Progressive Thinking

Built in 1963, the current State Office Building on 6th Street in Milwaukee is old and needs to be replaced, but maybe we should combine it with some County functions to save time and money.

MILWAUKEE – Last week, Governor Scott Walker announced his plans to sell state offices in Milwaukee to a private developer and build a new state building in the Milwaukee area. The current state office, located at 819 North 6th Street in downtown Milwaukee, was built in in 1963 and houses multiple state offices and the Governor’s office. State Representative David Bowen (D-10) attended the announcement and released the following statement:

“While the Milwaukee State office is aging and needs to be replaced, I’d like to take Walker’s plan for a new facility a step further. In order to ensure that even more taxpayer dollars are saved, I call on Milwaukee County to submit a proposal within the RFP 30 day time period to replace our current state building with one that houses both the state and county offices together in order to save taxpayers more money. The County Safety Building serves important functions and has long been in the category of severely needed replacement.”

“Before my time in the legislature, I served on the county board and am aware of the challenges of budget constraints and Capital improvement challenges at the county level. Placing the county and state in the same new & energy efficient building will help alleviate some of those constraints savings millions that can be invested in other needs.”

Our fellow citizens who receive FoodShare and other government benefits already face substantial barriers to improved employment. Increased bureaucratic requirements to hunt for better jobs is not the most efficient way to help them.

MADISON - The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin agrees with Governor Walker that employment in jobs that pay a living wage is the most effective means for families to move out of poverty and become vital, contributing members of society.

However the majority of people in Wisconsin who continue to receive FoodShare and other government benefits are people who already face substantial barriers to improved employment: many have disabilities that limit their options; they may be single mothers with children and inadequate access to good child care; they have chronic or acute health concerns that require frequent—perhaps daily—treatment regimens; they lack access to good transportation to travel to work or to daycare or to medical appointments; they lack modern skills to meet employers’ technical requirements; they live in constant fear of domestic violence and sabotage of their employment prospects.

Increasing the bureaucratic compliance requirements is not the most humane, and certainly not the most efficient, way to help people train for and compete successfully for good jobs.

While some of these bills propose changes to our existing systems that may help a small percentage of low-income individuals, they largely do not provide the types of assistance that would result in meaningful change. Unfortunately, these proposals are mostly about increasing the barriers faced by struggling families, which we know will simply result in fewer resources for the families involved. And this misguided effort will cost Wisconsin taxpayers $90 million. Imagine how that money could be used to benefit Wisconsin workers!

Instead of increasing barriers to accessing assistance, the League encourages the legislature to develop proposals that will: help families with their transportation problems; provide good, neighborhood child care that is available at the times, which is needed by the erratic schedules employees are now required to work; ensure that people are receiving needed medical care; expand training opportunities for the modern job market; and provide that available jobs pay a family-sustaining wage.

Unemployment in Wisconsin is approaching historically low levels. Employers and the government will have to work together to expand the labor force to meet the increasing demand for skilled employees. This cannot be done by making it harder for low-wage workers to access supplements to their low wages. It can only be done by expanding the opportunities for families to participate in the modern labor market. We encourage the legislature to take a new look at how to make it possible for more people to meaningfully participate in building Wisconsin’s economy.

As they stand, these proposals will not help the state move forward, and we urge lawmakers to reject them.

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Written by Ingrid Rothe, Member, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Legislative Committee

During testimony last week on the 10 Special Session bills covering new requirements for FoodShare, Medicaid and other government assistance programs, one of the questions that no one answered was the cost. Here is some research to help you understand the implications of these bills.

MADISON - “With more people working in Wisconsin…, we can’t afford to have anyone on the sidelines, we need everyone in the game,” stated Governor Walker, calling for a special session to take up bills he nicknamed, “Wisconsin Works for Everyone.”

The Senate Public Benefits, Licensing and State-Federal Relations Committee, of which I am a member, took up the special session bills in a recent public hearing. The 10 bills make substantial changes in eligibility for FoodShare (nutrition) or BadgerCare (medical care). Many of the bills limit assistance for families experiencing hard times.

To move things quickly, Senate and Assembly Committees met in a joint hearing – the only public hearing scheduled. Committee chairs took up all ten bills at the same time. At times, during the hearing, members were admonished by the Chair to ask only one question on all of the ten bills.

Lawmakers had scant information on the plans. Agency directors, who will carry out the new laws, knew very little about who would be affected. They could not answer questions about how much the state would pay to implement the new laws. No fiscal estimates were available at the hearing.

During the hearing, we learned about the hub of the Governor’s plan to get everyone working – the FoodShare Employment and Training program – commonly called “FSET.”

FSET is run by private companies. Curiously, our Assembly Chairman was a former employee of one of these companies.

Getting training and employment sounded like a great idea. I was eager to learn if the program really helped people. I wanted to know who would be participating under the new law.

About two-thirds of the people who get help from FoodShare cannot work. They are blind, elderly, disabled or children. Of the one-third left, nearly half are already working. Most folks are working part-time, low wage jobs. They want more hours, but can’t get them.

We heard about problems with the private contractors, including contractors that received incentives to get people into low-wage work, not training. In one case, a woman’s work experience was in fast food. She wanted to obtain her high school diploma, but the contractor sent her to another low-wage fast food job, without a chance to get back in school.

From her perspective, the program was a failure. From the state’s perspective, with her low wages, she would continue on FoodShare. Her life was not better. The state did not have fewer people on FoodShare. But the private contractors got paid.

I began to wonder, who’s working here and at what cost to taxpayers? Do we know if this program works? Has it been evaluated?

In brief, I learned that Wisconsin moved to a voluntary FSET program in 2008. In 2013, lawmakers asked for a yearly evaluation of the program. Walker vetoed the evaluations. In 2015, money was budgeted for a program evaluation. However, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, by May 2017, no evaluation was completed. When I asked where was the $850,000 budgeted for evaluation, no one could answer the question.

Why wouldn’t the state want to know if the program is working? When I finally obtained the fiscal estimates, I began to see a very different story of who works and who pays.

If all 10 special session bills are enacted, the implementation and ongoing costs will be nearly $240 million in the next budget. In eight of the 10 bills, the state will pay a significant amount of new money to outside contractors. For example, mandatory FSET participation and incentive payments would add almost $50 million for the FSET contractors.

Many of the bills will allow the contractor to collect public money for program changes not currently allowed under federal law. The state will seek special permission from the Trump administration to make the changes.

Now, I see a new story. Private contractors stand to gain. Governor Walker has new initiatives he can brag about across the state. New employees will work for the now wealthier contractors.

But is Wisconsin Working for Everyone who is hungry, in need of health care, or child care – not so much. All of the organizations focused on helping the working poor testified against the bills.

Please tell your Legislators to Vote No!

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Read 10 Special Session Bill here.

Wisconsin Public Radio: Walker Calls For Special Session On Welfare Reform

Stuck, Hansen, Nelson, Hintz Call for State Action to Help Keep Mills Open in the Paper Valley.

APPLETON, WI – Following the recent announcement of paper mill closures from Kimberly Clark, State Representative Amanda Stuck, State Senator Dave Hansen, and Outagamie County Executive Thomas Nelson spoke at the Paper Discovery Center, home of the Paper International Hall of Fame about steps the State of Wisconsin should take to help preserve the paper industry in Wisconsin and in Paper Valley.

“I grew up five miles from here, in Little Chute, where every other household had a family member who worked at a paper mill. I’m here today for those folks,” stated Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson. “I understand marketplace dynamics; I know that industries change. But I also understand that if the State of Wisconsin can muster $3 billion for a Chinese company, it can spare one percent for one of its own,” said Nelson, “We need to help the home team and that’s why I’m here.”

“The closing of these mills and resulting loss of jobs loss is especially troubling. Paper industry jobs are some of the best in Wisconsin. For generations, they have played a key role in creating a sustaining a strong middle class in our state. These jobs are some of the best blue collar jobs in Wisconsin,” said Sen. Dave Hansen. “The funds we are proposing today account for just 2% of the total commitment that Governor Walker has made to Chinese-owned Foxconn,” stated Hansen. “But we believe it’s more than enough to help our mills convert to more prosperous lines of paper and become more efficient in the process.”

“In the last 20 months we have seen 6 companies in the Fox Valley announce closures and layoffs impacting more than 1,800 family supporting jobs in our community,” stated Rep. Amanda Stuck. “It is past time that the State of Wisconsin takes action to help stabilize the paper industry, if we can afford billions in taxpayer support to Foxconn we can afford to help protect this home-grown industry” said Stuck. “We are proposing legislation that will help mills transition to brown paper product production and a fund that will help this industries become more efficient and reduce one of the only costs that are within their control to reduce. These proposals will help paper stay in the Paper Valley for many years to come.”

Scott Walker owns the Kimberly-Clark layoffs say Dems.

MADISON - Yesterday, Kimberly-Clark, a paper-based manufacturing company, announced that it was shuttering two facilities in the Fox Valley. The closure of these facilities, Neenah Nonwovens and the Cold Springs plant, will cost 600 Wisconsin workers their jobs.

Kimberly-Clark’s Chief Financial Officer, Maria Henry stated clearly that these closures were prompted by the recent Republican tax bill, promoted by Gov. Scott Walker and pushed into law by Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnson to enrich their corporate backers. Henry said that the GOP tax bill provides capital for their “restructuring” and layoff plans, so they can still have “flexibility to continue to allocate significant capital to shareholders.”

Translation: The Republican tax bill allows them to close factories and ship jobs out of Wisconsin while making their rich shareholders even richer.

“Wisconsin deserves a governor who stands up for workers and fights to keep jobs here,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Martha Laning. “Walker has shown that he’s not interested in making efforts to stop Wisconsin plant closings like Oscar Mayer and Appleton Coated. Republican tax and economic policy focuses only on those in the boardroom, not the workers in the lunchroom.”

Wisconsin deserves to know: Did Walker do anything to keep these good jobs and factories in Wisconsin? Did he meet with Kimberly Clark or make any attempt to stop the job cuts caused by Republican tax plans?

During his 25 years in public office, Walker has pushed tax policy that benefits the ultra-wealthy and mega-corporations he serves. A prime example of this is his 2011 tax cut said to benefit manufacturing, which in reality focused on billionaires. A full 75% of the benefits of this Republican tax cut went to individuals with a yearly income over $1 million. By the end of 2019, this Walker tax bill will have cost Wisconsin taxpayers $1.3 billion - $1 billion of which will have gone to the wealthy elite.

Had Republicans tax giveaways required supporting jobs here in our state and country, Kimberly-Clark might not be laying off 600 Wisconsinites.

Making matters even worse is Walker’s reckless and shockingly expensive giveaway to Foxconn. Revised estimates show the deal now costing $4.5 billion, most of which is a cash payment to a giant foreign corporation.

The shuttering of two more major manufacturing facilities begs the question: Why are we giving away so much to billionaires and Foxconn when Wisconsin businesses are struggling?

“Workers are losing their jobs due to Scott Walker and Republicans failed trickle-down economics,” added Laning. “They keep showering the ultra-rich and giant corporations with our hard-earned tax dollars, and the only thing that trickles down from it are pink slips.”