December 7, 2007
Volume #29, Issue
#41
PROTECTIVE STATUS BILL ADVANCES - Legislation to extend protective status
benefits to all state
employees who work in secured institutions was approved 8-2 this week by the Assembly
Committee on
Corrections and Courts. The bill, AB 354, would grant protective status to social workers,
health and dental
care workers, food service employees, teachers, psychologists and maintenance staff who
work alongside
dangerous criminals, sex offenders and the seriously mentally ill. AB 354 would cover
those who work in
correctional institutions, state mental health institutes (Winnebago and Mendota), the
Wisconsin Resource
Center, and Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Facility. The dangers of working in such settings
were
highlighted when a dental worker was taken hostage for several hours at Waupun
Correctional Institution.
Fortunately, the worker was released with no physical injuries.
Committee members who voted for the bill include: Rep. Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay), Rep.
Dean Kaufert
(R-Neenah), Rep. Phil Montgomery (R-Green Bay), Rep. Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake), Rep.
Joe Parisi
(D-Madison), Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison), Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts (D-Verona), Rep. Sheldon
Wasserman (D-Milwaukee). The "no" votes were from Rep. Carol Owens (R-Oshkosh)
and Rep. Dan
LeMahieu (R-Cascade). Rep. Donna Seidel (D-Wausau), another committee member, was
obligated to
leave before the vote took place, but it is clear she would have supported the bill.
AB 354 now moves on to be considered by the Legislature’s Joint Survey Committee on
Retirement
Systems, whose job is to evaluate any and all legislation that would affect the Wisconsin
Retirement
System. The Committee will not take action on AB 354 (or any other benefit enhancement
legislation)
without an actuarial study indicating the cost of the bill to the WRS. The problem,
according to legislators,
is that the committee has neither the staff nor the budget to perform the study.
Contact the Committee Co-Chairs, Representative Sue Jeskewitz (R-Menomonee Falls) and
Senator Bob
Wirch (D-Kenosha) and ask them to (a) find the money to arrange for the actuarial study
and (b) to hold
public hearing on AB 354 to give state employees a chance to make their case for
protective occupation
status.
You can also email, call or write to the other committee members to ask them to see that a
study gets
done so that a hearing can be held. The other committee members are: Senator Lena Taylor
(D-Milwaukee), Senator Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), Representative Tom Lothian (R-Williams Bay)
and
Representative Dave Travis (D-Madison).
ANOTHER PROTECTIVE STATUS EFFORT UNDERWAY - Another group of AFSCME members
–
county correctional officers – also seeks protective status benefits. Currently, some
counties offer
protective occupation status, some do not. Unfortunately, this is benefit that can no
longer be gained at
the bargaining table. Protective status is now a prohibited subject of bargaining, thanks
to an unfavorable
decision in LaCrosse some years ago. AFSCME therefore supports legislation to require all
counties to
offer COs protective status. It’s a question of fairness and of recognizing the
dangers that COs in county
jails face every day. AFSCME Council 40 recently formed a County Correctional Officers
Advisory
Committee to advocate for protective status and to do the legwork that will be necessary
to advance the
cause.
FIXING JOHN DOE: AFSCME SEEKS TO CURB ABUSE OF BASELESS COMPLAINTS AGAINST
CORRECTIONAL STAFF BY INMATES - Legislation to close a loophole in the John Doe
complaint filing
process is being considered by lawmakers. The problem is that the John Doe law, as
interpreted by a court
ruling, allows anybody to file a complaint against another person in court without any
investigation of the
merits of the complaint, and it requires the judge to convene a proceeding to determine if
the complaint
has merit. This loophole in the law has been exploited by inmates seeking to harass and
intimidate
correctional staff. One officer in Waupun is now facing criminal charges relating to John
Due case. Due to
the intense grassroots activism of AFSCME members, legislators are keenly aware of the
problem and are
working on solution. Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma), Senator Carol Roessler
(R-Oshkosh) and
Representative Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) are working to address this serious situation.
TEACHING LABOR HISTORY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS - A bill requiring schools to teach
the history of
working people was considered by the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. SB 108,
authored by
Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) and Rep. Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee) would give children
a chance
to learn how Wisconsin’s unemployment, worker’s compensation, retirement system
and other laws came
to be – from the sheer willpower and activism of union members. Call your legislator
and urge him or her to
support SB 108. Ask them if they know how a Capitol cleaning woman, Ingeborg Sidwell,
convinced
Governor Walter S. Goodland to support the creation of the Wisconsin Retirement System.
SUPPORT GROWS FOR KEEPING 17-YEAR OLDS IN THE JUVENILE CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM -
This week several news stories featured lengthy articles about the perils of sending youth
offenders
into the adult correctional system. On December 1, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
story highlighted the
problem, and concluded that putting kids into the adult correctional world puts them at
high risk of future
crime. AFSCME is working with a coalition of groups seeking to change state law to keep
17-year-olds in
the juvenile system. Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) and Rep. Don Friske (R-Merrill)
will unveil a bill
next week on this topic. Their proposal calls for a surcharge on video games, a $10
billion industry.
A FLURRY OF ACTIVITY IN THE CAPITOL - The Capitol was abuzz with legislative
hearings this week
on many different bills. Two separate committees heard hours of testimony on legislation
to eliminate the
practice of paying Milwaukee police officer salaries after discharge. Another committee
took up a bill to
change the definition of indigency for purposes of qualifying for a state public defender.
A Senate
committee held a hearing on legislation to change the laws relating to protective
placements and
guardianship services to the elderly and disabled. The Assembly Criminal Justice and
Public Safety heard
testimony on a bill to create a penalty for battery of City of Milwaukee employees, and
lawmakers on the
committee expressed impatience with bills that carve out special penalties for battery of
certain groups of
public employees.
The intense committee activity is due to the fact that most bills lingered while lawmakers
were focused on
the budget and now the pressure is on to get bills out of committee so they can be voted
on by the Senate
and Assembly. While it may not seem possible there are actually only a handful of
legislative session
days in 2008 before the campaign season begins.
NEXT WEEK: GOVERNOR’S SPECIAL SESSION ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM - On
Tuesday,
December 11, lawmakers will return to Madison to act on legislation brought forth by
Governor Jim Doyle
to reform Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws. The Governor’s proposal will be
based on Senate Bill 12,
which is a blueprint for comprehensive campaign finance reform that has bipartisan support
and Senate
Bill 171, which provides for fully public-funded Wisconsin Supreme Court campaigns.
LEGISLATIVE WEBSITES. . .For those
"online", here are some good info spots:
Wisconsin State Legislature: www.legis.state.wi.us/
"Who Are My Legislators": www.legis.state.wi.us./waml/
State of Wisconsin: www.wisconsin.gov/state/home
Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau: www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/
Wisconsin Legislative Council: www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/
Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau: www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/
Wisconsin Ethics Board: http://ethics.state.wi.us