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WISCONSIN CATHOLIC CONFERENCE
CAPITOL UPDATE
September 25, 2023
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WCC Supports Newborn Infant Safety Devices
On September 21, the WCC testified in favor of SB-369 (Ballweg, Joan), authorizing newborn infant safety devices under the safe haven law. These devices, often called baby boxes, can save lives by allowing parents to voluntarily, safely, and anonymously relinquish their newborn within 72 hours of giving birth. Since the public hearing, the committee has taken no further action.
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WCC Supports Embrace Them Both Package & Ban on Funds for Abortion
On September 19, the WCC testified in support of SB-300 (Jacque, André), SB-343 (Quinn, Romaine), SB-344 (Quinn), SB-345 (Quinn), and SB-346 (Quinn). Four of the five bills (343-346) are part of the Embrace Them Both bill package, which takes concrete steps to support both mother and child by expanding the dependent tax exemption, funding adoption assistance and pregnancy resource centers, and clarifying how to care for women experiencing life-threatening complications in pregnancy. SB-300 ensures that public funds, employees, and assets do not facilitate abortion. Since the public hearing, the committee has taken no further action.
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Planned Parenthood Resumes Abortions in Wisconsin
On September 18, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin resumed abortions. The WCC issued a press release expressing its sadness and dismay at the announcement and spoke at a rally before the clinic opened. The announcement comes as the state’s abortion ban, Wis. Stat. 940.04, remains in the courts, after a Dane County judge allowed a suit challenging that statute to continue in early July.
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WCC Supports Bill Defining Strip Search in Schools
On September 15, the WCC registered in support of SB-111 (Wimberger, Eric) / AB-108 (Steffen, David), which expands the definition of a prohibited strip search in schools. Since the public hearing, the Senate committee has taken no further action.
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WCC Supports Prohibiting Sexual Misconduct in Schools
On September 15, the WCC registered in support of SB-333 (James, Jesse) / AB-341 (Spiros, John), which makes it a Class I felony for a person who works or volunteers at an elementary school, secondary school, or tribal school to commit sexual misconduct against a pupil. Since the public hearing, the Senate committee has taken no further action.
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Senate Passes Postpartum Expansion
On September 14, the Senate, by a vote of 32-1, voted to pass SB-110 (Ballweg), expanding postpartum Medical Assistance to one year after birth. The bill has now been sent to the Assembly for consideration where it awaits a public hearing. Please contact your state representatives and urge them to support the bill. For a list of representatives who have signed on already, click here. The WCC previously testified in support.
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WCC Supports Breastfeeding Accommodations
On September 12, the WCC registered in support of SB-430 (Ballweg) / AB-436 (Subeck, Lisa), requiring an employer to provide reasonable break time and accommodations for an employee to express breast milk for her child. The bill awaits a public hearing.
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WCC Supports Child Care Reimbursement Accounts
On September 12, the WCC registered in support of SB-426 (Quinn) / AB-387 (Goeben, Joy), establishing a child care reimbursement account program in the Department of Financial Institutions under which a parent or other legal guardian may create a tax-advantaged account to pay qualifying expenses of a qualifying child under 13 years of age. The bill passed the Assembly on September 14 and awaits a public hearing in the Senate.
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WCC Supports Sales Tax Exemption for Baby Items
On September 12, the WCC registered in support of SB-388 (James) / AB-399 (Steffen), creating a sales and use tax exemption for various items used in the care of babies. The bills await a public hearing.
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Catholic Charities of Superior v. LIRC
On September 11, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held the first oral arguments of the new term, which included Catholic Charities of Superior v. Labor and Industry Review Commission. The question in the case is whether or not Catholic Charities and its sub-entities fall under the religious exemption of the state unemployment tax. The exemption requires organizations to be “operated primarily for religious purposes and operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches.”
The case is on appeal from the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, which this past February ruled that an organization must have religious motivation and conduct religious activities to be exempt. The Court of Appeals held that, although Catholic Charities and its sub-entities were operated with religious motives, those religious motives were “incidental to their primarily charitable functions.” Thus, the organizations had “not demonstrated through their activities a primarily religious purpose.”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming months.
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WCC Public Policy Positions: Support Choice in Education
Here we elaborate on each of the WCC's 2023 Public Policy Positions. The complete document can be found below. You can learn more about Catholic Social Teaching on the USCCB website.
Support Choice in Education. Parents are the primary educators of their children. As such, they have the right to send their children to the school of their choice, whether public, private, religious, or homeschool. Wisconsin must provide resources to families in need so that they can choose the educational path best suited to their child’s success. The state’s four parental choice programs deserve continued support. Wisconsin must also alter its tuition tax deduction to a tax credit that better serves families in need.
Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 2223). Parents’ duty and right to educate children is “essential since it is connected with the transmission of human life” and is connected to the “uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church 239). This duty and right to educate is “irreplaceable and inalienable and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others” (Compendium 239).
Parental responsibility for education includes a responsibility to educate children in the faith, virtues, and “solidarity and communal responsibilities” (CCC 2223-2226). Parents are the first educators, not the only educators of their children (Compendium 240; CCC 1653). Therefore, parents must exercise this educational responsibility “in close and vigilant cooperation with civil and ecclesial agencies” (Compendium 240). The political community has a duty to honor the family and assist it, including the “freedom to establish a family, have children and bring them up in keeping with the family’s own moral and religious convictions” (CCC 2211).
Therefore, parents must be able to choose how to best educate their children, whether in public, private, religious, or home schools. The community can help with this choice by providing high-quality public education alongside support for other non-public school options.
To read more about the duties and rights of parents to educate their children, see Compendium 238-247.
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Updates from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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WCC 2023 Public Policy Positions
The WCC's 2023 Public Policy Positions are designed to inform state legislators, policy makers, and other interested parties about the Church's public policy positions and the principles that undergird them.
2023-24 Legislature and Citizen Resources
To find out who your legislators are, go to the Wisconsin State Legislature's home page and enter your address under Who Are My Legislators. Other legislative resources include:
You can also follow state government by tuning in to WisconsinEye, the independent, nonpartisan news service that provides uncut video coverage of state government proceedings.
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