(Editor’s note:  These are some of the past year’s activities of the Wisconsin Jewish Conference which the Madison Jewish Community Council helps fund.  If you have any questions, concerns or want to get involved with the Wisconsin Jewish Conference, please do not hesitate to contact Michael Blumenfeld or your community’s WJC representative.)

The regular 2007-08 Wisconsin legislative session concluded on March 13.  Bills that were not passed by both the Assembly and Senate and sent to the Governor are considered “dead” for this session.  Any bill may be introduced again next session which begins in January 2009.

There are some remaining session days for limited business, but by the end of May the session technically ends.  However, a special or extraordinary session may still be called at any time.  For example, in March the Governor called the Legislature into special session to work on a budget repair bill to fill a $652 million shortfall caused by lower than expected tax revenue thanks to the downturn in the economy.  As of this writing, each house has passed their own bills to fill the shortfall, and legislative leadership and the Governor are meeting to work out a compromise.  In addition, there is special session on campaign finance reform that is currently running but with little action.

Session Wrap-Up

The Wisconsin Jewish Conference worked on many issues during the past year.  Here is a brief summary of the some of our key items.

State Budget

The long-awaited 2007-09 state budget was signed into law by Governor Doyle on Friday October 26, 2007.  It was the second longest budget delay in Wisconsin history, with only the 1971-73 budget taking longer (it passed the Legislature on October 27, 1971).  Here are some highlights of particular interest to the Wisconsin Jewish Conference:

Health Care
• Maintain Wisconsin’s Medical Assistance Program (Medicaid) without cuts in benefits, more stringent eligibility rules or higher recipient cost-sharing requirements.
• Approval of the Governor’s statewide Family Care expansion initiative. 
• Approval of the Governor’s BadgerCare Plus initiative.
• Require the Department of Health and Family Services to request a federal waiver to provide Medical Assistance to childless, non-disabled adults.
• Increase the cigarette tax by $1.00 per pack.
• Provide a 1.5% increase in Medical Assistance reimbursement rates for personal care and home health services in the second budget year that begins on July 1, 2008.  This is an increase of over $17.6 million in state and federal funds for personal care and other noninstitutional providers.

Transportation
• Provide a 2.0% annual increase for elderly and disabled transportation aid to counties.

Children and Families, Child Care and Education
• Create new Department of Children and Families to improve coordination of services for children.  Several Department of Workforce Development and Department of Health and Family Services programs would be part of the new department.
• Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program funding is increased by $65 million more than the Governor’s original budget. The budget does not authorize waiting lists, and it does not change eligibility levels. Child care provider payment rates are frozen at 2006 levels.
• Increase Foster care rates by 5 percent in January 2008 and an additional 5 percent in January 2009.
• Provide 8.1% increase special education funding.
• Provide an increase of $27 million for smaller class sizes in elementary schools through the SAGE program.
• Provide $21 million for a new aid appropriation for high poverty school districts.
• Increase school breakfast reimbursement rates by 5 cents per breakfast.

Courts and Legal Services
• Provide increased funding for state reimbursement to counties for court interpreter services. Modify statutory language to require that a court, in all criminal and civil proceedings, provide an interpreter for a party or witness who has limited English proficiency, regardless of indigence.
• Provide $1 million in a first time appropriation for grants to programs that provide civil legal services to low income Wisconsin residents.

Meanwhile the final budget rejected:
• The Senate’s “Healthy Wisconsin” comprehensive health care reform plan to provide universal coverage.
• An effort to insert new law on property tax exemptions for low-income housing (the so-called “Columbus Park” issue).

Human Trafficking
Governor Doyle has signed into law a proposal introduced by Representative Suzanne Jeskewitz (R-Menomonee Falls) and Senator Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee) that specifies human trafficking and trafficking of a child as crimes in Wisconsin. 

For the human trafficking offense, ”trafficking” is defined as recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining an individual without the consent of the individual. Trafficking, or knowingly benefiting from trafficking, is a felony if an individual is trafficked for labor, services, or a commercial sex act and done by specified actions, including harming any individual, removing any identification document of any individual, extortion, and debt bondage. A person who is convicted is subject to a fine of up to $100,000, imprisonment for up to 25 years, or both.

For the offense of trafficking of a child, any person who knowingly recruits, entices, provides, obtains, or harbors a child for commercial sex acts or sexually explicit performance, or who knowingly benefits from such activity, is guilty of a felony. A person who is convicted is subject to a fine of up to $100,000, imprisonment for up to 40 years, or both.

Effort to Rename “Holiday Tree”

Assembly Joint Resolution 5, which would rename the decorated tree on display in the Capitol rotunda during the Christmas holiday season as the “Wisconsin State Christmas Tree,” passed the Assembly on December 11, 2007 (84-12).  However, the resolution did not receive any consideration in the Senate, and it is now “dead” for the session.  The resolution was introduced by Representative Marlin Schneider (D-Wisconsin Rapids) with no cosponsors. 

Cemetery Legislation 2007-2008

Assembly Bill 305

AB 305, relating to the control of final disposition of certain human remains, was signed into law by the Governor as 2007 Wisconsin Act 58 on March 5th, 2008.  This bill was introduced by Representative Samantha Kerkman (R-Genoa City) and Senator Mark Miller (D-Monona).  Act 58 would allow individuals over the age of 18 to create a document called an “authorization for final disposition” that would outline their final requests regarding their funeral and the deposition of their remains.  The document would also specify a list of individuals, in order of priority, who may control the disposition of the decedent’s remains.  The complete bill history can be accessed here: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2007/data/AB305hst.html

Assembly Bill 547 / Senate Bill 288

AB 547 / SB 288 relate to the regulation of and registration requirements for certain cemetery authorities, cemetery associations, and cemetery merchandise.
This legislation was introduced by Representative Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) and Senator Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee).  The Senate version, SB 288, was signed into law by the Governor as 2007 Wisconsin Act 174 on March 27th, 2008.  Act 174 makes a number of changes in the laws governing cemetery associations and cemetery authorities in regard to trustees of a care fund and preneed trust funds, the licensure and registration of certain cemeteries, reporting requirements, the deposit and investment of care funds and preneed trust funds, the sale or encumbrance of cemetery land, and the regulation of warehouses.  Many of these requirements do not apply to religious cemeteries unless the cemetery opts to become licensed.  The complete bill history can be accessed here: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2007/data/SB288hst.html.

Assembly Bill 186 / Senate Bill 92

AB 186 / SB 92 would have created a sales and use tax exemption for maintenance equipment and supplies used exclusively by nonprofit cemeteries.  This legislation was introduced by Representative Michael Sheridan (D-Janesville) and Senator Joseph Leibham (R-Sheboygan).  Both bills were not acted on and died at the end of the legislative session.

Assembly Bill 298 / Senate Bill 151

AB 298 / SB 151 would have permitted certain individuals to make written requests for medication for the purpose of ending their lives, but the proposal did not gain much traction.  The authors were Representative Frank Boyle (D-Superior) and Senator Fred Risser (D-Madison).  The Senate version received a pubic hearing but no committee vote.  There was no action on the Assembly bill.

Assembly Bill 783

AB 783 makes several changes to the protocol of medical examiners, as well as cases in which an autopsy must be performed.  This legislation was introduced by Representative Amy Sue Vruwink (D-Milladore).  Although the bill passed out of committee it died without a vote on the Assembly floor. 

CR 07-050: Rules Relating to Cemeteries

These administrative rules address the licensure of cemetery authorities, cemetery salespeople and preneed sellers, as well as the filing of annual reports by cemetery authorities and preneed sellers.  These rules were finalized and made effective on February 1st, 2008. 

Unsuccessful Efforts

• Mental Health/Substance Abuse Parity:  WJC, along with a coalition of mental health advocates, worked diligently on legislation to require health insurance plans to provide coverage for mental health and substance abuse treatment to the same extent that the plans cover physical ailments.  While the legislation went further in the process than at any time over the past few sessions, it failed in both houses.  Companion bills were introduced in the Assembly and Senate.  The Senate bill (SB 375) was approved by the Health Committee, but it did not receive a vote after being referred to the Joint Finance Committee.
• Ethnic Logos, Mascots and Names:  Two proposals were introduced during the 2007-08 legislatives session that related to the use of ethnic names, nicknames, logos, and mascots by school boards.  One of these bills would also have prohibited the Department of Natural Resources from using the word squaw in the name of a lake or stream.  The bills died in committee at the end of the session.

Darfur & Iran Divestment Update

In June, the Wisconsin Jewish Conference Board of Directors voted to support legislation that would require the State’s public employee retirement plans to divest assets that are currently invested (and prohibit future investments) in companies doing business in Sudan or in Iran.  The effort is aimed at applying financial pressure on those countries to end behavior seen as violating international standards, such as the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and support for terrorism by Iran.

Companion bills that would require the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) to divest assets in certain companies that do business in Sudan failed in the 2007-08 session.  The Assembly Committee on Financial Institutions did not take any action on the Assembly version (Assembly Bill 124), while the Senate Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs, Biotechnology and Financial Institutions held a hearing on the Senate companion (Senate Bill 57) but did not vote to send it on to the Senate floor.

However, late in the session the Senate passed a non-binding resolution that called on the State of Wisconsin Investment Board to aggressively petition companies involved in the oil, power, mining, and defense sectors of Sudan to cease ongoing business operations within Sudan and to exclude companies from its portfolio that fail to respond positively to its request to cease ongoing business operations within Sudan.

Regarding Iran, the WJC is reviewing proposed bills, resolutions and enacted legislation from other states while beginning to approach legislators who may be interested in taking the lead in introducing legislation in Wisconsin during the next legislative session that begins in January 2009.