Erpenbach 2007-2008 Session Wrap

By Senator Jon Erpenbach

The end of the 2007-2008 Legislative session has been reached and the Legislature will meet only to pass a budget repair bill, if state employee contracts need to be voted on, or if there are any veto override votes. It has been a long session with a lot of wrangling with the two houses of the Legislature being split politically for the first time since Tommy Thompson was Governor. The break will bring relief to tension between the houses.

Probably the greatest achievement this session was the final passage of a biennial budget. The budget debate was extremely difficult not just because the Legislature is split, but because there was a significant revenue shortfall as well as many Legislators promising no service cuts or new taxes. No one wants to raise taxes but taking all revenue off of the table does not allow us to keep up with the increased costs for the things we all enjoy like the roads we drive on, the Senior Care prescription drug plan, or the cost of keeping the lights on in our prisons, state buildings and universities, local aids for police, fire and schools and many other parts of state government which simply cost more every year.

Other bills important to me were signed into law of note were:

Compassionate Care for Rape Victims – Act 102 – that will make sure victims of sexual assault will be treated with dignity in the hospital and receive full medical treatment including the choice of emergency contraception.

Confidentiality of therapy records for minors – Act – that will help make sure that children can receive confidential mental health care.

Cancer research funding – Act 20 – granted $3 million for a cancer research facility. This funding is in jeopardy with the budget repair bill passed by the Assembly.

Virtual School protection – Senate Bill 396 – this compromise legislation will let virtual schools in Wisconsin keep their doors open and allow for future growth.

Fallen Soldier Resolution Honoring the Life and Service of CPL Rachael L Hugo from Madison - SJR 71

There were also many bills I worked on and feel very strongly about that did not make it to the Assembly floor and therefore never had the chance to become law including:

Healthy Wisconsin – Senate Bill 562 – nearly everyone in Wisconsin would agree that we cannot plow ahead with business as usual with our health care system. Costs for businesses, employees, and underinsurance are a significant problem. I have proposed Healthy Wisconsin as the solution and will continue to work this summer to build support for change. Every person in Wisconsin STILL deserves the same heath care that Legislators and the Governor enjoy.

Traveling Sales Crew Legislation – Senate Bill 80 – on March 29th, it will be 9 years since 7 young adults in a traveling sales crew died on Interstate 90. Phil Ellenbecker’s daughter Malinda was on of those children. Despite extreme pressure, this bill could not be moved ahead because of Representative Terry Moutlon and Representative Carl Van Roy. A simple regulation bill that just treats traveling sales crews like we do fast food workers; we could not get action in the Assembly. The need for this bill was shown again last week when a sexual predator from Wisconsin raped a woman while he was on crew selling magazines.

Cell phones on WI “No Call” list – Senate Bill 99 – surmounting great odds this bill passed the split Joint Committee on Finance 16-0 as well as the Senate unanimously. It did not however receive any action in the Assembly. As a result people will not be able to sign up their cell phones for the Wisconsin “Do Not Call” list.

John Doe Legislation for Corrections Workers – Senate Bill 537 and Assembly Bill 695 – would help correct an abuse of the current John Doe laws by prisoners seeking to harm corrections and county jail staff.

Mental Healthy Parity – Senate Bill 375 – that would require health insurance coverage of nervous and mental health, alcohol and other drug abuse conditions.

The Great Lakes Compact – Senate Bill 523– which codified the agreement that great lake states worked out to protect the future of our valuable lakes.

The Legislative break will be full of campaigning for some, and work studying legislative issues for others. It is also always a time to serve our constituents and to get out in the district more – hope to see you there!

If you would like to see all bills signed into law or would just like to search the Legislative action of this session visit the Legislature’s webpage at www.legis.state.wi.us or call my office at 608-266-65670 or 1-888-549-0027.