(The Center Square) – The plan to shield Wisconsin police officers from a second chance at a prosecution for an officer-involved shooting is facing a lot of pushback at the Capitol in Madison.
Dozens of activists turned out Wednesday to oppose AB 34, which says if “the district attorney determined there was no basis to prosecute the officer, a court may not issue a complaint against the involved officer unless there is new or unused evidence presented.”
Julie Mankowski said there’s no reason why police officers should have extra protections in officer-involved shootings.
“When we talk about people in positions of power, we must hold them to the highest possible standards. That means police officers. That means elected officials. That means your boss at work. It means everyone,” Mankowski told lawmakers. “I do also think that it is necessary that we all open our hearts and our minds to the pain of those who’ve been harmed by the actions of those in positions of power, including police officers.”
The legislation is inspired by the trial of former Wauwatosa Police officer Joseph Mensah for a deadly shooting back in 2016.
Milwaukee County prosecutors originally declined to file charges in the case, but in 2021 Milwaukee County Judge Glenn Yamahiro appointed special prosecutors to the case, and charges were filed.
A jury cleared Mensah in the case one year later.
Police officials told lawmakers the legislation is necessary to protect officers from after-the-fact prosecutions for in-the-moment decisions.
Advocates, like Katherine Johnson, pushed back.
“They have framed the worst day of a family’s life, parents’ life, siblings’ life, friend’s life, everyone that someone who is murdered by police has touched. The worst day of their lives, as a hard day on the job for a cop, who had to make a hard decision” Johnson said.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Joint Committee on Finance is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. on Thursday to eliminate a long list of items from Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal.
The group is then set to introduce an amended budget as it starts proceedings on what will ultimately become the state’s biennial budget.
The list of budget removals includes a list of funding, department creations, tax exemptions and items such as the full expansion of Medicaid in the state.
Democrats in the legislature and progressive groups spoke out against the budget removals that were listed.
The budget deliberations come after a series of listening sessions on the budget across the state.
“Especially with the unprecedented level of chaos and uncertainty created by the Trump-Musk regime, Wisconsinites are looking for support and stability from their state elected officials,” according to a statement from four Democratic committee members including Sens. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, and Kelda Roys, D-Madison, with Reps. Tip McGuire, D-Kenosha, and Deb Andraca, D-Whitefish Bay. “However, this motion shows that JFC Republicans once again plan to turn their backs on working families by removing broadly popular policy proposals in pursuit of a massive tax giveaway to their ultra wealthy donors.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said a starting point has to be a balanced budget with a clear view of the anticipated revenue from tax collections for the two-year budget period.
“It’s going to have to have a tax cut in it, just like I think we’re accepting that there’s gonna have to be some investments that are made so that bipartisan support can be earned,” Vos said.
An analysis from Badger Institute showed that Evers’ proposal would increase Wisconsin state government spending by more than $3 billion a year compared to now through spending the state surplus and increasing taxes by $4.6 billion over two years.

(The Center Square) – A proposed 30% film tax credit is being pushed as a separate bill with a 25% tax credit scheduled to be removed from Gov. Tony Evers budget.
The tax credit is co-sponsored by Rep. Dave Armstrong, R-Rice Lake, whose full-time job is the Economic Development Director in Barron County, something Armstrong brought up in a Wednesday public hearing on Assembly Bill 231, which calls for a $10 million tax break for filmmakers and $199,300 in financial year 2027 and $254,000 the next year to fund three full-time employees in a film office.
Wisconsin is one of four states without film credits after prior film credits were allowed to sunset in 2013, Armstrong said. Armstrong noted that a 30% credit would put Wisconsin in the top 10 states in the country in terms of film tax credit percentages.
“How many of you, like me, get a little peeved when you are watching the credits and see the Georgia peach?” Armstrong asked. “I want a piece of that.”
The Georgia film tax credits, however, have been panned by economists as a tax cost that isn’t worth it for taxpayers.
Economist J.C. Bradbury of Georgia’s Kennesaw State University extensively studied Georgia’s larger film credit program, writing in a peer-reviewed paper that the state spent $230 per household on foregone tax revenue because of the initiative, which has cost taxpayers the equivalent of $110,000 per full-time job in the industry without bringing the promised benefits from the program.
Rep. Jerry O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, said he is “a big supporter of this.”
“We really need to do this,” O’Connor said. “It’s almost like free money.”
O’Connor played a video of his wife singing karaoke at a Door County bar with Director John Stimpson of the upcoming holiday film “A Cherry Pie Christmas” during the public hearing on the tax credits.
Economists who have studied film credits don’t agree while supporters of the bill point to economic impact numbers from tourism departments to back the tax credits.
As Bradbury has pointed out, those economic impact numbers are pushed by economic development departments but they are produced by marketing groups that do not follow economic study principals and are not reputable.
“Viewing what ‘economic impact’ consultants do to be economics is like considering horoscopes to be astronomy,” Bradbury wrote.

(The Center Square) – Republicans and Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol on Tuesday said their advance practice nurse reform package will become law as soon as it gets to Gov. Tony Evers desk.
“Despite a couple of setbacks for the last couple sessions, we’ve had very productive conversations with the various stakeholders along with Gov. Tony Evers,” Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, said. “And we have a deal in place that if and when this bill reaches his desk, it will get signed into law.”
The proposal, officially known as the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Modernization Act, would allow AP nurses in Wisconsin to see patients, order tests, prescribe medicines and manage care all without the supervision of a doctor.
Supporters say the reforms would allow nurses to work at the “top of their scope.”
Testin said the reforms could help lessen Wisconsin’s health shortages.
“We are all acutely aware that the workforce challenges that we face here in the state are dire when it comes to our frontline medical professionals. And by empowering our APRNs to operate the highest scope of their practice there is no question that they are going to stand up and deliver top quality health care for the patients in every corner of the state, especially in our rural and underserved areas,” Testin added.
Rep. Lisa Subek, D-Madison, said it took a while to work out the details, and reformers tried for years to get an APRN package through the legislature. Now that there’s an agreement, Subek said Wisconsin can move forward.
“We all agree that we need better access to health care. We all agree that folks should have access to quality health care. And we all agree that nurses should be able to practice to the top of their scope,” Subek told reporters. “And this is a bill that, at the end of the day, ensures that we can expand access to health care without compromising quality and I think that’s really key.”
Testin and the others introduced the plan on Tuesday.

(The Center Square) – A pair of Wisconsin Republican lawmakers are looking for more transparency on the ballot related to school referendum, requiring information on how much an initiative would cost an average taxpayer in property tax payments.
Opponents representing school administrators in the state say that information would be tough to figure and make accurate when ballot language is due and it’s better to provide that information to taxpayers in informational meetings.
Senate Bill 58 is similar to school referendum transparency bills that made their way through the Wisconsin Legislature the past two years but added stipulations requiring estimates on interest related to bonds for capital referendums as well.
“The point is simply to give voters the information they need so they can make informed choices, said Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, a bill sponsor.
Allen and Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, testified in front of the Senate Committee on Education along with opponents of the bill.
“I have no problem funding things, I just want to know what the true cost of that would be,”
Cabral-Guevara noted, saying a school district in her district held a referendum without fully telling voters the cost of interest on bonds, noting there were $55 million in interest payments alone related to the referendum.
The proposal comes after 169 out of 241 school ballot referenda in 2024 elections were approved by voters at a cost of $4.4 billion to taxpayers.
It’s unclear if the changes would make Gov. Tony Evers receptive to the bill or if he would exercise his veto power to prevent it from becoming law.
“What I like about referendums is, at its purest, it’s democracy in action,” Allen said.
But Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, continued to point toward the rise of school referenda and the reason for that rise as local school district funding asks are related to both state and federal funding and state reimbursement amounts for services such as special education.
White Lake School District Administrator Lance Bagstad said the required information and timeframe would muddy up the informational process for voters and, what they really want to know is how much a referendum would cost them year-by-year individually, something that districts can provide through informational meetings and communications rather than on a ballot in concise form without context.
“That’s the information, quite frankly, that taxpayers want to know,” Bagstad told the committee.
Allen said that, as a realtor, an essential part of the job is doing the math on property taxes and future property taxes so that potential home owners can figure out their ability to make mortgage payments.
“It’s about making good decisions,” Allen said.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is hoping to have $34 million sent to the state Department of Tourism, create a $10 million film incentive program, send $5.9 million to the Wisconsin Arts Board and more in his proposed budget.
This week, Evers touted those proposals along with repeating economic impact numbers related to the recent NFL draft and tourism in the state to justify the spending. But those numbers are repeatedly questioned by economists as those numbers are produced by marketing groups that does not follow economic study principals and are not reputable.
“Viewing what ‘economic impact’ consultants do to be economics is like considering horoscopes to be astronomy,” economist J.C. Bradbury of Georgia’s Kennesaw State University wrote. “Newspapers are smart enough to put horoscopes next to the comics and Dear Abby, while economic impact ‘studies’ get banner headlines on the front page.”
Evers’ office said the claimed 2024 economic impact numbers will be released next month. It also said that the $34 million spent in the last biennial budget on tourism was the “largest increase in marketing and advertising funds for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism in state history.”
One of the larger spending initiatives in the proposed budget is the film incentive program, which is included in Evers’ budget proposal and requires the creation of an Office of Film and Creative Industries in the Department of Tourism to disperse $10 million annually in credits.
The credits would be a 25% nonrefundable credit for wages related to film production and 25% of transferable credit for film-related expenses In the state.
“As governor, I’ve been proud to support Wisconsin’s travel and tourism industry, from creating the Office of Outdoor Recreation in 2019 to supporting capital projects in communities across the state to my new proposal to create an Office of Film and Creative Industries to bring creative endeavors to Wisconsin’s doorstep, and I look forward to continuing to support this critical industry in the years ahead,” Evers said in a statement.
Bradbury has extensively studied Georgia’s larger film credit program, writing in a peer-reviewed paper that the state spent $230 per household on foregone tax revenue because of the initiative, which has cost taxpayers the equivalent of $110,000 per full-time job in the industry without bringing the promised benefits from the program.
“While film production in Georgia may exceed other states, contrary to popular perception, the film industry is not a major driver of economic output or jobs in the state,” Bradbury concluded.
The film tax credit is similar to a proposal for a 30% video game production tax credit in the Wisconsin Legislature.

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin Senate Republican has introduced a law to require contractors working with the state to verify its employees are in the country and able to legally work.
Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, introduced Legislative Reference Bill 0512, which would require contractors with more than $50,000 in total contracts with the state to use the federal E-Verify system to ensure that workers are allowed to work in the country.
“Congress failed to address a gap in our immigration law by making E-Verify use optional, rather than mandatory,” Wimberger said in a statement. “This means employers are not required to check their workers’ employment status beyond filling out an I-9 hiring form.
“Because of this, bad actors can plausibly deny their exploitation of illegally hired cheap immigrant labor, since the law does not compel them to do anything beyond the bare minimum to confirm the employment status of their workers.”
Wimberger said that the law would prevent Wisconsin companies from taking advantage of workers and lowering wages in the state.
The E-Verify program is administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, cross-checking information from an employee’s I-9 with Homeland Security and Social Security records. Wimberger said that Minnesota, Indiana and Pennsylvania have similar laws.
“Governor Evers expressed concern recently that he might be accused of violating federal immigration law,” Wimberger said. “This bill should ease his concerns, since employees and contractors will need to be pre-screened to be lawfully employed.”

(The Center Square) – The first official candidate in Wisconsin’s 2026’s race for governor says his plan is simple – keep young people in the state and stop retirees from moving out.
Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann officially announced his plans to run for governor over the weekend. On Monday, he spoke with News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber about what he plans to run on.
“I know a lot of folks that have left this state,” Schoemann explained. “They live in Florida or Arizona, some of them for six months and one day, just so they don’t have to live in the tax-hell that is Wisconsin under Tony Evers. And there’s plenty of kids who are graduating high school, graduating college or leaving and they’re never coming back.”
Schoemann said that means tax reform must be a part of his campaign.
“We have fundamental change. I think we start this conversation with the income tax,” Schoemann added. “To me it’s absolutely embarrassing that our income tax is not even lower than Illinois, who’s got a flat rate. I believe we got to flatten it, on a trajectory to eliminating it, eventually.”
Schoemann didn’t get into the specifics of how much that would cost or what other taxes would need to be raised to offset any losses.
He also said say smaller government is a must.
Schoemann said better leadership is a must as well and turned his criticism toward Evers.
“Whether it’s boys and girls sports, or the inseminated person commentary…I mean the list is long of all the embarrassing things that are going on in this administration,” Schoeman said. “And that’s not even getting into what a terrible leader the guy is.”
Evers has not said whether he plans to run in 2026. If he does, it would be his third run for governor.
The governor also didn’t comment on Schoemann’s entrance into the race, but the Democratic Governors Association did.
“Josh Schoemann’s entrance into Wisconsin’s race for governor guarantees that the GOP primary will be defined by extreme positions and unpopular proposals that will drag Wisconsin backwards,” the DGA said. “While Gov. Tony Evers has worked across party lines to do the right thing for Wisconsin, Schoemann brings to this race a toxic record of attacking public schools, opposing reproductive freedom, and championing Elon Musk’s attacks on the programs and services Wisconsinites rely on.”

(The Center Square) – The city of Madison had 46 employees who made $150,000 or more in base salary last year, according to data collected by Open The Books and shared with The Center Square.
Those numbers showed that 508 city employees made $100,000 or more in base salary.
The median household income in the city was $76,983 in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Census, while the average per capita income in the city was $48,557.
Madison saw a $22 million city referendum pass in November. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said before the vote that the budget issues leading to Madison’s referendum ask came from a state levy limit issue that is up to the state to fix. She added that Madison has a six-year budget plan in place where the city would not go back to the public for another referendum.
This came despite a MacIver Institute report before the referendum showing that despite Finance Director David Schmiedicke’s claims that the city financial situation was “the worst we’ve seen,” the city’s independent auditors had said “The City’s sound financial operations are expected to remain solid, supported by growing revenue from ongoing development and strong fiscal management.”
MacIver found that city revenues outpaced expenses for the 10 years prior, with revenue growing 66% from 2014 to 2023 while expenses grew by 54% and property tax revenue increased by 50%.
“Voters are the ones who should hold their government accountable, and government works best for them when they are actively engaged with their government,” MacIver CEO Annette Olson told The Center Square.
The most recent Madison audit reported a $164 million total budget with a $105.4 million surplus for government-only activities for 2023, MacIver found, with the total unassigned fund balance for the year sitting at $80 million.
The city’s top earners last year were Schmiedicke and Police Chief Shon Barnes, who each made $198,963 in base salary while Schmiedke received $214,037 in gross pay and Barnes received $211,350.
Barnes left the department to become the chief of the Seattle Police Department in January. In Seattle, Barnes now makes $173.1 per hour, which is more than $360,000 per year in annual pay.
Madison Director of Transportation Thomas Lynch, Streets Superintendent Charles Romines and Fire Chief Christopher Carbon are the other individuals who made base salaries of more than $190,000 last year.
Madison also paid more than $50,000 in overtime to 22 employees and more than $20,000 in overtime to 202 employees during 2024.
“If it were my community, I would be screaming from the highest building about ridiculous overtime payments that in some cases more than double the salaries of city employees,” Olson said. “There are many reasons why Madison is broken, but these expenses are one major reason why.”

(The Center Square) – A total of 76% of Wisconsin voters approve of the state allowing absentee ballots to begin being tabulated on the Monday heading into an election, according to a new poll of 600 likely voters in the state.
Wisconsin voting precincts currently must wait until Election Day to county any mail-in or in-person absentee ballots, with several counties including Milwaukee County using central count facilities that lead to delayed reporting of election results.
The Wisconsin Assembly’s elections committee chair – Rep. Dave Maxey, R-New Berlin – has said he wants to do away with Milwaukee’s central count.
An early count proposal from Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, passed the Assembly last year but did not pass the Wisconsin Senate. Krug is the chairman of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections.
The Democracy Defense Project Wisconsin board includes former Attorney General JB Van Hollen, former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, former U.S. Representative Scott Klug and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tat
“Wisconsin elections are important as ever and we will continue to have all eyes on us as we head into another election cycle,” the board said in a statement. “Despite running a tight ship throughout the election season and faith in election integrity rising, Wisconsin still has a reputation problem. There has been an erosion of faith in our democracy with politicians undermining election integrity to bolster their campaign allowing false narratives about ‘stolen elections’ to take root.”
The poll showed that 53% of voters would oppose counting the ballots early if it meant municipalities had to maintain a chain of custody, put cameras on the voting machines and ensure that the tabulator saves an image of every ballot.
“This poll shows we need to continue working to restore faith and trust in institutions currently under attack and we need a two-pronged approach to educate voters on the process to restore credibility and we need reforms like pre-processing to instill more confidence in the process,” the board’s statement said. “These together will bring meaningful change.”