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Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.12.24: Oral Argument at the Wisconsin Supreme Court Over an Abortion Ban

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 49. Sunrise is 6:43, and sunset is 4:34, for 9 hours, 50 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 85.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Public Art Committee meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1938, Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy.

Todd Richmond reports Wisconsin Supreme Court grapples with whether state’s 175-year-old abortion ban is valid:

A conservative prosecutor’s attorney struggled Monday to persuade the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reactivate the state’s 175-year-old abortion ban, drawing a tongue-lashing from two of the court’s liberal justices during oral arguments.

Sheboygan County’s Republican district attorney, Joel Urmanski, has asked the high court to overturn a Dane County judge’s ruling last year that invalidated the ban. A ruling isn’t expected for weeks but abortion advocates almost certainly will win the case given that liberal justices control the court. One of them, Janet Protasiewicz, remarked on the campaign trail that she supports abortion rights.

….

The ban stood until 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide nullified it. Legislators never repealed the ban, however, and conservatives have argued the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe two years ago reactivated it. 

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit challenging the law in 2022. He argued that a 1985 Wisconsin law that prohibits abortion after a fetus reaches the point where it can survive outside the womb supersedes the ban. Some babies can survive with medical help after 21 weeks of gestation.

Urmanski contends that the ban was never repealed and that it can co-exist with the 1985 law because that law didn’t legalize abortion at any point. Other modern-day abortion restrictions also don’t legalize the practice, he argues.

Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled last year that the ban outlaws feticide — which she defined as the killing of a fetus without the mother’s consent — but not consensual abortions. The ruling emboldened Planned Parenthood to resume offering abortions in Wisconsin after halting procedures after Roe was overturned.

Urmanski asked the state Supreme Court in February to overturn Schlipper’s ruling without waiting for a lower appellate decision.

See Oral Argument in Josh Kaul v. Joel Urmanski, as DA for Sheboygan County, WI 2023AP002362 at Wiseye (free subscription req’d):

Wisconsin Supreme Court: Josh Kaul v. Joel Urmanski

As noted in yesterday’s post there is, however, a constitutional Supremacy Clause that, if relied upon following federal restrictions, would make state action moot.

Why methane emissions matter in the fight against climate change:

Courts, Daily Bread, Federal Government, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.11.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Abortion Lawsuit

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Good morning.

Veterans’ Day in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:42, and sunset is 4:35, for 9 hours, 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 75.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Plan & Architectural Review Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1918, Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne.

Sarah Lehr reports Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in abortion lawsuit (‘The case involves a 19th century law previously interpreted as banning abortions in the state’):

The state Supreme Court will hear Monday from attorneys on both sides of a case that could decide the future of abortion rights in Wisconsin.

Oral arguments are scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m. before the seven-justice court, which flipped to a liberal majority in August of last year. 

Planned Parenthood is currently providing abortions at several clinics in Wisconsin, citing a lower court decision. But a ruling from the state’s highest court could provide more finality and clarity about the legal status of abortion in Wisconsin.

There is, however, a Supremacy Clause that, if relied upon following federal restrictions, would make state action moot.

Bells return to Notre Dame Cathedral after 2019 fire:

Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Legislation, Legislature, Liberty, State Government, Tony Evers, Voting Rights, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 7.5.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court Restores Absentee Ballot Boxes

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a chance of scattered afternoon showers and a high of 76. Sunrise is 5:23 and sunset 8:35 for 15h 12m 21s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1687, Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

On this day in 1832, General Atkinson and his troops entered the area known by the Native Americans as “trembling land” in their pursuit of Black Hawk:

The area was some 10 square miles and contained a large bog. Although the land appeared safe, it would undulate or tremble for yards when pressure was applied. Many of the militiamen were on horses, which plunged to their bellies in the swamp. The “trembling lands” forced Atkinson to retrace his steps back toward the Rock River, in the process losing days in his pursuit of Black Hawk.”On this day in 1832, General Atkinson and his troops entered the area known by the Native Americans as “trembling lands” in their pursuit of Black Hawk. The area was some 10 square miles and contained a large bog. Although the land appeared safe, it would undulate or tremble for yards when pressure was applied. Many of the militiamen were on horses, which plunged to their bellies in the swamp. The “trembling lands” forced Atkinson to retrace his steps back toward the Rock River, in the process losing days in his pursuit of Black Hawk.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday celebration continues today at the Cravath Lakefront:

Christman Family Amusements Wrist Band Session: 5 PM to 9 PM
Civic Organization Food Vendors: 4 PM to 11 PM
Live Music at Frawley Ampitheater: 
Cactus Brothers 5 to 7 PM sponsored by TDS
Titan Fun Key (Whitewater band playing ‘70s rock, funk, and blues) 8 PM to 10:30 PM
Family Day Powered by Generac: Free petting zoo, pony rides, camel rides 4 to 8 PM 

This morning, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued rulings restoring absentee ballot boxes (Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Elections Commission), holding unconstitutional specific statutes that placed the power of the executive branch to carry out the law in a committee of the legislature (Tony Evers v. Howard Marklein), and reversing a lower-court decision that allowed recommitment and involuntary medication without actual hearing notice to the subject individual (Waukesha County v. M.A.C.).

All three decisions appear below.

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Italy’s Mount Etna erupting at night:

Italy’s Mount Etna has erupted again, sending out spouts of lava into the night sky. Europe’s most active volcano has become a destination for tourists and volcano enthusiasts looking to catch a glimpse of its frequent activity.

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.20.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court Considers Gubernatorial Partial Veto

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Good morning.

Thursday, the first day of summer, in Whitewater, will be cloudy with a possibility of afternoon showers and a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36 for 15h 20m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1944, the Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”

Wisconsin governors, since 1930, have had the power to veto legislation in whole or part, and that power has been controversial for nearly as long. Rich Kremer reports High Court To Review Wisconsin’s Nearly-Century-Old Veto Power (‘Business group’s lawsuit challenges Gov. Evers’ partial veto to create 400 years of funding’):

The state’s partial veto dates back to 1930, when concerns about state lawmakers adding multiple appropriation and policy items into what are known as omnibus bills came to a head. The Wisconsin Constitution was amended to give more power to governors to reject those items, one by one.

“Appropriation bills may be approved in whole or in part by the governor, and the part approved shall become law,” the new amendment read.

According to a study by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, proponents believed governors needed a check on the new budgeting process. But opponents worried giving governors more veto authority extended the already broad powers of the executive branch.

When he was campaigning for governor, Philip La Follette said the proposal to expand veto powers “smack[ed] of dictatorship.” The amendment was approved by around 62 percent of voters in 1930, and after he was elected, La Follette became the first governor to use it.

Nine times, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has heard challenges to the partial veto. The case now pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court will make it an even 10.

This tenth challenge is over Evers’s use of the partial veto power:

Evers’ partial veto last summer caught the Republican-controlled Legislature by surprise. By crossing out a 20 and a dash before he signed the state’s two-year budget, Evers authorized school districts to collect additional property taxes to fund a $325 per-pupil increase for more than 400 years. The Legislature intended the increase to expire in two years.

Republican lawmakers were outraged. The GOP-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted to override Evers’ veto, but the Assembly never followed suit.

The challenge the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to hear Monday, which was brought by the business lobbying group Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, alleges Evers’ veto violates the state’s constitution. The first legal briefs are due by July 16.

Evers’s expansion of the legislative funding until 2425 was unexpected (and I’d argue that expansion goes too far). And yet, and yet, his actions are a clever expression (and send-up) of political gamesmanship. I don’t know Evers’s childhood reading and viewing habits. Still, his partial veto suggests someone who enjoyed the irony and satire of Mad magazine or has a Bugs-Bunny-level cleverness.

(Bugs is, possibly, one of the sharpest Americans ever. In my household, to trick someone playfully, to pull something clever over on someone, is to ‘Bugs Bunny‘ that person. Evers certainly Bugs Bunny-ed the legislative majority with his partial veto.)

Bugs Bunny’s first on-screen appearance in A Wild Hare. Fair Use.

Japanese salamanders can live up to 80 years:

The aptly named Japanese giant salamander can grow up to five feet long and weigh over 50 pounds. But despite its primitive look, this amphibian is highly evolved. When it detects a threat, it excretes a pungent ooze that smells like a pepper. If left alone, the salamanders can live up to 80 years, but pollution and over-collection are threatening this fascinating creature. This is the Japanese giant salamander.

Assault Awareness & Prevention, Daily Bread, Education, Law, Legislation, Misconduct

Daily Bread for 3.24.24: Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Students Against Strip Searches and Sexual Misconduct

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 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 38. Sunrise is 6:48 and sunset 7:13 for 12h 24m 52s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 99.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan

Long overdue, but as Baylor Spears reports Gov. Evers has signed bipartisan legislation to protect students against strip searches and sexual misconduct:

Gov. Tony Evers signed education-related legislation Friday, including a measure to tighten protections for students against strip searches and sexual misconduct.

One measure, Senate Bill 111, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 198, was introduced in reaction to a 2022 incident in which a Suring School District employee, who was searching for vaping devices, allegedly ordered six teenage girls to undress down to their underwear. Neither the students’ parents or law enforcement were informed about or present at the time of the strip search.

The law redefines the meaning of “strip search” and “private area” to include undergarments in order to protect students from any official, employee or agent of any school or school district conducting strip searches. 

Rep. David Steffen (R-Green Bay), who coauthored the legislation, said in a statement that “being treated with dignity and basic privacy is something that every student should expect when they enter our schools.

“The event at Suring revealed a statutory loophole that needed to be closed,” Steffen said. “This bill will protect our students from experiencing such intrusive searches in the future.”

Another measure, Senate Bill 333, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 200, seeks to better protect students by making sexual misconduct against a student by any school staff member or volunteer a Class I felony. It also adds more violations to the offenses where the state superintendent would be required to revoke a license  without a hearing, and prohibits a licensee from ever having their license reinstated by the state superintendent if they are convicted of a crime against a child that is a Class H felony or higher or a felony invasion of privacy or sexual misconduct by a school staff person or volunteer. 

It should not have required reporting on strip searches over a vape pen for this legislature and this governor to agree on legislation against those kinds of searches.

Better late than never is worse, and too late, for some.

Building a heart atlas:

Daily Bread, Education, Laws/Regulations, Legislation, Literacy, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.12.24: Finance Committee Edits the Wisconsin DPI List of Science-Based Reading Curriculums

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 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 66. Sunrise is 7:09 and sunset 6:59 for 11h 49m 45s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission meets at 6 PM and the Public Works Committee also meets at 6 PM. 

On this day in 2009, financier Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street’s history.

On 3.7.24, FREE WHITEWATER posted on the Wisconsin DPI List of Science-Based Reading Curriculums. That post cited the reporting of Danielle DuClos and Rory Linnane (DPI diverges from Early Literacy Council in its reading curriculum recommendations).  

The Joint Finance Committee had the option to edit the DPI list of science-based reading programs with their own science-based list. They’ve now done so. Baylor Spears reports Republican-led budget committee rejects DPI literacy curriculum recommendations:

Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) rejected the state Department of Public Instruction’s early literacy curriculum recommendation and, instead, chose to approve a smaller list of instructional guidelines recommended by the Early Literacy Curriculum Council.

The curriculum recommendations are part of the state’s work to improve the way reading is taught by shifting early literacy education to a “science of reading” approach, which emphasizes phonics and learning to sound out letters and phrases, and away from a “balanced literacy” approach, which focuses on pictures, word cues and memorization.

….

For the 2024-25 school year, the council’s final list included: Core Knowledge Language Arts K-3, Our EL Education Language Arts, Wit and Wisdom with Pk-3 Reading Curriculum and Bookworms Reading and Writing K-3. 

DPI, however, had submitted a longer list of 11 recommended early literacy curricula to the Joint Finance Committee last month for consideration. The agency’s list threw out the “Bookworms” curriculum, saying it did not include instruction in some of the components included in the Act 20 definition of science-based early reading instruction, and included the other three council recommendations along with eight other options.

The committee approved the council’s final curriculum list in a 10-4 vote on Monday.

SpaceX Dragon with Crew-7 returns to Earth after 6 months in space: 

Daily Bread, Education, Laws/Regulations, Legislation, Literacy, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.7.24: The Wisconsin DPI List of Science-Based Reading Curriculums

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 Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:17 and sunset 5:53 for 11h 35m 17s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 11.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1799, Napoleon captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.

Danielle DuClos and Rory Linnane report DPI diverges from Early Literacy Council in its reading curriculum recommendations:

Wisconsin’s Early Literacy Curriculum Council and the Department of Public Instruction have released their highly anticipated lists of recommended reading curriculums, as required by the state’s aggressive new literacy law Act 20.

Act 20, signed into law last summer, requires curriculum to be backed by the “science of reading”: a decades-old body of research that explains how the brain learns to read. It includes an emphasis on phonics, which teaches students the sounds letters make and how those sounds combine in predictable patterns to form words.

The bees that can learn:

Daily Bread, Legislation, State Government, Taxes/Taxation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.6.24: Gov. Evers Signs Child Care Tax Credit Lift to Federal Level

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 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:19 and sunset 5:51 for 11h 32m 22s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 20 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1820, the Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.

Erik Gunn reports Evers signs child care tax credit hike, urges more action on child care support:

Gov. Tony Evers signed legislation increasing Wisconsin’s child and dependent care tax credit Monday and at the same time renewed his call for broader state support for child care providers.

“We need a long-term solution to our state’s looming child care crisis—including direct support for providers through Child Care Counts—and I will work with anyone from either side of the aisle who’s ready to work together to get this done,” Evers said.

The governor signed the legislation — AB-1023 — in a ceremony at a Waukesha child care center, La Casa de Esperanza.

The bill raises the state income tax credit for a family’s child and dependent care expenses to 100% of the federal tax credit from the current 50%. It also raises the maximum amount of expenses that can be counted to calculate the credit.

The child care tax credit is the only measure of four Republican-authored tax cut bills introduced in January that won broad support from Democratic lawmakers and the only one the Democratic governor signed. On Friday Evers vetoed the other three bills — changing the state’s second-lowest tax bracket, exempting the first $75,000 to $150,000 of retirement income, and nearly doubling the maximum tax credit for married couples.

More tax reductions are in order, but if one had to pick one of these bills only (although it wasn’t a choice of only one!), the child care credit hike was the best choice. 

Barred Owls LIVE! WBU Barred Owl Cam:

Crapweasels, Daily Bread, Elections, Fair Maps, Gerrymandering, Legislation, Legislature, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 2.14.24: Speaker Vos Rushes While the Rushing is Good

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 Good morning.

Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 45. Sunrise is 6:52 and sunset 5:25 for 10h 32m 57s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 28.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 2018, a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is one of the deadliest school massacres with 17 fatalities and 17 injuries.

Baylor Spears reports Legislature adopts Evers’s maps in second attempt to choose before state Supreme Court (‘Most Democrats vote no, saying they don’t trust Republicans’):

Six parties submitted maps to be considered and consultants recently said that the two sets of legislative maps submitted by Republican lawmakers and the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) amounted to more partisan gerrymandering.

The consultants did not pick a preferred map, but said the other maps, including Evers’ submission, were “nearly indistinguishable.” Those proposals have been projected to reduce Republican control of the Legislature from its current near-supermajority status 

Republicans lawmakers have found Evers’ maps, which would likely keep a Republican majority, although a smaller one, in the Legislature, preferable to the other submissions before the state Supreme Court. 

“Republicans were not stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Sen. Van Wannggard (R-Racine) said in a statement about the vote. “It was a matter of choosing to be stabbed, shot, poisoned or led to the guillotine. We chose to be stabbed, so we can live to fight another day.” 

….

Vos, who was the only representative to speak during the floor session, also rejected the idea that the move was a legal strategy.

Ahead of the floor sessions, some Democrats expressed concerns that Republicans wanted to pass Evers’ maps and then back a federal legal challenge before Republican-nominated U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Diane Sykes, formerly a conservative justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Such a challenge “could ultimately keep the state with its current gerrymandered maps, Democrats told the progressive news platform Democracy Docket. 

“If we get these new maps, the governor’s maps, signed by the Republicans, it’s more than likely that there’ll be a challenge in the 7th Circuit Court,” U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan said over the weekend. “We’re fearful the Republicans are finally trying to come around to do what they should have done in the first place, but they’re doing it with — I guess the technical term would be ‘with sh-t-eating grins on their faces.’ We can assume that this is not done because of the idea of good government.”

Evers’s maps would be an improvement, but Vos’s trustworthiness is discernible only with an electron microscope. Delays in Evers’s maps, either as implementation within the legislation or by litigation against implementation, would be objectionable. 

Vos does objectionable quite well. 

Note to the special-interest men (movers & shakers, lobbyists, p.r. men, whatever) in Whitewater: looking up to Robin Vos is like looking up to the pigeon that’s gonna relieve itself on a car. Normal people do not respect the men, or the pigeons, who do that.

Ukraine’s forces claim to have destroyed a large Russian landing ship in the Black Sea: 

Daily Bread, Education, Legislation, School District, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 1.31.24: Vos’s Truancy Plan Looks Speculative

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 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 43. Sunrise is 7:09 and sunset 5:06 for 9h 57m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 72.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1961, the chimpanzee Ham travels into outer space on Project Mercury’s Mercury-Redstone 2 flight. 

  Speaker Vos, having cycled futilely through several political and cultural issues in search of a winner, now offers Wisconsin a truancy plan. Corrinne Hess reports Truancy could mean being held back a grade under new proposal: 

Wisconsin students who miss 30 or more days of school could be held back a grade, under a new proposal. 

If the legislation is approved, beginning in the 2025-26 school year, public school students and students at private schools that receive state money who miss a month or more of class would not advance to the next grade.

Currently, state law requires school boards to have policies stating what conditions a student must meet to be promoted from third to fourth grade, fourth to fifth grade and eight to ninth grade.

The bill, and five other truancy-related proposals, are the result of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’s Task Force on Truancy. If passed by the Legislature, the legislation would need approval from Gov. Tony Evers.

The state’s attendance rate reached a new low of 91 percent in the 2021-22 school year and nearly a quarter of students missed at least a month of school, according to data from the state Department of Public Instruction. 

New truancy data won’t be released until March 2024.

Vos aims to solve a socio-economic problem that varies across hundreds of Wisconsin districts with uniform state statutes. Success seems doubtful. Alternatively, Vos aims to convince the delusionally gullible WISGOP base that He’s got this, Wisconsin! Your dawg Robin’s on it! 

The alternative explanation is the more probable. 

‘Like a moth to a flame’ — this strange insect behavior is finally explained: 

Crime, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.17.24: Sure Enough, That ‘Bipartisan’ Marijuana Possession Bill Is Going Nowhere

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 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 14. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset 4:48 for 9h 27m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 44.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

 Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM and the Library Board at 6:30 PM. 

On this day in 1944, Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino to break through the Winter Line and seize Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.

  Yesterday, I posted on a story about a ‘bipartisan’ marijuana decriminalization bill that seemed unlikely to go anywhere. See On Decriminalizing Marijuana Possession, Bipartisan Bills Don’t Assure Passage (“Success for this bill will not come from those who have proposed it, but instead only if opponents on both sides of decriminalization (‘no’ and ‘more’) are prepared to accept the proposal of a few legislators working in bipartisanship. (As of 12.22.23, the bill had only a few sponsors.)”).

Commenter Joe noted that “Nonetheless, the dinosaur abolitionists in the state senate are persisting and will likely sink Vos’ bill. Evers offering to sign it was probably the kiss of death. No way the Senate R-Team will want to be seen actually cooperating on a matter of high public support with the dreaded Dems.”

Sure enough, later yesterday Speaker Vos proved that he wanted the mere claim of supporting a bill he knew would not pass:

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos doesn’t plan to compromise with Senate Republicans who oppose his plan to create a medical marijuana program in Wisconsin.

Vos, a Republican from Rochester, told reporters Tuesday he won’t amend a bill from Assembly Republicans to create the program to address concerns Senate Republicans have with the legislation.

 Change awaits redistricting. 

The world’s largest iceberg: 

Crime, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.16.24: On Decriminalizing Marijuana Possession, Bipartisan Bills Don’t Assure Passage

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 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 5. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset 4:47 for 9h 25m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 31.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

  The Whitewater Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1786, Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.

  Rich Kremer reports Bipartisan bill would decriminalize marijuana possession under 14 grams (‘Legislation would also eliminate felony charges for those caught a second time with less than an ounce’):

A group of bipartisan lawmakers has introduced a bill to decriminalize possession of marijuana in Wisconsin.

The legislation was introduced by State Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, D-Milwaukee, and Rep. Dave Consadine [sic], D-Baraboo. It would create a standard $100 fine for possession of a half ounce or less and eliminate felony charges for anyone caught a second time with less than an ounce. 

Sortwell told WPR it’s a compromise bill, because some lawmakers want harsher penalties while others want to see them weakened. He said some cities like Milwaukee, Madison and Eau Claire have enacted local ordinances reducing or eliminating fines for possessing small amounts of marijuana. 

“And because of the way things kind of work out right now across our state, you may not be treated the same way if you or somebody you know is caught possessing marijuana in one part of the state versus another part of the state,” Sortwell said.

Under the bill, anyone caught with less than 14 grams of marijuana would not face criminal charges but would face a $100 fine. Under current state law, those individuals face a misdemeanor criminal charge that comes with a fine up to $1,000 and up to six months of jail time. 

The bill would also make a big change with regard to those caught a second time with marijuana. Under current law, a second offense is treated as a Class I felony that could come with a fine up to $10,000 and up to three-and-a-half years in jail. The legislation would eliminate the felony provisions for those caught a second time with 28 grams of marijuana or less. 

There are criminal law aspects of the bill (decriminalization and statewide adoption of remaining penalties for possession) and political aspects (how will this bill fare?). It’s the latter aspect that determines whether the former is germane. 

A bipartisan bill does not guarantee the passage of legislation. While it’s true that Sortwell is a Republican and Ortiz-Velez & Considine are Democrats, a clue to the problems the bill faces comes when one reads that “some lawmakers want harsher penalties while others want to see them weakened.” (Emphasis added.) 

Success for this bill will not come from those who have proposed it, but instead only if opponents on both sides of decriminalization (‘no’ and ‘more’) are prepared to accept the proposal of a few legislators working in bipartisanship. (As of 12.22.23, the bill had only a few sponsors.) 

No one should be holding his or her breath. 

One Day in the Coldest Village on Earth -71°C (-95°F) | Yakutia, Siberia:

Daily Bread, Education, Government Spending, Legislation, Lobbyists, Low Standards, Public Relations, Reasoning, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.17.23: The Empty Case Against School-District Competitive Bidding

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 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 43. Sunrise is 7:20 and sunset 4:22 for 9h 02m 09s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 26.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1903, the Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

By John T. Daniels – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppprs.00626.

Corrinne Hess reports Wisconsin school districts would have to comply with competitive bidding requirements under new proposal (‘Wisconsin is only one of three states that doesn’t require schools to go out for bid on construction projects’):

School districts in Wisconsin would have to comply with competitive bidding requirements for construction projects costing more than $150,000 under a new legislative proposal.

Wisconsin is one of only three states that allows a project of any size to be awarded on a no-bid basis, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Municipalities, meanwhile, have to seek a competitive bid for any project over $25,000. The same proposed legislation would increase that threshold for municipalities to $50,000.  

During a public hearing Thursday before the Assembly Committee on Local Government, Chris Kulow, government relations director for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, testified against the bill. He argued that requiring a competitive bidding process would take away local control.

Kulow said most school boards are already using competitive bidding. He said having to choose the lowest bidder could mean having to sacrifice the best quality. 

“Currently, districts that have long-standing relationships with local contractors have the opportunity to work with them to negotiate deals that include spending resources locally, keeping those dollars in the community,” Kulow said. “They result in the hiring of parents whose children attend the schools. They want to do a good job, and they’re less likely to ask for extra charges.”  

All school boards, not merely most, should use competitive bidding for large projects. Kulow’s argument about districts with long-standing relationships with local contractors is unsupported by his testimony. He’s telling a story about local, but his story offers not measurement but instead only unsubstantiated-yet-beguiling claims: “spending resources locally,” “dollars in the community,” “hiring of parents whose children attend the schools,” etc. 

Sounds great, right? How often, how much, how many?

Kulow — who asserted his points as a representative of educational boards — offered in his testimony no evidence whatever. Not a shred. See testimony of Chris Kulow, Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Local Government, 12.14.23, video @ 1:17:23. A former superintendent, now part of the school board association’s staff, followed Kulow’s presentation with his own singular experiences in one school district.     

Honest to goodness. A knowledgeable or educated person should expect more than this. A student who turned in a term paper so vacuous would deserve a poor grade (or a chance at a re-write); an adult representative of school boards doing the equivalent deserves the intellectual scorn of his fellow Wisconsinites. Our millions of fellow Wisconsin adults did not, each of them, fall off of turnip trucks yesterday. 

These men represent school boards; many more men and women are on school boards. There are thousands of superintendents and other administrators in over four hundred school districts in this state. Anyone — any single one — who was graduated from high school, college, or a graduate program with a presentation as light as Kulow’s either learned too little or has forgotten too much. 

Those who wish to argue against required competitive bidding — a practice adopted in 47 of 50 states — need to do better than this. 

See a massive galaxy cluster evolve in simulation: