The Assembly met on Tuesday, November 3, to vote on a variety of bills, including a series of bills intended to improve the administration of the FoodShare program, through which Wisconsin administers the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which used to be called the Food Stamp Program.  While the state and federal government share the costs of administering SNAP, the benefits themselves are federally funded.

SNAP participants are issued a Quest card, which they use like a debit card to purchase food.  Money is added to participants' account on a monthly basis.  An unused amount from one month may be carried forward, up to a year.  However, large balances sitting idle in an account for an extended time create opportunities for fraud, and federal SNAP guidelines allow states to move inactive accounts offline after a number of months and eventually expunge them altogether.  Assembly Bill 188 incorporates those guidelines into state law, moving an account offline after six months and expunging it after a year if it remains inactive.  The Department of Health Services (DHS), which administers the FoodShare program, would be required to notify an affected individual or household before it moves the account offline, and the participant may ask to have the balance restored so he or she can resume using the Quest card.

Assembly Bill 200, as amended by Assembly Substitute Amendment 2, addresses the issue of lost Quest cards, which can open doors to fraud or benefits trafficking.  While federal regulations require states to replace lost, missing, or damaged Quest cards when notified by the FoodShare participant, federal regulations also allow states to request an explanation if a household has requested an excessive number of replacements within a 12-month period.  AB 400 provides that four lost cards is excessive; at that point, DHS will include with the replacement card a notice that further requests could be referred to the department's inspector general.  A fifth request would trigger a referral to the inspector general's office, plus an additional notice that a sixth request for a replacement will require the participant to contact DHS directly and explain why so many replacements were necessary.  If on the sixth request an explanation is not provided or is unsatisfactory, DHS will conduct an investigation; if the explanation is satisfactory, DHS will issue the card but also provide information on the card's proper use.  The idea behind this bill is to encourage FoodShare participants to keep better track of their original cards and to discourage abuses of the system.

Assembly Bill 222 requires DHS to submit an implementation plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service that outlines a proposal to include photographs of FoodShare participants on their Quest cards.  This would add an additional layer of security to the FoodShare process.  The implementation plan would have to address issues a proposal like this may entail, such as civil rights issues and how to allow a participant's authorized representative to use the card.  If the Food and Nutrition Service approves the plan, DHS would still have to submit its proposal to the Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance for final approval in order to begin creating the new cards.

The Assembly also passed two bills concerning the unemployment insurance (UI) program.  One bill, Assembly Bill 416, makes a number of changes approved by the Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council, which is made up of an equal number of management and labor representatives.  Some of these changes were required by the U.S. Department of Labor, while another brings Wisconsin's work share laws into line with that of the other states that offer such a program.  The other bill, Assembly Bill 212, provides that if a person obtains UI benefits through an act of concealment or impersonation, that person will not only be penalized as under current law, but if he or she does it again in a subsequent benefit year, he or she will be ineligible for benefits for seven years.  Assembly Amendment 4 to AB 212 provides that the Department of Workforce Development must waive this penalty if imposing it would jeopardize federal funding for the UI program or federal tax credits for employers.  According to the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, although UI overpayments due to intentional fraud made up only 9.5% of overpayment cases in Wisconsin, fiscal years 2011-2012 through 2013-2014, those cases accounted for 51.4% of overpayment dollars - $86.3 million.

I supported all of these bills, and they have been forwarded to the Senate for further consideration.

Other Legislative Activity

As I mentioned in an earlier E-Update, the Assembly passed bills that reform Wisconsin's campaign finance laws and the Government Accountability Board, Assembly Bills 387 and 388, respectively.  Over the past few weeks, the Senate has been looking at these bills and contemplating possible amendments.  They are meeting in extraordinary session today to vote on those amendments, and the Assembly currently plans to meet November 16 to vote on the Senate amendments.  As always, you may follow the Legislature's activities through WisconsinEye or WisPolitics' Quorum Call blog.

This week, the Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance met to consider the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's request to release $200 million in contingency bonding provided for in the 2015-2017 state budget.  The total amount of bonding provided for in the budget was $350 million, with $200 million to be approved for fiscal year 2015-2016 and the remaining $150 million to be approved for fiscal year 2016-2017.  However, the committee ultimately voted to approve all $350 million at once, although the actual amount made available for DOT's use in each year of the biennium would still be split 200/150.

I am of two minds about the finance committee's actions.  While I recognize the importance of making sure that significant road projects are not unduly delayed, because delays can have major impacts on Wisconsin's economy, I am not always confident that DOT identifies and prioritizes its projects wisely.  Granted, I'm not a highway engineer, but it sometimes seems to me that a lot of money is spent on roads that don't need it.  Maybe it's a case of spending now to avoid spending even more later on, but in any case we need to be sure that Wisconsin taxpayers, who ultimately foot the bill, are getting the most bang for their buck.

You may follow the finance committee's actions through WisPolitics' Budget Blog.

My office still has copies of the 2015-2016 State of Wisconsin Blue Book for interested residents of the 67th Assembly District.   Please contact my office if you would like a complimentary Blue Book, and be sure to include your mailing address.