2023-24 Legislative Session Wrap-Up

The dust has officially settled on the 2023-24 legislative session. A combined total of 2,458 pieces of legislation were introduced this session (1,113 in the Senate and 1,229 in the Assembly).  Of these, 272 were signed into law and 70 were vetoed.

Here is a quick recap of where bills of interest ended up. All bills that did not pass this session are dead, and will need to be reintroduced next session, which begins in January 2025. 

Vetoed by the Governor 

Parental Rights: Assembly Bill 510, authored by Representative Wittke and Senator Wanggaard, which would have established a number of parental and guardian rights relating to a child's religion, medical care and records, and education. This bill was passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Governor Evers.

Tier 1 Licenses for Paraprofessionals:  Senate Bill 608, authored by Senator Knodl and Representative Dittrich, would have allowed paraprofessionals who met certain criteria to receive a nonrenewable Tier 1 license from the Department of Public Instruction. This bill was passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Governor Evers.

Failed to Pass the Legislature 

Harmful Materials: Senate Bill 10/Assembly Bill 15, authored by Representative Tittl and Senator Jacque, would have required public libraries and schools to limit minor/student access to harmful material on public computers. It also would have required schools to notify parents about offensive classroom materials. No action was taken on this bill. 

Prosecution of School Employees: Senate Bill 305/Assembly Bill 308, authored by Senator Jacque and Representative Allen, would have removed public elementary and secondary schools, private schools, and tribal schools from the list of institutions for which an employee is protected from prosecution for an obscene materials violation under 944.21 of Wisconsin statutes, effective August 20, 2024. A public hearing was held on AB 308, but it was never advanced out of the Assembly Committee. No action was taken in the Senate. 

Prohibitions on CSF Dollars: Senate Bill 304/Assembly Bill 309, authored by Senator Jacque and Representative Allen, would have prohibited school districts from using Common School Fund dollars to purchase any item that would be considered an obscene material under 944.21(2)(c) of state statute. No action was taken on this bill. 

24-Hour School Library Notification Requirement: Senate Bill 597/Assembly Bill 642, authored by Senator Quinn and Representative Dittrich, would have required schools to develop and implement a policy under which a custodial parent/guardian of all students under the age of 16 received a notification of each item checked out by the student within 24-hours. A public hearing was held on SB 597, but it was never advanced out of the Senate Committee. No action was taken in the Assembly.

Ban the Book Bans: Senate Bill 615/Assembly Bill 657, authored by Senator Roys and Representative Emerson, would have prohibited a library, public or private elementary or secondary school, or institution of higher education from receiving state or local funds if the entity prohibits, bans, or unreasonably restricts access to any book or other media. No action was taken on this bill. 

School Librarians: Senate Bill 758/Assembly Bill 782, authored by Senator Larson and Representative J. Anderson, would have required  every K-12 public school and every K-12 school participating in a parental choice program to employ a full time librarian. No action was taken on this bill. 

Library Complaint Standards: Senate Bill 824/Assembly 783, authored by Senator L. Johnson and Representative J. Anderson, would have put standards into state statute related to individuals making complaints against school library materials. No action was taken on this bill. 

Public Hearing Scheduled on 24-Hour Notification Requirement Bill

The Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families has scheduled a public hearing on Tuesday, November 28 at 11 a.m. on Senate Bill 597, which would require schools to notify a student's parents or guardians of every item they check out from the school library within 24 hours of check out.  The requirement would apply to all students under the age of 16.

In addition, the bill requires schools to notify parents and guardians about whether or not they provide access to BadgerLink. 

Public hearings are an opportunity for members of the public to provide comments on a piece of legislation. After a public hearing is held, the Committee can decide whether or not they want to advance the bill to the Full Senate for a vote. 

If you plan to attend the public hearing, please email legislative@wemta.org. 

Link to public hearing notice with full details: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/raw/cid/1759695

Bill Would Create 24-Hour Parental Notification Requirement for all Materials Checked Out from a School Library

Representative Barb Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) and Senator Romaine Quinn (R-Cameron) are circulating a draft bill, LRB 2344, which would require schools to notify a student's parents or guardians of every item they check out from the school library within 24 hours of check out.  The requirement would apply to all students under the age of 16.

In addition, the bill requires schools to notify parents and guardians about whether or not they provide access to BadgerLink. 

Another bill, LRB 4776, would create similar check out notification standards for public libraries. 

These bill are currently in the co-sponsorship stage. Other lawmakers have until October 25 to sign on as co-sponsors of the bill, after which it will get an official bill number and be formally introduced. 

WEMTA will keep you updated as this bill progresses through the Legislature. 

Youth Social Media Act Introduced

State Representative David Steffen (R-Green Bay) has introduced Assembly Bill 373, which would set requirements that social media companies must follow when it comes to accounts held by minors. 

This would include:

• Ensuring that all social media accounts created on or after January 1, 2019 are designated as youth accounts (unless the company determines that the account holder is not a minor) 

• Prohibiting direct messaging between a youth account and any other account that is not linked to the youth account through "friending" or another process where two people add each other as contacts

• Refraining from showing youth accounts in search results

• Preventing advertising from being shown to youth accounts 

• Refraining from using or collecting personal information from a youth account 

• Refraining from the use of targeted or suggested groups, accounts, users, services, posts and products

• Ensuring that youth accounts cannot be accessed between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. 

• Providing information to a parent or guardian of the youth account so they can access the account. Parents could opt their child out of the youth account designation. 

Joint Finance Committee Passes DPI Budget

The Joint Finance Committee voted 11-4 along party-lines on June 13 to pass a Department of Public Instruction (DPI) budget that provides an additional $778.5 million in state funds to schools ($837.6 million all funds).  

Included in that list are several items of interest to WEMTA, summarized below. 

Early Literacy and Reading Improvement:The Committee voted 11-4 to place $50 million GPR in the Committee’s supplemental appropriation to fund a literacy program.The Governor’s budget provided $10 million GPR per year to create two new appropriations, including $9.1 million annually to contract with and train literacy coaches to implement a comprehensive program of trainings for educators to improve early literacy and reading outcomes for Wisconsin Students.

Common School Fund Reestimate: :The Committee voted 11-4 to re-estimate Common School Fund revenue by an additional $7 million per year for an estimated $52 million in aids per year. 

Shared School District Services: The Committee voted 11-4 to place $5 million in their supplemental appropriation for shared school district services. The Governor's budget did not include funding for shared services.

Wisconsin Reading Corps (657): The Committee did not approve the Governor’s budget proposal to provide an additional  $1 million in 2023-24 and $2 million in 2024-25 to support literacy tutoring services provided through the Wisconsin Reading Corps. 

The Literacy Lab (657): The Committee did not approve the Governor’s proposal to provide  $75,000 in 2023-24 and $1.3 million in 2024-25 to the Literacy Lab, to provide evidence-based literacy intervention programs in public schools located in Milwaukee and Racine. The organization places trained full-time literacy tutors in elementary schools.

Reach out and Read: The Committee voted 11-4 to provide $500,000 in 2023-24 for Reach out and Read, Inc. to support the integration of books and reading into pediatric care. The Governor’s budget provided $250,000 per year to Reach out and Read, Inc.

Public Library Aid: The Committee voted 11-4 to provide an additional $2 million SEG in 2023-24 and $4 million SEG in 2024-25 to public libraries.The Governor’s budget provided an additional $7 million SEG per year. In 2022-23, public library aid totaled $20,013,100 SEG from the universal service fund

Recollection Wisconsin: The Committee voted 11-4 to approve the Governor’s proposal to provide $150,000 SEG in 2023-24 and $300,000 SEG in 2024-25 for Recollection Wisconsin and to require the State Superintendent to annually distribute the funding to Wisconsin Library Services, Inc to support the digitization of historic materials in public libraries throughout the state.

BadgerLink and Newsline for the Blind: The Committee voted 11-4 to approve the Governor’s budget proposal to provide  an additional $104,000 SEG in 2023-24 and $203,000 SEG in 2024-25 to maintain the current level of services provided through BadgerLink and Newsline for the Blind. 

Library Services Contracts: The Committee voted 11-4 to approve the Governor’s budget proposal to provide an additional $29,800 SEG in 2024-25 to fully fund the cost of the statutorily-required library service contracts. DPI contracts with the Milwaukee Public Library, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. 

Legislation Prohibiting the Use of CSF Dollars for Certain Materials, Allowing Prosecution of School Employees Over Obscene Materials Introduced

Legislation referred to as the "Protect Childhood Innocence" package was introduced in the Wisconsin State Senate this week by Senator Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) and Representative Scott Allen (R-Waukesha). These bills would impact school libraries and school librarians by restricting the use of Common School Fund dollars and allowing for the prosecution of school employees over obscene materials violations. 

In a memo to colleagues, the lawmakers said these bills were introduced because: "Since the pandemic, parents have paid more attention to what material their students are encountering and demanding that their students not encounter sexually explicit material in school."

Prohibitions on CSF Dollars: Senate Bill 304, would prohibit school districts from using Common School Fund dollars to purchase any item that would be considered obscene material under 944.21(2)(c) of state statute, which defines obscene material to mean a writing, picture, film or other recording that:

1. The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find appeals to the prurient interest if take as a whole;

2. Under contemporary community standards, describes or shows sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and

3. Lacks serious literary, artistic, political, educational or scientific value, if taken as a whole. 

Allowing Prosecution of School Employees: Senate Bill 305 would remove public elementary and secondary schools, private schools, and tribal schools from the list of institutions for which an employee is protected from prosecution for an obscene materials violation under 944.21 of Wisconsin statutes, effective August 20, 2024. 

If you have concerns about these bills, you can contact your state senator and state representative. 

JFC Eliminates BCPL Deputy Commissioner of Public Lands, Senior Accountant Positions

The Joint Finance Committee met today to vote on several agency budgets, including BCPL. While the Committee approved BCPL's request for more supplies and services funding, they rejected their request for increased funding to help fill two vacant positions and instead voted to eliminate those positions.

See below for a full summary of the action.

Secretary of State 

The Committee did not take any action on the Secretary of State budget, so the office will have a base budget (same funding levels as current budget). 

The Governor’s budget would have provided the Secretary of State with $203,500 in 2023-24 and $218,700 in 2024-25 and two new positions for the Office. However, this item was removed from the budget on May 2. 

Board of Commissioners of Public Lands

Vacant Position Elimination: The Committee voted 12-4 to provide BCPL with $11,700 GPR per year to fully fund all currently filled positions and delete the vacant Deputy Commissioner of Public Lands and senior accountant positions, subsequently reducing BCPL funding by $148,400 per year.  The Governor’s budget would have provided an additional $69,400 GPR per year to help fill vacant positions, which BCPL has struggled to fill with the current salary levels.

Democrats offered a motion that would have provided BCPL with $69,400 GPR per year for vacant positions, but it was rejected by the Committee, 4-12. 

Investment and Land Management Expenses: The Committee voted 12-4 to approve the Governor’s proposal to provide BCPL with an additional $65,000 per year for supplies and services. BCPL's expanded investment authority has incurred additional costs for due diligence reporting, investment accounting, and legal work related to new investments. In 2021-22, BCPL expended 98.5% of its supplies and services budget.

Forester Position: The Committee voted 12-4 to provide $52,200 SEG in 2023-24 and $69,500 SEG for 1 forester position to be funded by the conservation fund instead of GPR. The Governor’s budget provided the same amount of funding but through GPR instead of SEG revenue. BCPL's two current forester positions are responsible for managing 77,845 acres. BCPL staff say that the additional position will increase timber harvest revenues for the school trust funds.

State Treasurer 

Increased Resources for the Office: The Committee rejected a motion by Democrats to provide $52,200 in 2023-24 and $69,600 in 2024-25 to create an office manager position. The Office of the State Treasurer has operated with 1.0 position (the State Treasurer) since 2015. The Committee took no other action on the State Treasurer budget, so the office will continue at base (current) funding and staffing levels. 

Educational Communications Board

Vacant Position Elimination: The Committee voted 12-4 to eliminate 2.68 PR positions that have been vacant for 24 months or more.