JFC Will Take up Alternative Plans This Week for Revisions to Income Maintenance Administration System

We have been anxiously awaiting the Joint Finance Committee’s review of the Governor’s proposal to centralize and privatize the income maintenance (IM) system, which is responsible for intake and related services for the Medicaid and FoodShare programs. That issue will be part of the committee’s lengthy agenda for June 2 and 3.

Child Care, W-2 and other TANF Issues on May 31 JFC Agenda

As the Joint Finance Committee begins its last week of deliberations on Tuesday, it will take up a broad range of issues that are important for low-income families. Some of the topics that will be considered include the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program, the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a number of papers relating to Wisconsin Works (W-2), and various other uses of federal funds from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant.

A new Wisconsin Budget Project Blog post provides a summary of some of the more significant issues for children and families on the May 31 JFC agenda, and links to those LFB papers.

A Proposed Tax Increase for Low-Income Families

On Tuesday, May 31st, the Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on the $41 million cut proposed by the Governor to the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). WCCF has submitted a memo to the Joint Finance Committee with recommendations for the credit.

The Wisconsin Budget Project has a blog post elaborating on why the EITC is important, and why any changes made to the credit should be temporary. Here's a snipped of the post.

Gutting the state’s EITC doesn’t help low-income workers struggling with the aftereffects of the recession, and it doesn’t help Wisconsin to get back on the road to economic recovery. But if policymakers are determined to increase the taxes paid by low-income workers, they should make sure the changes expire at the end of 2012.

To learn more, go to the Wisconsin Budget Project blog post.

Weight Based Taxation of Tobacco Products will Harm Kids in Wisconsin

The Joint Finance Committee may vote on Tuesday, May 31st on a proposal to change the tax on moist snuff tobacco products to a weight-based tax. Currently, all non-cigarette tobacco products are taxed using a percentage-of-price tax which applies the same tax rate to every tobacco product and brand of product, maintains a level playing field, and increases automatically as the price of the product increases. WCCF strongly opposes such a change, especially because of the harmful effects of tobacco usage by Wisconsin youth.

Higher prices discourage kids from buying tobacco products. They are effectively priced out of the addiction before they even start. However, this change in tax would allow the new generation of super lightweight moist snuff products to be under-taxed, giving them an advantage in the marketplace. Smokeless tobacco products can also manipulate the weight of their products, making them more affordable to kids. These weight-based taxes don’t keep pace with inflation, leading to relatively cheaper products and the erosion of smokeless taxes over time.

Weight-based taxes don’t serve the intended purpose of causing smoking cessation and discouraging kids from picking up the deadly habit in the first place. Because all smokeless products aren’t taxed the same, users may just switch to other brands or products instead of quitting. In fact, smokeless products are marketed to appeal directly to kids, through fruit flavors and candy-like packaging. US Smokeless Tobacco’s (UST) best-selling premium smokeless tobacco products are among the most popular with youth. By reducing the taxes and prices on these brands, weight-based taxes supported by UST and Altria directly increase youth smokeless initiation and use by making these products an attractive and cheaper alternative to cigarettes.

Higher tobacco taxes are good for the fiscal and physical health of Wisconsin. Higher tobacco taxes increase state revenues and lower health care costs. It’s a win-win solution. Let’s not change the tax structure in a way that will encourage more kids to pick-up an addictive, cancer causing, smokeless tobacco habit.

Sara Eskrich

“So Long, Safety Net?” – Families are Scared to Death

This week’s Isthmus newspaper contains a great cover story by Joe Tarr, “So Long, Safety Net?”.  He shares stories from families and advocates about the threats to government assistance, and uncertainty about what this will actually mean for families.  As WCCF’s Jon Peacock said in the article, families who depend on these programs are “scared to death.”  Though we now know that unspecified cuts to Medicaid in the biennium budget total more than $466 million, we still don’t know how those cuts are going to be made, and how exactly they’re going to impact families.

Earlier this week WCCF shared some of our insights about likely effects of the budget on low-income working families in a paper by Tamarine Cornelius.  The Georgetown Center on Children and Families also released a report highlighting the effects of increasing premiums in BadgerCare Plus – a sharp decline in children and families receiving coverage, adverse selection of program participants (which increases costs), and an increase in the use of emergency rooms for routine care.

It's extremely frustrating that we don't know more about the specific effects of the proposed budget cuts and may no longer be able to hold our legislators directly accountable for the polciy changes.  An editorial by WCCF Executive Director Ken Taylor explains why legislators should reconsider their actions in Act 10, the so-called “Budget Repair Bill,” to hand over to an unelected state official sweeping power to rewrite the laws governing the health care safety net.

Sara Eskrich

JFC Clears the Way for Large Increase in Uninsured Wisconsinites

The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) took up the Medicaid-related programs Tuesday evening and approved most of the Governor’s proposals. In doing so, the committee cleared the way for deep cuts in Medicaid and BadgerCare and a sharp increase in the number of uninsured state residents.

As the Governor recommended, the bill will require the Department of Health Services (DHS) to make $466 million of “unspecified” cuts over the next two years, beyond the enumerated cuts in areas like Family Care and public health. The committee did make a few positive changes in the bill, while other changes relating to the future process for changing current health policy leave us perplexed.

Hot Town – Summer in the City - Do Juvenile Arrests Go Up in the Summer?

Over many years of working in juvenile justice, I found that people outside the system (and some inside as well who would express dire predictions like “..watch out, this summer will be really bad") assumed that summer would be a high time for juvenile arrests and detentions. Yet our own internal data as well as anecdotal information from colleagues invariably confirmed that this was not the case. This must have been an issue in D.C., since the DC Lawyers for Youth recently released a study of arrests over the past four years that shows that, contrary to popular opinion, juvenile arrests do not spike upward in the summer months – confirming what many practitioners already knew - but, hey they have charts and tables!!


It’s interesting data, but think about it. Why do people assume that since kids have more time on their hands during the summer they will get in more trouble? And, since that is not the case, why not? Is it because much the bulk of delinquent behavior is done in groups and it is, in fact, going to school that brings them together? Is it because they are under less pressure when not in school? Is it because too many of our law enforcement referrals stem from incidents that start or take place in schools? Is it because youth in the summer have other outlets for their energy? I’m not sure I have the answers, but if anything the data and our experience shows that what might seem “simple” or intuitive to those who don’t work with youth, we know is not that simple – that really understanding youth behaviors takes more than believing that “I can think like a teenager because I was one once.”   submitted by   Jim Moeser

Budget Summary Updated

The Wisconsin Budget Project has updated its comparative budget summary to include actions taken by the Joint Finance Committee through last week. The summary includes information about what the Governor has proposed and what action Joint Finance has taken so far, as well as links to other relevant information. Reading this summary is an easy way to follow specific items through the budget process.

The Link Between Incarceration and Crime – Does it Exist?

One of the more contentious debates about the relationship between crime and incarceration has centered on what the nature of the link is between increased/decreased crime rates and increased/decreased rates of incarceration. Does locking more people up reduce crime? Is there a demonstrable or direct relationship between the two?


The answer is complex, and those that have tried to understand this link have struggled to capture the data in a way that impacts public policy. But, there are a few things we do know: (1) crime has gone down substantially both in states that experienced growth in incarceration rates as well as those in which the incarceration rate decreased; (2) there is increasing evidence that alternatives to incarceration seem to produce a better return on our investment than incarceration; and (3) we need to be “smart” about what works more than we need to be “tough” about what works – and yet, some policy makers demand relatively little evidence of success from the most costly forms of intervention, namely incarceration.

Two relatively recent publications from the Justice Policy Institute highlight some of the news about these issues. First, The Costs of Confinement: Why Good Juvenile Justice Policies Makes Good Fiscal Sense contrasts the costs-benefits of confinement with the costs-benefits of good community based practices; and, a recent posting that highlights the 2010 FBI Uniform Crime report data showing that even as incarceration rates fall crime continues to go down substantially.

As policy-makers in Wisconsin go down the road of revoking provisions for Earned Release and other practices that at least show overall promise (despite anecdotes to the contrary), we have to ask what direction we are headed in and wonder whether anyone can stand up to the attitude that high rates of incarceration are justified by the evidence about what works.

Study Estimates that Raising BadgerCare Premiums Could Result in More than 87,000 Children and Adults Losing Coverage

A paper released yesterday by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families highlights the devastating effect that one of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ (DHS) possible “unspecified cuts” could have on families. The paper examines the real impact of raising BadgerCare premiums to 3 or 4% of a family’s income. It concludes that the change will not merely generate increased revenues, as DHS implies, but will likely result in roughly 49,000 to 87,000 children and adults in low-income families falling off BadgerCare – depending on the magnitude of the premium increase.

The report notes that those who lose their insurance are more likely to use emergency rooms as a high-cost alternative for their usual source of care, and those who remain on BadgerCare are likely to be families who have greater health needs and higher costs of care, resulting in “adverse selection.”

New Analysis Reveals That Low-Income Families Stand to Take a Big Hit

In the days and weeks leading up to the introduction of his biennial budget proposal, Gov. Walker repeatedly pointed to the need for “shared sacrifice.” Once the Governor’s budget was unveiled, however, it quickly became clear that the sacrifice his budget calls for is not shared equally.

A disproportionate amount of the sacrifice is being required of the state’s most vulnerable populations, particularly low-income working families. The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF) today released a brief analysis of the budget’s real-life impact on Wisconsin families, focusing on a number of specific budget measures that would make it more difficult for those households to get by.

May 24th and 26th JFC agendas include K-12 and Medicaid issues (among many others)

The Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to meet twice next week --Tuesday, May 24th and Thursday, May 26th.  Both executive sessions are supposed to begin at 11 AM in Room 412 East in the State Capitol.  On Tuesday, the committee is scheduled to vote on issues related to the Department of Health Services (including Medicaid-related issues), Department of Employee Trust Funds, the Government Accountability Board, and the Department of Transportation.

Thursday's issue areas include the Department of Public Instruction, Educational Communications Board, Higher Educational Aids Board, Department of Administration, Department of Workforce Development, and Department of Natural Resources.  Some of these topics were previously scheduled and then set over.

Joint Finance Co-chair Robin Vos has said that the Committee plans to finish its work on the budget by June 4th, according to the WisPolitics budget blog. Vos has told members to keep keep Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday open next week. He also told them to keep open Tuesday through Saturday the following week.

A WI Budget Project blog post today contains direct links to a number of the various papers.

Watch our Comparative Summary of the budget to monitor the Finance Committee’s actions.

WI Supreme Court: Upholds Life without Parole for Young Teen

Earlier today the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Omer Ninham's life without parole. Ninham was only 14 (1998) when he committed the crime and was sentenced to life without parole in 2000.
There have been advances in our understanding of adolescent brain development since his life sentence was imposed. For example MRI studies which show that the brain is not fully developed early in childhood and that making impulsive decisions and engaging in risky behavior is an inevitable part of adolescence. As the brain matures, adolescents almost universally grow out of their impulsive and risky behavior. Along with the MRI studies there has been a growing body of research that suggest that alcohol causes more damage to developing teenage brains than previously thought. Ninham was a serious substance abuse user who snorted cocaine on a weekly basis and since grade school, consumed alcohol daily and frequently to the point of unconsciousness.

In the years succeeding his sentence in 2000, in the Roper and Graham decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has found the death sentence to be a form of cruel and unusual punishment for juveniles; and so is life with out parole for juveniles convicted of any crime short of homicide. The language in those US Supreme Court decisions seems to support the notion that someone as young as Omer should not be sentenced to die in prison (the harshest sentence possible in Wisconsin), but the majority of this court did not interpret it that way.

The majority opinion was written by Justice Annette Ziegler and she wrote "Under the circumstances of this case, Ninham's punishment is severe, but is not disproportionately so." A dissenting opinion, by Chief Justice Abrahamson and concurred in by Justice Bradley, gives credence to the evolving standard of decency about how to treat youthful offenders – even those who commit the most serious crimes. We hope and believe that this decision will be appealed and, along with others in other states, will help advance the understanding of what justice should be about.

The Wisconsin Values Budget: Better Choices Based on a Balanced Approach

WCCF, in collaboration with Citizen Action of WI, the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future, and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, has unveiled the Wisconsin Values Budget, an alternative to the Walker budget proposal based on a balanced approach to the state’s fiscal challenges. The Values Budget rejects the notion that the state has “no choice” but to make draconian cuts, and demonstrates instead that there are better options that preserve Wisconsin’s remarkable record of progress and innovation in such key areas as education, health care, mass transit, and support for low-income workers striving to join the middle class. The Wisconsin Values Budget maintains the state’s investment in the future without sacrificing our gains of the past. Over 20 other groups have endorsed the Values Budget, with more signing on every day.

Budget Would Require Most School Districts to Reduce Property Taxes

School districts are slated to take significant cuts in state aid in the 2011-13 biennial budget. In addition, the proposed budget would require most school districts to reduce the amount of property tax revenue they raise within their districts.

The Wisconsin Budget Project devoted two blog posts this week (here and here) to a new report by a University of Wisconsin professor that explained how the reductions in general aid and the decrease in the revenue limit will affect districts. The budget proposes a decrease in districts’ revenue limits, which are the sum of general school aid from the state and property taxes raised at the local level. If the reduction in state aid is less than the reduction in the revenue limits, schools will have to cut property taxes to stay under the revenue limit.

Increasing kids’ access to guns; still a bad idea

New attempts to allow hidden loaded guns in Wisconsin communities will increase the exposure of children to handguns by permitting concealed weapons to be carried into many places where children play and learn, including day care centers, churches, little league games and the many private, non-profit organizations that provide direct services to children and youth.

The study of childhood brain development confirms that young children are naturally curious and that adolescents (up to age 24) can be impulsive. Allowing the carrying of concealed weapons will inevitably result in increased access of children and adolescents to loaded handguns when they are brought home, left in cars, or in a jacket hanging in a closet or on the back of a chair. The potential consequence of this increased access to guns is therefore very serious:

• Currently in Wisconsin, approximately five unintentional childhood deaths due to firearms occur annually. For every firearm-related death, there are between four and five nonfatal gun-related injuries. Last year, 55 kids were rushed to the emergency room for firearm related accidents. Unfortunately, a typical scenario is that of an unsupervised young child discovering a loaded handgun and killing or injuring himself or a playmate while exploring the new "toy". In a recent study, more than three fourths of 8 to 12 year old boys who found a real handgun in a drawer handled the weapon. Approximately half of them pulled the trigger, despite having had gun safety instruction at some time prior to the study. (Jackman GA, Farah MM, Kellermann AL, Simon HK. Seeing is believing: What do boys do when they find a real gun? Pediatrics. 2001;107:1247-1250 

• Data from the Medical College of Wisconsin shows that about 50 adolescents commit suicide in Wisconsin each year, 60 percent of them with firearms, primarily handguns. Suicide by adolescents is most often an impulsive act, reflecting the volatile emotions in this stage of life. Twenty percent of Wisconsin high school students admit to having seriously considered suicide, and nine percent claim to have attempted it. Suicide attempts involving firearms are successful 91 percent of the time, denying a chance to reconsider. (Karlson TA, Hargarten SW. Reducing Firearm Injury and Death: A Public Health Sourcebook on Guns. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press; 1997.)

• In 2008, the most current year for which data is available,  49 Wisconsin children and adolescents were victims of firearm-related homicide. Sadly, firearm-related homicide is the leading cause of death for African-American males from 15 to 19 years of age in Wisconsin and nationally. Teenage boys in all racial and ethnic groups are more likely to die from gunshot wounds than from all natural causes combined

• Carrying of concealed weapons will increase opportunities for theft and subsequent misuse of handguns, especially by children and youth. Family and friends are the primary sources of guns for young people.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that the best way to keep children safe from firearm injury is to not have guns in the home.http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;105/4/888.pdf.  Given what we know about the deadly combination of handguns and children; increasing children’s access to guns, just doesn’t make sense. 

Kaiser report forecasts 44 percent Medicaid enrollment drop in WI under Ryan plan

A new state-by-state analysis of Congressman Ryan’s House Budget Plan by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the proposed Medicaid Block Grant (approved by the House) would result in substantial Medicaid cuts for states and large increases in the number of uninsured. The Kaiser and Urban Institute analysis includes both the impact of block granting Medicaid and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as in the Ryan Budget.

Some of the findings specific to Wisconsin include the following:

• Our state would experience a 32.5 percent reduction in federal Medicaid funding.
• By 2021, Medicaid enrollment would fall by up to 44 percent as a result of block granting Medicaid and repealing the ACA (measured relative to the Congressional Budget Office’s baseline level if the ACA had not been enacted.

Finance Committee Schedules Many Children’s Issues on May 18 and 19

The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) has scheduled two executive sessions on the budget bill next week – Wed. May 18 and Thurs. May 19. Both meetings will begin at 11 AM in the JFC meeting room -- 412 East, State Capitol. The agenda Wednesday includes four papers relating to DHS issues, and 8 papers concerning the Department of Children and Families – including child welfare issues, foster care, and the Social Service Block Grant. Thursday’s agenda includes many K-12 education issues and the Technical College System.

Further information and links to many of the specific papers was posted today on the Wisconsin Budget Project Blog.

Jon Peacock

Very Few Uninsured Have Resources to Pay Hospital Bills, According to New HHS Report – Leading to Cost Shifting and Higher Costs For Those With Insurance

According to a study released today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), on average, uninsured families are only able to pay in full for about 12% of the hospital bills they may incur. Even those uninsured families with incomes over 400% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) can only afford to pay 37% of their bills in full. These figures highlight the importance of health insurance for all families, which is mandated for those who can afford it and subsidized for those who can’t in 2014, by the Affordable Care Act.

Hospitals are required to provide emergency care to those in need, regardless of ability to pay. Every year, nearly 2 million uninsured Americans are hospitalized, resulting in high uncompensated care costs for hospitals -- around $49 billion in 2008.  Those costs are shifted to other payers, including government and private insurers, which raises premiums for those with health insurance.

Budget Project Updates Comparative Budget Summary

The Wisconsin Budget Project has updated our comparative budget summary, (LINK) which shows how selected provisions in the budget have been modified in the budget process. Yesterday’s update includes the recent decisions made by the Joint Finance Committee. We’ll be updating the budget summary on a regular basis, so watch this blog (or sign up to follow us on Twitter, @wiskids).

Next Joint Finance Committee Meeting is May 12

The Joint Finance Committee continues to meet and vote on state budget issues. The next meeting is on Thursday, May 12th. At that time, the Committee is scheduled to make decisions on 28 different topics, including issues related to the Justice Information System Surcharge, veteran affairs, and the Government Accountability Board. Of particular interest to WCCF are issues related to property tax credits and levy limits.

You can read more at the Wisconsin Budget Project blog, or you can get the information straight from the horse’s mouth at the Legislative Fiscal Bureau page.

Tamarine Cornelius

Alternative Measure of Poverty Shows Value of Recovery Act

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have developed a measure that allows them to more completely capture the effect of the Recovery Act on Wisconsin poverty levels.

By official measures, poverty in Wisconsin rose from 10.2 in 2008 to 12.4 percent in 2009, according to the report. But the official measure of poverty takes only cash income into account. This means that non-cash income like tax credits or food stamps – both of which were significantly expanded by the Recovery Act and both of which can make a big difference to a family’s bottom line – are not considered when determining poverty status.

The new measure of poverty used in the report shows that the Recovery Act sheltered state residents from the worst effects of the recession. For more information, including a description of the new measure, read the newest post at the Wisconsin Budget Project blog.

OCI Considers Turning Back Rules To Make Plans More Readable and Accessible

This morning, the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) held a public hearing to consider the permanent adoption of an emergency rule which repeals previous improvements that were made relating to readability of and access to private insurance policies. Adoption of this rule would be a step backwards for consumer initiatives in private insurance. Although the hearing has been held, OCI is taking public comment on the proposed rule until May 13th.

On February 9, 2011, Insurance Commissioner Ted Nickel issued an emergency rule suspending improvements made in fall 2010 to readability and access electronically to private health plans. These simple changes, which are valuable to consumers and advocates in determining the most appropriate health insurance for their needs, were deemed too expensive for health insurance companies to implement. However, health insurance industries typically change their policies often, and readability is already an issue that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is working towards.  ABC for Health provides a full summary of the changes here, including a description of the long process for developing the readability standards.

OCI will be accepting public comments on this proposal through May 13th at 4pm. Please send comments to Julie Walsh at julie.walsh@wi.gov or PO Box 7873, Madison, WI 53707-7873.

Sara Eskrich