CAPITOL UPDATE

WCC Supports Breastfeeding Mothers

On October 5, the WCC testified in support of SB-430 (Ballweg, Joan), requiring an employer to provide reasonable break time and accommodations for an employee to express breast milk for her child. The bill enshrines the federal PUMP Act, and requires that an employer provide an outlet, running water, and a refrigerator for the storage of breast milk and provides that if an employee's work hours are impacted by breastfeeding, the employee will not lose an employer contribution toward the employee's health care coverage. Since the public hearing, the committee has taken no further action.

WCC Supports Increasing Earned Income Tax Credit

On October 5, the WCC registered in support of SB-453 (Roys, Kelda), increasing the earned income tax credit for claimants with fewer than three children. The Wisconsin EITC is equal to a percentage of the federal EITC. Under current law, the percentage is 4 percent of the federal EITC if the individual has one qualifying child, 11 percent if the individual has two qualifying children, and 34 percent if the individual has three or more qualifying children. This bill would increase the EITC to 16 percent for one qualifying child and 25 percent for two qualifying children. The bill awaits a public hearing.

WCC Supports Informed Consent for Pelvic Exams

On October 5, the WCC registered in support of SB-127 (Jacque, Andre) / AB-125 (Brandtjen, Janel), requiring informed consent before performing a pelvic examination on a patient who is under general anesthesia or unconscious. Since the public hearing on SB-127, the committee has taken no further action.

WCC Supports Sales Tax Exemption for Baby Items

On October 5, the WCC registered in support of two separate bills that would create a sales tax and use exemption for the sale of diapers and feminine hygiene products, SB-219 (Jacque, André) and AB-226 (Dittrich, Barbara). The bills await public hearings.

WCC Supports School Sports Participation Based on Sex

On October 4, the WCC testified in support of AB-377 (Dittrich, Barbara), requiring K-12 public schools and choice schools to designate athletic sports and teams based on the sex assigned at birth of the participants. The WCC also testified in support of AB-378 (Dittrich) which applies these designations to colleges and universities. The bills received a public hearing and await further action.

WCC Supports Prohibiting Gender Transition for Minors

On October 4, the WCC testified in support of AB-465 (Allen, Scott), prohibiting gender transition medical intervention for individuals under 18 years of age. The bill does not prohibit: 1) a health care provider providing a service in accordance with a good faith medical decision of a parent or guardian of a minor born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development; 2) the treatment of any infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been caused by or exacerbated by the performance of a gender transition medical procedure; or 3) any procedure undertaken because the minor suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would place the minor in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major bodily function unless surgery is performed. Since the public hearing, the committee has taken no further action. 

WCC Supports Reentry Opportunities

On October 3, the WCC testified in support of AB-180, 181, 182, and 183 (Joint Legislative Council), a package of bills to increase employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals. The bills establish a hiring hotline for employers interested in hiring people with convictions; expand an existing early release program to include inmates who complete an employment readiness training program; require the Department of Corrections (DOC) to pilot one or more community-based reentry centers to centralize services needed for returning citizens; and require DOC to include rental readiness training in pre-release programming and possibly authorize the state to bond these tenants for damages, with landlord immunity for death or injury caused by certified tenant. Since the public hearing, the committee has taken no further action.

WCC Public Policy Positions: Strengthen Support for 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.

Strengthen Support for Education. Education is the surest path to full participation in the social, economic, and political life of our nation. Wisconsin must sustain its public commitment to strong elementary and secondary schools. In particular, it must make greater efforts to ensure that all our children continue to advance in their education and achieve their highest academic potential.  

As noted last week, parents have the first and primary responsibility for educating their children. However, the community has a duty to honor the family and assist it in that education. 

Parents are the “first educators, not the only educators, of their children” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 240). In educating children, “the family contributes to the common good and constitutes the first school of social virtue, which all societies need” (Compendium 238). Therefore parents must “exercise with responsibility their educational activity in close and vigilant cooperation with civil and ecclesial agencies” (Compendium 240). 

“Parents have the right to choose the formative tools that respond to their convictions and to seek those means that will help them best fulfill their duty as educators in the spiritual and religious sphere also. Public authorities have a duty to guarantee this right and to ensure the concrete conditions for it to be exercised” (Compendium 240).  

The state and community can help with this by ensuring high-quality public education alongside support for other non-public school options. “The refusal to provide public economic support to non-public schools that need assistance and that render a service to civil society is to be considered an injustice. ‘Whenever the State lays claim to an educational monopoly, it oversteps its rights and offends justice ... The State cannot without injustice merely tolerate so-called private schools. Such schools render a public service and therefore have a right to financial assistance’” (Compendium 241).

Parents may choose public, private, religious, or home schools. Regardless of the school, parents have a responsibility to educate their children and the state has a responsibility to support and create an educational environment that provides real choices for high-quality education. 

Updates from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

• Statement of U.S. Bishops’ International Justice and Peace Chairman Amidst Violence in the Holy Land (October 8) 
• USCCB Welcomes New Exhortation on the Environment (October 4)
• Migration Chair Welcomes Administration Refugee Resettlement Determination (September 30)
• USCCB Migration Chairman Writes in Opposition to Divisive Border Bill (September 28)

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:

• 2023-24 Session Schedule
• Senate Directory
• Assembly Directory
• Committees
• Monthly Schedule of Committee Activities
• How a Bill Becomes a Law

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.