2019-2020 Conservation Scorecard A REVIEW OF THE WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE CONTACT STAFF [email protected] Evan Arnold Membership Manager conservationvoters.org Madison Madison Office Kate Beaton 133 S. Butler St. #320 Western Organizer Madison, WI 53703 Eau Claire 608-661-0845 Anjali Bhasin Eau Claire Office Civic Engagement Director 307 S. Farwell St. #202 Madison Eau Claire, WI 54701 715-257-4275 Ryan Billingham Communications Director Green Bay Office Madison 920-429-9008 Jennifer Giegerich Milwaukee Office Government Affairs Director 1836 W. Fond du Lac Ave. #1 Madison Milwaukee, WI 53205 414-921-0084 Natalie Harburn Operations Director Madison BOARD OF DIRECTORS Casey Hicks Sheila Young Northeast Organizer President Green Bay Cynthia Hirsch Seth Hoffmeister Vice President Organizing and Political Director, Green Bay Karen Voss Secretary/Treasurer Ariana Hones Southeast Organizer Don Stirling Milwaukee Mary Stirling Kerry Schumann Executive Director Shabnam Lotfi Madison Scott Spector Dee Sweet First Nations Organizer Elizabeth Wheat Bayfield Angelito Tenorio Engagement and Development Manager, Milwaukee Angela West Blank Director of Strategic Development, Madison 2 conservationvoters.org Engaging voters to protect Wisconsin’s environment conservationvoters.orgconservationvoters.org 3 3 LIP SERVICE FILE #1 Story of the Session Rep. Robin Vos You care about safe, clean drinking water. Wisconsin voters care about safe, clean drinking water. Members of the legislature from both political parties Speaker of the Wisconsin said they care about it, too. Even Assembly Speaker Robin Vos claimed he State Assembly was making your drinking water a priority this session. R-Rochester Why then did the legislature fail to pass policies that will make sure you can turn on your tap and have clean water? Why couldn’t one of the most influential people in Wisconsin government – Speaker Vos – deliver? The WHAT THEY SAID answer: he didn’t want to. He never intended to. And, he made sure the legislature couldn’t take meaningful action. “I agree that the recent Wisconsin Conservation Voters is a nonpartisan organization. We’ve reports of water endorsed and worked with legislators on both sides of the aisle. We are contamination in private guided by our values, not by party. Unfortunately, during this legislative wells in southwestern session, current Republican leadership blocked action on the environment Wisconsin are disturbing. every step of the way. Every Wisconsinite should have access to safe, clean We hear these questions often: why is this happening? Why has one party’s drinking water.” elected officials abandoned its conservation legacy, its commitment to our natural resources, its investment in our recreation industry, its belief that we should leave things better than when we arrived? WHAT THEY DID During the 2019-20 legislative session, the answer was pretty clear – decision makers refused to stand up to the absolutism and dogma of Speaker Vos, even when they knew it was the right thing to do. Although Vos formed the Speaker’s Water Quality Republican legislators who allowed this lack of progress on issues that have Task Force, he then gave an overwhelming support in their communities are just as guilty as their party outsized voice to corporate leaders. When they enable poor leadership, they become part of polluters. In the end, the the problem. task force did not even While this session stands as one of the least productive in recent memory, approach its stated goals. it does not define who we are as conservation voters, or as a state. You It was a massive failure. stood up and took action. You contributed to solutions. Because of that, we made progress. Gov. Tony Evers, despite being stripped of important powers by a lame duck Photo: Lehnmat, under bill pushed by Speaker Vos, issued several important executive orders that CC SA 4.0 license confront climate change, fight for clean water, and set the stage for 100 percent carbon-free electricity in the state. 4 conservationvoters.org His orders addressed lead and PFAS in drinking water; formed a Climate While this session Change Task Force, led by Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes; and created an initiative to coordinate the effort for fair district maps across the state. stands as one With your help and support, we pushed for clean energy resolutions to be of the least passed at the local level, we elected a pro-conservation supreme court productive in justice, and we have begun a massive push to change the course of history in November. recent memory, it does not define The extreme partisanship that took over this legislative session doesn’t have to last forever. It will take hard work by thousands of people like you, but we who we are as have confidence we can reshape Wisconsin and make progress toward safe conservation drinking water for all, an equitable clean energy future, beautiful places to enjoy, and more. voters, or as Thank you for being a conservation voter. a state. The Vote Tracker: Your Eyes on the Capitol The Vote Tracker on the Wisconsin Conservation Voters’ website is a powerful tool. From committee votes to bill summaries to actions taken by legislators and the governor, the Vote Tracker serves as your eyes in the State Capitol. The Vote Tracker is updated in real-time, meaning you can get the information you need when it’s most important – as a bill is moving through the legislative process. It also provides opportunities for you to weigh in on the issues that matter most through petitions, email messages to lawmakers, and more. Visit conservationvoters.org/vote-tracker. conservationvoters.org 5 Overview of Priority Legislation WATER Establishing a Pilot Project for Nitrate Testing AB 148/SB 137 Funding for County Conservationists Pro-conservation vote: no AB 790/SB 723 Bills died at the end of the session. Pro-conservation vote: yes Passed Assembly, Senate never took it up and it died. PFAS in Firefighting Foam AB 323/SB 310 Livestock Siting Bill Pro-conservation vote: neutral AB 894/SB 808 The governor signed the bill into law. Pro-conservation vote: no The bill passed out of committee. It died when CLIMATE neither body took it up for a full vote. Undermining the Municipal Flood Control The CLEAR Act Grant Program AB 321/SB 302 AB 793/SB 711 Pro-Conservation Vote: yes Pro-conservation vote: no No public hearing and the bills died. Senate never scheduled a vote, bills died. Allowing Polluters to Undermine Science in Forward on Climate bills Groundwater Standards AB 764 & 766 AB 794/SB 708 Pro-conservation vote: yes Pro-conservation vote: no Both bills died without a public hearing. Passed in Assembly, Senate did not take it up. DEMOCRACY The SCHOOLs Bills SB 423 & 424 April 2020 Special Session Pro-Conservation vote: yes Pro-conservation vote: yes Both died at the end of the session. No action taken. Bonding for Lead Service Line Replacement The 2018 Lame Duck Session AB 399/SB 371 SB 884 Pro-conservation vote: yes Pro-conservation vote: no No public hearing and bills died. Signed into law by Gov. Walker. 6 conservationvoters.org LIP SERVICE FILE #2 Clean Water Wisconsin is known for our water. We boast more than 15,000 lakes and 13,500 miles of navigable streams and Rep. Todd Novak rivers. In fact, almost three percent of Wisconsin’s area – nearly a million Chair of the Speaker’s Water acres – is lakes. Quality Task Force Much of our water, including the water many of us rely on for drinking water, R-Dodgeville is unseen. Wisconsin has about 1.2 million billion (yes, that’s million billion) gallons of water underground. Seven in 10 Wisconsinites and 97 percent of the state’s inland communities depend on this groundwater for their drinking WHAT THEY SAID water supply. 1 Yet, people across the state struggle with contaminated drinking water “Clean water is essential every day. Wisconsinites are pushing for clean water that is free from to the health of our rural agricultural waste, PFAS, and other contaminants. When the 2019-20 communities, and really, legislative session began, it seemed almost inevitable that the legislature every community in would take swift and decisive action. Wisconsin. [It] is not a Gov. Evers declared 2019 the “Year of Clean Drinking Water” and Speaker Republican or Democrat Vos created his Speaker’s Water Quality Task Force, a bipartisan panel that issue, it is a state of claimed it was dedicated to protecting a “healthy and stable supply of Wisconsin issue.” water for residents and industry.” As the task force, led by Dodgeville Rep. Todd Novak, held a series of listening sessions across the state, that promise began quickly fading WHAT THEY DID as industry insiders, corporate polluters, and the same old cast of anti- conservation organizations like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce After taking hours of data and the Dairy Business Association were given an outsized voice in and testimony, the task comparison to scientists, health professionals, clean water advocates, and force came up with 13 bills, their own constituents – many of whom face grave health effects from none of which addressed polluted water. the root causes of pollution In the end, legislators in the majority party ignored their constituents and or were taken up by the chose not to tackle the problem of contaminated drinking water, leaving Republican-led Senate. In thousands of Wisconsinites without access to safe water in their homes. short, the task force was a PR stunt with no new ideas or plans. Photo: Rep. Novak’s official legislator page,10/4/19 1 https://waterlibrary.aqua.wisc.edu/water-facts/ conservationvoters.org 7 LIP SERVICE FILE #3 Manure and Agricultural Pollution Over the past two years, highly publicized studies in Southwest Wisconsin made it clear that the region has significant problems with nitrates in the Rep.