Early this morning the State Assembly passed Senate Bill 20, authorizing courts to punish businesses engaged in employment discrimination with punitive and compensatory damages of up to $300,000, depending on the size of the employer.

As far as we can tell, the bill does not change existing discrimination laws and protected classes but significantly expands the amount of money businesses could be entitled to pay in an employment discrimination lawsuit.

Interestingly, the author originally exempted the state from the provisions of the bill but eventually compromised a little–exempting local government and businesses employing fewer than 15 people but not the state.  (A pretty tacit recognition of the fiscal burden this bill puts on businesses.  They’re ready to hurt businesses but not government.  Otherwise, wouldn’t local government and small business-employees be entitled to punitive damages, like their state and big business-employee counterparts?)

Christian businesses, camps, churches and schools are subject to the punitive damages provision as well–for any employee that does not meet the “ministerial exception” of Jocz v. LIRC.

In a time when we expect our state legislature to focus on building employment by creating a favorable business climate in the state, instead they impose yet another handicap on business.  Ultimately, however, SB20 hurts the people who will lose potential jobs because of a bad business climate or because their employer is sued out of business.

Let’s take a look at the statewide same-sex domestic partner registry proposed in the governor’s budget for the next two years and a few of our concerns with it.

1.    The governor’s proposed statewide domestic partner registry in the state budget is very possibly unconstitutional because of its intent—to create a “legal status” that is very marriage-like (see page 483 of the bill–AB75)—and in its sweep—giving same-sex domestic partnerships (page 67) nearly 50% of the benefits (between 45 to 60 benefits) Wisconsin currently gives to married couples.
Throughout the bill, the term “domestic partner” is used in the same context as ‘spouse.’ It appears the intent is to approximate marriage, to test what ‘identical or substantially similar to marriage’ means in Wisconsin’s marriage protection amendment.
2.    The statewide domestic partner registry is an “unfunded” mandate for counties, requiring them to register domestic partnerships and report them to the state.
3.    The benefits the state awards to married couples are not rights or protections; they are benefits only. The state uses the benefits to reward and encourage married couples for the benefits marriages give to the state: providing a legal, social and economic framework for the rearing of children by a mother and father—the situation social science data as well as common sense inform us is the best possible situation for positive childhood development. The data also confirms that traditional marriage is the best possible situation for the health, satisfaction and affluence of a man or a woman.  Stable, satisfied, self-sufficient families are the bedrock of society and the greatest contributors to society—thus the benefits.
4.    This provision is unnecessary.  The benefits proposed in the budget for same-sex domestic partners are all available through legal means to anyone and typically even legally married couples retain lawyers or seek legal counsel when they obtain them.(i.e. Power of Attorney, Health Care Power of Attorney, etc.).

UPDATE – 4/30/09 – The House passed H.R. 1913 yesterday, Wednesday, 4/29/09, on a 249-175 vote.   Wisconsin delegation voted along party lines, with Republicans Petri, Ryan and Sensenbrenner voting “no” and Democrats Baldwin, Kagen, Kind, Moore and Obey voting “yes.”

Original post follows:

Sometime this week or in the next few weeks, the U.S. House will vote on H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.

H.R. 1913 establishes “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as federally protected classes, meaning the government would single out certain Americans for extra protection and special preference based on their sexual behavior.

The first and most obvious issue we have with this legislation is that all violent crimes are really hate crimes and every victim should be protected, not just those singled out for politically expedient purposes.

Wisconsin’s very own Tammy Baldwin, Democratic Congresswoman from Madison, the only open lesbian in Congress, vehemently opposed a Republican amendment that would have excluded pedophilia sexual orientation from the Hate Crimes Bill, claiming it was “unnecessary and inflammatory.” The committee voted down the amendment based on Baldwin’s inaccurate information about the meaning of sexual orientation—which the bill conspicuously does not define.

Possibly 30 different “sexual orientations” defined by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) could be protected under this bill—practically every type of sexual deviance known to man, including pedophilia and incest!

So how does this affect us since none of us are planning on committing any violent crimes?

During last week’s House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) said, “We also need to protect those potential victims who may be recipients of hateful words or hateful acts, or even violent acts.” If that’s true, then Jackson-Lee and this committee should be drafting a resolution condemning the hateful, violent behavior of Proposition 8 opponents who are mercilessly and illegally persecuting those who supported California’s marriage amendment last November.

Today it’s violent crimes and tomorrow it’s so-called “hateful words.” In other countries where these types of laws are on the books, including Canada, pastors and Christians are typically the targets, facing imprisonment, fines and federal censure of sermons. Take a look at Family Research Council’s five reasons for opposing this legislation.

The next step for this legislation is the House floor for a vote, which could happen anytime from next week to within the next few weeks.   Constituent input is important.   Click here to find who your congressman/woman is. Fill in your address.  When the page loads, go to the bottom of the page and click on the U.S. Representative’s name.

The state legislature has a toll-free general number–compliments, of course, of Wisconsin taxpayers.  In this case, up to this point anyway, it’s been a really good use of our money.  It used to be rightly called a “hotline.”  Not a good term anymore.

Up until this session, for at least the last 12 years, when a citizen called the number, 800-362-9472, the operator would take the person’s name, address and message and then send it directly to that person’s legislators.  If the message was intended, say, for the chair of a committee who wasn’t that person’s legislator, the citizen’s position on the issue would be noted.   Then, once a week, reports were generated and distributed showing all calls that came in, what issues people called about, and whether they were in support of or opposed to a particular bill, initiaitve, etc. Handling this legislative hotline this way worked beautifully and gave the legislators an idea on where the people they represent were on a given issue.

But not anymore.  When the Democrats took over the Assembly this past January, the final step for them for full legislative control, apparently their leadership decided to change how the toll-free hotline works.  In doing so, they took the “hot” out of the hotline. Now when you call, the operator says when you tell him/her you want to get a message to your legislator(s) on a particular issue, “I can tell you who your legislators are and give you their contact information.”  Now this toll-free line is simply an information number–not a hotline.

This is a subtle attempt by those who currently make the rules to avoid getting input from the people who elect them, to make it harder on citizens.   They know if it takes more work to contact their legislators, people are less likely to do it.  It also takes away from groups such as Wisconsin Family Action (our legislative action arm) the ability to give out one number and streamline the process for people.  

While this may be a small move, make no mistake–it’s a strategic one–and a costly one in terms of encouraging and helping people connect with and convey opinions to their elected officials.   And it’s yet another reminder that those in power get to make the rules on how our money is spent and how we play the game.

While the Obama Administration racks up the number of questionable, at best, federal nominees our very own State Senate is following suit.

This morning, the State Senate voted to reappoint Roger Axtell and Mike Weiden to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics Authority (UWHC) Board.  It was a close vote on both counts, 17-15, and surprisingly not entirely on party lines.

If you followed the UW Late-Term Abortions situation earlier this year, you know the UWHC Board, UW Medical Foundation Board and Meriter Hospital Board, and the Madison Surgery Center Board (MSC), each voted to allow their joint venture, the MSC, to perform the horrific dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion procedure on fully-formed, preborn babies up to 22 weeks old.  Axtell and Weiden both voted in favor of these late second-trimester abortions.

Breaking clearly on principle and not party lines, the State Senate also confirmed former Rep. Sheldon Wasserman’s appointment to the Medical Examining Board today on a 21-11 vote.  Wasserman’s ten-year history in the State Assembly of voting against life and conscience protections for health care workers is enough to disqualify him for a position in which he’ll be making decisions about licensing, certifying and regulating physicians and physician assistants.

Be that as it may, the Senate confirmed all three appointments, although the vote was very close on the UWHC Board appointments, and would probably have been 17-16 had all 33 Senators been present for the vote.  At the very least, the confirmations were not unanimous or as easily approved as the 13 other appointments on the agenda this morning.

Tax Freedom Day came on April 13th this year—both for the state and the nation. Tax Freedom Day is the day of the year in which Americans pay off their taxes. For example, this year federal taxes will amount to 28.2% of our income which translates to the first 103 days of the year. Thus, the day we’ve technically earned enough to pay off our federal taxes this year is April 13th.

From the state point of view, it took us 103 days to earn enough money to pay off our state taxes here in Wisconsin.   Usually we’re in the top ten states with the highest taxes but somehow we’ve slipped back to 12—not a bad thing although I suspect it’s not because our tax situation is better but because other states’ taxes are worse this year.

If the Governor’s budget passes as is—which is not only likely but probable—then I fear we’ll be sitting pretty inside the top ten states with the highest taxes again next year. The thousands upon thousands of Wisconsin citizens who attended the TEA Parities are pretty solid evidence, however, that we’re tired of irresponsible government and historical deficits.

The economic crisis is no excuse for a costly and highly-partisan state budget. We need to shore up our best natural resource–the family–not burden the family with indirect consumer taxes, higher property taxes and the 81 non-fiscal policy items in the budget.

So what next? How do we harness the energy, determination and enthusiasm of the TEA Party movement? That’s where we come in. Contact us and we’ll get you the information you need to find the appropriate avenue for you to get involved and transform your frustration into constructive action!