Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers “took action on 78 bills” on Friday, signing 35 and vetoing 43, according to Evers’ office.
Among the bills signed by the governor was Senate Bill 520, Senate Bill 842, and Senate Bill 874.
Senate Bill 520, now 2021 Wisconsin Act 252, “facilitates the closure of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, the state’s Type 1 secure juvenile correctional facility, by authorizing up to $41.7 million in bonding for the purpose of constructing a new Type 1 facility in Milwaukee County,” according to the governor’s office.
“For years, legislators have been talking about closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake as a juvenile facility while simultaneously delaying and obstructing plans to do so,” Governor Evers, a Democrat, said in a statement. “I am glad to be finally signing this bill today that will ensure we can move our kids out of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake safely and responsibly by providing the funding needed to move forward on a Type 1 facility in Milwaukee County. By doing so, these kids will be closer to home, their families, and their support networks, so we can set them up for better success both while they are in our care and when they re-enter our communities.” The properties will be redeveloped into adult corrections institutions, the law states.
Another legislation regarding correction and the law, Senate Bill 842, now 2021 Wisconsin Act 227, “provides additional restrictions on those convicted of violent offenses being eligible to be discharged early from probation, released from prison on parole, or released from prison onto extended supervision,” according to the governor’s office.
Senate Bill 874, now 2021 Wisconsin Act 228, “creates an ambulance service provider assessment on private ambulance service providers for supplemental reimbursements under the Medicaid program and a supplemental reimbursement under the Medicaid program to public ambulance service providers through certified public expenditures,” the governor’s office further details.
The 43 bills the former educator-turned-governor vetoed included Bill 122, a school choice measure that would have authorized the creation of “micro education pods,” an education program of two to ten family units with up to 20 students with a designated administrator as an accredited school alternative. “I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to creating an entirely new type of largely unregulated educational structure,” he wrote in a veto statement.
Another measure added to the veto pile was Bill 414, Wisconsin’s recently-passed version of a “divisive concepts” bill that would have withheld funding from government agencies requiring employees to attend training relating “to any number of concepts described in the bill.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Wisconsin Daily Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Tony Evers” by Campaign of Tony Evers for Governor. CC BY 3.0. Backgound Photo “Wisconsin State Capitol” by Vijay Kumar Koulampet. CC BY-SA 3.0.
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