Progressive Thinking

Sen. Smith writes about the Americans with Disabilities Act, which sought to ensure that all Americans have access to public spaces by creating accommodations for those with disabilities.

MADISON - The definition of disability is a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses or activities. That definition covers many conditions that might be considered a disadvantage. Being limited by blindness or by using a wheelchair may be some of the first things that come to mind, but barriers are not just physical or visible and are sometimes hard to detect. Many people face barriers in their lives to access things others take for granted, and you may never know that person is right next to you.

July is Disability Pride Month, marking the anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Like other communities, disability advocacy groups struggled to gain the same freedoms the majority of us never think twice about. On March 12, 1990, sixty activists slipped out of their wheelchairs and crawled up the steps of the Capitol to demonstrate the need for fair access to public spaces.

This collective action was later dubbed the “Capitol Crawl.” Over 100 people were arrested for civil disobedience that day. It was a dramatic and effective demonstration which brought this issue to the attention of many, increasing the visibility of individuals with disabilities. These action of these activists spurred a solution that led to greater access to an independent life for those with abilities that may diverge from the norm.

The concept of Disability Pride is based around reworking negative narratives and biases which often affect our perceptions of those with disabilities. Disability Pride counters the social stigmas and ableism that pervades our society.

Instead, Disability Pride honors the contributions people with disabilities have made to our society. It breaks with the traditional perception of people with disabilities as shameful or burdensome and instead celebrates the incredible diversity of all that people are able to accomplish.

People are only considered to have disabilities because our society presumes a “normal” person is able to engage in certain activities. When someone is not able to engage in an activity others consider “normal,” they are considered to have a disability.

But what if we changed our physical spaces and our society to embrace the diversity of abilities each of us has? Once we look at ways of removing barriers that restrict life choices for people with disabilities, we can build a world in which we all have access to living our most independent life.

For instance, someone in a wheelchair wants access to a building but is unable to use stairs to access the entrance. Under the ADA, public buildings are constructed with ramps so those using wheelchairs can access those spaces. Or someone with a learning difficulty wants to live independently in their own home. While years ago the medical establishment would expect that person to live in a communal home, they now can access care which allows them to live independently and support themselves.

Even audiobooks can be viewed as a social intervention, giving folks access to media they’d otherwise be unable to access. After the ADA, many of these solutions are taken for granted, but before the law was passed it was not always so.

Like any freedoms, they come with costs and are always at risk. Recently, ballot drop boxes came under attack by election conspiracy theorists harnessing misinformation to call our elections into question. We’ve made tremendous strides in access to the polls for those with disabilities, from Braille ballots to curbside voting. The least we can do is ensure that people with disabilities, who just as much as any of us depend on our elected officials to represent them, have unrestricted access to the ballot box.

We must be vigilant in protecting everyone’s access to public accommodations, from restaurants to parks and schools to elections. After all, it was over two and a half centuries ago that our nation declared “All men are created equal.” That tenet should and must remain at the center of how we create and structure public policy.

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Gov. Evers signed the budget last week, exercising his partial veto to modify the most harmful provisions added by Republican legislators. Our lack of political compromise is driven by gerrymandering and the resulting lack of electoral accountability.

MADISON - The big news in Madison last week was the Governor signing the budget. The even bigger news was how he did it. The Governor put his veto pen to work on 51 areas of the budget. Most notable was his veto of the tax cuts for the wealthy that Republicans crammed in at the very end of the process. Governor Evers’ veto prevents Wisconsin from wasting a surplus, but many opportunities remain unaddressed and crises continue to loom.

The Governor plays two roles in the budget process; 1) he introduces a budget to the Legislature, 2) he signs the budget into law, vetoes it completely or tries to improve it through line-item vetoes. The line-item veto can’t fix something as fundamentally flawed as this budget, but it can remove terrible policies and add more funding if done creatively.

Governor Evers (D-Wisconsin) has introduced three budgets to the Republican-controlled Legislature. All three times, Republicans unilaterally rejected his budget, deciding to do it on their own. It’s not the smartest or most collaborative way to start a process in which the Governor gets the final say.

If Republicans invested half the effort into working with the Governor as they do working around him, they’d save themselves a lot of work, the taxpayers a lot of money and newspapers a lot of ink. It’s common practice now for Republicans to pass bills that split funding from policies for big-ticket items (as we saw in the shared revenue bill.) Republicans have also incorporated a process to retain funding through supplemental appropriations (a fancy way of saying hold back funding) so they can dole the money out as they choose. Through the last 4 ½ years, Republicans have consistently done everything possible to forego bipartisanship.

This year, Republicans plowed ahead once again and dropped a pile of garbage on the Governor’s desk. It was so bad even Republicans voted against it. I, like many others, hoped the Governor would veto the entire budget to impel Republicans to govern like adults instead of grudgingly undermining the Governor like children.

Politics can be petty, ugly and downright bizarre at times. But the opportunity to stand face to face with a person who is worlds apart from you philosophically and find solutions to a problem can spark something great. Our nation and state have accomplished great things when we’ve worked together.

Intense political pressure is usually the catalyst for legislators across the political spectrum to work together. It doesn’t happen often, but it can have a beautiful effect.

We’ve seen overwhelming public pressure for over a decade now, but nothing changes. What gives? Republicans took a year-long vacation during the pandemic. Meanwhile, worker shortages were and continue to be exacerbated by lack of child care options, and schools have been starved for funding so badly that their fates hinge on voters’ willingness to raise their own property taxes.

The core issue in our lack of political compromise is electoral accountability. I’ve no doubt Republicans safe in 70% and 80% Republican districts have no desire to work with a Democratic Governor. In last fall’s election, though, the majority of Wisconsinites overwhelmingly supported the Governor as well.

Republicans control 2/3 of the Senate districts and nearly 2/3 of the Assembly districts, mostly through a process we call “gerrymandering.” When district lines are changed to make very Democratic or very Republican districts, we all lose.

In this political tug-of-war between Legislative Republicans and our Democratic Governor, remember who cowers behind gerrymandered maps and who represents the will of the voters across the state. The truth about this budget is that Republicans made their bed. Governor Evers merely tucked them in.

There’s good news on the horizon. Starting this August, Republicans won’t have a majority of conservative Supreme Court Justices to serve as a backstop for their gerrymandered majorities in the Senate and Assembly. We should be encouraged that fair maps for our state could be one of the first things the new court takes up this fall.

New fair district maps would bring accountability back to government and help people sleep at night knowing compromise can happen no matter what political party controls the levers of power in Wisconsin.

###

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Last week, Republican members of the Wisconsin Legislature passed a budget that blows a massive hole in our state’s future budgets while including a tax giveaway for the wealthy.

MADISON - There are many ways to view the budget approved by the Republican majority last week: lost possibilities, squandered opportunities, tax breaks for the rich … take your pick.

Going into this spring I was genuinely excited by the possibilities before us. With a projected surplus totaling nearly $7 billion, we could have tackled challenges we weren’t financially able to in the past.

Democrats and Republicans agreed on raising shared revenue for all municipalities in a separate bill the week before, funded in the budget. Unfortunately there’s not much else to celebrate.

Republicans dominate the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) with 12 members compared to 4 Democratic members. The JFC controls what’s in the budget they send to the full Legislature for a vote. (A big thanks to those 4 members who valiantly argued for common-sense measures for working families.)

Knowing we had a record surplus to start with there were so many opportunities.

We could have invested in the Child Care Counts program, which buoyed the child care centers that parents depend on to nurture their children’s development and allow parents to work. Governor Evers proposed $340 million to keep funding Child Care Counts, but Republicans zeroed it out, telling working parents and child care providers alike that they would rather give tax breaks to the rich than invest in our kids and keep parents working.

Those fortunate enough to live near our western border can escape to Minnesota via the $400 million bridge funded in this budget. Let’s just hope those people come back.

There are plenty of reasons to cross that bridge. Minnesota recently repealed marijuana prohibition (another measure Republicans struck from Governor Evers’ budget). In the past year Minnesota also joined 15 other states with a paid family leave program like the one Governor Evers included in his budget.

We could have started a Paid Family Leave using a portion of the surplus. Future funding would come from a payroll deduction and become self-sustaining in just a couple years. Similar to Workers’ Compensation, it would have been insurance available in case of an unexpected illness or while caring for a family member. But JFC Republicans removed this provision as well.

For twenty-plus years we’ve heard the excuse that we couldn’t make public school funding equitable because we didn’t have the funds to lift the low-revenue districts to match high-revenue districts. We have the funds now, but instead of fixing the formula that has drained our public schools for 30 years, Republicans are celebrating funneling more funding into private voucher schools.

The biggest tax cut in state history will go toward padding the bank accounts of the very wealthiest Wisconsinites. If their plan survives the veto pen, Republicans get significantly closer to the flat tax scheme their wealthy friends are drooling about.

This tax cut reduced the number of tax brackets from four to three. The lowest rate (single workers earning less than $13,810) would be 3.50%, down from 3.54%. The middle two brackets (4.65% and 5.30%) will be combined ($13,810 to $304,170) and dropped to 4.40%, while anyone making over $304,170 will drop from 7.65% to 6.50%. Republicans call this a 15% drop for high-end earners and 17% for everyone else.

To put it another way, if you earn $30,000 to $40,000 a year you pay $32 less in taxes. If you earn $50,000 to $60,000 a year you pay $165 less. If you earn over $1,000,000 in a year you pay an average of $30,286 less.

This tax scheme blows a $2.471 billion hole in future budgets while failing to use that record $6.9 billion surplus for the benefit of all Badgers. Will you be able to use your $30 or even $200 to fix your road? Will that tax break they’re giving you change your life or even pay for one week of child care?

We could have done so much more if Republicans worked with the Governor. Republicans did the worst thing they could possibly do – they threw away opportunities and turned our hard-earned surplus into a deficit.

###

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Our friend Matt Rothschild does his last column of an illustrious career.

MADISON - If you want to know why private schools are getting such an influx of your tax dollars, just follow the money.

As Mike Buelow, our research director, reported here, three of the biggest backers of vouchers have spent $67 million in our elections since 2010 to buy the politicians they need:

School Voucher Backers Win Big with Evers, GOP Agreement

The wealthy and the powerful also got their servants in the Republican legislature to give them a big tax break, as I noted here:

GOP Budget Rewards the Rich

The flattening of our income tax code and the siphoning off of public money for private schools would appall our progressive forebearers in Wisconsin, who, 100 years ago, fought so hard for progressive taxation and public education.

And they’d also be appalled at all the outside money that’s still contaminating our politics today.

As Fighting Bob La Follette, one of my heroes, once wrote: “Democracy is a life, and involves continual struggle. It is only as those of every generation who love democracy resist with all their might the encroachments of its enemies that the ideals of representative government can even be nearly approximated.”

I know you’re a lover of democracy, as I am. And I know there are many people, one or two generations behind me, who are involved – creatively and energetically – in this struggle.

They give me hope.

And you give me hope.

And Law Forward gives me hope.

And Civic Media gives me hope.

And Justice-Elect Protasiewicz gives me hope.

Hope that we can make more real the ideals of representative democracy.

And so it is with optimism and gratitude – to you, to the amazing staff at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, to our board of directors, and to all of our supporters and all of our coalition partners – that I bid you adieu.

I’m retiring at the end of this week.

The search is under way, in earnest, for my successor, and I know there are several excellent candidates in that pool.

I have no doubt, whatsoever, that the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign will flourish in the years ahead.

And I’ll be cheering it on – and you on -- from the sidelines.

Thank you for reading these emails from me.

Thank you for supporting the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

And most of all, thank you for doing your part in the struggle for our democracy.

Wishing you all the best in the years ahead!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Senator Smith looks back on the history of the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equality under the law.

BRUNSWICK, WI - We are all familiar with Thomas Jefferson’s famous words from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These words, famous as they are, were aspirational when Jefferson wrote them. At that time, slavery was legal and accepted in America and women were not allowed to vote or participate in the economy as freely as men. Words mean nothing without the weight of law behind them.

Doing a little research into the difference between rights and law reminded me how fragile our way of life really is. So many fellow Americans have had to struggle to change laws so they could participate in society the way most of us take for granted. As we wrap up Pride Month, I want to take a look at the long history of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer+) rights movement in America and Wisconsin.

In 1924 activist Henry Gerber organized the Society for Human Rights in Chicago. Due to political pressures the society did not last long, but it is known as the oldest documented American gay rights organization on record in America. But early attempts to change perceptions and access the same rights as anyone else were thwarted by stigmas attached to sexual behaviors that seemed foreign to heterosexual adults.

The same “red scare” tactics used by Joe McCarthy in the 1950s were adapted to persecute the LGBT population. If anyone was outed as gay they could lose their job or their apartment. President Eisenhower even banned gay individuals from working for the federal government or its private contracting companies through executive order. It’s hard to believe that such discrimination could ever have been acceptable and legal in the United States.

Moving from the 1950s into the 1960s, the world remained an unwelcoming place for LGBTQ+ individuals. For years police harassed gay men and women because laws on the books criminalized their life choices. Engaging in “gay” behavior in public (kissing, dancing or even just holding hands with someone of the same sex) was still illegal.

To find refuge, LGBTQ+ individuals flocked to gay bars and clubs where they could express themselves openly and socialize without worry. However, authorities penalized and shut down establishments that served alcohol to known or even suspected LGBTQ+ individuals, arguing that the mere gathering of homosexuals was “disorderly.”

When police raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village the night of June 28, 1969 and began hauling patrons out to paddy wagons, it sparked an uprising. Police were caught off-guard; they had not met so much resistance in the past. But these decent citizens who were only able to be open about who they were in places like the Stonewall Inn had enough. Protests and violent clashes lasted for 6 days. It was this tipping point that sparked a groundswell of activism in the gay rights movement across the nation and the world.

Wisconsin has its own proud history of LGBTQ+ activism. Eight years before Stonewall in 1961, a group of men was bent on harassing patrons of the Black Nite Bar in Milwaukee. They were met with resistance and successfully kicked out of the bar. This incident has since been dubbed the “Black Nite Brawl” and “Milwaukee’s Stonewall.” In 1982, Wisconsin became the first state to pass a nondiscrimination law based on sexual orientation (although it’s important to note that Wisconsin still does not have a law preventing discrimination based on sexual identity.)

While Stonewall has been celebrated since 1969 as a turning point, there is still so much more to do. It is often said that it is our differences that make us a great nation. Accepting that we are all individuals, with our own individual backgrounds and desires, we can embrace that variety and build a vibrant and welcoming society.

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee have chosen to cut continued childcare funding from the 2023-25 state budget, a shortsighted move that will lessen productivity and hurt working families statewide.

BRUNSWICK, WI - As a father of two adult children, I remember the 2:00 AM feedings when my kids were babies. I wanted nothing more than to just sleep, but I’d stumble out of bed and do what it took to care for the crying baby.

On Sunday we celebrated Fathers’ Day, but around 1:00 AM on Thursday last week parents of young kids were probably too groggy to watch Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee gut the Child Care Counts program in the budget. That was the Father’s Day gift to Wisconsin families from Republicans.

Child Care Counts was the last lifeline for child care providers to stay open. This one terrible and senseless vote will make a really bad situation for kids go to worse.

The Child Care Counts program was born from a serious problem highlighted by the pandemic. Before COVID-19 hit Wisconsin, child care deserts were already forming. The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families classifies a child care desert as an area where there is no licensed child care provider or there are more than three children under the age of five for each licensed child care slot.

According to the Center for American Progress, 54% of Wisconsinites live in a child care desert. The problem is most prominent in rural communities. There are 1.3 million people in rural communities that coincide with a child care desert versus only 403,000 people in an urban child care desert.

Like many other things we saw as vulnerabilities, the pandemic turned the child care shortage into a full-blown crisis during the pandemic. Fortunately, our pre-existing child care desert problem was alleviated by the Child Care Counts program during the pandemic. It buoyed our crisis and kept our child care centers afloat. The program ran out of money in April of this year. Now child care providers are trying to make ends meet without the funding or the workers to make it happen.

Many people may think, “Well, I don’t have kids in daycare. Why should it matter to me?” Children’s success and our society’s success hinge on children ages 1-5 getting the care and education they need to thrive later in life. We all do better if our kids do better.

It’s not just about early childhood development. The worker shortage is directly related to the lack of affordable and accessible child care. You’ve probably noticed your favorite restaurants closing, or how long it takes to schedule a doctor appointment or other delays and shortages in our current economy. Lack of affordable and accessible child care has forced parents to drop out of the workforce in droves. In fact, according to Raising Wisconsin, a multi-partner coalition of child care advocates, the child care crisis before the pandemic forced Wisconsin to lose $1.9 billion in lost productivity, earnings and revenue.

Republicans throughout Wisconsin have been griping about the workforce shortage. Despite our lowest recorded unemployment rate of 2.4%, Republicans continue to beat up on people struggling to find work. At the same time, they’ve decided to axe the one program designed to keep parents in the workforce. Next time you hear Republicans complain about worker shortages, ask them why they are contributing to the problem instead of fixing it.

It’s well known that child care providers have been historically underpaid and the worker shortage has taken its toll on child care facilities. Most child care providers are paid less than convenience store clerks or fast food workers. Child care workers have moved on to better paying jobs. Without qualified child care workers there has been a corresponding decrease in child care openings. Less openings for kids means more parents need to drop out of the workforce to take care of the kids.

Our economy is very complex and rarely are there ever simple fixes. The Child Care Counts program was a very simple solution that would’ve made serious progress for our economy and society as a whole. It’s been said that nothing good happens after midnight. Cutting Child Care Counts in the early morning on Thursday last week was no exception to that rule.

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Sen. Smith writes about real solutions to our workforce shortage and policies that will attract workers to our state.

MADISON - During the Senate floor session last Wednesday, Republicans signed off on a set of unnecessary and punitive Assembly bills that create additional roadblocks for Wisconsin workers accessing unemployment, despite Wisconsin’s unemployment rate being at a historical low.

In fact, Republicans already passed legislation requiring applicants for unemployment to document their work search last year. That didn’t stop them from putting a referendum on the ballot this past spring asking if the voters favored a work requirement – after they’d already passed the legislation.

As we saw during the pandemic, unemployment insurance is an important tool to provide stability to those between jobs. It’s important to note that workers pay into the unemployment insurance program when they are employed. It’s not a “handout” that goes to those who choose not to work. Despite Republican efforts to paint hardworking Wisconsinites as “takers,” this is simply not the case.

Wisconsinites already participate in the workforce at one of the highest rates in the nation. In fact, we have a shortage of workers, as Wisconsinites are aging out of the workforce or moving out of the state.

In his biennial budget proposal, Governor Evers put forward many measures to address Wisconsin’s worker shortage. Evers’ budget proposal includes up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave – time Wisconsinites would be able to use to welcome a child to their family, to care for an ailing family member or to recover from a medical procedure or unexpected injury.

Lack of access to affordable child care is another barrier to entry in the workforce. Working parents lose less productivity when they can afford and depend on quality child care for their kids. The Child Care Counts program has been effective in helping child care centers stay open and affordable, but we must continue to provide this vital support so that parents can have access to quality and affordable child care.

Mothers still take on a majority of child care responsibilities despite younger generations of fathers taking on a more direct role. According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, if women in Wisconsin participated in the labor force at the same rate as countries with paid leave, there would be an estimated 22,000 more workers in the state with $758 million more in wages earned statewide.

By providing workers with paid family and medical leave and supporting our child care facilities, we address the root of our workforce shortage. The Republicans’ plans create more hoops to jump through in order for workers to access the unemployment insurance they have paid into.

Just last month across the Mississippi, Minnesota enacted legislation to guarantee workers paid family and medical leave starting in 2026. For border communities like many in Senate District 31, it’s troubling to think how western Wisconsin communities will suffer if the employment market in Minnesota provides better quality of life for workers.

We are losing young workers at an alarming rate as older workers age out of the workforce. Young Wisconsinites want action on issues like affordable healthcare (including mental health care), environmental protections, reproductive freedom and cannabis legalization.

Legislative Democrats will continue to champion real solutions to our workforce shortage and advocate for the quality-of-life issues that will attract workers to our state. We can build a more productive workforce, and I hope that my legislative colleagues are as committed as I am to that goal.

The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Sen. Smith celebrates June as dairy month by writing about our prominence in the nation’s cheese making industry, salutes dairy farmers and encourages everyone to attend one of the many dairy breakfasts throughout Wisconsin.

Eau Claire - If you have any doubts about our commitment to dairy consider the facts. To start with, June is Dairy Month in Wisconsin. Every weekend there are a number of dairy breakfasts around the state. You can check the list from the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin for a delicious breakfast near you. Typically hosted by a dairy farm you can learn a lot about what goes on at the farm and see plenty of neighbors.

While our state is a national leader in cranberry and potato production, dairy is still king in Wisconsin. Despite the loss of many farms in our state, we’ve still held on to the title of America’s Dairyland – and for good reason. We have over a million cows and almost 7,000 dairy farms in Wisconsin, which is more than any other state. Dairy alone accounts for $45.6 billion to our economy in Wisconsin. If these numbers didn’t convince you, the fact that Packer fans wear foam cheese hats to games is evidence enough that we take our title of America’s Dairyland very seriously.

While milk is an important part of any healthy diet, cheese rules. On average Americans consume 27 pounds of cheese each year. That’s a lot of cheese and 90% of our Wisconsin milk goes into cheese making. Everyone, it seems, loves their Mac & Cheese but you just can’t beat those squeaky fresh cheese curds. You can pick up your favorite cheese curd flavors directly from the creameries spread throughout western Wisconsin, but be sure to stop in Ellsworth, the cheese curd capital of the world. If you’re like me you can’t resist a quick stop.

It all starts with fresh milk from healthy cows, but there are so many hardworking professionals that go to work every day so you can enjoy the best dairy products in the country. From our dedicated farmers and milk haulers to the technicians and cheesemakers of Wisconsin – we celebrate them and their work during Dairy Month!

Year after year, Wisconsin cheesemakers prove their products are incomparable. From Colby to cheddar; from Gouda to asiago; from string cheese to cheese curds, we’re spoiled here with the best tasting cheeses in the world. With over 1,200 licensed cheesemakers producing over 600 types of cheeses, we have almost twice as many cheese choices than any other state. Wisconsin is proudly the home of world champion cheesemakers year after year. Our cheesemakers produce 26% of the cheese consumed in America, which amounted to 3.39 billion pounds in 2020.

Our cheesemakers export their products around the world with the leading importers of our dairy products being Canada, China and Japan. Okay, maybe the deep-fried cheese curds aren’t the healthiest food, but you can’t beat that very special treat to share with friends.

Don’t just take it from me – athletes can also vouch for Wisconsin dairy. Fun fact: chocolate milk is a proven best source for sport recovery. In fact, studies conducted in high school sports camps found that athletes drinking chocolate milk saw greater improvement in their performance over those who drank a sugary sports drink. It appears chocolate milk is not just for fun and flavor.

Dairy breakfasts are more than just about the food. It’s about learning where our milk comes from. As visitors tromp around the grounds, they’re able to take hay rides, examine the latest equipment and even watch demonstrations. Of course, the animals are often the main attraction for young kids.

Dairy breakfasts have proven to be extremely successful over the years. Host families take time out during a very busy time of year to make it a memorable experience for every visitor. Show your appreciation for our farmers and members of Wisconsin’s agricultural industry by visiting a dairy breakfast this June and don’t be shy about showing off your cheesehead. Find your nearest dairy breakfast and bring the family out this month to enjoy some live music, farm activities and the best breakfast you could ask for.

Matt finally gets to testify on State's revenue-sharing bill.

MADISON - Last week, I went to a hearing at the State Capitol on the revenue-sharing bill.

I got there a good fifteen minutes before the hearing was to start, and I was one of the first to fill out the form that I wanted to testify about the bill.

The meeting started at 9:00 a.m. By 10:00 a.m., the sponsors of the bill had testified. By 11:00 a.m., a lot of local officials had already testified. By noon, still more. By 1:00 p.m., there were only a few people left to testify. By 1:45 p.m., there was only one person left to testify: Me!

If Committee Chair Dan Knodl thought he could wait me out, he was dead wrong. Here’s the testimony I waited so long to give:

Don’t Abridge Our Right to Petition Our Government!

Speaking of Knodl, we’ve completed our first count of the cost of the special election he won in April when he narrowly defeated Jodi Habush Sinykin. If you want to find out who the big donors in that one were, just click here:

Special Legislative Election Cost Nearly $3M

And here’s a tasty little item! The Milwaukee businessman who’s running the GOP Convention there next summer actually donated the max to Joe Biden last time around:

WI GOP Donor Heading 2024 Presidential Convention Also Gave to Biden

I hope you like these offerings, and I hope you have a nice weekend!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Illinois and Michigan have long been collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from Wisconsin residents who cross the border to purchase marijuana. Now Minnesota is poised to join them. Wisconsin needs to catch up.

MADISON - Wisconsin is in a rapidly-shrinking minority of states that have not legalized marijuana, one of only ten in the country.

Our immediate neighbors are way ahead of us. Illinois has generated $425 million in tax revenue from legal sales of marijuana, with an estimated $36 million coming directly from Wisconsin residents. Not only is the new source of funding benefiting Illinois as a whole, a portion of each dollar spent is being reinvested in communities that have been forced to do more with less.

While Michigan does not break down marijuana tax revenue by the buyer’s state of residence, Michigan collected $325 million in marijuana tax revenue overall. Dispensaries near the Wisconsin-Michigan border report about half their sales are to out-of-state customers. That tax revenue supplied $60 million to Michigan municipalities and counties in the past fiscal year and sent $70 million to both K-12 education and the Michigan Transportation Fund.

Minnesota will be the next to legalize recreational pot. Our neighbor to the west has had medical marijuana since 2014. As I write this column, both houses of the Minnesota Legislature have passed the bill to legalize recreational marijuana and the governor has pledged to sign it. This renders Wisconsin a desert island in the Great Lakes region, denied a safe and effective medicine, the tens of thousands of jobs the industry could create and a massive source of funding that could be used to improve communities here in Wisconsin.

Over two-thirds of Wisconsinites support marijuana legalization, according to an August 2022 Marquette Law School poll, yet the gerrymandered Republican majority won’t even hold a hearing on the subject.

Marijuana legalization would grow Wisconsin’s economy and help us recover from the fiscal turmoil of COVID-19. Governor Evers’ proposed budget taxes marijuana similarly to alcohol, and would generate an estimated $165 million in revenue. Close to $80 million from marijuana sales would be reinvested statewide through the Community Reinvestment Fund, with $34 million to support our smaller and more spread-out rural schools.

Legalizing marijuana is not only about the potential tax revenue. Marijuana would be a boon to Wisconsin’s agriculture industry. Many of our farmers are rapidly aging out of the workforce – the U.S. Census Bureau reports the average American farmer is 57 ½ years of age. It’s vital for our farm industry and land stewardship for young farmers to have new opportunities to grow with this new and lucrative crop.

It’s hard for our kids and grandkids to consider farming a viable career and a thriving lifestyle while we are stuck in the past. In states that have legalized recreational marijuana, new opportunities have attracted younger farmers to the growing and profitable industry of cultivating cannabis.

My colleague Senator Melissa Agard (D-Madison) often says the most dangerous thing about marijuana is that it’s illegal. I agree wholeheartedly, and throughout communities in my district I’ve seen cannabis prohibition does more harm than good.

Like other food, drug and alcohol products, our elected bodies determine what is legal and regulated. When we buy our food in a grocery store or alcoholic beverages in a tavern, consumers can be confident that they are buying products that have been approved and inspected for safe consumption. Marijuana legalization will create a safe product for consumers while opening doors for farmers and entrepreneurs to get involved in a well-regulated market.

There’s much to be said about the long-term health benefits of marijuana legalization. Those who use cannabis to treat chronic pain will have access to a medicine that, unlike opioids, does not lead to debilitating addiction. Those who use cannabis recreationally would be assured a safe and regulated product, free from poisonous additives.

Times and attitudes are changing, but still, the most dangerous thing about cannabis right now is that it’s illegal. Wisconsin needs to catch up to our neighboring states and create a safe market for marijuana. This plan makes sense – it’s about time the Wisconsin Legislature acts on it.

Wisconsin should take advantage of the same opportunities our neighbors have by legalizing cannabis. In doing so, we take a huge step toward modernizing our economy and strengthening our future.

****

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Last week, the Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously to raise the pay of public defenders and district attorneys. This step can help restore confidence in the Legislature’s ability to get the people’s work accomplished.

MADISON - In an environment where politics can be so disagreeable, it is nice to report something good coming out of the Capitol. Last week, taking a break from the vitriol to which we have become all-too accustomed, members of the Legislature came to a bipartisan agreement.

The state of Wisconsin has faced a crisis brewing in our justice system for years. The old adage states “the wheels of justice turn slowly,” and in the past couple years it seems to have come to a near stop.

People accused of offenses are guaranteed a speedy trial by our Constitution. Victims also deserve to have cases resolved in a timely manner. Yet our system has become so broken that justice has become unreliable. With challenges faced by law enforcement and our courts, neither victims nor the accused always see justice served.

In simple terms: justice should be fair and timely. It’s the state’s responsibility to ensure this, and yet in past years the investment just hasn’t been there. The pay available for assistant district attorneys (DAs) and public defenders has not been competitive enough to keep positions filled. Understaffed and overworked, elected DAs have resigned when it became impossible to keep up with the caseload.

Members of both parties in the Legislature have been concerned about this issue, and Governor Evers and the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) have taken steps to fix it. After years of falling behind in pay equity for assistant DAs and public defenders, the JFC voted to raise pay for public defenders, assistant DAs and elected DAs alike.

Assistant DAs and public defenders would receive $8.76 more per hour, increasing starting salaries from $56,659 per year to $74,880. The provisions also exempt current assistant DAs and public defenders from current maximum salary levels so they can qualify for deserved increases in pay.

We’ve also seen elected DAs take a demotion to deputy DA to take advantage of better pay. These budget provisions ensure DAs are being paid in keeping with the position of leadership they hold.

In the case that a public defender is not available, the court system engages private attorneys. Under these budget provisions, compensation for private attorneys needed for those cases will also be raised to better incentivize attorneys to step in when needed.

Funding is included for some much-needed positions in Kenosha and Sauk Counties, currently funded through pandemic funds that are slated to expire. These two counties often take on cases for offenders who are not considered local to them, severely overtaxing their courts. These provisions increase funding to pay for the additional circuit court branches created in the last budget. The budget includes funding to help the Supreme Court update and maintain aging cybersecurity software.

For both the accused and the victim of a crime, the Constitution guarantees the right to a fair trial. It is our duty to make sure everything is in place so justice is upheld in a fair and timely manner.

Legislators like to imagine they are being good stewards of the public’s money when they reduce spending, but this is often the opposite of the truth. In reality, when we don’t keep up with costs, it compounds problems and cuts people off from access to services guaranteed to them by our government. The longer we put it off, the more costly it becomes, putting us in a position where we are falling ever more behind.

By paying legal professionals in public service a fair and competitive wage, we will restore trust in our justice system. And it happened in the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, which agreed unanimously to move Governor Evers’ proposal forward.

If we can work towards more bipartisan agreements on the important issues facing our state, we could even start to restore faith and trust in our legislature. Isn’t that a great idea?

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Sen. Smith discusses the recently introduced Republican shared revenue proposal that would take this important tool out of the hands of local governments.

EAU CLAIRE, WI - Have you ever seen a child throw a fit when they are losing a game? They may argue that the rules are unfair, they may change the rules or even flip the game board over and stomp off. I’ve witnessed that behavior, and the best way to respond is to ignore it and continue to move forward with the rest of the game. The only person they hurt is themselves and they must learn to accept that you cannot always win and have your best day.

Some adults, it seems, never learned that lesson. Maybe that type of behavior was accepted in their childhood, and their caregivers made excuses for them when they threw fits. When they didn’t make the starting lineup, instead of trying harder they blamed the coach. When a call didn’t go their way, they blamed the referee.

I’ve heard people refer to what goes on in our legislature as “playground politics” because it can be so petty and childish.

After the election last month in which a progressive candidate won a Supreme Court seat, there was plenty of lamenting from the supporters of the runner-up and indeed, from the candidate himself, who proved to be a very bad sport in his “concession speech.”

But a few weeks later Republican strategist Cleta Mitchell spoke to donors in Nashville about the results in Wisconsin. Her answer to the poor showing of this conservative candidate was not that conservatives should adjust their message or policies. No, she suggested instead that Republicans find new ways to suppress the vote of those who disagree with them.

Because young voters are showing up in record numbers, she complained that polling places were located too close to college dormitories and we should do away with early voting and same-day registration. This is nothing new – we heard similar takes from Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Bob Spindell referring to suppressing votes in Milwaukee. If they don’t win, their strategy is to make it more difficult for their opponents to vote.

In many states, voters are able to put initiatives on the ballot by petition. For instance, Michigan voters didn’t need to wait for their elected legislators to accept a fair method of drawing legislative district lines. They made it happen themselves through a grassroots effort and put the measure directly on their ballot. When asked to vote directly on the issue, Michigan voters were overwhelmingly in support of nonpartisan redistricting and roundly rejected gerrymandering in what’s called a binding referendum.

In Wisconsin we do not have the ability to put measures directly on the ballot through grassroots initiatives. However, many communities have passed advisory ballot referenda to gauge how voters feel about various issues. You may have recently had the opportunity to make your voice heard on subjects like abortion rights, fair maps or marijuana legalization in one of these advisory referenda.

These subjects have garnered overwhelming support from voters, which almost always come out with nearly 70% in support of redistricting reform and decriminalizing marijuana. Yet nothing changes in Wisconsin, because we have a fringe group of legislators clinging to power and ignoring your voice in the Legislature.

If you’re a regular reader of this column, you’ve heard me talk many times about the need for more funding for our local communities, often referred to as “shared revenue.” In his budget, Governor Evers included a robust plan to get local communities the money they need to fund essential services.

But as usual, Republicans have a different plan.

In their recent introduction of a bill to “fix” shared revenue, rather than giving local communities the reins, Republicans have attached many strings to the increased funding going to municipalities.

One of these stipulations? Communities would no longer have the opportunity to place referendum questions on the ballot. Once again, when the answer does not fit their way of thinking they just want to remove your voice from the equation. Your opinions are making them look bad. How much of our freedom to speak is going to be lost before we have no voice at all?

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Senator Smith discusses several key programs Republicans eliminated from the Governor’s budget and the importance of the Governor’s proposed investments to Wisconsin’s future prosperity.

MADISON - Last week the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, made up of 12 Republicans and 4 Democrats, were supposed to begin deliberating on the Governor’s biennial budget proposal. Instead, in a 12-4 party line vote, Republicans’ first action was to remove the vast majority of Governor Evers’ proposal. No deliberation, just flat out dismissal for the third time since Governor Evers became Governor.

This is no surprise. Republican leaders promised they’d gut the Governor’s budget only minutes after he first presented it in February, before a single legislator had even seen the budget document. Blind partisanship out the gate.

I don’t think anyone expects 132 legislators to agree on 100% of any budget bill. That’s why we have listening sessions, committee hearings and floor sessions – to hear from each other and the public and to hash out differences of opinion.

In our present political environment, it’s become standard procedure that anything suggested by a Democrat is ignored or dismissed out of hand without even the slightest consideration by Republicans. It’s sad this has been the fate of the Governor’s budget for a third time in a row.

One provision that’s been unceremoniously stripped from the budget is paid family and medical leave. Paid leave is a boon to our economy – it helps families care for sick kids, aging relatives and to get themselves well enough to keep working. If Wisconsin women participated in the labor force at the same rate they do in countries with paid family and medical leave, we would have an estimated 22,000 more workers in the state and $158 million more in wages earned statewide.

But 62% of Wisconsinites do not have access to even unpaid family and medical leave under federal law. The Governor’s budget contained provisions to provide up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for Wisconsin and expanded eligibility for the program to include unexpected loss of child care.

After a one-time startup cost of $243 million from our $7 billion budget surplus, the program would become self-sustaining through payroll contributions. Funding this program is critical to ensuring Wisconsinites welcoming a child into their lives or caring for loved ones at home don’t have to worry about their jobs or struggling financially while temporarily away from work.

Another provision the Joint Finance Committee stripped from the Governor’s proposed budget was marijuana legalization. Polls and referenda have shown again and again how popular medical marijuana legalization is with Wisconsinites across the political spectrum. In 2019, the Marquette University Law School poll found over 80% of Wisconsinites support the legalization of medical marijuana.

But with legalization stripped out of the Governor’s budget, Wisconsinites will need to keep crossing the border – any border – for pain relief. Just this past year, Illinois estimated they collected over $36 million in taxes from Wisconsinites travelling across state lines to purchase marijuana. It’s past time we listened to our constituents and legalized medical marijuana.

These were only two of the 545 items Republicans stripped from the Governor’s budget proposal. Some of the other changes included:

·         Passing on the $1.6 billion in savings we’d get from the federal government for fully expanding Medicaid in Wisconsin

·         Failing to close loopholes that enable manufacturers to get out of paying taxes to the tune of $400 million

·         Deleting $1.2 billion worth of tax relief for middle class families

·         Eliminating PFAS standards for drinking water, surface waters and groundwater

·         Cutting $800 million allocated to fully expand broadband in Wisconsin

·         Eradicating $576 million in additional funding for local governments in shared revenue

Governor Evers’ budget does the right thing for Wisconsinites and for Wisconsin’s economy. Tossing out reasonable proposals without serious consideration is shortsighted and disingenuous. When reasonable suggestions are dismissed without consideration, the process is broken.

We Democrats in the Wisconsin Legislature have become sadly accustomed to seeing any legislation we introduce languish without a hearing. But the Governor has a power that no legislator has: the veto.

Our system of government has been designed with checks and balances. If Republicans in the Legislature continue to operate in this high-handed, non-collaborative and partisan way for the third time in a row, they should fully expect to see the Governor’s veto pen this time around.

Senator Smith represents District 31 in the Wisconsin State Senate. The 31st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Senator Smith writes about the pressing issue of gun violence, and how time and again we have failed to take action on this life-or-death issue.

MADISON - There are many issues that grab headlines. Too often the hot topics hold our attention for a day or two and then are relegated to the back pages or disappear entirely. These are the issues that typically compel us to come together to act as a community.

Sometimes the issues are manufactured, like Congress’ struggle to raise the national debt ceiling that dominated headlines in the past week. This issue is like a bobber in the water – it pops up, Congress acts and it disappears for a while, only to pop up again next budget cycle. Congress has a knack for choosing to end the drama at the last possible moment. They get more headlines for saving the day on a near-crisis that they themselves created.

But some issues we become galvanized about are very real and affect us every day. These day-in, day-out issues are ubiquitous, and each time they come up, we become a little more numb, beginning to accept these as commonplace occurrences. We don’t have general consensus on a solution, so it increasingly feels that we aren’t going to do anything about it, leaving it to the next generation to fix.

Maybe the most obvious of these issues is gun violence. Yes, every mass shooting dominates the headlines, but then quickly fades from our consciousness, at least until the next shooting. It’s a horrible cycle of nonstop news coverage for one, maybe two days, which then promptly fades into the background. We’re so numb that we expect a new shooting every week. It’s not about when – it’s about where the next shooting will occur.

It has become so commonplace that the leading cause of death for American children and adolescents ages 1 to 19 is gun violence. The public has shown overwhelming support for measures such as tightening background checks, banning assault rifles and passing extreme risk protection legislation to prevent individuals undergoing a crisis from hurting themselves or others. But Republicans and even some Democrats are so beholden to the gun lobby they refuse to act. In fact, recently instead of addressing gun violence, Republicans have introduced legislation to create an honorary official state gun.

Like so many others I was shocked and brokenhearted to hear of the two officers that were shot and killed in Cumberland over Easter weekend. Not only was it shocking that such a horrific thing could happen in a small city in northern Wisconsin, it was devastating to contemplate the chance this tragedy could have been prevented.

The family of the shooter, who also lost his life, reported that he had terrorized family members and made statements that he would shoot any police officers who pulled him over. They knew he had two guns in his vehicle and could have pursued an extreme risk protection order if it were allowed under the law.

The idea of an extreme risk protection order is to stop situations like this one from occurring by preventing individuals from accessing deadly weapons while they are undergoing a mental health crisis. This legislation has been introduced several times, but has received not even a public hearing. Not one Republican has signed on to this legislation as a sponsor.

If we had passed the Emergency Risk Protection Order bill we have introduced every session, it could prevent tragedies like this from happening. It can protect the police, the family and the person struggling with mental health crises. Unfortunately, it is easier to ignore action if those in charge know the issue will fade away, at least until the next tragedy occurs.

The next generation will need to pick up where our generation has failed to take action. In the meantime, they will continue to participate in active shooter drills at schools, praying all the time they’re not the next victims of one of these deadly attacks.

Many solutions, including extreme risk protection orders, are right in front of us. But it takes concerted and dedicated work to get the ball rolling in the right direction. This requires a focus that goes beyond the moment, keeping the issue at the forefront of our minds even when it’s not plastered across the headlines.

From what I can tell, Generation Z has had just about enough of our generation punting on the issues that will affect them the most. Young people are some of the strongest voices in advocating and voting for change. If our generation refuses to take action, we should be prepared to get out of the way.

****

The 31^st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Sen. Smith writes about the shortage of funding for emergency medical services, and how increasing the shared revenue formula will meet this need to provide life-saving services in the most critical cases.

MADISON - When you call 911, you expect with rock-solid confidence there will be someone to answer the call. You also expect help is on the way. Confidence in the midst of a catastrophe is taken for granted every day.

What many people don’t know is how it all works on the back end. It takes dedicated people and immense resources through shared revenue to local municipalities to get injured and sick individuals to a place they can be treated.

It’s not supposed to matter where you are located. You should expect someone trained in emergency medical services (EMS) to show up when you call.

But increasingly it does matter where you are as more villages and towns struggle to provide emergency services. There are two major reasons for this: lack of personnel and lack of resources and funding.

In most cases, attracting workers to any public service job is a challenge, but recruiting workers into emergency services presents unique challenges. It takes a special kind of person who can respond to the scene of an emergency and calmly apply their training in a high-stress situation.

Emergency responders have varying levels of training. First responder training is considered a bare minimum for emergency responders, but some providers have higher levels of certification. EMS responders have more advanced training and achieve a certification that allows them to deal with more complicated cases, such as spinal injuries. A paramedic has even more training, and can deal with a wide variety of life-threatening situations that require more intensive emergency treatments.

Each of these professions take time and money to learn, and there is a serious shortage of interested people willing to serve in these critical roles. Often in rural areas, emergency responders are volunteers, but even so, training costs money. Education takes time, which means paying workers for their time while training, even if they won’t be full-time professionals such as you will find in cities. Equipment is costly too. An ambulance can cost anywhere from $180,000 to $300,000, and I’m sure you’ll want that ambulance fully equipped if you’re the one calling.

With ever-mounting costs and an acute shortage in trained personnel, some smaller municipalities have turned to cities for help. Towns contract with city services to answer their calls, which cuts down on costs, but outsourcing this job to the city results in longer lag times from when the call comes in to when the ambulance arrives. I have heard of instances where it has taken 20 or 30 minutes or even an hour before an ambulance showed up to some rural calls. Worse than that, I have heard some people tell me that when they called they were told an ambulance was not available.

In many cases, minutes or seconds are crucial to saving a life. If service is not provided in your own town, it can be quite a wait for a response that may be coming from a city 30 miles away. To make matters worse, the closest hospital might be an hour away. In highly time-sensitive cases you may need a helicopter to get there, which is costly in both time and resources.

I’ve heard from countless constituents about their struggles with access to emergency medical services. These problems are the inevitable consequences of underfunding our local units of government for years.

We can provide additional funding through increasing the shared revenue formula. Governor Evers’ 2023-25 state budget includes increasing the amount of shared revenue for local communities, with some earmarked specifically for emergency services.

I’ll be coming to communities around the 31^st Senate District in the coming weeks to talk about the Governor’s budget and how shared revenue funding will help our communities serve residents. Please keep an eye out for when I’ll be in your community. You can see dates on my website as they are scheduled at linktr.ee/sensmith. I look forward to hearing from you.

###

The 31^st Senate District includes all of Buffalo, Pepin and Trempealeau counties and portions of Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson and St. Croix counties.

Senator Smith writes about how we can respond to our mental health crisis with services that improve outcomes for patients and support safe and healthy communities.

MADISON - Overcoming the stigma of mental illness has long been our single greatest challenge in meeting health needs. The brain is the busiest and most complicated organ in our bodies and certainly the least understood. There’s no way to fix this problem here in one column, but I want to emphasize the importance of combating the stigma associated with mental health struggles.

The good news is that the healthcare conversation has been increasingly responsive to mental health challenges in our communities. Now when we fill out intake forms at the doctor’s, we are asked questions to give doctors insights into both our physical and mental well-being.

Governor Evers recognized this need when he declared 2023 the Year of Mental Health in this year’s State of the State address. With many shootings occurring weekly around the country attributed to mental health crises, the urgency of addressing mental health struggles is an overwhelming problem.

Fortunately, Congress took steps to improve access to mental health resources, like implementing the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, move us in the right direction. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, you can now call 988. Trained personnel answer this hotline 24/7 and they are there to connect you with life-saving resources.

There is more we can do. By state law, counties are designated with the primary responsibility for the treatment, well-being and care of unserved people with mental illness. If someone is diagnosed with a mental illness and needs treatment but is not covered by private insurance, the county steps in.

Programs administered by our county human services departments are required by statute to provide the community support programs that offer intensive care for adults that might otherwise need institutional care. They also provide emergency mental health services for those in crisis and adult protective services for the elderly and at-risk adults who are survivors of abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Counties are the frontlines for our work to help those struggling with mental health, but the funding for our counties is critical to this end. Counties receive their funding through shared revenue payments to fulfill mental health care responsibilities.

Unfortunately, state financial support for counties has been stagnant while the needs have only grown. For instance, funding for Adult Protective Services has been frozen since its inception in 2006, while counties’ spending on these mandated services has grown. Pepin County reported that their spending on Adult Protective Services has more than doubled from 2010-15 ($22,567) to 2016-20 ($48,043). When state funding doesn’t come through, counties have to deal with the shortfall.

Another challenge has been even finding enough professionals to provide these services. It has become clear that we need more social workers, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. We have not adequately incentivized graduates in those fields.

The Governor’s budget addresses shortfalls in these fields. These provisions support the employment of trainees in mental health fields, establish mental health training programs for school district staff, and prohibit health insurers from denying coverage for behavioral and mental health performed by qualified mental health trainees.

What we need right now is the political will to pass a budget that gives counties the funding they need to provide mental health services and addresses the provider shortage. These budget provisions are essential to providing care and ensuring we are taking a comprehensive approach to healthcare by addressing all of our healthcare needs.

Mental healthcare is good for our communities. Let’s make sure we fully fund the Governor’s budget so we can provide it.

Republicans have failed to expand BadgerCare, a move that is supported by over 70% of Wisconsinites. This week, Sen. Smith writes about how expanding BadgerCare brings tax dollars home to provide better health outcomes.

MADISON - Since January of 2014, Wisconsin has had the opportunity to receive BadgerCare expansion funds. This is the ninth year Republicans have buried their heads in the sand, rejecting the $1.6 billion from the federal government and leaving 90,000 people without the health care they need.

We all wish this was the ninth anniversary of Wisconsin making the decision to do the right thing, but Republicans have continually rejected numerous bills, budget proposals and special sessions to fully expand BadgerCare.

Thanks to the ACA, the federal government has offered to return our own tax dollars back to Wisconsin if we expand BadgerCare, Wisconsin’s Medicaid program. Unfortunately, we’ve had thirteen years to get the job done and we still haven’t expanded BadgerCare.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Wisconsin would have saved over $1 billion in 2021-23 by expanding Medicaid. These savings could’ve been used to lower prescription drug costs, expand mental health services, improve pregnancy outcomes and more. Wisconsin is still being held back by leaders playing politics with people’s healthcare.

If our own tax dollars can be returned right back to us, I suspect most people would consider it a no-brainer to accept. According to a 2022 poll, over 70% of Wisconsinites support BadgerCare expansion. Why should we pay to expand health care access in other states– which is what we’re doing now–before addressing our challenges here at home?

Governor Tony Evers’ 2023-25 budget includes a proposal to expand BadgerCare in Wisconsin. Doing so would expand healthcare coverage to 89,700 more Wisconsinites while also saving our state $1.6 billion due to enhanced federal funds. These savings could be reinvested back into new and existing healthcare programs serving residents across the state.

Medicaid ensures that Wisconsin residents have access to preventive and lifesaving healthcare. Current Medicaid programs–including IRIS, Family Care and SeniorCare–are available to help individuals living in poverty, people with disabilities and those who may be ineligible for Medicare. Medicaid provides prescription drug subsidies through SeniorCare. Medicaid helps cover screenings and treatment for breast and cervical cancer for women under the age of sixty-five. BadgerCare expansion would help more Wisconsinites by increasing reimbursements and building greater capacity of existing Medicaid programs.

We have an opportunity right in front of us to cover more Wisconsinites while also saving our state money. This would seem like an easy decision, right? After all, this is about bringing back our federal tax dollars to Wisconsin.

Many politicians seem to believe healthcare is a privilege – as if the quality of care you receive should depend on how wealthy you are. Whether you believe healthcare is a right or a privilege, our federal tax dollars are still being sent to other states to pay for their programs when it should be coming back here.

Wisconsin is one of only ten states that have refused to expand Medicaid. Last month, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed a bipartisan bill expanding Medicaid coverage, leaving Wisconsin in an ever-dwindling minority of states who have not expanded coverage for their citizens yet. We’re still paying for other states to expand Medicaid without taking care of residents here in Wisconsin.

We need Medicaid because of our current healthcare system that far too often prioritizes profit over public health. With a broken healthcare system driven by insurance companies and big pharmaceutical corporations, the most humane thing we can do as a society is ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care. BadgerCare expansion ensures we’re being smart by returning our dollars to lower the cost of Medicaid programs overall.

We can get this done, right here in Wisconsin. We’ve had this discussion time and time again. It’s time to listen to our constituents and do the right thing by expanding BadgerCare.

Sen. Smith promotes public participation in the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee budget listening sessions. Join them next Tuesday, April 11, at the W.R. Davies Center at UW-Eau Claire from 10:00am to 5:00pm to share your thoughts on the 2023-25 state budget!

MADISON - It’s not fun, but we all have to budget. We budget our time and our resources because we have a limited amount – of hours in the day, of energy, of money. Every day, each one of us makes decisions on how we allocate our time and resources, and while it’s not always a zero-sum game, sometimes we have to make tough choices.

So budgeting is not a foreign idea to any of us. Planning something as large as a state budget may seem daunting, but the same principles apply. We have a limited amount of money and many priorities to keep in mind. We start by estimating as closely as possible the revenue our state can expect over a two-year period. Then we allocate funding to the areas of spending we know we will need to address.

Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone agreed on priorities, and it were as simple as filling out a spreadsheet, moving the funds we need into each column? Unfortunately, the reality is much more complicated than that.

Every odd-numbered year, the legislature and the governor (in theory) work together to draft a new budget for our state. Since we in the Legislature are elected to serve you, the people of Wisconsin, it is only right that you have the opportunity to have a say in which areas you feel are most in need of state funding.

It's common for legislative committees to hold public hearings on bills before those bills are sent to the full body for a vote. Public hearings are where legislators gather more information and hear the thoughts and ideas of those people most affected by the policies on the table. Public input is vital, and the voices of our constituents is so valuable in making legislation better.

For my part, I get out every week in my red truck for my “Stop and Talks,” my mobile office hours throughout the communities in Senate District 31. I encourage anyone and everyone to stop and talk with me. I’ll be posting the dates and times on my Facebook and Twitter, and would love to have the chance to catch up with you the next time I’m in your community.

It’s somewhat rarer to have the opportunity to have your voice heard by a larger body of legislators, representing districts all across the state. Because the budget is the largest and most impactful bill that legislators vote on, representatives of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (or JFC) go on the road to hold public hearings on the proposals being considered.

This year, the JFC has scheduled four such listening schedules, one of them right here in western Wisconsin. They’ll be coming to Eau Claire next Tuesday, April 11^th at UW-Eau Claire’s W.R. Davies Center.

The public hearing will go from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Anyone who wants to testify will be asked to fill out a form to be added to the queue. The earlier you are added to the queue, the sooner your name will be called to testify, so it’s good to arrive early.

Generally each person gets two minutes to share their comments to the Joint Finance Committee, or five minutes for groups of three or more. Having printed comments of your testimony for each of the 16 members in encouraged. If you need accessibility accommodations, call the Legislative Fiscal Bureau at (608) 266-3847.

If you can’t make it to the hearing, you can also submit your testimony online at https://legis.wisconsin.gov/topics/budgetcomments or by emailing your testimony to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Tuesday, April 11 is your opportunity to make your voice heard. Whatever your priorities, it’s so important that the members of this committee hear from you. These hearings are democracy in action, and no one can tell your story but you.

I’ll see you there!

Senator Smith writes about the balance of power in the Wisconsin Legislature, where Republicans have had thirty years to change the status quo but have refused to do so.

MADISON - The English language has many words loaned from Latin, and the phrase “status quo” is one of the most recognizable. “Status quo" is Latin for “existing state,” and in our modern use, status quo is the existing state of affairs, especially regarding social or political issues.

If the rules are tilted in your favor or you hold power, you definitely have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. After all, change threatens the existing state of affairs. Our political systems often pit those advocating for change against those who fear change will result in their being less well-off. In that way, the idea of the status quo defines our political environment as well.

The solution is never simple. But I would like everyone to consider how we get stuck in the mud and so little is accomplished. Somehow the people in power are able to convince voters to keep them there.

Here in Wisconsin it is downright puzzling to look back over the last 30 years. It’s typical for a sitting president to lose members of Congress of their same party in the middle of their term, known as the “midterm elections.” Rightly or wrongly, voters attribute the changes that occurred in the last two years as mostly the president’s doing, and often opt to create a “balance” by voting for the opposite party for Congress.

The midterm change sentiment often trickles down the ballot to state elections. Let’s look at Bill Clinton’s first midterm as an example. In 1994 Newt Gingrich riled voters up with what he called the “Contract with America” (the details of which we are still waiting to hear). By painting Clinton and his policies as the “status quo,” Republicans won majorities up and down the ballot across the country. These congressional and state legislative majorities retained power for decades.

Wisconsin is a good example of this national trend. Starting with the 1995 legislative session the Republican Party has held the majority in our state Assembly nearly continuously. Last year’s election did not change that, and Republicans have gerrymandered their way into two more years of power. With the current session majority decided, that makes 28 out of 30 years of Republican legislative majorities in the state Assembly. Though the Senate majority changed hands on occasion during that same 30-year period, power has not flipped in either house since 2011 – status quo in Wisconsin.

Many people say, “That’s why we need term limits.” But studies show term limits exacerbate the influence of the status quo, as new legislators rely increasingly on information from special interests and lobbyists. I won’t dive into all the reasons term limits don’t work in a democratic republic, but one reason is that those who hold the power (the status quo) are the same ones that would have to change the rules to limit their time in power.

Meanwhile voters ask why we can’t – or won’t – come to agreement on anything. Almost every meeting with constituents in my office reminds me that we have so much opportunity to make lives better. When visitors to my office mention that they have visited other offices “across the aisle,” I wonder how my colleagues believe that doing the same thing over and over again will result in different outcomes.

The next time you hear a politician complain about the current state of affairs or tell you we need change, ask them what they’ve done to effect positive change lately. When those expressing frustration with the status quo are the ones maintaining it, their words ring hollow. Such politicians are only parroting their constituents’ concerns, giving lip service to change while maintaining the status qu0.

The Wisconsin legislature can act to meet the needs of our people. We could accept Medicaid expansion as 40 other states have already. We could follow the lead of over 70% of our citizens and legalize medical marijuana. In my experience, these policies are overwhelmingly popular with Wisconsinites. But we don’t have a legislature that works for the needs of those we serve. We have a legislature that serves the status quo.

MADISON - If you’ve got an absentee ballot, it’s too late to safely put it in the mail.

The best thing to do it is to deliver it to your clerk’s office this week, or certainly by Election Day next Tuesday.

I just delivered mine today!

And if you’re a voter with a disability, please remember that you have the right to get assistance in the delivery of your absentee ballot.

For everyone voting with an absentee ballot, make sure you sign your name and fill in the date, and make sure that your witness signs the form and fills in their address completely.

If you’re not voting absentee by mail, you can still vote early (absentee in-person) this week. Check with your local clerk’s office about their hours.

And remember, if you’re not registered to vote, you can still register and vote at your polling place on Election Day, April 4. Bring your driver’s license or passport or other valid government ID, and if you’re registering, bring proof of residence, such as a utility bill.

This is a crucial election so please vote, and bring two friends or family members with you!

Thanks for your civic activism!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it