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Consumer Protection

Fair Coverage for Auto Insurance

In 1995, the State Legislature partially deregulated the auto insurance industry, allowing insurance companies to avoid paying the full policy value for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Let’s say for example that you were hit by an underinsured motorist who has only $50,000 in coverage, but the total property damage and medical bills to you were $200,000. Prior to 1995, if you had $150,000 in underinsured motorist coverage, then the full cost would be covered by adding in the $50,000 from the driver who hit you. But in 1995, the State Legislature changed the rules to allow the insurance company to pocket the $50,000 from the underinsured motorist, shifting $50,000 in liabilities onto the policyholder in this scenario. Citizen Action believes that this unfairly allows insurance companies to not deliver on the full value of policies that consumers are paying for, just to pad their own bottom line. Citizen Action is calling on the next State Legislature to outlaw this abuse of Wisconsin auto insurance consumers.

Family Justice

Family Justice Bill 138

Citizen Action strongly supports the Family Justice Bill, which passed the State Senate last session but was not approved by the Assembly. Wisconsin is one of the only states in the nation where there is no remedy when an unmarried, widowed, or divorced family member dies as a result of medical malpractice. Parents cannot file for the loss of a child once they turn 18 in Wisconsin. Unbelievably, a doctor who killed an unmarried parent or an unmarried adult child in an auto accident could have a wrongful death claim filed against them, but could not if they died as a result of medical malpractice. The Family Justice Bill remedies this situation, by giving Wisconsin families the same right that families have in most other states. More information on the Family Justice Bill is available from the Wisconsin Association for Justice

Healthcare

Historic Health Care Vote Reflects Renewal of Confidence in America

The health care bill that just passed the U.S. House of Representatives and was signed by the President two days later is the most sweeping social justice legislation to move through Congress in over forty years.

This is one of those rare instances when calling a vote "historic" is not an exaggeration. Guaranteeing affordable health care for everyone in America has been a goal of reformers for nearly 100 years, going all the way back to Republican President Theodore Roosevelt.

The historic vote reflects a renewal of national self-confidence that America is up to the task of solving our most pressing problems. We used to be a nation brimming with confidence that our democracy had the capacity to achieve great things. But over the last thirty years, naysayers have promoted the self-defeating idea that economic and social problems were beyond our capacity to remedy.

Like Social Security and Medicare, which were highly controversial before they were enacted, Wisconsinites will not even think of giving up these benefits once they are established. It is imperative that we use the renewed sense of national purpose the historic health care vote provides to fight back against the efforts of "bitter end' opponents to block implementation, or repeal the law before it can take full effect. As a nation, we also need similar boldness and faith in American democracy to make progress on other critical agenda items, especially the jobs crisis that threatens to undermine the American dream for so many.

Federal Issues

Citizen Action of Wisconsin believes that change is necessary at all levels of public policy - federal, state and local. We work closely with USAction and partner organizations across the country on key federal issues. Currently, we have three federal issue priorities: Passing a federal budget that invests in America's Future, blocking the escalation of the war in Iraq, and passing the Employee Free Choice Act. We have also worked on protecting Social Security from privatization. See the links below for more detailed information.

Economic Development

Blueprint for Wisconsin's Green Economy

Our Vision for the Future

With federal economic recovery funds carefully targeted to build Wisconsin’s green economy, we will see thousands of new green, family-supporting jobs reducing Wisconsin’s unemployment rate and freeing families from chronic poverty and poor health. We will use trains and buses that efficiently connect people to employment. Thousands of workers will retrofit buildings and homes, making them energy efficient, yielding substantial savings to homeowners and businesses.   The former, diminished manufacturing sector in Wisconsin will be rapidly transformed into green factories, capable of building parts and equipment for wind, solar, and geothermal systems. We will build a renewable energy system that reduces our dependence on foreign oil and lessens our greenhouse gas emissions. With clean air, fresh water, reduced poverty, green manufacturing, and green education, Wisconsin will emerge as a sign of hope for a secure and sustainable green economy.

Principles for Expenditure of Economic Recovery Funding

•    Transportation dollars should prioritize investment in transit, including bus systems, bus rapid transit, light rail, commuter rail, and inter-city rail. Not only will these projects create construction and manufacturing jobs, they will require ongoing operations and maintenance jobs as well. They will also offer sorely needed transportation choices to Wisconsin’s cities.
•    Infrastructure projects should focus on “Fix-it First”. Maintenance and repair of existing transit, highways, bridges and roads should be prioritized for infrastructure funds. By fixing existing infrastructure, jobs will be retained and we can avoid inefficient development that promotes sprawl, increased fuel consumption and climate change emissions.
•    Federal funds should be directed to large-scale energy efficiency retrofit projects for residential and commercial buildings.   Energy efficiency offers the best path for job retention and creation while achieving significant reductions in climate change emissions.
•    Investments should be made in our water infrastructure, with a particular focus on green infrastructure. Green infrastructure is the interconnected network of open spaces and natural areas – such as greenways, wetlands, parks, forest preserves, native plant vegetation and rain gardens, disconnected downspouts, green roofs, rain barrels, permeable pavement – that naturally manages stormwater, reduces flooding risk, and improves water quality.
•    By connecting stimulus funds with labor standards, we can help create family-supporting jobs that build long-term workforce capacity and strengthen the economic base of local communities. Government should attach labor standards to the economic recovery funds , requiring that prevailing wage standards apply.
•    Funding should build valuable job skills by connecting job creation investments with workforce development programs to ensure that workers are well trained and have access to career pathways. To expand a skilled workforce and build long-term employment opportunities rganizations receiving funding should be subject to local hire and apprenticeship requirements. A special emphasis should be placed upon projects that create “pathways out of poverty” by connecting under-served communities with training and jobs.

Illustrative Projects to Build Wisconsin's Green Economy in the Areas of:

1. Energy Independence

2. Transit

3. Water Infrastructure

4. Redevelopment of Impoverished Areas

Energy Independence

Wisconsin can move toward energy independence through greater use of renewable energy and improved energy efficiency of buildings. Renewable energy resources in Wisconsin include biomass, wind, solar and geothermal. Most new jobs in the renewable energy and efficiency fields closely align with Wisconsin’s present skilled labor force: machinists, electricians, metal and construction workers.

Jobs Created by Investing in Energy Efficiency
Every $1 million invested in efficiency retrofits generates 8 to 11 on-site jobs. This calculation is used in the table below to estimate job creation for those projects where such estimates were not provided.

Jobs Created By Investing in Renewable Energy
As one of the leading manufacturing states in the nation, Wisconsin is well positioned to build components for generating renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency in buildings. A $5.53 billion investment in renewable component manufacturing in Wisconsin is estimated to generate over 35,000 new jobs. This calculation is used in the table below to estimate job creation for those projects where such estimates were not provided.

We have identified a partial list of over $1 billion worth of energy independence projects that could create an estimated 7,300 jobs in Wisconsin.

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Transit

Investing in transit provides an immediate economic boost, and an investment in our long-term prosperity. Investing in transit infrastructure and services, as well as in facilities that support walking and bicycling, contributes substantially to job creation and economic growth, while helping communities transition to a more energy-efficient, environment-friendly, and economically sustainable transportation system.

Every billion dollars invested in public transit creates 35,000 jobs. This calculation is used in the table below to estimate job creation for those projects where such estimates were not provided.

Investing in transit will generate jobs in construction of new rights-of-way, transit stations, maintenance facilities, and other fixed installations. It will also increase demand for specialized design and engineering services as well as for a wide range of different construction materials. Purchases of transit equipment—buses, rail vehicles, traffic control systems—support domestic manufacturers of these items and maintain the supply chain needed to support future growth.

Spending on expanded and improved transit service also supports employment of bus and train drivers, maintenance workers, and other operations staff. Many of these are well-paying jobs that require only modest training and can’t be out-sourced. Such investments yield significant benefits for private residential and commercial development—in particular, efficient mixed-use development that creates still more transit accessible jobs and adds to the local economic base while helping manage the cost of city services and reducing energy use by curbing urban sprawl.

Improving and expanding transit reinforces other economic recovery and job creation efforts by ensuring that workers offered new opportunities through those efforts can get to their jobs. Doing so also ensures that these opportunities are available to and accessible by all, including low-income people and people of color that automobile-centered transportation planning all too often disadvantages.

We have identified a partial list of $750 million worth of transit projects that could create an estimated 22,000 jobs in Wisconsin.

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Water Infrastructure

Redevelopment of Impoverished Areas
Green infrastructure for water is a term used to describe practices that mimic natural hydrologic practices and encourage infiltration and treatment of stormwater, such as rain gardens, infiltration swales (or bioswales), green roofs, planting of native vegetation, and downspout disconnection and rain barrel installation. Green infrastructure can also include preservation and restoration of an interconnected network of open spaces and natural areas – such as greenways, wetlands, parks, and forests,--that naturally manage stormwater, reduce flooding risk and improve water quality. Green infrastructure usually costs less to install and maintain when compared to traditional forms of built infrastructure.

The types of jobs created by building and maintaining our green infrastructure cross many sectors and include plumbing, landscaping, building, and design. Green infrastructure also supports jobs connected with manufacturing of materials such as roof membranes, rain barrels, and permeable pavement.

We have identified a partial list of $26 million worth of green infrastructure projects that could create an estimated 300 jobs in Wisconsin.

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Redevelopment of Impoverished Areas

Rehabilitation of impoverished urban neighborhoods by large-scale renovations and public works is needed to address chronic industrial contamination and poverty issues. In Milwaukee, which has Wisconsin’s highest concentration of people in poverty, there is a critical need for investments that would clean up contaminated properties, provide job training for local residents, create opportunities for locally-grown food, and catalysts for job creation.

We have identified a partial list of $44 million worth of urban redevelopment projects that could create an estimated 5,000 jobs in Wisconsin.

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