Today is the last day of the current legislative session. Representative Bies sent out a "2011-2012 Legislative Report" mailing to (all?) his constituents.

In it he bragged about taking away our civil liberties in his highlights of various bills he was proud to be involved in, especially making synthetic marijuana illegal. He also attempts to take some credit for work done by true conservatives, such as balancing the budget by cutting spending and slightly lowering taxes.

You can download and view his report yourself by clicking here:
Legislative Report 2011-2012 from Rep. Garey Bies (PDF, 6.5 MB)

The Wisconsin Legislature will be back for a short (but not short enough) session from April 24 to May 3.

Assembly Bill 176 was introduced last summer by Representatives Bies, Jacque, Kaufert, and Van Roy; and cosponsored by Senator Lasee. The bill passed the Assembly on January 26 and is now scheduled for a vote in the Senate today, March 6.

Under current law, the DNR may promulgate rules establishing qualifications for persons applying for commercial fishing licenses for fishing in the Great Lakes. These rules include a requirement that, in order to qualify for a license, an applicant must have harvested in the previous license year at least a certain amount of fish. This bill prohibits minimum harvesting requirements.

Minimum business size requirements are corporatist, protectionist schemes that establish price gouging cartels. These laws only come about through blatant corruption. Since this law eliminates one of these schemes, it earns the score of MORE LIBERTY.

High Priority

Yesterday, Senators Lasee, Olsen, and Schultz introduced SB-520 relating to vehicles registered as historic military vehicles (HMV's).

Currently, vehicles that meet certain qualifications can be registered as an HMV for a one-time fee of $30--the special HMV plates never expire. However, use of HMV's is restricted to parades and show events. SB-520 loosens the use restrictions to include occasional personal use, club activities, exhibitions, and tours. Since this bill loosens restrictions, and a person could in all practicality get away with using an HMV as his primary vehicle (for a one time registration fee of $30!), this bill earns a score of MORE LIBERTY.

SB-520 is also cosponsored by Representatives Jacque, Bies, Brooks, Kerkman, Kestell, Nygren, Rivard and Wynn. It has been referred to the Committee on Transportation and Elections.

Low Priority

To change tune a bit, I have decided to report on some recent bills introduced by my state senator, Frank Lasee.

Current law requires all property tax appeals in the entire state to be heard by the Dane County Circuit Court. This bill allows certain businesses (retailers, manufacturers, air carriers, railroads, pipeline companies, phone companies, conservation and regulatory companies) to file their appeals with the circuit court in the county their business is located in instead. Although this bill picks favorites and is partly a ploy at appearing to be pro-business (not pro-liberty), it is not taking away anyone's liberty. The bill makes the tax appeals process easier and more decentralized, therefore it earns the score of MORE LIBERTY.

SB-516 was introduced on February 27 by Senators Lasee, Grothman and Schultz; cosponsored by Representatives Strachota, Kooyenga, Spanbauer, Marklein, Bies, Rivard, Stroebel, Endsley and Thiesfeldt.

Medium Priority

Assembly Bill 628 was introduced just this past Friday, February 24 by Representatives Bies and Stieneke. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Education. This very short bill creates a $200 fine for each time a school employee fails to report an incident of bullying, as long as the local school board has a policy requiring bullying to be reported.

This bill does nothing but flex the state's muscles. The state needs to back out of its habit of meddling in our schools, rather than encroaching even more. Education is the responsibility of parents and the community, not body of legislators governing millions of people. Since this bill is an expansion of government, it earns the score of LESS LIBERTY.

On a separate note: As long as hundreds of children are concentrated together on a daily basis, segregated by age, and all taught the same things at the same speed, their lives will be filled with problems including bullying.

Medium Priority

Assembly Bill 217 held a public hearing yesterday. The bill passed in the assembly last October and is now in the senate. Currently, it is illegal to impersonate a "peace officer." This bill makes it also illegal to impersonate a fire fighter or an emergency medical technician.

The good thing is, the bill is very short. The bad thing is, it is actually too short. While trying to trick people into believing you are someone you are not should be punishable as fraud, this bill simply states "whoever impersonates a fire fighter with intent to mislead others into believing that the person is actually a fire fighter is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor." Therefore, a good neighbor trying to put out a fire could technically be a criminal under this vague wording, because "fire fighter" is not defined any further to my knowledge. This results in LESS LIBERTY.

The bill was introduced by Representatives Bies, Brooks, Kaufert, Kerkman, Kleefisch, LeMahieu, Molepske Jr, Nygren, A. Ott, Petersen, Petryk, Spanbauer, Strachota and Stroebel.

Medium Priority

Assembly Bill 452 has been scheduled for a public hearing by Committee on Judiciary and Ethics in the Assembly on March 1, 2012 at 1:00 PM at 415 Northwest.

The bill relates to resolution of claims against the state for wrongful imprisonment of innocent persons, exempting from taxation certain amounts an individual receives from the claims board or legislature, and increasing the maximum amount an individual can receive from $5,000 per year of imprisonment (capped at $25,000) to $50,000 per year of imprisonment with no cap. Currently, these individuals can also receive free state health insurance for up to ten years. This bill will require them to pay the same premium that state employees pay.

While a wrongfully imprisoned person is a tragedy, we are still dealing with taxpayer money. This bill is a spending increase, and therefore gets the score of LESS LIBERTY.

The bill was introduced by Representatives Bies, Pocan, Berceau, Bernard Schaber, Bewley, E. Coggs, Hebl, Kessler, A. Ott, Pasch, Pope-Roberts, Ringhand, Roys, Staskunas and C. Taylor

Low Priority

The resolution was passed in the assembly on February 21, 2012. It will be scheduled for a vote in the senate soon. 

Assembly Joint Resolution 108 declares December 12, 2012 as Aaron Rogers Day. While this action's impact on liberty is relatively nil, it is a complete waste of time and therefore gets a score of LESS LIBERTY.

The resolution was introduced by Representatives Bies, A. Ott, Bernard Schaber, E. Coggs, Endsley, Hebl, Honadel, Jacque, J. Ott, Jorgensen, Van Roy, Kaufert, Kerkman, Marklein, Mason, Mursau, Nygren, Pasch, Petrowski, Petryk, Pridemore, Rivard, Spanbauer, Staskunas, Strachota, Tranel, Williams and Wynn.

Low Priority