams on the basis of their gender identity. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA), the organization responsible for overseeing high school athletics, has expressed opposition to these bills.

These bills come as a wave of similar discriminatory legislation is introduced in states around the country. These bills are mean-spirited, unnecessary, and damaging to transgender children, who are just trying to be kids and live their lives.

Transgender kids are a small percentage of the population and are already more likely to feel isolated and stigmatized for who they are. These bills claim to address a so-called ‘problem’ where one doesn’t not exist. Sadly, Republicans are using transgender kids as a political pawn in order to motivate the extreme of their base.

As a former educator, I know that children learn and grow best when they are free to live as who they are, and not dread whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports. I believe every person should be treated with respect and dignity, and should be able to live without fear.

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Governor Evers Signs Bills

Last week, Governor Tony Evers signed sixteen bills into law, several of which I was proud to co-sponsor, including:

• Senate Bill 51, now Wisconsin Act 32, makes modifications to requirements for a newspaper to qualify to receive compensation for publishing legal notices.
• Senate Bill 52, now Wisconsin Act 33, requires that if a current officeholder files a notification of non-candidacy or fails to file a notification of candidacy by the required deadline, the clerk with whom the candidacy is required to be filed must publish it on the clerk's office or government body's website or post it in at least three locations in the jurisdiction.
• Senate Bill 102, now Wisconsin Act 34, allows a student who is 16 or 17 years old and enrolled in a home-based private educational program to serve as an election inspector.
• Senate Bill 112, now Wisconsin Act 37, specifies that if a court grants less than 25 percent of physical placement to one parent in a temporary or final order legal custody and physical placement of a child, specific findings of fact must be entered as to the reason greater physical placement with that parent is not in the best interest of the child; and reorganizes the statutory best-interest factors, removing two considerations, including the stability in placement and availability of childcare services, and specifies that the factors for consideration are not necessarily in order of importance.
• Assembly Bill 142, now Wisconsin Act 41, extends immunity for those reporting or investigating child abuse or neglect to any person assisting with medical examinations of a child or providing other assistance or information in an investigation or intervention.
• Assembly Bill 143, now Wisconsin Act 42, allows the Department of Children and Families to certify residential care centers for children in out-of-home care to operate as “qualified residential treatment programs” (QRTPs); makes requirements for permanency planning and review of the permanency plans for continued placement in a QRTP; and requires the court to make several findings when it issues an order placing a child in a QRTP, following a required assessment.

Click here to see all sixteen bills that Gov. Evers signed last week.

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COVID-19 Update

As of May 28, over 5.1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin, and nearly 2.8 million Wisconsinites have received at least one dose. Over 2.4 million residents have completed the vaccine series. Dane County leads the state in COVID-19 vaccination rate.

Public Health Madison & Dane County (PHMDC) recently announced that on June 2, all public health orders in the county will be lifted. This includes mask requirements, as well as gathering and capacity limits. Individual businesses and organizations may continue to choose to enforce their own policies. It is strongly recommended that school and youth settings continue to require masks in indoor settings, as outlined in the latest CDC guidance. While the orders will end, PHMDC will continue testing, contact tracing, and vaccination efforts.

PHMDC has COVID-19 vaccine appointments available. You can sign up here for a drive-through/walk-through appointment at the Alliant Energy Center if you have not yet been vaccinated. Everyone 12 and older is now eligible to receive the vaccine.

If you have not done so already, please schedule your vaccination appointment as soon as you are able. The Vaccine Assistance Hotline is available toll-free at 844-684-1064 for assistance with your vaccine-related questions. You can also text your zip code to 438829, or visit vaccine.gov to find a vaccine near you.

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DNR Free Fun Weekend June 5 and 6

On June 5 and 6, the Department of Natural Resources will host the 9^th annual Free Fun Weekend. All state parks, trails, and fishing will be open to the public at no cost. Parks will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. during these two days. Concessions will operate at 50% capacity, and there will be no use of adaptive rental equipment. There is no need for state park admission stickers, trail passes or fishing licenses for these two days. Click here to learn more about how you can enjoy our great state parks for free on June 5 and 6.

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Wisconsin Fun Fact

Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month

Golda Meir was born in present-day Ukraine in 1898. When she was young, her father moved to New York then to Milwaukee, working before he could afford move the rest of the family to the United States. Meir and the rest of her family came to the U.S. in 1906, and began working at age 8 at her family’s grocery store on the north side of Milwaukee. She attended college at what is now the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. After school, she married and moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1927. Meir was involved in politics throughout the 1930s and ‘40s. She signed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, and held a number of positions in Israeli government, such as Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Minister of Labor, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. She became the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, and served in that role until 1974. Meir passed away in 1978.

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