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Official Government
Communication
Week of Feb. 5th - 11th
Dear
Friend,
There is a
lot happening at the State Capitol and it is my hope that this email will
help you stay in touch with your government. As your Senator, I truly
believe in public service. If there is anything my office can do to
assist you, please feel free to contact us.
Here to
serve,
Sen. Lena
Taylor
4th
District
Judiciary
Passes Two Taylor Bills
 On Tuesday, the Judiciary committee
passed two bipartisan bills during executive session that I co-authored:
SB 344 and SB 652. SB 344 will make it so that someone under the age of
18 cannot be prosecuted for committing an act of prostitution. It also
eliminates the option for someone under the age of 18 to enter a consent
decree, or a deferred prosecution agreement if they had committed an act
of prostitution. This bill eliminates the unfair punishment of minors who
have been exploited under the current law, and offers more protection for
those who have been taken advantage of. The bill has the support of many
organizations including: Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Wisconsin
Association of Family & Children's Agencies, and Wisconsin Coalition
Against Sexual Assault. SB 652 will change
the grounds for an involuntary termination of parental rights based on a
child’s continuing need for protection or services (CHIPS). This bill
will remove the existing requirement of showing that there is a substantial
likelihood that a parent will fail to meet the conditions for safe return
of the child to the home. Instead, the bill requires that a petitioner
must show that if a child has been removed from the home under a CHIPS
order for less than 15 of the past 22 months, there is a substantial
likelihood that the parent will not meet the conditions established for
the safe return of the child to the home. This bill will provide a more
definitive standard, while also being more timely
for parents and establishing permanency for the child if appropriate.
During the public hearing I also voiced my support for SB 704, a
bipartisan piece of legislation that increases victim advocacy. The bill
will provide an additional layer of protection for victims of sexual assault
and domestic abuse by making changes to the address confidentiality
program that is administered by the Department of Justice. It is
important that those who have been attacked, or abused get the protection
they need so they can receive the justice that they deserve.
Recognizing
Black History Month
 The United States has recognized
black history annually since February 12, 1926, first as “Negro History
Week" and later as “Black History Month". The observance
was created by noted Harvard scholar and historian Dr. Carter C. Woodson,
who chose the month of February to honor the birthdays of both Frederick
Douglass (February 14) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12). Woodson felt
that these two men had done much to advance the cause of Africans in America.
Understanding the inception of the observance is the easy
part. The challenge remains in helping people, from within and
outside of the African-American community, and understanding the
continued significance and depth of this history. It is that history
that frames my work in the legislature and drives my commitment to build
upon the efforts of black men and women whose culture and contributions
are intimately woven into the fabric of American society. It is critical
to appreciate, both past and present, the long list of contributions of
so many who sacrificed, marched, supported, educated, and died so that we
could occupy the schools, positions, and homes that far too many take for
granted. Black History Month gives Wisconsinites, and the world, an occasion
to recognize the significant influence people of African heritage have
made, and continue to make, in the areas of medicine, art, politics,
human rights, education, sports, economic development; and so much
more. It is a reminder to actively seek out this history, share
your findings, and educate one another.
Sexual
Harassment in the UW-System
 Last week, multiple allegations of
sexual harassment against faculty at numerous universities within the
University of Wisconsin System were discovered. At UW-Green Bay, a swim
instructor was accused of forcing students to wear two-piece swimsuits.
UW-Oshkosh is currently investigating whether a teacher had a consensual
relationship with a student. These accusations have caused the UW system
to re-examine the amount of sexual assault cases on campuses across the
UW system, ultimately finding that at 13 4-year colleges and 13 two-year
colleges, there have been nearly 100 complaints of employee sexual
harassment that have been investigated since 2014.
College campuses are environments in which students should feel
safe and welcome. The disturbing number complaints of sexual harassment
destroys that environment. In order to foster such a welcoming space, we
have to work together as a community to put a stop to this harassment.
One of the key ways of doing so is creating a space in which victims feel
safe enough to report the crimes. The findings suggested that the sexual
harassment is underreported on campuses; if UW campuses want to put an
end to sexual harassment on their campuses, they must start by giving
victims the opportunity and freedom to report their crimes and not feel
alone in the process. In turn, these allegations cannot be ignored or
dismissed. They must be taken seriously if college campuses want to make
an environment in which students feel safe.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault,
call 800-656-HOPE or visit www.rainn.org for more information.
Lead
Water Issue in Wisconsin
 As this legislative session comes to
an end, I want to take a moment to highlight the public health issue of
lead in our drinking water here in Wisconsin, and the legislation that is
being made to correct it. As many in the Milwaukee area may know, lead lateral
pipes that connect water mains to homes are serious problem. In
Milwaukee, of 26,000 children under the age of six who were tested, 8.6%
were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood, which is nearly
double the 4.9% found in Flint during their water crisis. Though pocketed
areas in Milwaukee, such as Shorewood, where many homes were built before
1951—when plumbing laws changed to forbid the use of lead pipes—are
thought of the most, this is a state-wide issue. From 2012 to 2015, the
Environmental Protection Agency found that 81 water systems around the
state had elevated lead levels.
I introduced Senate Bill 48 in February of last year to provide for
municipal utilities to be able to give financial assistance to people who
know they are affected by lead in their water. This bill has had a long
fight through the legislature that continues today. I am fighting to have
it pass before session is over. I have also signed on to Assembly Bill
686, which would up the dollar amount the state DNR is able to provide as
a grant to individuals who apply in order to fix a contaminated private
well. Water purity is both a public health concern and a state-wide
issue. Individuals who receive water from a municipal water system, those
who rely on private wells for their family’s water are often in more
rural, isolated parts of our state and are not required to have well
water tested or purified. It is important that we do not forget to give
them the resources necessary to ensure their families access to safe water.
Foxconn
Set to Replace Workers with Automation
 On Tuesday this week, the business
community learned that Foxconn is set to replace roughly ten thousand
workers in a Taiwanese electric display factory by the end of 2018. The
move continues the company’s repeatedly stated desire to incorporate
robotic engineering and automation into their manufacturing processes.
The BBC has previously reported that, in its manufacturing plants across
southern China, Foxconn has replaced approximately 50,000 to 60,000
workers with automation in recent years. The latest factory to replace
thousands of workers with automated processes in Taiwan produced
electronic displays similar to what will be manufactured in its impending
Wisconsin plant.
Despite the incredibly valid concerns raised during the Foxconn
special session regarding providing protections for Wisconsin workers
against automation, the Governor failed to provide any. Foxconn
Technologies has for years been a proud proponent of incorporating
automation to the highest possible degree into its manufacturing
processes, and it has been very successful in doing so. Now there is
absolutely nothing stopping the company from automating the plant that
the Governor has gifted them 4.5 billion taxpayer dollars to build here.
So, the 13,000 jobs that would constituent Foxconn holding up their end
of the bargain may well not be around for long. The governor and
Republican lawmakers during Foxconn deliberations chose not to care about
this deeply troubling aspect of the deal, just like they chose not to
care that there is nothing stopping out-of-state works from Illinois
coming to fill the Foxconn jobs or about the company’s well-documented
history of human rights violations and abrupt layoffs. Instead, they
touted it as a bullet-proof, slam dunk for all of us. Hardly.
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