Some amazing things happening in this state these days. They may seem minor to those that live in very Red states, but little things like this make me hopeful for the future of Wisconsin. :)
Two more bits of legislation for Wisconsin Conservative Politics Ping List Members to watch:
SCHOOL VOUCHERS:
MADISON, WI (AP) - The state Assembly signed off on legislation Tuesday allowing Milwaukee's school voucher program to add thousands of students while pumping an additional $25 million into a program that helps create smaller classes for younger students statewide.
The Assembly and Senate approved their own versions of the legislation last week. Though the bills were identical in content, both houses had to approve the same version before the measure could go to Gov. Jim Doyle for review.
The Assembly voted 59-35 to approve the Senate's version, clearing the way for the bill to go to Doyle.
Voucher supporters had pushed for legislation to ease enrollment caps after the state warned the program would hit its current limit of 15 percent enrollment of Milwaukee Public Schools and could result in thousands of students being turned away.
Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, and Doyle, a Democrat, reached a compromise to allow the program to expand to 22,500 students from about 15,000.
The bill also sets aside $25 million over the next two years for the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education program, which lowers class sizes for students in 5-year-old kindergarten through third grade.
Doyle has pledged to sign the bill, which also would add accountability standards requiring the schools in the voucher program to apply for accreditation and implement standardized testing.
The program, created in 1990, allows low-income Milwaukee families to send children to private and religious schools at state expense of up to $6,300 per student.
The bill is SB 618.
REINING IN DOYLE'S VETO PEN:
MADISON, WI (AP) - The state Assembly voted Tuesday to rein in the governor's veto power by approving a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would set new limits on use of the veto. The vote was 72-24.
The Senate already approved the measure, which would have to be passed again in the next two-year session before it could go before voters in a statewide referendum.
Wisconsin governors wield one of the most powerful veto pens in the nation with the power to strike out individual words and numbers to create new passages and appropriations.
Last year, Gov. Jim Doyle crossed out words and cobbled together others in four subsections of the state budget to give his top aide the authority to transfer $400 million to public schools. Lawmakers wanted that money to go for transportation funding, state health care programs and other purposes.
It was the most controversial of his 139 vetoes and prompted lawmakers to propose the constitutional amendment.
One of his Republican predecessors, Tommy Thompson, similarly developed a reputation for creative use of the veto pen.
The amendment would ban governors from stitching together words from two or more sentences to make new phrases.
The proposal is SJR 33.
I hear you. I hope it can cross the border and influence the weenies at our capitol. I mean, of course, our spineless Republicans...the RATs are a lost cause. In fact, given a rivival of the death penalty in Minnesota, a goodly number of RATs would end up on the chopping block.
I'm thinking of opening a rope store just across the border, d'ya think the business potential will be looking up?
Why is abortion not okay in the minds of pro-life Christians, but the death penalty is?
If we are going to be a pro-life society, murder via the death penalty must end as well.
God has warned us in the Bible to allow Him and only Him to take revenge.
There was one execution in Wisconsin--in 1851. John McCaffery was convicted of drowning his wife Bridget in a barrel of muck, and was hanged in front of 3,000 people in Kenosha.
But the execution went horribly wrong--McCaffery dangled for fifteen plus minutes, suffocating.
Sentiment against the death penalty rose as a result.
In my opinion, times have certainly changed, and in light of the sick crimes (e.g. the Avery case) making the news, surely capital punishment deserves reconsideration.