Like the familiar smell of Milorganite wafting from Jones Island, Milwaukee’s media cycle kind of stinks. That’s why we bring you the week’s unduly overlooked stories in bite-sized pieces every Friday in our news roundup. This week offers movement on the disastrous shared revenue bill, mostly bad but ultimately acceptable housing bills, a homophobia reminder (happy Pride!), a regressive marijuana ruling, a progressive driver’s license policy, and lots of hot Assembly action. Breathe it all in!
The Breakdown Begins: Gov. Evers Signs Shared Revenue Bill
Well folks, it finally happened. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed the GOP-crafted shared revenue bill into law on Tuesday. There’s a mountain of garbage to sift through, so here are the key takeaways from the bill and what it means for our fair city:
- The good news: Milwaukee County received a desperately needed $274 million injection to keep the County & Municipal Aid program afloat. The bad news: Milwaukee deserves so much more. Republican lawmakers deliberately designed the bill to give undue weight to small towns and not nearly enough weight to big cities like Milwaukee. As a result, smaller towns received a much higher percentage of funding than Milwaukee, which received the lowest percentage increase in aid of any county in the state. All this despite Milwaukee being a top contributor to the state budget.
- The money that Milwaukee County was able to squeeze out of the GOP-led state Legislature comes with a litany of strings attached. For example, new revenue in the bill can be used only for police, fire protection, and emergency services, and local governments must maintain or increase their spending on these services every year or risk losing a significant share of their total County and Municipal Aid payments. The bill also includes many Milwaukee-specific handcuffs including but not limited to: a new rule requiring a two-thirds vote on all new spending in the county and the city, a ban on tax-levy expenditures on the streetcar, and the gutting of civilian oversight of the Milwaukee Police Department. Milwaukee would also see additional penalties (a 30% cut to supplemental shared-revenue payments) if its investments in police, fire, and emergency services fall below current levels.
- Sales taxes are almost certainly going up. As a result of insubstantial funding from the state, Milwaukee is left with no other viable alternative to raise money than a rise in sales tax. With Milwaukee facing a budget cliff within the next two budget cycles, county legislators were able to enact a rise in local sales tax from 0.4%-2% as early as July without the need for a referendum. While this is yet another blow for the working class, the Republicans in Madison left Milwaukee County with nowhere to turn.
- Despite this giant storm cloud of bad news, there is one small silver lining. The Milwaukee Common Council announced it will begin the process to explore filing a lawsuit that challenges the Milwaukee-specific stipulations, citing the Wisconsin Constitution’s Home Rule amendment. (The Recombobulation Area)
Tony Plays House
In more Evers-related news, our governor signed a handful of housing bills into law this week, aiming to create or expand a number of loan programs through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). Four of the bills allocate funding to WHEDA to rehabilitate aging homes, convert commercial property into residential buildings, renovate housing above retail locations, and cover much of the development costs. Another bill limits ways in which a municipality can deny a proposed housing project that complies with local zoning rules and how those rules can be challenged in court. The final two laws in the original housing bill package would raise the cap for the state’s low-income housing tax credits and expand the use of tax incremental districts if financed by developers, but they currently remain in a Senate committee.
These bills are far from perfect; they give a lot of handouts to corporate developers and do not carve out any low-income housing. But it’s better than nothing. In a capitalist economy, more housing will be the main driver to lower housing costs. This is likely the best our liberal political leaders will do. Anyone else sick of accepting the bare minimum? (Wisconsin Examiner)
We’re #1! Wisconsin Leads the Way in Archaic Anti-Gay Laws
With rampant transphobia dominating the news cycle of late, it would be easy to forget that Wisconsin remains homophobic as hell. Look no further than our dusty old state statutes. Wisconsin is among a small number of states that include discriminatory language against same-sex couples in how they define “parent,” according to a Wisconsin Watch review of all 50 state laws. Only two states — Wisconsin and South Dakota — include a reference to “husband” in the primary definition of “parent.” This leaves many same-sex couples spending thousands in legal fees to ensure their names are correctly listed on their children’s birth certificates.
At least 21 states have adopted neutral language through a law known as the Uniform Parentage Act, according to a recent report from the Movement Advancement Project, a research group that promotes equity and inclusiveness. Wisconsin is among 29 states that have not. A once-bipartisan effort to update state law to include gender-neutral terminology for spouses and parents has stalled in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Gendered language appears in many other areas of the state statutes. A few examples include:
- The crime of theft doesn’t apply if the perpetrator and the victim are “husband and wife.”
- For bank accounts, marital accounts are defined as those who “claim to be husband and wife.”
- Divorce proceedings allow couples to attempt reconciliation during which time they may attempt to live together as “husband and wife.”
Governor Evers has done as much as he can to promote gender-neutral language within his sphere of influence, directing cabinet agencies to use gender-neutral language in an executive order. However, only the State Legislature can rewrite state statutes. In a post-Roe America, we need to organize to defend LGBTQ rights as Republicans continue to work to erode them at every opportunity. (Wisconsin Watch)
Smells like Bullshit
Better break out the Febreze in case the cops come sniffing around – a new Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling determined that a car smelling like marijuana is enough for police in Wisconsin to justify searching a person in the vehicle, even though substances legal in the state (such as CBD) can smell the same. Considering that nearly half of all U.S. states have legalized marijuana, granting cops the power to break into a car because of the perceived smell of weed is beyond parody. (Associated Press)
Undocumented Citizens are One Step Closer to Accessing Driver’s Licenses
Time for a crumb of good news, for a change. After being struck from Governor Ever’s proposed budget, socialist Milwaukee County Supervisor Juan-Migel Martinez has introduced legislation that would instruct Milwaukee County’s lobbyists to inform state policymakers that the board of supervisors “urges the State of Wisconsin to pass legislation allowing undocumented immigrants the ability to obtain a driver’s license or State ID.” (Urban Milwaukee)
A Smorgasbord of Decent Assembly Legislation
The Wisconsin State Assembly passed a bunch of stuff this week. Let’s get into it.
First, the Assembly passed a reading bill that would overhaul how reading is taught in public schools. The new program would move the state toward a phonics-oriented literacy instruction. Something clearly needs to change; only about one-third of Wisconsin’s third graders were proficient in reading on the most recent Wisconsin Forward Exam, and Wisconsin’s racial achievement gap in reading is among the worst in the nation. Fully funding public schools would be the obvious first step, but sure, let’s try this.
Next up is birth control, and this is a good one. This bill would allow a pharmacist to directly give a person hormonal birth control without a doctor’s prescription. Patients would have to complete a self-assessment and receive a blood pressure screening first. Unfortunately, it is not currently clear if it will be brought before the Senate this year.
And now, a Wisconsin classic. Looser liquor laws! A few new proposals would create a division of alcoholic beverages within the state’s Department of Revenue, expand closing hours across the state, and establish a statewide bartender’s license that the bill’s authors say would reduce local bureaucracy. The bill would also allow breweries, wineries and distilleries to open full-service retail stores. It would also require owners of wedding barns to get a Class B liquor license if they hold more than six events a year. Sounds fine enough to us. The only notable thing here is co-author Rep. Rob Swearingen, who is the former president of the Tavern League, and his stated approach of meeting with a wide range of stakeholders in developing the proposals. Not once does he mention meeting with his constituents. Such cartoonishly capitalist behavior deserves an award. (WPR)
Running Low on Money for Rent or Child Care? Too Bad, Says Everyone Who can do Something about It
We hate to leave you on a low note, but our elected officials leave us no other choice. This week saw a freeze in multiple rental assistance programs in Milwaukee County (with no one in power stepping in to stop it) due to a lack of funding. On a state level, Wisconsin is now at risk losing 2,110 childcare programs, also due to a lack of funding. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers included $340 million in his 2023-2025 state budget proposal to stabilize child care programs, but Republicans cut it from the final budget in a late-night vote. In a state with a $5 billion surplus, such callous disregard for the basic welfare of Wisconsin’s working class is unconscionable. (Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, WPR).
