Lame duck madness pt. 3 - More micromanaging, more paperwork

The next part about the GOP Legislature's lame duck bills (click here for a review) that I want to go over is how these bills go even further than you know in trying to direct how Gov-elect Tony Evers and other elected Dems should do their jobs, and trying to prevent any plans to level the social playing field.

The first comes as a method of controlling labor standards on Wisconsin DOT projects, and in ordering the Wisconsin DOT how they should spend money that they receive from the US DOT.

1. Limitation on the Use of Federal Funds on State Highway Project Types. For those projects on which the Department expends federal moneys, require DOT to expend federal moneys on not less than 70% of the aggregate project components eligible for federal funding each fiscal year for the following project types: (a) southeast Wisconsin freeway megaprojects; (b) major highway development projects; and (c) state highway rehabilitation (SHR) projects with a total cost of less than $10 million. This provision would limit the use of federal funds for these project types to not less than 70% of the aggregate federally eligible project components.
Specify that if the Department determines that it cannot meet this requirement or if it could make more effective and efficient use of federal moneys, DOT would be able to submit a proposed alternate funding plan to the Joint Committee on Finance. Provide that if the Co-Chairs of the Committee do not notify the Department within 14 working days after the date of DOT's submittal that the Committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the proposed plan, the Department would be able to expend moneys as proposed in the plan. Specify that if within 14 working days after the date of the submittal, the Co-Chairs of the Committee notify the Department that the Committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the proposed plan, DOT would be able to expend moneys as proposed in the plan only upon approval of the Committee....

2. DOT Oversight of Local Projects. Require DOT to notify the political subdivision of whether any aid provided to these subdivisions includes federal moneys and which project components must be paid for with federal moneys, if any.

Provide that for any local project meeting both of the following criteria, DOT could not require a local government to comply with any portion of the Department's facilities development manual other than design standards: (a) the project proposal is reviewed and approved by a professional engineer or by the highway commissioner for the county in which the project will be located; and (b) the project is conducted by a political subdivision with no expenditure of federal money.

While some of this may sound good, as a method of giving greater oversight of these block grants and letting local governments know where their funds are coming from, there is a more nefarious reason for these provisions. It allows for certain projects to be entirely funded with state and local money, which exempts them from prevailing wage requirements and other federal labor rules, and these parts also try to reduce flexibility for the Evers Administration and the Wisconsin DOT in using block grant funds...which GOPs used to favor because of their flexibility.

Hey GOPs, you guys fear this guy might do something right, don't you?

Several provisions require more paperwork and other micromanaging of state agencies, and this next one grabbed my attention as especially petty and egregious.

1. Pardon and Release Report. Require the Department of Corrections, at the request of the Legislature, to post on its website and submit to the Chief Clerk of each house of the Legislature a report regarding individuals who, since the previous report was submitted or during a date range specified in the request, were pardoned or released from prison without completing the imprisonment portion of their sentence. The report must identify the individual's name, the crime for which he or she was convicted, and the name of the person who pardoned the individual or authorized the release of the individual before the individual completed his or her sentence. In addition, if an individual appears on a report required under the provision is convicted of a crime, the report must identify the individual's name and the crime. "Completing his or her sentence" is not defined in the provision or under current law.

While I'm generally a fan of more data being used to guide policy effectiveness, this is not what this provision is about. This is clearly intended to lead into race-based "soft on crime" talking points, as Evers has mentioned that he wants to reduce the state's prison population (and related costs) via earlier releases of certain inmates.

And unlike prior practice, the GOP Legislature now wants veto power over Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul if the State of Wisconsin is part of any kind of court settlement or similar type of ruling.

Require that, if an action is for injunctive relief or there is a proposed consent decree, the Attorney General must submit the settlement or compromise plan to the Joint Committee on Finance for passive review. If the Committee does not schedule a meeting to review the plan within 14 days, the Attorney General may proceed, but, if the Committee does schedule a meeting, the Attorney General may proceed only with the approval of the Committee. Further, provide that the Attorney General may not submit a proposed settlement plan to the Committee in which the plan concedes the unconstitutionality or other invalidity of a statute or concedes that a statute violates or is preempted by federal law without the approval of JCLO.

There's a related provision later on that also tries to tell what AG-elect Kaul has to do with the money his office generates.

3. Gifts and Grants Appropriations. Convert the Department of Justice gifts and grants appropriations under law enforcement and administrative service programs from continuing appropriations to annual, all monies received appropriations.

In other words, this turns that money (much of which involves law enforcement grants from the US DOJ and FBI) from into "use it or lose it" instead of allowing Kaul and DOJ to keep the money and use it at a later point. It also allows for the Legislature to lapse any of that money back to the General Fund to use in other ways, if they want.

I don't necessarily mind that there be notification of a plan of how to use any settlement or grant money, so we don't get situations like we saw under current AG Brad Schimel, where the state got $4 million to test rape kits and Schimel sat on those funds for more than a year without testing thousands of kits. But again, we know that's not what this is about.

What it is about is to try to neuter the AG-elect and Gov-elect from doing things that hurt the fee-fees of the gerrymandered Legislature. And it's a method of chilling them from trying to go after the ALEC crew's donors that pollute or prevent certain types of disparities in outcomes or human rights that the GOPs are more than comfortable with.

These items may not fire up the emotions like messing around with voting rights and election days, but it might be worse when it comes to everyday operations of government in Wisconsin. Which of course, is the cynical goal of the ALEC crew that's in charge of the gerrymandered Legislature.