Wisconsin Democrats temporarily block vote on GOP plan to cut taxes

MADISON — Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted to lock up more offenders Wednesday, but Democrats temporarily blocked them from approving $250 million in income tax cuts. 

More significant than the half-day delay on the vote on the proposed tax cut was a signal from an aide to Gov. Tony Evers that the Democratic governor would veto it once it gets to him. 

Also Wednesday, the Senate approved rules for police body cameras and put off a debate on regulations for large dairy farms. 

The Senate will resume at 7:30 a.m. Thursday to consider the tax cut. Republicans in the Assembly plans to take it up later that day. 

Crime legislation

On voice votes, the Senate approved bills that would put more people behind bars and keep them there longer. Republicans argued the measures would keep the public safer, while Democrats said they would waste money without reducing crime rates.

Crime in Milwaukee is down. Last year was the second in a row with fewer than 100 homicides in the city. Nonfatal shootings and carjackings also dropped. 

Assembly Bill 805 would require the Department of Corrections to recommend revoking extended supervision, probation and parole for those who are charged with committing crimes while on court supervision. That would lead to judges sending more of those offenders back to prison while their new cases moved through the courts.

That bill is expected to drive up prison costs by hundreds of millions of dollars over the coming years. Wisconsin’s prisons are already overcrowded and any spike in the prison population could force the state to build a new correctional institution.

The version of the legislation the Senate passed would require the state to build two new prisons, according to an analysis by the state Department of Corrections. One new prison would cost about $350 million to build and millions of dollars more a year to operate.

The Assembly passed the bill last week, but it must go back to that house because of changes the Senate made to it. The Senate version of the bill would require incarcerating more people because it would apply to those on supervision who commit any crime, not just felonies or violent misdemeanors. 

The Assembly plans to meet for the last time this year on Thursday.

Also headed to the Assembly are Senate Bill 771, which would give local governments $5 million for policing, and Senate Bill 769, which would increase penalties for vehicle theft, reckless driving and fleeing an officer.

Another part of the GOP plan would allow judges to lock up teens whenever they commit offenses that would be considered felonies if they were adults. Under current law, there are more limits on when they can be put behind bars.

That measure, Assembly Bill 806, could put more teenagers behind bars even as lawmakers put off plans to build new juvenile lockups that they say are necessary to overhaul the state’s correctional system for teenagers.

Assembly Bill 809 would restrict who can be released from prison early. There are already limits on when inmates can be released early, but Republicans want to tighten them to ensure violent offenders aren’t released early. Those two bills are on their way to Evers.

Evers is expected to view the various crime bills skeptically. When he campaigned in 2018, he said he hoped to eventually cut the state’s prison population in half.

Republicans in Wisconsin are departing from their GOP peers in other states and Congress. Republican lawmakers in other states have voted to cut their prison populations and President Donald Trump in December approved a law to limit mandatory minimum sentences and allow the early release of more inmates.

Tax cut

The GOP tax cut has been rocketing through the Legislature since it was introduced last week, but Democrats briefly slowed it with their procedural maneuver Wednesday. 

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau argued the plan deserved bipartisan support. He said Evers told him this week that he would consider signing the tax cut. 

"I truly believe this is a tax cut bill that makes sense," Fitzgerald said. "Gov. Evers has not ruled out signing this into law."

But an aide to Evers quickly gave a different account of the conversation Evers and Fitzgerald had Tuesday. On Twitter, Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback obliquely noted Republicans had quickly rejected the governor's plan to put $252 million toward schools and provide property tax relief. 

"The governor told @SenFitzgerald he’ll be as open to Republicans’ tax bill as Republicans have been about passing his education plan," Cudaback tweeted in response to Fitzgerald saying the governor might sign the GOP tax cut. 

Democratic senators said lawmakers should drop their tax plan and embrace the one offered by Evers.

"I think it's a reasonable plan to move forward in putting this increased revenue back into our schools," said Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse. 

Under the Republican legislation, Senate Bill 821, more than 2 million tax filers would see their income taxes cut by $106 on average. That part of their plan would cost $248 million in the next fiscal year.

Their proposal would also reduce the personal property taxes paid by businesses by $45 million a year.

It would also pay down $100 million in state debt and direct more money in the future toward reducing debt.

In all, the tax and debt reduction package would cost the state nearly $400 million through the budget period that ends in June 2021.

Republicans are able to advance their plan because they got revenue projections last month that said the state is expected to have an extra $620 million in its main account by the end of the budget cycle, even after putting hundreds of millions of dollars in the state’s rainy-day fund.

The tax cut is aimed toward the middle class but would vary by income level. Those making $25,000 to $30,000 a year would see an average cut of $88, while those making $70,000 to $80,000 a year would see an average cut of $146, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Individuals who make more than about $120,000 and married couples who make more than about $145,000 would not receive a tax cut. 

Last year, Evers vetoed one GOP plan to cut income taxes but approved a subsequent one that lowered the state’s two lowest income tax brackets. That proposal reduced income taxes by $136 per person on average this year.

Police cameras

The Senate without dissent approved a bill that would require police departments that use body cameras to hang onto footage for at least four months and often much longer.

Under Senate Bill 50, the public could use the state’s open records law to get some footage, but the police could hold back footage of victims, minors and people filmed in their homes or other places where they would have an expectation of privacy.

The legislation was put together by a panel that included representatives of law enforcement and the news media.

The bill would not require police agencies to use body cameras, but those that do would have to retain any footage for at least 120 days.

Law enforcement would have to keep it longer if the footage showed an arrest, police questioning, the use of force by an officer or an incident that resulted in injury or death. Defendants, prosecutors, police officials and courts could also require the footage to be kept for more than 120 days. 

When footage was kept for more than 120 days, law enforcement would have to keep it until all appeals were exhausted or courts determined the footage no longer needed to be retained.

Leaders in the Assembly plan to take up the bill Thursday.

Livestock

Senate Republicans dropped plans to take up legislation introduced last week that would put a new board controlled by agricultural groups in charge of regulating aspects of large farms. 

Fitzgerald sent Senate Bill 808 back to committee just before it was to be debated. The Assembly plans to take up a version of the bill on Thursday and the Senate could consider it in March, when it is expected to meet for the last time in 2020. 

The bill would establish a nine-member board that included five members chosen by agricultural groups. The state Department of Agriculture would need the approval of two-thirds of the board to draft rules regarding siting and expanding large farms.

The legislation emerged after the agriculture department tried to advance rules last year to increase the minimum distance between manure storage facilities and neighboring properties. The department did not implement the rules.

4 a.m. bar time

Also Wednesday, Republicans shot down — at least for now — a proposal to keep bars open until 4 a.m. during the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. Democrats tried to attach the measure to other legislation, but Republicans blocked them.

Cabinet

The Senate confirmed Preston Cole as Evers’ secretary of natural resources and Emilie Amundson as his secretary of children and family services.

All senators voted to confirm Cole, but Sen. Lena Taylor voted against Amundson. Taylor, a Democrat from Milwaukee, didn't say why she doesn't back Amundson. 

The Senate has been slow to confirm Evers’ cabinet and in November took the extremely unusual step of firing his agriculture secretary, Brad Pfaff, in part because of his work on the manure storage rules.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.