An amendment by Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) to the venture capital bill before the Senate Today (SB 169/AB 181) makes the commonsense move of actually linking the public investment to job creation. It says fund managers should be chosen based on demonstrated experience making job creating investments, and the investments themselves should be selected based on job creation potential.
Despite repeated claims by supporters of the bill that it is a job creation measure, Senator Hanson’s amendment actually tying the money to job creation was rejected on a largely party line vote.
“It is a sham that the venture capital bill has been touted as a job creation initiative without any language in the actual bill directing that investments be made for that purpose,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “As the troubled history of WEDC shows, it is highly irresponsible to spend precious job creation dollars without real accountability for creating a tangible expansion of economic opportunity for Wisconsin’s hard pressed working families.”
“It is a huge red flag and an affront to open government that the lead Senate author of the venture capital bill refuses to make public any economic basis for an investment of $25 million of public funds,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “We renew our call to delay Senate action until legislators and the public have the information they need to make an informed judgement on the merits of the bill.”
“Senator Darling’s stonewalling is very problematic when we are talking about the investment of very limited public resources for job creation,” said Jennifer Epps-Addison, Economic Justice Director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “The sponsor’s of this legislation have failed to provide any evidence that the public’s $25 million dollar investment will create a single job, despite a detailed open records request asking for this information.”
Under the guise of job creation, the State Senate is poised to pass Venture Capital Legislation (SB 169) on Tuesday. The companion bill (AB 181) has already passed the Assembly.
Despite public statements by supporters of the bill that the investment areas were chosen based on job creation potential, open records requests by Citizen Action of Wisconsin to the primary legislative authors have produced no documents indicating the economic basis for these decisions. Citizen Action is calling for a delay in Senate consideration until a solid economic basis for this substantial investment of public dollars is made available.
“We are reasonably proposing that the Senate should not make large investments of public job creation dollars without a solid economic basis that has been shared with all Legislators and the public, ” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Legislators and the public have a right to know whether there is a documented economic basis for investing $25 million dollars of taxpayer money with a private fund manager, ” continued Kraig.
“This venture capital legislation has received great fanfare from elected officials of both parties, corporate lobbyists, and various self-described “entrepreneurs” hungry for public dollars to underwrite their various business plans, said Jennifer Epps-Addison, Economic Justice Director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Yet ask any of the legislative promoters of this approach, and not one of them can tell us just how many jobs they expect a venture capital fund to create,” continued Epps-Addison.
There has been wide speculation about the job creation potential of venture capital programs. For example, in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel opinion editorial dated May 25, 2013, Steve Lyons, President of the Wisconsin Growth Capital Coalition, identified several factors that led to the selection of particular industries and employment sectors included in AB 181 / SB 169. Specifically, the Lyons states, “These sectors were selected for a combination of reasons that include current industry investment trends, “speed-to-market” prospects for companies, short-term job creation prospects, possible return on investment for the state and other limited partners in the fund, and the size of the fund itself.”
However, none of the research that supposedly supports this legislation has been made publicly available, despite specific open records requests by Citizen Action of Wisconsin.
Citizen Action sent open record requests the bill’s authors Senator Darling, Senator Cullen, Representative Kuglitsch, and Representative Clark to determine what information and research sponsors used to draft the legislation. Specifically the author’s were asked to provide, “All information your office (and/or LRB) completed or received on current industry investment trends, “speed-to-market” prospects for companies, short-term job creation prospects, and possible return on investment for the state and other limited partners in the fund as it relates to each industry selected.”
None of the authors thus far have been able to provide any tangible evidence of the venture capital fund’s job creation potential.
“The sponsor’s of this legislation have failed to provide any evidence that the public’s $25 million dollar investment will create a single job, despite a detailed open records request asking for this information,” stated Epps-Addison.
“Absent evidence of job creation potential, this legislation looks like just another corporate give away. AB 181 / SB 169 contains no requirement that investments be made in businesses or industries likely to produce a large number of jobs, let alone good jobs. In fact, job creation is never identified as the primary goal of the venture capital fund. To be good stewards of public resources, the Senate should hold all venture capital legislation until its job creation potential can be clearly demonstrated,” continued Epps-Addison.
“At a time when so many Wisconsin families are struggling to find good jobs, the Legislature has a moral obligation to ensure that scarce public resources for job creation are utilized to expand economic opportunity and security to the greatest number of Wisconsinites,” said Robert Kraig. “Until members of the legislature can back up their assertions with facts, we should not invest $25 million dollars of the public’s money in this scheme,” continued Kraig.
Today at a Flag Day news conference Milwaukee African American leaders will discuss the importance of Congress successfully enacting comprehensive immigration reform. County Supervisor David Bowen, Pastor Willie Brisco, President MICAH, Mike Wilder, Chair of the African American Roundtable and other leaders will speak to and encourage the African American Community to support a comprehensive immigration reform.
We are a nation of immigrants for four hundred years people have been coming to the U.S. for a better way of life we have faced racism, ridicule and hardship. This is why we need to create a common sense immigration process that recognizes the hardships and contributions of people moving here says Johnson.
On Flag Day Milwaukee African American leaders will honor immigrant’s love of country as our own.
Where: Federal Building 517 E. Wisconsin Ave When: Flag Day, Today, 11 AM
Participants:
Milwaukee County Supervisor David Bowen
Rev. Willie Briscoe, President MICAH
Mike Wilder, Director of the African American Roundtable
As can be seen clearly in video of last week’s Joint Finance Committee hearing, the claim is based on the faulty assumption that spending is limited to Wisconsin’s Medicaid program. In point of fact, by forcing over 84,000 more people off BadgerCare and on to the new health exchanges, Walker is forcing them onto a new program that costs much more per recipient than BadgerCare. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it costs on average $9,000 per recipient to subsidize health insurance exchange-based coverage, and only $6,000 per recipient for Medicaid. This puts the price tag of Walker’s plan at over $1.3 billion in the current two year budget, compared to $579 million for the Democratic alternative.
“It shows a stunning contempt for the citizens of Wisconsin for Governor Walker and his supporters to continually propagate false rationalizations for his decision to reject hundreds of millions of federal dollars to strengthen Wisconsin’s BadgerCare program,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “It would be worth paying more to guarantee that there is somewhere to go for everyone in Wisconsin to secure affordable health coverage. It is financial malpractice to pay over half a billion dollars more to deny affordable coverage to tens of thousands of Wisconsinites.
Appleton area faith leaders join our call to accept federal funds for BadgerCare
The resounding message from citizens across Wisconsin is that the full Legislature has a moral obligation to reverse the decision when the budget reaches the Senate and Assembly in two weeks. Even if the Legislature does not reverse the decision, the debate is far from over because there is no federal deadline. Wisconsin can accept enhanced federal funds for BadgerCare at any time.
“What the Governor and legislators have done is financial malpractice, a human tragedy in the making,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of the national organization for health consumers Families USA, speaking on a media call hosted by Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Nine other conservative governors have taken federal funds for their Medicaid programs, Wisconsin’s move is lose-lose for everyone and reverses Wisconsin’s long status as a national health care leader.”
There were events in five cities to denounce the stunningly callous and immoral act of spending more state and federal funds to cover fewer people. Advocates, faith leaders, health providers and civic leaders spoke out Wednesday in La Crosse, Milwaukee, Appleton, Wausau and Eau Claire to call on State Senators Ellis, Petrowski, Cowles, Moulton, Schultz, Leibham, and Olsen to stand up for what is right and economically vital for our state. All of these Republican Senators have expressed reservations about Governor Walker’s plan to reject the federal funds.
“I believe Wisconsin will follow all of our neighboring states and take the enhanced federal funds for Badgercare, the only question is how long it takes and how many Wisconsin families have to go without healthcare before the politicians yield to public pressure to do the right thing,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “The stunning decision to send billions of federal dollars back to Washington, and spend hundreds of millions more in state dollars to provide health coverage for tens of thousands fewer people, is morally indefensible and will not stand for the long haul.”
The Joint Finance Committee's vote will block access to BadgerCare for tens of thousands and will kick 84,700 Wisconsinites off BadgerCare. This will cost Wisconsin $149 million more in the next two years alone, when extra state payments to hospitals to reimburse them for the increased number of patients who are uninsured or can’t pay their medical bills are included.
The decision whether to accept federal funds for Wisconsin’s BadgerCare program must be voted on in the Assembly and Senate later this month.
Organizations participating in Wednesday’s state-wide actions include Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Jobs Now, Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, AMOS, ESTHER, MICAH, Center for Quality Community Life, Families Moving Forward Coalition, AFSCME Council 40, AFSCME District Council 48, 9to5 Association of Working Women, Wisconsin Breast Cancer Coalition, Wisconsin Business Alliance, League of Women Voters Education Network, Alzheimers’ Association of SE WI, Wisconsin Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Wisconsin Alliance of Retired Americans, Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, Organizing for Action Fox Cities, and county supervisors in La Crosse and Eau Claire counties.
Conservatives developing plan over the weekend to pay hospitals more for impact of forcing Wisconsinites off health coverage.
As a consequence of months of intense public pressure on the the Legislature to reverse Governor Walker’s rejection of billions of enhanced federal dollars for the state’s BadgerCare program, the conservative majority in the Legislature is working on a deal that addresses only with impact on hospitals not Wisconsin families. According to multiple press reports the developing plan would make cash payments to hospitals to make up for the cost of increased uncompensated care caused by forcing parents and caretakers off health coverage.
Interviews with Joint Finance Committee Co-Chair Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) by Milwaukee Business Journal, Sen. Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls) by Wisconsin Reporter, and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, describe weekend negotiations over a deal that would still reject the federal money but would spend more state money to compensate hospitals for the impact. This would add to the $119 million state price tag in this budget alone for turning down the federal health care reform dollars.
“By conceding that hospitals will be damaged by an increase in uncompensated care, such a deal would be an admission that Walker’s plan will cause tens of thousands people throughout Wisconsin to lose health coverage. This has been denied by the Governor and his allies in the Legislature up to now,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “It would be a stunningly callous and immoral act to compensate hospitals for the impact of forcing people off of health coverage, when it would be easy to prevent this tragic result in the first place by taking the federal health care dollars that are on the table. If such a deal came to pass, it would show that leaders in the Legislature care more about hospitals than their own constituents who need guaranteed access to affordable health coverage to prosper and succeed.”
In addition, on Friday the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau described the Walker Administration's assumptions about the number of people forced off BadgerCare who would receive coverage on the new health insurance exchange as “unreasonably optimistic.”
Governor Walker’s Medicaid plan will be before the Joint Finance Committee tomorrow, June 4th.
CONTACT your state legislators today and urge them to accept federal money for BadgerCare.
Citizen Action of Wisconsin released the following statement against LRB 1763, legislation being circulated by Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) which would have the impact of making it harder for many Wisconsinites to exercise their fundamental right to vote.
“Representative Stone is attacking the integrity of our elections by sponsoring a legislative package clearly intended to make it harder for many of Wisconsin’s most vulnerable citizens to exercise their right to vote,” said Anita Johnson, democracy and voting rights organizer for Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “We believe the election changes proposed by Rep. Stone, such as reducing the availability of early voting and enabling a voter ID requirement, are deliberate attempts to rig Wisconsin’s electoral system in conservatives’ favor,” continued Johnson.
“Wisconsinites know that voting is one of the most fundamental American freedoms. The denial of the right to vote is a denial of a core element of American citizenship. Given the paramount status of this right, voting should be as accessible as possible,” continued Johnson.
“Sadly, Rep. Stone want’s to take Wisconsin back to the ugly days where being low-income, elderly, homebound, or African-American meant having less access to our democracy. There are many issues that the people of Wisconsin need our legislators to focus their attention on. Wisconsin is 44th in the nation in job creation; we need to fix that. Wisconsin is primed to kick thousands of citizens off of Badgercare, while costing the state more money instead of accepting billions in federal medicaid dollars; we need to fix that. Wisconsin’s incredibly well run electoral system is not a problem we need to fix. Wisconsin has the second highest voter turnout in the entire country, which is an accomplishment we need to protect,” concluded Johnson.
Seven Wisconsin counties have passed resolutions so far, with Dane and Milwaukee Counties passing their resolution yesterday. Winnebago, Oneida, Lincoln, and Marathon Counties passed resolutions on Tuesday, and La Crosse County acted on May 16th. By population, these 7 counties represent one third of the total population of the State of Wisconsin
“More and more voices are speaking out against rejecting these federal funds for BadgerCare,” said Kevin Kane, Healthcare Organizer at Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Senators Michael Ellis, Tom Tiffany, and Jerry Petrowski should take notice that counties in their districts are calling on them to say yes to accepting enhanced money for BadgerCare.”
The decision whether to accept federal funds for Wisconsin’s BadgerCare program is currently before the Joint Finance Committee before going to the full Legislature next month.
In each of the resolutions, introduced by 15 counties statewide, counties call for the legislature to accept federal funds for BadgerCare as part of the Affordable Care Act, or to partner with counties interested in covering their citizens in a pilot project similar to FamilyCare.
Five Wisconsin counties have voted so far, with La Crosse county voting last Thursday, and Milwaukee County and Dane County to vote on their resolution Thursday May 23rd.
“More and more voices are speaking out against rejecting these federal funds for BadgerCare,” said Kevin Kane, Healthcare Organizer at Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Senators Michael Ellis, Tom Tiffany and Jerry Petrowski should take notice: their districts are calling on them to stand strong and say yes to BadgerCare.”
The decision whether to accept federal funds for Wisconsin’s BadgerCare program is currently before the Joint Finance Committee before going to the full Legislature next month.
