Senate Chambers in the Wisconsin State Capitol. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

During its last floor session of the year, the Wisconsin Senate passed bills Tuesday that would eliminate the annual $325 per pupil revenue increase for school districts, define abortion to not include treatment for ectopic pregnancies and other emergency medical conditions and block state and local dollars from being used on health care for people not legally in the country.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said she is “dismayed” and “disgusted” that lawmakers were not taking up bills that focused on affordability. She said she is open to working across the aisle on the issue.

“Republicans do not care about affordability, and they have no plan about affordability either,” Hesselbein said. “There are no bills on this calendar that will lower prescription drug costs, increase access to health care, lower housing costs or make child care more affordable.”

Sen. Sarah Keyeski (D-Lodi) noted a few of the more than 60 bills lawmakers were scheduled to take up and questioned whether they addressed pressing matters. 

“Republicans, who determine the issues and bills we focus on, today are addressing things like exempting tobacco bars from the public smoking ban, delaying the implementation of commercial building code rules,” Keyeski said. “While these may be worthy issues to discuss, I would suggest that it does not meet the threshold of emergent need when families are facing dire economic circumstances. GOP legislators are essentially forcing us to sit idly by and watch Wisconsinites suffer.”

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said at a press conference that Democratic lawmakers were just “filibustering” and rejected the claim that Republicans weren’t working to help with affordability in the state.

“We passed a budget which had the second largest tax cut in state history to get money back into people’s pockets for utility bills, for retirees on fixed incomes, for middle class tax cuts. We’re doing everything we can to try to keep things affordable, ending the 400-year veto so taxes don’t go up in the next budget process,” LeMahieu said. “We are very concerned. It seems like Democrats can make these statements, but yet they’re introducing bills that let local governments increase their levies to tax, raise property taxes, and everything else, so it seems a little disingenuous.”

Republicans advance bill to eliminate 400-year veto

The Senate voted to pass a bill that would reverse Gov. Tony Evers’ partial veto that extended school revenue limit increases for 400 years. 

Lawmakers during the 2023-25 state budget gave school districts a $325 increase to schools’ revenue limits for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. When the bill reached Evers’ desk, he exercised his partial veto power, striking two digits and a dash from the years to extend the annual increases through 2425, to lawmakers’ dismay. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in April that the partial veto was within Evers’ powers.

In response, lawmakers introduced SB 389 to eliminate the $325 per pupil school revenue limit increase beginning in the 2027-28 school year. It passed along party lines. 

“We’re very concerned with the ruling of the state Supreme Court, but what we want to do is to clarify that the original intent of the Legislature in the budget was to increase school funding for the next budget period,” Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), a coauthor of the bill, said. “He changed the bill in a way that no governor in the history of the state of Wisconsin has changed [a bill], and that’s very concerning for us because the Legislature is where the voice of a people is supposed to take place, and the governor is supposed to look at that and use his veto authority to determine where he stands on that, but he went far beyond what’s ever been done before.”

Democratic lawmakers defended the revenue limit increases, saying it is helping school districts that have struggled without inflationary increases in state funding.

“As fists clench over the 400-year veto, know this, it doesn’t even make up for inflation. What it does is, it provides a minimum increase for what people can expect,” Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said. “Unfortunately, with this vote, it is trying to go back and trying to actually make a horrible budget even worse by saying not only are we giving you zero dollars in general aid increase…, but more than that, we’re also going to bar the local school district from making up for that gap by being able to allow them to vote for an increased property tax.”

Larson said that the law could have been changed during the 2025-27 state budget process and that it is the state’s fault that property taxes are bearing the brunt of the increases.

“Everybody who voted for the budget, in essence, voted for the continuation of the $325 dollars per pupil increase to be passed on to local taxpayers to make up the difference,” Larson said. “If you had wanted to change it, there were two things that you could have done. One, you could have voted to have that ended and substituted with a different per-pupil increase. Second thing is, you could have had the state actually fund those increases using funds from the increasing general aid or using the vast surplus that we have, taking money from the agriculture manufacturing tax credit [or] anywhere else, and you could have actually funded our kids.”

Redefining abortion

The Senate also passed SB 553, which seeks to redefine abortion to exempt treatments for certain medical conditions including the removal of a dead embryo or fetus, an ectopic, anembryonic or molar pregnancy.

Bill coauthor Sen. Romaine Quinn (R-Birchwood) said during a press conference that he wanted to remove confusion from state statute, saying he is “pro-life” and hasn’t wanted to stop women from being able to receive the medical care that they need. 

“Women who need medical attention due to situations of stillbirths, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies or other related issues, can and should receive the care that they need. That has always been the pro-life position,” Quinn said. “This bill before us today does not ban abortions. It does not restrict abortions, it simply clarifies our laws so that both women and medical providers can do what is necessary in those situations.”

Wisconsin has a web of abortion restrictions in place, including a 20-week ban, but confusion soared in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. An 1849 law interpreted as a near-total abortion ban led health care providers afraid of felony charges to deny care to women who faced miscarriage and life-threatening pregnancy complications.

Recently, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, the state’s largest abortion provider, stopped providing abortion care in part due to federal changes.

Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said the lawmakers were trying to distance themselves from “the horrors that we are seeing in states that have banned and restricted abortion.” The Assembly coauthor, Rep. Joy Goeben (R-Hobart) said in September that she introduced it in part because Republicans are getting “killed” on the abortion issue during elections, although she said she favors a total abortion ban.

“Women being turned away from hospital emergency rooms repeatedly, being left to bleed out in Walmart parking lots. In fact, women are dying because they are denied timely abortion care that could easily have saved their lives, and their children left orphaned,” Roys said. “That’s the reality of what it looks like when you ban and restrict access to abortion in this country.”

Recent polling done by Marquette Law School found that abortion policy has declined as a “most important” issue among voters across all partisan groups in 2025 as compared to 2022, although 50% of respondents still said they were “very concerned” and 23% said they were “somewhat concerned” about the issue. 

Another recent poll found that 78% of voters support protecting health care professionals from criminal charges related to providing abortion care and 72% of voters favor allowing advanced health care providers like nurse practitioners and midwives to provide abortion care.

Roys said she was also concerned that the bill could push physicians to do emergency C-sections rather than terminate pregnancies as a way of addressing health issues. 

“Abortion is a necessary medical procedure that sometimes pregnant people need to save their lives, to preserve their health, to preserve their future fertility, and nothing in this bill is going to change that,” Roys said. “This bill will instead push physicians to force women to have unnecessary C-sections or to induce delivery rather than providing them with abortion. A C-section is much more dangerous. It is much more invasive. It’s major abdominal surgery that takes weeks or months to recover from, and it also impairs a woman’s future ability to be pregnant to have the labor and delivery that she wishes.”

The bill will now go to the Assembly for consideration. 

Restricting health care for immigrants

The Senate concurred 21-12 in AB 308, which would prohibit state, county, village, long-term care district and federal funds from being used to subsidize, reimburse or provide compensation for any health care services for a person not lawfully in the United States. Sens. Sarah Keyeski (D-Lodi), Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) and Jamie Wall (D-Green Bay) joined Republicans in favor. 

Bill coauthor Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) said the bill would ensure that Wisconsin doesn’t begin spending large amounts of money on people who aren’t legally in the country. He noted that other states, including Minnesota and California, have rescinded or paused providing coverage for people not legally in the U.S. 

“[Illinois] did an audit and found that they had spent nearly $900 million on health care benefits for illegal aliens, about a 200% increase, and then in Minnesota, the Legislature, by bipartisan vote, they voted to end the eligibility for illegal immigrants due to questions about their state’s financial well-being, and then, lastly, wonderful, California. Gov. [Gavin] Newsom recently froze enrollment of illegal immigrants into the state’s medical programs, citing California’s $12 billion budget deficit,” Wanggaard said at a press conference. “We’re looking at something that is really a no-brainer.”

Wisconsin already doesn’t allow immigrants without legal authorization to apply for the state’s Medicaid program, BadgerCare.

There are two programs available to those without legal status outlined on the Department of Health Services website: Medicaid Emergency Services, which provides short-term medical coverage for people who have a medical emergency and aren’t eligible for BadgerCare Plus or Wisconsin Medicaid, and BadgerCare Plus Prenatal Plan, which provides health care coverage for pregnant mothers who are not eligible for BadgerCare Plus due to immigration status or being in prison or jail.

Democratic lawmakers accused Republicans of seeking to make a political point and neglecting to address health care costs and accessibility.

“We are not in an affordability crisis because of less than 1% of BadgerCare funds that are used to save lives,” Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) said. “This is cruel, it is a mean-spirited bill that is attempting to score cheap political points off of a group that’s already marginalized enough.” 

Advocates have warned that the bill could have a “chilling effect,” discouraging people from seeking care when they need it.

“Why is this sort of thing even coming up for discussion? Are we that heartless? Have we really lost our vision for this country?” Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) asked. “These are all messaging to somebody’s base. Terrible people who are coming here to work in our factories, in our fields without the proper papers need to be punished… How heartless are we to make political points? Go ahead and make your god dang political points.”

The Assembly passed the bill in September, so it will now go to Evers for consideration. 

Other bills passed by the Senate Tuesday include:  

• AB 165, which would ban local governments from using tax money to create guaranteed income programs without a work or training requirement. The Assembly passed the bill along party lines in April and the Senate concurred in it 18-15 so it will now go to Evers for consideration. 
• AB 265, which would require judges to sentence people convicted of human trafficking to at least 10 years in prison, or at least 15 years for trafficking a child, was concurred in in an 18-15 party line vote. Democratic lawmakers expressed concerns about young victims of sex trafficking potentially facing mandatory minimums if they are forced to participate in trafficking, while Republicans brushed away those concerns. 
• SB 498 passed 17-16 with Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) joining Democrats against it. The bill would place specific freedom of speech requirements into state statute, including barring campuses from restricting speakers on campus, and implement new penalties, including a tuition freeze, if a campus violates any parts of the bill.
• SB 394 would make it a Class I felony to damage or graffiti structures, plaques, statues, paintings or other monuments on public property or that is maintained by the state or any county or municipality. It passed 18-15 along party lines.
• SB 11, which would require school districts to provide an opportunity for certain federally chartered youth membership organizations, including the Girl Scouts, to give students information about their organizations. It passed by a voice vote. The Assembly is scheduled to vote on the bill on Wednesday.
• SB 16, which would make the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association subject to open records and open meeting laws, passed 22-11.

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Halle Berry calls for Wisconsin lawmakers to advance a bill related to menopause education as Rep. Robyn Vining and Sen. Dianne Hesselbein watch. (Photo courtesy of Vining's office)

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) brought in a big name — award-winning actress Halle Berry — this week to help them call for better education on perimenopause and menopause. 

Berry, who wasn’t able to be at the hearing in real time, has become an advocate nationally for raising awareness of menopause and advocating for changes. She joined the Wisconsin bill authors at a virtual press conference on Tuesday afternoon, and her testimony was played at a Senate Health Committee public hearing Wednesday. The committee also took testimony Wednesday on bills to help with falls prevention among older Wisconsinites and on medical marijuana. 

“This is not a political issue — I promise you, it’s not. It is a human rights issue,” Berry said. 

Menopause is the period of time usually in middle age when a woman has not had her period for 12 consecutive months. Perimenopause is the period of time when hormone levels fluctuate and decline and a woman begins transitioning into menopause. It typically lasts between 4 years and 10 or more years.

Women can reach menopause at different ages, but often women reach it between 45 and 55. Symptoms typically begin during perimenopause. 

During the hearing, Vining listed part of a long list of symptoms that women can experience when they hit perimenopause and menopause.

“Wisconsin women deserve to know what is happening to their bodies. Wisconsin women deserve to access to information that can help explain symptoms like increased anxiety and depression, brain fog, frozen shoulder, concerns about increases in cholesterol, decreases in bone density, sleeplessness, night sweats, increased sensitivity and pain in joints, vertigo, gut issues, loss of libido, the unusual exhaustion, confusing dryness, hot flashes, and more,” Vining said. “Many women say, ‘I don’t feel like myself’ and they deserve to know why that is and what they can do about it.”

Berry said her experience started with “excruciating” pain in her vagina and her OB-GYN telling her that it was herpes “and probably one of the worst cases” he had seen. 

“I had just started dating a new guy, one year into a wonderful new relationship, and [my doctor] said, ‘Well, go have a talk with this guy [because] you have herpes.’”

Berry said she and her partner both got tested and found that neither of them had herpes. She said that when she went back to her doctor, he said that he didn’t know what was wrong with her. She saw another doctor, when she started experiencing dry mouth, who suggested she might have had an autoimmune disorder. She saw the first doctor again when she started experiencing dry eyes. 

It was then that he reluctantly told her she was experiencing menopause. 

“Why couldn’t you just say that to me? You’re my health care provider. You’re my doctor,” Berry said she asked her OB-GYN. “He said, ‘because my patients don’t want to hear they’re in menopause. It scares them. They think they’re getting old.’” 

“I have real life examples of how more education would have saved me almost four years of self-exploration and self-diagnoses,” Berry said.  “I would have loved to have gotten this information from my health care providers.”

Lack of education about menopause is connected to stigma, she said.

Hesselbein and Vining are lead authors on a bill meant to help women in Wisconsin get the information that they need. 

SB 356 would require the Department of Health Services to partner with health care providers, including obstetricians and gynecologists, community health centers and hospitals, to educate women on symptoms and other issues surrounding perimenopause and menopause. The bill is bipartisan with Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevera (R-Appleton) as a cosponsor. 

Under the bill, DHS would also be required to create digital and physical informational materials to be distributed to women who are or are soon to experience perimenopause and menopause. 

The authors said it was discussions with their friends and shared experiences that led them to introduce the bill. 

“We’re all talking about the same thing right now,” Hesselbein said. “[Halle Berry is] having this problem with all the resources she has, and as a state employee with my health insurance, I also ran into some obstacles where people weren’t giving me the correct information. …How many other women in the state of Wisconsin are going through this?” 

Hesselbein said a big moment for her was when she was dealing with “frozen shoulder” — a condition that causes pain, stiffness and limited range of motion in the shoulder joint and is common during perimenopause. 

“I didn’t know what it was, and I thought it’s not related to menopause,” Hesselbein said. “They gave me a cortisone shot, which was really great because it released the frozen shoulder, and I had [physical therapy] after that… I talked to friends about it, they’re like, ‘oh, yeah, I’ve had that too.’”

Hesselbein said the bill is based on a similar model adopted in Pennsylvania. 

“It is my hope that we can pass this bill so that we can get Wisconsin women the help they deserve and in the process of doing so that we can destigmatize honest and forthright conversations and discussions about menopause and perimenopause,” Vining said.

Falls prevention awareness

Rep. Rick Gundrum (R-Slinger) and Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken) are seeking to cut down on the number of falls that Wisconsin residents are experiencing through a state grant to raise awareness for prevention. 

“If passed, the impact that this bill would have on Wisconsin’s older population is significant,” Gundrum said during the public hearing. “Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death and hospitalization for seniors. According to the CDC, Wisconsin has the highest fall death rate among older adults in the country.”

According to a recent Department of Health Services report, emergency medical services responded to 35,564 more falls-related calls in 2024 when compared to 2019 — an increase of nearly 10,000 a year or 7.4% a year since 2019. 

Speculation on why the state’s high fall death rate includes Wisconsin’s cold weather, the amount of alcohol that is consumed in the state and that the state may be better at reporting death-related falls.

SB 410 would provide $900,000 across 2025-26 and 2026-27 to the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging, a nonprofit that oversees the Falls Free Wisconsin Coalition. The coalition is responsible for a statewide initiative to reduce older adult falls and works to raise awareness; curate and share best practices in falls prevention; gather and report falls data; and address policy and systems changes. The state funds provided under the bill would be used by the organization to support falls prevention awareness and initiatives. 

A legislative council staffer told lawmakers in response to a question that the bill in its current form is  “really a broad charge to the Institute for Healthy Aging for how they’d want to spend the money in the category of falls.” 

“I think it would kind of remain to be seen exactly how, what initiatives they’ve spent the money on,” the staffer said. “The bill gives the Institute broad latitude to figure out how to use the money.” 

Jill Renken, executive director of the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging, told the committee that she has seen the benefits of programs through her own mother, who had started falling in her home after she retired. She said that she encouraged her mother to take a class at the local aging and disability resource center, which she said can reduce falls by 31%. 

“I noticed that she was applying what she learned… She was doing her exercises. She talked with her pharmacist about her medications. My dad made some home safety modifications in the home,” Renken said. “I’m so excited that she has not fallen. It’s been over two years.” 

Renken said the organization for the last decade has worked to diversify funding, but there isn’t enough to sustain their activity.

“State investment is critical in order to maintain the stability of the programs, to maintain the services that we offer and also to grow the program so we can make a much more significant impact in our communities,” Renken said. “We want more older adults to be able to have access to these programs and services. We want to increase awareness so that people know what these services exist.”

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“All they do is critique process and complain about things,” Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said of his Democratic colleagues. “But we're getting bills done.” (Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Wisconsin State Senate met for a floor session for the first time in over 90 days, advancing bills that would ban cellphones in schools, require coverage of breast cancer screenings for women at high risk and allow candidates to remove themselves from ballots. 

Ahead of the session, Senate Democrats criticized their Republican colleagues for the sparse number of floor days and for the issues they chose to take up. 

“We are feeling the effects of the big, ugly bill on our families, our farmers and our neighbors who need food assistance or who are covered by Medicaid,” Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said at a press conference. She was referencing the federal law approved over the summer that made cuts to the SNAP and Medicaid programs to help pay for tax cuts. “So what is the Republican agenda today? Nothing that addresses any of those concerns. The fact that some Republicans are here at all in this building is pretty unusual.” 

The Democrats displayed a poster that showed the number of times the Senate has met per legislative session from 2003 to 2025. Tuesday was the first time the Senate has been on the floor since July, when lawmakers passed the current state budget. 

During the current two-year session, the Senate has held seven floor sessions. In 2019, the Senate met 13 times on the floor. 

“We are on the path to become one of the least active state Senates in Wisconsin’s history. It’s irresponsible and reckless, but this is the Republican majority,” Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) said, adding that Tuesday also marks the 14th day of the federal government shutdown.

According to WISN 12, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has said there is enough funding for WIC and FoodShare benefits through October, but those programs will face shortfalls if the shutdown continues into November. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has said he would consider  taking executive action if the shutdown continues.

“Congressional Republicans are refusing to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that would prevent Wisconsinites from seeing their monthly insurance premiums doubled next year,” Drake said. “There is not one item on our calendar today aimed at making health care more affordable for Wisconsinites or to lower costs for Wisconsin families.”

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said that compared to the Assembly, the Senate typically takes up a larger schedule of bills when it comes in. The Assembly has met three times this fall. 

“All they do is critique process and complain about things,” LeMahieu said of his Democratic colleagues. “But we’re getting bills done.” 

LeMahieu added that the Senate is going to meet in November, January, February and March before the end of the legislative session. Legislators will “keep looking at different things” to address gaps caused by the federal government shutdown, he added.

Cellphone ban bill

The Senate voted 29-4 to concur in a bill that will require school districts across the state to adopt a cellphone ban policy. The four opposing votes came from Democrats.

Under AB 2, school districts’ policies would need to ban cellphones during instructional times. School boards would be required  to implement the new policy by July 2026 and would need to include exceptions for emergencies, for educational purposes and cases involving student health care, individualized education plans (IEPs) or 504 plans (learning environment accommodations). 

“These are devices that are taking away from our kids’ learning, and folks are asking us to do something about it,” Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton) said at a press conference ahead of the session.

A recent Marquette Law School poll found that 89% of voters support banning cellphones during class periods. The poll also found that 72% of voters support banning cellphones throughout the school day, including lunch and between classes. 

“Wisconsin wants this. Wisconsin is asking for this,” Cabral-Guevara said on the floor. 

According to NPR, at least 31 states and Washington D.C. had adopted a cellphone ban as of September. 

According to a recent Wisconsin Policy Forum report, cellphone policies vary widely across the state, though most school districts already restrict student cellphone usage to common areas. 

Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) listed a number of concerns about the bill, including whether the bill would impede parents’ ability to communicate with their children when there are safety concerns and would hinder local control. 

“Why are we, the state, worried about taking away kids’ cellphones before we enact legislation that prevents kids from having access to guns and prevents mass shootings?” Ratcliff asked. “While I understand the intent behind this bill, which is to reduce distraction in the classroom, we cannot ignore the profound and tragic reality of our current times. This measure, though well-meaning, would be a dangerous step backward in ensuring the immediate safety of our children, especially in the wake of recent horrific shootings.”

Cabral Guevara noted that the bill includes an exception for emergencies. 

The bill passed the Assembly in February, so it will now go to Evers’ desk.

Lawmakers also concurred in AB 5, which would implement new requirements for allowing residents to inspect textbooks, curriculum or instructional materials. 

Wisconsinites currently have the ability to submit open records requests to school districts to receive school materials. Under the bill, school districts would need to comply with requests within 14 days and textbooks would need to be listed online. 

This is the third session where lawmakers have pursued this policy. The 2023-25 version of the bill passed the Assembly, but never received a vote in the Senate. The 2021-23 version was vetoed by Evers. 

The current iteration of the bill passed the Assembly earlier this year.

Breast cancer screening coverage

Lawmaker advanced a bill that would require health insurance policies to provide coverage for diagnostic breast examinations and for supplemental breast screening examinations for an individual who has dense breast tissue. It would require that coverage include no patient cost-sharing.

The bill, SB 264, passed 32-1. Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) was the lone opposing vote. 

According to KFF, breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer among women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer death. According to the American Cancer Society, women with dense breast tissue have a higher risk of breast cancer. Dense breast tissue can also make it harder for radiologists to see cancer on mammograms. 

Cabral-Guevara said she started work on the bill when a constituent of hers, Gail Zeamer, came to her about the issue. Previous versions have failed two times before. 

Zeamer was diagnosed with cancer at a late stage. She had dense breast tissue and didn’t receive additional screening. She battled cancer for eight years and passed away in June 2024 at the age of 56.

During the press conference, Cabral-Guevara said that “40% of the women in Wisconsin have dense breasts… if you’re one of those 40%, you do need a secondary screening to be truly covered to determine if you do not have breast cancer.” 

“In memory of Gail, who has passed, as well as all the other women that have been affected by breast cancer living as well as deceased,”  she added,  “this bill is a true testament that we can work together here in this Capitol building and get things done.” 

Wisconsin already requires that insurance policies provide coverage for two mammograms for women between the ages of 45 and 49 and annual screenings for women over the age of 50. Insurance companies are not required to cover additional screenings for women with dense breast tissue or at higher risk. 

Speaking in favor of the bill, LeMahieu shared that his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and she has dense breast tissue. He said they have been on a journey to deal with the diagnosis. 

“There are people who don’t know their risk that they have dense breast tissue. They don’t know that a simple mammogram might not catch it. Fortunately, she did her research,” LeMahieu said. “My wife is the exact type of person this bill is intended to help.”

The bill is now in the Assembly where the Health, Aging, and Long-Term Care Committee is scheduled to have a public hearing on it Wednesday. 

Allowing candidates to remove their name from ballots

The Senate also concurred in AB 35 in a 19-14 vote. The bill would make it easier for candidates to remove their names from ballots in Wisconsin. Sen. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim (D-Appleton) joined Republicans in favor.

Lawmakers introduced the bill after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not allowed to remove himself from the Wisconsin presidential ballot in 2024 after he dropped out and endorsed President Donald Trump. Currently, candidates can only have their names removed if they are dead. 

Sens. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) proposed adding additional language so that the law would only apply if someone hadn’t been bribed to get out of a race. 

“There are instances in our recent past where candidates have been taken aside and promised positions if they agree to drop their candidacy, so if we want to make sure we have the integrity of free and fair elections without the interference of corrupting influence. This is one small step in that,” Larson said. 

His amendment was voted down by Republicans. 

Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) said he has similar concerns about someone being pressured out of a race and also concerns about how the withdrawal mechanism would practically work. 

“Once [a] primary is done and somebody has won and their name is going to be printed on the general election ballot, if you take their name off, then you have now denied voters potentially a choice between one of the two parties, and there’s no mechanism in this bill to actually replace that party’s nominee on the ballot,” Spreitzer said. “If there were such a mechanism — and other states have that — I’d be open to something like this, but here, there could be a situation where a safe Democratic seat or a safe Republican seat ends up without a name.”

Candidates withdrawing from national or statewide races would have to pay the Wisconsin Elections Commission a $1,000 fee. Non-statewide candidates would need to pay $250. Under the bill, a person would face a Class G felony with a maximum penalty of up to $25,000 and imprisonment for up to 10 years if they intentionally filed a false statement withdrawing a person’s candidacy. 

Other bills advanced by the Senate: 

• SB 214, which would allow health care providers with a credential from another state to provide telehealth care services in Wisconsin. It passed 18-15 along party lines and will now go to the Assembly. 
• AB 39, which would require state employees to return to in-person work for at least 80% of their time, passed 17-16 with Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) joining Democrats against it. It passed the Assembly in September and will now go to Evers. 
• AB 162, which would require state agencies to collect a series of metrics on training and workforce development programs, including the unemployment rates and median earnings of participants six months after they graduate from a program. The Senate concurred along party lines. It now goes to Evers.
• AB 168, which would allow felony fraud claims related to unemployment to be prosecuted up to eight years after a crime was committed, passed along party lines. The  current statute of limitations is six years.
• AB 169, which would allow an employer to report to the Department of Workforce Development an unemployment recipient who declines or fails to show up to a job interview or declines a job offer. A report could be used to determine benefits. It will now go to Evers.

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Sen. Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) speaks at a press conference Wednesday morning about the Senate Democrats' "Affordable Wisconsin Agenda." (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

If there’s one word at the top of Democratic Party political discourse this year, it’s “affordability.”

Whether focused on a particular issue — child care, health care and housing are the most frequent examples — or on the cost of just about everything, making goods and services and life “affordable” figures high in the opening pitches of candidates across the state.

“I think the No. 1  issue that we need to focus on is affordability,” said Mitchell Berman, a Racine County nurse, when he announced in August he would seek the  Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District.

Trevor Jung in Racine launched his state Senate campaign in September with a focus on “affordability” and “good-paying jobs.” Corrine Hendrickson, a former child care proprietor in New Glarus, said “affordability” is the top issue for her state Senate bid — and she wasn’t just talking about child care.

Democrats campaigning to be the party’s nominee for governor as diverse as David Crowley, Missy Hughes, and Francesca Hong have all uttered the word in introducing themselves to the public.

On Wednesday, the State Senate Democratic Committee had a press conference outside the Capitol to announce the Democrats’ focus on affordability, both for their upcoming legislative agenda and with an eye on the 2026 elections.

“Right now in Wisconsin, 65% of families are saying they are just getting by or they are struggling,” said Sen. Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton), the Senate minority leader. A spokesperson said the July Marquette University Law School poll was the source for the survey finding.

State Senate Democrats plan to spend the next few weeks traveling Wisconsin and hearing from state residents. Hesselbein said those conversations will become fodder for “tangible policy solutions that will help working families keep more of their hard-earned money, and we’re calling it the Affordable Wisconsin Agenda.”

Nathan Kalmoe, a University of Wisconsin political scientist, said via email that emphasizing poor economic conditions could be risky for Wisconsin Democrats running in state elections. While Republican lawmakers “may take some blame, the governor is a Democrat,” and voters tend to hold the chief executive responsible for economic conditions, he said. 

Kalmoe added that focusing on the economy exclusively at the expense of concerns for the most marginalized or concerns about Trump administration actions that threaten democracy would be “disturbing, and dangerous.”

Nevertheless, polling trends in the last several months suggest why Democrats nationwide have been focusing on inflation and the economy, said John D. Johnson, a research fellow and political analyst at Marquette University.

In Marquette polls shortly after President Donald Trump was elected to a second term in November, and again before he took office in January, 41% of adults nationally said they believed his policies would reduce inflation.

In Marquette’s most recent national poll, conducted in mid-September and released Oct. 2, “that had fallen to 25%,” Johnson said in an email to the Wisconsin Examiner. “Meanwhile, the share believing Trump’s policies would increase inflation grew from 45% to 60%.”

In the September poll, 40% of adults named “inflation and the cost of living” as the top issue in the U.S. “Another 19% chose ‘the economy’ more generally,” Johnson said.

“Overall, 29% of adults approved of Trump’s handling of ‘inflation and the cost of living’ while 71% disapproved,” Johnson said. (On “border security,” meanwhile, 55% of those polled approved Trump while 45% disapproved.)

In May, 68% of Republicans and 23% of independent voters told the Marquette pollsters they approved of how Trump was handling “inflation and the cost of living.” By September, Republican support had slipped to 57%, but among independents, support had plummeted to 14%.

“In other words, this is (1) an issue where there is a lot of daylight between how Republicans and Independents rate Trump, and (2) an issue where Trump is falling with both Democrats and Independents,” Johnson said.

At the Senate Democrats’ news conference Wednesday, a succession of senators — along with one state representative who is a Senate hopeful — spoke of how the issue of affordability cuts across a wide range of topics. And each laid blame for inaction on their Republican rivals.

“Senate Democrats have already been leading the fight to lower the cost of housing, whether trying to expand the homestead tax credit or preventing hedge funds from buying up available housing stocks, but undoubtedly more needs to be done,” said Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick).

Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon), who has the endorsement of the Senate Democrats as she seeks the party’s nomination in the 17th Senate District next year, pointed to “reckless federal policies” hitting farmers and hiking grocery bills.

Democratic state lawmakers have proposed a free school meal bill along with grants for farmers who provide food to food pantries, replacing a federal program cut by the Trump administration, she said; both are “examples of some of the kinds of policies that we can advance to lower everyday costs.”

Sen. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim (D-Appleton) warned of coming spikes both in health insurance costs and in the rates of people without health insurance because of the expiring Affordable Care Act premium subsidies at the center of the federal shutdown fight in Congress. “We need Congress to get to work and renew these ACA subsidies,” she said.

Meanwhile, bills in the state Legislature to lower prescription drug costs and cap the price of asthma medication “haven’t even gotten a public hearing,” Dassler-Alfheim said. “We could be doing more here in Wisconsin to make life a little bit more affordable for everyone.”

Sen. Sarah Keyeski (D-Lodi) said Wisconsin continues to face “a child care crisis,” with too few options for working families. Care is increasingly costly, “not because child care providers are making huge profits,” she said. “It’s because we can no longer underpay those doing the child care work, mostly women.”

Democrats have been pushing for expanding child care support, “yet Republicans in Madison stand in the way every single time,” Keyeski said.

Hesselbein said that the Senate Democrats hope that they can follow up on their conversations with voters across the state by “bringing those ideas back to the state Legislature, working on them and hopefully being able to pass them in a bipartisan manner.”

At the same time, however, she blamed inaction on Republican lawmakers who “are mired in internal conflict, unwilling to cross the aisle and get stuff done for Wisconsinites.” The  2026 election will enable voters to “turn the page,” she said, “and vote for a vision that puts Wisconsinites first, that puts you and your families first.”

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Democratic Senators called attention to cuts to two veterans programs taking effect in October due to funding being left out of the state budget by Republican lawmakers. The Wisconsin Senate passing the 2025-27 budget bill in July. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

State lawmakers have failed to find a solution to stop cuts taking effect in October to two Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs programs that help veterans struggling with homelessness and mental health issues. 

The Veterans Housing and Recovery Program (VHRP) is closing two of its locations, one in Chippewa Falls and the other in Green Bay, and the Veterans Outreach and Recovery Program (VORP), which serves veterans dealing with mental health and substance use issues and aims to reduce the suicide rate among veterans, is set to lose seven positions.

The VHRP has been the center of back and forth between Democrats and Republicans for months since the announcement of the closures in July. 

A Republican bill to fund the program received a hearing in September, but it was too late to stop the closures. 

VORP launched in 2015 with the help of a federal mental health grant. It is now state funded and Evers used American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2023 to expand the reach of the program, but those funds have run out. 

Gov. Tony Evers had requested seven positions and more than $1.1 million to help support the program, but Republican lawmakers stripped that proposal from the state budget. Those seven positions were set to expire in October without the additional funds, though the cuts have already taken effect with the state Department of Veterans Affairs reducing the number of regions under the program from 16 back to 11.

The additional employees had helped the agency reach more veterans, provide support in a more timely manner and give veterans more individual attention, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. In 2023-24, the program provided services to 2,222 people — a nearly 70% increase compared to the prior year.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and Sen. Jamie Wall (D-Green Bay) called attention to the cuts during a press call on Tuesday, blaming Republicans for the failure to provide the needed funding. 

“I’m frustrated, and I’m devastated at the same time,” Hesselbein said. “As of today, these facilities are closed and the veterans they once housed have been relocated.” 

Hoey said at the hearing on the bill from Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken) that the earliest the Chippewa Falls facility would be able to reopen is sometime after Oct. 1, 2026. The Green Bay location, he said, could be reopened relatively quickly if there was funding and depending on whether the federal government would approve a request for a change to its scope. 

Hesselbein noted that Evers and Democratic lawmakers have provided several opportunities for Republicans to keep the VHRP sites open and provide funding to VORP. 

Democratic lawmakers, led by Hesselbein and Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa), introduced a bill to provide funding for the VORP positions, but it hasn’t received a hearing in the Republican-led Legislature. No Republican lawmakers have signed on to it, nor have they introduced their own version that would provide the funding.

A separate bill, authored by Wall, Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) and Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Clare), would provide the necessary funding for the VHRP sites. It previously would have provided $1.9 million, but an amendment to the legislation increases that to $2.6 million, which, Wall said, would be necessary to restart the programs. 

“My disappointment is with the leadership of legislative Republicans that has not made this program, has not made that bill, has not made homeless veterans a priority over the last few months,” Wall said. “They’ve run out the clock until here we are on Sept. 30, with the funding going away now. It’s possible to revive these programs… but it’s going to take a little bit more money and a lot more time. In the best case, we’re looking at next fall before we can stand up these programs again.” 

Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Oconto) blamed Evers for the closures, again, in a statement on Tuesday, claiming that there is money available to fund the programs.

“The Legislature appropriated enough funding to support the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program,” Wimberger said. “Evers simply refused to spend it. The closing of veterans’ homeless shelters is his decision alone, and he quite literally is refusing to use available funding in the exact same manner as he did last year to run those facilities.”

Evers has previously rejected Wimberger’s claim, noting that a paper from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau to the Joint Finance Committee warned lawmakers that additional funds were needed for the program. 

A letter from Republican lawmakers also noted that there has been a balance that the Department of Veterans Affairs  returns to the state treasury at the end of the year, though Hoey has noted that the agency is “only allowed to spend the money [the Legislature] tell[s] us to spend.”

Wall made a similar point during the press conference, saying that “we don’t just write a blank check to the Department of Veterans Affairs or any other part of the state budget. What we do is say that there’s so much money in this budget line for this program and so much money in that budget line for this other program, and so the fact that the Department of Veterans Affairs had surplus money and other budget lines doesn’t mean that they could just willy-nilly take that and spend that any way they wanted to for the benefit of this program.”

Hesselbein said this is a continuation of Republicans’ “strange finger pointing.” 

Hesselbein used the deadline for the closures and cuts as an opportunity to talk about what Democrats would do if they were in the majority. Democrats are seeking to flip the Senate in 2026 and need to win two additional seats to do it.

“Republicans chose to do nothing,” Hesselbein said. “Rest assured in a couple of years, when I’m the majority leader, these kinds of antics won’t be tolerated in a Democratic majority, but unfortunately, while that day is on the horizon, it’s not here yet.”

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