Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Ninety-Sixth Regular Session
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries dated Tuesday, November 18, 2003.
Senate Bill 313
Relating to: administrative rules, guidelines, policies, and hearings; air pollution control; structures, deposits, and other activities in or near navigable waters; notice, hearing, and review procedures related to permits to place structures and materials and to conduct activities in or near navigable waters; nonmetallic mining reclamation financial assurances; strategic energy assessments; partial deregulation of telecommunications services; contributions by electric and gas utilities to the utility public benefits fund; grants for energy conservation and other programs; reciprocal agreements for real estate licenses; comprehensive planning by local governmental units; fees imposed by political subdivisions; the confidentiality of patient health care records; apprentice-to-journeyman job-site ratios; the acquisition of in-state banks and in-state bank holding companies; credit agreements; extending the time limit for emergency rule procedures; and granting rule-making authority.
Withdrawn from committee on Finance and referred to select committee on
Job Creation pursuant to Senate Rule
46 (2)(c).
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date.
__________________
Read and referred:
Senate Resolution 22
Relating to: proclaiming that the ancient Macedonians were Hellenes and that the inhabitants of the northern province of Greece, Macedonia, are their Hellenic descendants.
By
Senators
Kanavas, Welch, Robson, S. Fitzgerald and Schultz.
To committee on Senate Organization.
Senate Joint Resolution 51
Relating to: proclaiming March 30, 2004, as Sauk City Day in Wisconsin.
By
Senator
Schultz
; cosponsored by Representative Freese
.
To committee on Senate Organization.
Senate Joint Resolution 52
Relating to: permitting the powers of sheriffs to be determined in each county (first consideration).
By
Senators
Cowles and Reynolds; cosponsored by Representatives Krawczyk, Travis, Taylor, Staskunas, Turner, McCormick and F. Lasee.
To committee on Homeland Security, Veterans and Military Affairs and Government Reform.
Senate Bill 319
Relating to: creating a Manufacturing Competitiveness Grant Program and a Manufacturing Competitiveness Board, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, and making appropriations.
By
Senators
Hansen, Wirch, Lassa and Erpenbach; cosponsored by Representatives Taylor, Turner, Black, Staskunas, J. Lehman, Shilling, Berceau and Albers.
To committee on Economic Development, Job Creation and Housing.
Senate Bill 320
Relating to: requirements for recommendations made by insurers and insurance intermediaries to senior consumers in annuity transactions; committees of the board of directors of domestic stock and mutual corporations; annuity minimum nonforfeiture amount; merger of town mutual and domestic mutual insurance corporation into a town mutual; the insurance security fund; other miscellaneous changes to the insurance provisions; and granting rule-making authority.
By
Senator
Schultz
; cosponsored by Representative Ladwig
, by request of the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.
To committee on Agriculture, Financial Institutions and Insurance.
Senate Bill 321
Relating to: appeals of decisions relating to charter schools and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority.
By
Senators
Darling, Stepp, Lazich, Reynolds, Roessler and A. Lasee; cosponsored by Representatives Jensen, LeMahieu, Ladwig, McCormick, Albers, Hines, Stone, Gunderson, Towns, Gielow and Hundertmark.
To committee on Education, Ethics and Elections.
Senate Bill 322
Relating to: the definition of a group health benefit plan.
S492
By
Senators
Kanavas, Darling, A. Lasee, Reynolds, Roessler, Schultz and Welch; cosponsored by Representatives Gielow, Van Roy, Ainsworth, Albers, Bies, Hahn, Hines, Honadel, Gunderson, Jeskewitz, Kestell, Krawczyk, Ladwig, M. Lehman, Montgomery, Musser, Nischke, Olsen, Ott, Petrowski, Pettis, Seratti, Stone, Townsend, Underheim, Vrakas and Vukmir.
To committee on Agriculture, Financial Institutions and Insurance.
Senate Bill 323
Relating to: changing the procedures for the incorporation of cities and villages, creating a board to review incorporation petitions, and changing annexation procedures affected by incorporation petitions.
By
Senators
Brown, A. Lasee and Schultz; cosponsored by Representatives Huebsch, Albers, Hahn, Hines, Ladwig, Olsen, Owens and Townsend.
To committee on Homeland Security, Veterans and Military Affairs and Government Reform.
Senate Bill 324
Relating to: the Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Program and the administration of dry cleaning license fees.
By
Senators
Kedzie, Roessler, Stepp and Leibham; cosponsored by Representatives Johnsrud, Gronemus, Montgomery, Jeskewitz, Hahn, Olsen, Ainsworth, Hines, Vrakas, Petrowski, Krawczyk and Miller.
To committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
Senate Bill 325
Relating to: acreage requirements for areas in which farm-raised deer that may be hunted are kept and fencing of farm-raised deer that are white-tailed deer.
By
Senator
Decker
; cosponsored by Representatives Sherman, Hines, Hahn, Albers and Taylor.
To committee on Agriculture, Financial Institutions and Insurance.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
November 18, 2003
To the Honorable, the Senate:
I am vetoing Senate Bill 214 in its entirety.
Wisconsin is one of the safest states in the country and boasts one of the lowest crime rates nationwide. Violent crime has decreased dramatically in our state in the past decade. We have maintained this low crime rate at the same time we have banned the carrying of concealed weapons.
It is a testament to the people of Wisconsin that our state is not only one of the safest places to live in the country, but also has a proud tradition of responsible gun ownership and use. Wisconsin has long been known for the world class hunting and sport shooting opportunities available to Wisconsin citizens and tourists from other states. Just as our state's ban on concealed weapons has not interfered with these Wisconsin traditions, Wisconsin's gun owners will not be harmed in any way by rejection of this legislation.
Perhaps these traditions are among the reasons why those we most entrust with protecting our safety—our highly trained law enforcement officers—overwhelmingly oppose Senate Bill 214. Wisconsin law enforcement agencies agree that allowing under-trained, untested citizens to carry and use concealed weapons will compromise the safety of officers and citizens alike.
The bill itself has serious flaws and is unworkable. First, the bill compromises the safety of our children by lowering penalties for carrying handguns and other dangerous weapons in a school zone or on school grounds. In fact, while the bill has been extensively amended to exempt certain locations, Senate Bill 214 allows individuals to carry concealed weapons into most public places: shopping malls, public libraries, public buildings like the State Capitol and city halls, Boys and Girls Clubs, banks, university campuses, movie theaters, concert venues like Alpine Valley, fair grounds like Summerfest and the State Fair, parades, parking lots, farmers markets, and so on.
The bill's exemption for private businesses is highly unworkable. While businesses seeking to ban concealed weapons from their premises must post warning signs at their front doors, people could not be convicted of breaking the law unless they had been "orally and personally" warned that their weapon was not permitted on site. A business owner would actually have to approach each person suspected of carrying a concealed weapon and personally ask that person to leave the premises. Moreover, Senate Bill 214 creates a significant liability disparity between businesses that allow concealed weapons on their premises and those who wish to restrict them. Under the bill, employers that allow their employees and customers to carry concealed weapons have immunity from liability, but business owners who prohibit concealed weapons from their premises would not have immunity under the law.
Second, Senate Bill 214 would require insufficient training from those seeking to carry and handle concealed lethal weapons. The bill requires only one-time training to carry a handgun and requires no training for tear gas guns, authorized knives, and billy clubs. In contrast, on-going and intensive training is a requirement for law enforcement officers who routinely handle and discharge weapons.
Third, the bill does not adequately prevent concealed weapons from falling into the wrong hands. While proponents argue that only law-abiding citizens would be able to secure a permit to carry a concealed weapon, there are countless examples of violent criminal acts--including homicides--that have been perpetrated by individuals with no prior criminal history. Under Senate Bill 214, those individuals would have been able to commit their crimes with a concealed weapon. For example, the Wisconsin Council Against Domestic Violence has found, "When examining Wisconsin's 2000 and 2001 domestic homicide cases, it is evident that the majority of firearm domestic homicide perpetrators would have qualified for a conceal and carry permit."
Fourth, Senate Bill 214 creates a host of implementation problems, not the least of which is a cumbersome new underfunded state mandate for local law enforcement. Senate Bill 214 requires the sheriff in each county to issue permits to qualified applicants. This mandate necessitates time-consuming reviews of each and every application and background checks on each and every applicant that seeks to carry a concealed weapon. This mandate is exacerbated by the onerous requirement that the local sheriff's office must act within 30 days on each application. These mandates will mean that, rather than devoting time to pending criminal cases and crime prevention efforts, local law enforcement officials will be forced to spend their time and resources processing expedited applications.
Moreover, at least 65 of 72 sheriffs have already vowed to "opt out" of the requirements of Senate Bill 214. If all but a handful of Wisconsin county sheriffs "opted out" of the permitting process, the law would be rendered totally unworkable. Individuals would be forced to travel potentially hundreds of miles to apply for permits and sheriffs in the few participating counties would be required to conduct background checks on thousands of individuals that lived far away.
S493
The bill does not provide adequate resources to the state and local government that would be required to process the permits. The proposed funding is insufficient to cover most of the anticipated costs, estimated by the Department of Justice to be $3.7 million for local governments and $1.18 million for DOJ in the first year alone. The bill does not identify funding sources to assist the court system, the district attorneys, and the sheriffs to address the staffing required to process the huge amounts of paper work required by this bill.
