For twenty years, the Wisconsin Jewish Conference has been protecting and advancing the interests of our statewide Jewish community. Seventeen communities have united through advocacy, community liaison, education and coalition building, to become an important legislative influence in Wisconsin.

In 1987, the WJC led the effort to create Wisconsin’s hate crimes statute, increasing the penalty for crimes motivated by racism or bigotry.  Wisconsin’s hate crimes statute was brought before the U.S. Supreme Court and upheld unanimously--this pioneering new statute provided the basis for all hate crime statutes nationwide from that point forward.

Just last year, WJC helped to defeat the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) and legislation allowing the concealed carrying of weapons. WJC fought for mental health parity and long term care. The WJC also worked to pass legislation prohibiting religious discrimination in public education.

The Wisconsin Jewish Conference has been successfully safeguarding the interests of our statewide community – for the last 20 years and with the support of the Madison Jewish Community Council and other Jewish communities throughout Wisconsin, for many years to come!

New Legislative Session Begins – Jewish Activists Gather in Madison

The 2007-2008 session of the Wisconsin Legislature is now underway after the November elections shifted power in the Senate from Republicans to Democrats, who now control that body 18-15.  Meanwhile, Democrats cut into the Republican majority in the Assembly, decreasing the Republicans margin from 60-39 to 52-47.  With these changes, and Democrat Jim Doyle retaining the Governor’s office, the Legislative focus will not be on several proposals from the past that the WJC opposes, such as concealed carry of weapons, the death penalty and the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.

On March 13, the WJC, in conjunction with the Madison Jewish Community Council and the Milwaukee Jewish Community, held its biennial Jewish Legislative Day at the Capitol.  The issues we focused on were:

• Expanding long-term care services and protecting Medicaid;
• Increasing access to healthcare;
• Supporting targeted divestment in Sudan; and
• Maintaining Wisconsin’s tradition of quality public education

Over 80 Jewish activists from around the state gathered in Madison to lobby their legislators on these issues.  In addition, Governor Doyle, several legislators and a representative from the Department of Public Instruction addressed the group.  As a result, we raised our visibility in the Capitol.  After our advocacy was concluded, the group enjoyed a tour of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Key Issues in the 2007-2008 Legislative Session

The legislature is now focused on the state budget for the 2007-09 biennium, which will determine state spending for the period of July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009.  The process officially began on February 13 with the release of Governor Doyle’s proposed budget.  Doyle’s proposal would spend $57.7 billion in total dollars over the biennium, a 7.6% increase over the current budget.  It would provide approximately $1.8 billion to expand Medicaid, a $450 million increase in school aids, $225 million more for higher education, and a $405 million increase for highway construction and maintenance.  It also cuts $80 million in other government spending.
The budget includes a new hospital tax ($418 million), cigarette tax increase ($550 million) and a new tax on oil companies ($270 million).  It also raises driver license fees by $10 (from $24 to $34) and the annual vehicle registration fee by $20 (from $55 to $75).  There are also over $51 million in new tax cuts.

The budget is now with the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, which is equally divided, 8-8, between Republicans and Democrats.  Public hearings on the budget concluded on April 12.  After the public hearings, Joint Finance will begin the process of amending the bill through a series of executive sessions.  Once the committee has amended and approved the bill, it is sent to the full Legislature, beginning with the Senate.  If each house approves a different version of the budget, which is highly likely given that the Assembly is under Republican control and the Senate is under Democratic control, a conference committee will be convened to work out the differences.  Whatever comes out of conference must then be approved by both houses before going to the Governor for his vetoes and signature.  Most observers expect this process to last until at least the middle of summer.

Budget Items of Interest to WJC

Health Care

Family Care Expansion:  Governor Doyle’s budget would increase funding to expand the Family Care program, which provides long-term care options to allow more people to continue living in the community rather than going into nursing homes.

BadgerCare:  The Governor recommends expanding the BadgerCare health insurance program to make coverage available to all Wisconsin children.

Health Care Trust Fund:  The Governor would create a health care quality trust fund with revenues from tobacco tax increases, hospital assessments, interest income from the permanent endowment fund and a one-time transfer of $175 million from the injured patients and families compensation fund. The health care quality trust fund will assist in funding a variety of health care quality improvement activities, including E-Health activities, provider rate increases, tobacco control activities, BadgerCare Plus expansion for childless adults and other Medicaid costs.

Cigarette and Tobacco Tax Increase:  The Governor recommends increasing the tax on cigarettes by $1.25 per pack and increasing the tax on tobacco products by 40.6 percentage points to fund smoking cessation programs and health care initiatives. 

Managed Care Pilots for Children’s Long-Term Care:  The Governor recommends providing funding to support activities to develop managed long-term care pilot programs serving children with disabilities. 

Community Aids:  The Governor approved the DHFS recommendation for a modest increase in funding for community aids, which helps counties fund a variety of critical social service programs.

Coverage for Mental Health and Substance Abuse:  The Governor recommends increasing the minimum annual amount of insurance coverage that is provided for inpatient, outpatient and transitional treatment of mental health and substance abuse problems.  In addition to supporting this proposal, the WJC continues to work in coalition to develop a legislative proposal this session to require full parity between standard medical benefits and mental health/substance abuse benefits in private health insurance policies.

Transportation

Elderly and Disabled Transportation Aids:  The Governor recommends increasing funding for elderly and disabled transportation aids to by 2.5 percent in each budget year.

Education

SAGE:  The Governor recommends increasing funding for the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) class-size reduction program, including allowing five more schools to join the SAGE program.

School Breakfast:  The Governor recommends increasing funding to support an increase in the school breakfast reimbursement rate and to fully fund anticipated participation in the program.

Milwaukee School Choice Auditor:  The Governor recommends providing funding and position authority for an additional auditor position for the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program to ensure that participating schools comply with state statutes and rules.

Court Interpreters

The Governor recommends increasing state reimbursement to counties for court interpreter services. Also, the proposal expands interpreter services by requiring that a court always provide an interpreter for anyone with limited English proficiency, regardless of indigence. Under current law, interpreters are only provided to indigent persons in certain types of cases.

Children and Families

Creation of a New Department of Children and Families:  The Governor recommends creating the Department of Children and Families to focus a cabinet-level agency exclusively on the safety, economic and social well-being of children and families.

Child Care/Wisconsin Shares:  The Governor fills some of the deficit in this child care subsidy program through various cost containment strategies.

W-2 Contracts:  Funding for the 2008-09 W-2 contracts include the following initiatives:
• Implement a Real Work Real Pay pilot project in three W-2 geographical areas, one of which will be in Milwaukee County.
• Extend the amount of time that parents can stay at home with their newborn children from 12 to 26 weeks.
• Provide a monthly cash benefit to pregnant women, with no other children, who are in the third trimester of a pregnancy and are not able to work because of a medically verified, at-risk pregnancy.

Other (Non-Budget) Legislative Proposals

Death Penalty

Wisconsin voters approved an advisory referendum on the November 2006 ballot by a margin of 55.5% to 44.5% in support of restoring the death penalty.  The approved language reads: “Should the death penalty be enacted in the State of Wisconsin for cases involving a person who is convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, if the conviction is supported by DNA evidence?” The referendum was advisory and has no binding effect—this referendum did not reinstate the death penalty in Wisconsin.

Senator Alan Lasee (R-De Pere) has introduced a bill this session to reinstate the death penalty in Wisconsin, hoping to use the result of the referendum vote to bolster an effort to pass the legislation. However, with death penalty opponent Jim Doyle winning reelection as Governor and the change in the makeup of the Legislature, it is very unlikely that the death penalty will move forward during the 2007-08 legislative session.

The Wisconsin Jewish Conference, along with many in the faith, human rights and civil liberty communities, strongly opposed the referendum and continue to oppose the current proposal.