Representative Subeck Criticizes Assembly Republicans for Choosing Petty Partisan Politics over Public Safety and Justice for Sexual Assault Victims

MADISON – Representative Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) released the following statement regarding today’s decision by Assembly Republicans to ignore the pleas of sexual assault survivors and advocates, law enforcement professionals, and medical personnel to pass Senate Bill 200 (AB 214/SB 200), a bill already passed by the Senate and supported through co-sponsorship by a majority of Assembly members. Instead, Republicans advanced Assembly Bill 844, a politically divisive omnibus bill littered with poison pill provisions intended to derail the Attorney General’s efforts to prevent future backlogs of untested sexual assault kits.

“When sexual assault kits go untested, victims are denied justice, and perpetrators remain on the streets where they are free to rape again. Today, Republicans chose petty partisan politics over public safety and justice for survivors of sexual assault.

Instead of passing widely supported, bipartisan legislation to ensure timely testing of sexual assault kits and prevent future backlogs, Republicans opted for an omnibus bill that its own author described as a ‘grab bag’ drafted without input from victims, advocates, law enforcement, medical experts, or members of the Sexual Assault Response Team.

There is no doubt that the impractical, untenable, unfunded, and divisive bill passed today by Republicans was never intended to become law and serves only as a convenient partisan distraction from their own inaction on AB 214/SB 200.  AB 214/SB 200 has already passed by the Senate and is supported through co-sponsorship by a majority of Assembly members, virtually guaranteeing its passage meaning that if it were scheduled for a vote, it could almost immediately be signed by the Governor and enacted into law.

In their ridiculous quest to block any so-called victories on the part of the administration, Republicans have thrown survivors of sexual assault under the bus. Today, Republicans chose to hold public safety and justice for victims of sexual assault hostage in the name of their own partisan political gain.”

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