In this update:

• Legislative Updates
• Impeachment Updates
• Election Updates
• Administration Updates

Legislative Updates

Legislative Committee Round-Up

It was a busy week in the State Capitol this week for Committee hearings. Of note were the following:

Senate Health Committee

• The Senate Health Committee advanced the nomination of Department of Health Services (DHS)-designee Kirsten Johnson. The Committee voted 5-1 in favor of Sec. Johnson with Sen. Andre Jacque (R) casting the lone no vote. Sec. Johnson’s nomination now heads to the full senate, which has the option to confirm, reject, or not act on the nomination. If Sec. Johnson is confirmed by the senate, she will be the first DHS secretary confirmed since Kitty Rhoades was confirmed in 2013.
• The Committee rejected Dr. Sheldon Wasserman’s nomination by Governor Tony Evers to continue to serve on the Medical Examining Board (MEB). Dr. Wasserman, a former Democratic State Representative who is a physician (OB-GYN) in Milwaukee, currently serves as Chair of the Board and was previously confirmed by the Senate three times, most recently in 2019 on a 27-6 vote. Republicans on the Committee questioned Dr. Wasserman at the public hearing about the “activist” role the MEB has taken in “targeting physicians and providers.” Dr. Wasserman is also a plaintiff in Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul’s lawsuit to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law. Dr. Wasserman said he plans to continue to serve on the MEB until the Governor appoints a successor, which the Governor likely will not do during the remainder of his term.
• The majority of the public hearing was spent on Senate Bill 328, authored by Senators Mary Felzkowski (R-Irma) and Julian Bradley (R-Franklin), the “Know Your Healthcare Costs” Act. According to the authors, this bill “requires that the exact same data that the hospitals are supposed to be sharing with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), also be shared with the Department of Health Services (DHS). DHS is tasked with monitoring each hospital’s compliance, and maintaining a public list of non-compliant hospitals.” The Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) testified in opposition to the legislation, arguing that Wisconsin hospitals comply with the federal mandate and that “SB 328 contains at least 18 “Wisconsin-only” substantive differences compared to the current federal mandate.” (link to testimony from the committee hearing)

Senate Elections Committee

• The Senate elections committee rejected Gov. Tony Evers’ (D) appointment of Joseph Czarnezki to the Elections Commission. The vote was 2-3 with Republicans unanimously opposed. Prior to to his time on the elections commission, Mr. Czarnezki served two years as a Democratic state representative and ten years as a state senator. More recently, he served as Milwaukee County Clerk, as well as on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. Republicans on the elections committee said they could not support Mr. Czarnezki’s nomination because he failed to carry out his “non-discretionary duty” when he abstained from voting on the reappointment of WEC Administrator Megan Wolfe. Committee Chair Dan Knodl (R) claimed Mr. Czarnezki’s choice to abstain from voting was a “dereliction of duty” meant to prevent the Senate from exercising its right to oversight. Mr. Czarnezki challenged the GOP’s interpretation of state law, saying there is no deadline for the elections commission to appoint an administrator and that the recent state Supreme Court ruling in Kaul v. Prehn changed how appointment holdovers are treated under state law. In a statement posted to X, Gov. Evers condemned the vote and promised to put forward more liberal nominees if senate Republicans continued to block his appointments. “None of those people—none of those people—could be considered radical, crazy people,” Gov. Evers said. “In fact, if they keep throwing people off, I think I’ll start bringing crazy, radical people there.” Gov. Evers also claimed Republicans are rejecting his nominees “just because I’m governor.” “How stupid is that?” Gov. Evers lamented. “These people are volunteering their time and effort to do good things for the state of Wisconsin. And it’s really kind of stupid politics.”

Senate Judiciary Committee

• The Senate judiciary committee held a second public hearing this week on the confirmation of Department of Corrections (DOC) Secretary Kevin Carr. GOP members of the committee asked Sec. Carr about DOC’s lack of communication with legislators when there are significant incidents concerning state prisons in their districts. Committee Chair Sen. Van Wanggaard (R) and Sen. Jesse James (R) expressed frustration around not being able to respond to questions from constituents about incidents occurring in the prisons. Both lawmakers said they typically learn about such incidents from press reports or constituents rather than the secretary. “It seems like every single time I’m asked a question about the Stanley prison and what occurs there, I’m always behind the eight ball because I don’t know what’s going on,” Sen James said. Sec. Carr said he wants to understand what kind of incidents the committee would like to be made aware, pointing to the large number of inmates in Wisconsin — roughly 20,000 — which makes it difficult to keep legislators informed about every death or significant incident that occurs.

Senate Utilities & Technology Committee

• The committee voted unanimously in favor of Summer Strand’s appointment to the Public Service Commission, but no action was taken on Tyler Huebner’s appointment.

Speakers Task Forces

• Obesity
  • Public hearing held September 26, the stream can be viewed here.
• Truancy
  • Public hearing held October 4, the stream can be viewed here.
• Human Trafficking
  • Public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, October 11, at 10:00 AM.
• Artificial Intelligence
  • Public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, October 11, at 12:00 PM.

Impeachment Updates

Kapenga calls on Vos to impeach Wolfe

Senate President Chris Kapenga (R) sent a letter to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) urging him to impeach Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. In his letter, Sen. Kapenga says he takes the senate’s role of advice and consent over nominations very seriously and therefore is “very concerned with Wolfe’s cavalier rejection” of the senate’s oversight responsibilities. Citing Ms. Wolfe’s refusal to attend the public hearing for her nomination, her “repeated statements criticizing the Senate,” and the Senate rejecting her nomination by a two-thirds majority, Sen. Kapenga called on the Assembly to initiate impeachment proceedings. However, in an interview on Thursday, Speaker Vos rejected calls for impeachment, saying there was no need to impeach Ms. Wolfe because she is not legally in the position to begin with. “I believe the position is vacant because it did not have a new successor named,” Speaker Vos said. He then called on Republicans on the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization (JCLO) to put forward a new nominee to act as elections administrator in place of Ms. Wolfe. “That’s what I really think we should be doing,” Speaker Vos said. “We should be advancing a new name.”

Ms. Wolfe has previously said she would remain in her position until the courts have rendered a decision. “I will absolutely respect whatever the ultimate outcome is of that final determination of the courts,” Ms. Wolfe said, adding “I continue to focus on the job at hand.” She also acknowledged the impeachment discussion “has created a distraction for local election officials [and] for my staff during what should be a very important time for our preparations for next year.”

LRB releases “Impeachment in Wisconsin”

The Legislative Research Bureau released a new publication called “Impeachment in Wisconsin.” According to LRB, it prepared the publication due to the large number of inquiries it has received in recent months regarding impeachment. The publication contains a brief overview of impeachment history, law, and processes in Wisconsin. The full publication can be read here.

Election Updates

Shankland launches Congressional bid

State Representative Katrina Shankland (D) announced her bid to join the 2024 race for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District. Rep. Shankland is the fourth candidate to enter the race for the Democratic nomination, joining Eau Claire nonprofit owner Rebecca Cooke, Harvard University student Adam Nytes, and former La Crosse County Board Supervisor Tara Johnson.

During her announcement, state Rep. Shankland referred to the incumbent 3rd CD representative, Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R), as an extremist and said the district needs someone who is “battle tested” with a record of bipartisan accomplishments. “I was raised by public school teachers who taught me from a young age — don’t complain unless you’re going to do something about it. That’s exactly what I have done my entire career, deliver results for Wisconsin,” Rep. Shankland said. “I am running for Congress to bring some common sense to our nation’s capital.” She also said her decade of experience in the state Assembly differentiates her from the other Democratic candidates, “We need a candidate who is battle tested, who has a proven track record of not only winning elections but outperforming the top of the ticket in those elections,” Rep. Shankland told reporters. “In my last few campaigns, I’ve had people of all political ideologies endorsing me, because I’m known for working across the aisle to deliver results.”

Before her official announcement, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella was dismissive of Rep. Shankland’s potential bid. “Wisconsin Democrats are at the starting line of a chaotic race to the left. Whether it’s Katrina Shankland or any of the other wannabees, their eventual nominee will limp out of this primary bruised and broke,” Mr. Marinella said. Rep. Van Orden was last elected in 2022 with 51.8% of the vote, defeating his Democratic opponent Brad Pfaff by a margin of 3.7 percentage-points.

New MU Poll finds support for Trump up while DeSantis drops

A new national Marquette University Law School Poll found Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis remain the only two GOP candidates with double digit support among registered voters who are Republican or independents who lean Republican. Support for former President Trump has increased to 56%, up 10 percentage-points from July’s poll when the former president had 46% support. In contrast, Gov. DeSantis saw a decrease to 12%, down from 22% in July, 24% in May, and 35% in March.

The poll also found in the case of a potential rematch of the 2020 presidential election, 51% of registered voters would vote for former President Trump while 48% would vote for President Biden. This is a slight change from July’s poll when former President Trump and President Biden were tied at 50% support among registered voters. September’s poll also found in a matchup between Gov. DeSantis and President Biden, 51% of registered voters would vote for Gov. DeSantis while 48% would vote for President Biden, roughly the same it has been since May.

The survey was conducted between September 18-25, and interviewed 1,007 adults nationwide. The margin of error is +/-4.1%. MU Law School is rated an A/B pollster by FiveThirtyEight.

Administration Updates

Evers requests public hearing on workforce proposal

Gov. Tony Evers (D) sent a letter to State Sen. Dan Feyen (R), chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Technical Colleges, formally requesting a public hearing and executive session on September 2023 Special Session Senate Bill 1. The special session bill includes the plan proposed by Gov. Evers last month to address the state’s workforce challenges including $365 million for childcare subsidies, $243.4 million for a paid family leave program, and $66 million for the UW System. “I urge you to hold a public hearing and executive session on this bill without delay,” wrote Gov. Evers. “Unfortunately, with each day of delay and inaction, the state is seeing the consequences of uncertainty and a lack of investment in this industry through multiple child care closures, throwing working families and their kids into chaos and destabilizing the workforce in our local communities.”

In response, Sen. Feyen released a written statement confirming he would hold a public hearing, but that the governor’s proposal was a 50-page document that incorporated over a billion dollars of spending, so the committee wanted to make sure a Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis was available prior to any hearing. “The Governor has the right to ask for a hearing, the committee has the right to take our time and due diligence to review the document and do the right thing for the citizens of this state,” Sen. Feyen said. “Once again, as previously stated, I intend to hold a public hearing once committee members are available and comfortable with what is included in the bill.”