Yearly Archives: 2021

Though the Senate parliamentarian rejected their efforts to include a $15-an-hour minimum wage in President Joe Biden’s so-called COVID-19 relief bill, Senate Democrats are scrambling for a way to include it. Their efforts demonstrate the importance of this issue for the progressive left. But should they succeed, would such a measure truly help struggling Americans as promised?

And what exactly is that promise? Echoing his socialist ally Sen. Bernie Sanders, Biden recently argued that “[n]o one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty." Sanders and Biden also speak of a “living wage.” But, if the goal is reduced poverty and increased wages, having government mandate a dramatic wage increase is not the way to get there. Job creation is the way to do it.

Let’s skip the politics and look at the data. The Census Bureau began reporting the poverty rate in 1959. Over those 60-plus years, the federal minimum wage has increased a number of times, but not in 2019. Yet, in 2019, the poverty rate plummeted 1.3 percentage points, the largest single-year decline in over 50 years, hitting a historic low of 10.5%.

Minority poverty saw the largest declines. Black poverty fell by two percentage points, Hispanic poverty fell by 1.8, and Asian poverty fell by 2.8. For the first time ever, black unemployment dropped below 20%. Child poverty dropped to 14.4%, the lowest rate since 1973.

Though it got little attention, “income inequality” also declined – and for the second year in a row – as the share of income held by the bottom 20% of earners increased by 2.4%. More than 4.1 million people emerged from poverty in 2019, the largest number since 1966. Would a $15 minimum wage lift that many people out of poverty? Not even close.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently issued a report on the Democrats’ “Raise the Wage Act.” It found that raising the minimum wage to $15 would lift only 900,000 people out of poverty, less than a quarter of those who escaped poverty in 2019.

So what caused 2019’s historic drop in poverty? Employers were competing for employees because the labor market was red hot. In every month in 2019, the unemployment rate was below what the CBO projected it would be, and there were 1 million or more job openings than people unemployed. The total number of people employed hit historic highs. Competition for employees drove wages up 3% or more every month – with larger increases for low-wage than for high-wage workers.

As a result, the percentage of hourly workers earning at or below the minimum wage fell to 1.9%, the lowest percentage on record going back to 1979; the percentage working 40 hours a week or more fell to less than 1%. The average hourly wage for workers hit a pre-pandemic record high of nearly $24 an hour.

To quote Frank Sinatra, “it was a very good year.” The Trump administration’s pro-growth economic policies – lower taxes, reduced regulation, and a focus on domestic energy production – created jobs and job openings. Wages rose, while poverty and income inequality declined. Trump accomplished everything that Democrats claim their $15 minimum wage would accomplish – without a federal mandate.

Would a $15 minimum wage re-create the competition for employees that drove up wages and reduced poverty? No. It would kill jobs and reduce that competition.

When you increase the price of something, businesses try to use less of it. If you increase the cost of employing people, businesses will hire fewer people. That reduced hiring can manifest itself in various ways – reduced staff, reduced hours, reduced growth and automation.

The CBO report forecasts that the proposed $15 minimum wage would kill 1.4 million jobs in the year that the wage took effect (2025). Between now and then, it would discourage hiring and wage growth as businesses planned for the future, knowing that their labor costs would be going up. A phased-in approach works only if you assume that businesses invest based on their current, rather than their future, prospects. That would be a mistaken assumption.

Unfortunately, according to the CBO, young, less-educated workers would suffer most from the hike. In January, economists David Neumark and Peter Shirley issued a study finding “a clear preponderance” in the literature that increasing the minimum wage negatively affects employment, particularly with respect to “teens and young adults as well as the less-educated.”

The lesson of 2019 is fairly simple. If you want to assure that people don’t live in poverty, pursue pro-growth policies that encourage job growth and the competition for employees that drives wage growth – without cutting young and less-educated people out of the labor force. Wages increase and poverty decreases when workers, not jobs, are hard to find.

(The Center Square) – The nation’s high court is set to hear oral arguments over two voting issues that originated in Arizona but could spur significant changes nationwide.

Giving arguments Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court justices will be representatives from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office, the Arizona Republican Party and the Democratic National Committee.

Brnovich and the state GOP seek to uphold a provision that disqualified ballots from being turned in outside of the precinct where the voter resides. Also to be considered is a challenge to the process known as “ballot harvesting,” in which an organization goes to a voter’s residence and collects their ballot to be turned in at a polling place.

Lower courts have had upheld the ban as legal until a full panel of Ninth Circuit appellate judges reversed the ruling, siding with the DNC. The appellate court put a stay on the ballot harvesting ruling, meaning the ban was in place during last year’s contentious general election. Brnovich indicted two Yuma women for breaking the law in that election last December.

The court specifically will answer the question about whether the ballot-harvesting ban was discriminatory against minorities who are protected under the Voting Rights Act.

Arizona banned ballot harvesting in 2016, saying it was conducive to fraud. The state law prohibits anyone who is not family or a caretaker who lives in the home from collecting an early ballot and turning it in.

“As we contend with a politically-polarized climate and battle a global pandemic, we must sustain the cornerstone of our government and ensure the will of the electorate is heard,” Brnovich said in an Oct. 2 news release.

Brnovich noted the Commission on Federal Election Reform recommended states prohibit people from handling absentee ballots, except for family members, the post office or election officials.

Democrats have contended in previous hearings that the process caters to low-income residents who don’t have the means to deliver the ballot themselves.

Brnovich’s challenge to uphold the ban is supported via “friend of the court” briefs from 20 other attorneys general.

(The Center Square) – There’s a split when it comes to the numbers from Wisconsin’s wolf hunting season.

Hunters are happy. They shot or trapped 216 gray wolves during the three-day season this week.

Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources is disappointed.

The haul from this year’s wolf hunt, the first since the gray wolf came off the Endangered Species list earlier this year, was 82% above DNR’s goal.

Eric Lobner, DNR’s wildlife director, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he should have stopped the hunt earlier.

"Did we go over? We did. Was that something we wanted to have happen? Absolutely not,” Lobner was quoted as saying.

Wisconsin’s wolf hunting season was supposed to last a week, instead the state ordered the seasons closed after just two and a half days.

DNR wasn’t a fan of the wolf hunt to begin with. The department asked a judge to postpone the hunting season until the fall, which likely would have given environmental groups more time to try and block it in court. But the judge refused DNR’s request.

Wisconsin state law is clear, there must be a wolf hunting season if the gray wolf was ever delisted. Once that happened, the judge ruled, Wisconsin had to move ahead with the hunt.

DNR says the vast majority of wolves were taken in the three hunting zones in northern Wisconsin, and most of those wolves were taken by hunters using dogs.

DNR now plans to monitor the state’s wolf packs through the winter and spring. Barring any changes, there will be another wolf hunt in November.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday said hunters and trappers in the state filled half of the state’s wolf harvest in just one day.

“A total of three wolf harvest zones have closed this season,” DNR said in a short release. The three zones will officially close Wednesday at 10 a.m.

DNR says hunters and trappers registered 60 wolves killed on Monday’s first day of hunting season. The harvest limit this year is 200 wolves, but DNR said the goal is 119 wolves trapped or shot.

The closed zones include the entire southern two-thirds of Wisconsin, parts of central Wisconsin, and a piece of the north woods.

This is Wisconsin’s first wolf season after the gray wolf was removed from the endangered species list. DNR wanted to wait until November to begin hunting and trapping, but Wisconsin law required a hunt this month.

Wisconsin’s wolf season is scheduled to run through Sunday. Although, with the success of day one, no one expects that it will be open that long.

(The Center Square) – A freshman Republican state senator from Franklin wants Wisconsin to get tougher on second chances for some violent criminals.

State Sen. Julian Bradley, R-Franklin, is looking for co-sponsors for his legislation that would limit who would qualify for parole, probation and expungement in Wisconsin’s prison system.

“My goal is to ensure that those who have been convicted of a crime are held accountable,” Bradley told The Center Square on Monday. "After a first conviction, criminals shouldn't be allowed to revictimize our neighborhoods and families."

Bradley’s proposal would ban anyone convicted of a second crime, particularly while out on parole, from being given an expungement. He also wants the Department of Corrections to recommend revoking extended supervision, parole, or probation for anyone charged with a new crime while on release.

“It isn't the Legislature's job to help hide a criminal's record so they can obtain future employment,” Bradley said. "The burden of proof to show an offender is now worthy of the public's trust is on them, not the government, to show they can be trusted to be law-abiding citizens."

His legislation takes the opposite track as a number of other criminal justice reform suggestions from Wisconsin lawmakers and is the opposite of rule changes that the Department of Corrections is considering.

“In 2020, the Department of Corrections released at least 1,600 prisoners early due to the coronavirus outbreak," Bradley said. "We need to ensure the department has strict guidelines monitoring those who have broken our laws and were supposed to be in prison serving out their sentences. They shouldn't be given extra chances to commit new crimes because of the pandemic's extraordinary circumstances."

Bradley said violent crime numbers in Wisconsin, and in Milwaukee in particular, show the need for the state to get tougher on crime.

“In Milwaukee, homicides were up 95% from 2019," he said. "Aggravated assaults were up 25%, motor vehicle thefts were up 49%, and arson was up 45%. This year already, 808 vehicles have been stolen in Milwaukee – a 152% increase compared to the same time last year.”

Bradley is looking for other lawmakers to join him on the legislation. At this point, only state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, R-New Berlin, is attached to the plan.

(The Center Square) – Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed 2021 spending plan would raise taxes by more than $1 billion, increase spending by nearly $8 billion, and erase the legacy of former Governor Scott Walker.

Evers’ unveiled his proposal for Wisconsin’s next state budget Tuesday night. It includes adding 363 new state government jobs and the legalization of marijuana.

Evers also proposed significant rollbacks of Act 10 and Right to Work, two signature accomplishments of his predecessor, former Gov. Scott Walker. Act 10 saved local communities and schools millions of dollars through lower benefit costs. Wisconsin’s Right to Work law prohibits labor unions in the state from collecting dues from nonunion employees.

“When I ran to be your governor, I said it was time for a change. And I told you then as I’ll tell you tonight — that change won’t happen without you,” Evers said during his speech.

The governor said he wants to spend $8 billion more on schools, on the environment, on job training, on rebuilding after the coronavirus, and a laundry list of other priorities.

Gov. Evers is also proposing to spend more on the University of Wisconsin System, and to hire hundreds of new state employees.

His budget would raise taxes by $1 billion, and borrow $1.5 billion more. That would be in addition to any money Wisconsin gets from the federal government.

Republicans at the Capitol pronounced the governor's ideas dead on arrival.

“The Governor’s budget is completely irresponsible and unrealistic,” Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said after the governor’s speech. “Our responsible Republican budgeting allowed our state and our people to weather the 2020 storm and come out stronger. We’ll set Evers’ bad budget aside and continue to build on our strong foundation that put our state on strong fiscal footing over the decade.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said the governor budget is more a political wish list for the Madison left than anything resembling a spending plan.

“Instead of priorities to move the state forward, the governor’s budget proposal is more of a political document to fill the wish lists of his own party,” Vos said. “The spending plan contains far too many poison pills like expanding welfare, legalizing recreational marijuana, repealing Act 10 and growing the size of government.”

Government watchdogs say the last thing the people of Wisconsin need are more taxes, more debt, and more government.

“We live in tough times, where families all across the state are talking about if their job is coming back, when the state will open up, and how their children are learning in a very difficult learning environment,” the Institute for Reforming Government’s CJ Szafir said. “That's why we think the Wisconsin legislature should reject the entire budget and start over by working off of the previous budget."

Szafir added: "Limit the spending so the state lives within its means like hardworking Wisconsin families. Hold the line on taxes and look for ways to bring down Wisconsin's tax burden to encourage businesses to expand and get the state back to work again.”

(The Center Square) – The next step for police reform in Wisconsin could be as simple as a file.

Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, and Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, this week reintroduced a proposal to create a new employee file for police officers and sheriff’s deputies in the state.

“Law enforcement agencies want only the best to join their ranks, and this bill helps to ensure that,” Testin said.

The central idea of the proposed law is a file that travels with officers from job to job. That file would include performance reviews, commendations, and also any black marks against the officer.

“We are working with law enforcement to preclude unsuitable candidates and to elevate the most qualified,” Tusler said.

The proposal would also give the state’s Law Enforcement Standards Board the power to set new minimum qualification standards for new recruits and statewide training standards for all officers.

“The input we’ve received from law enforcement agencies has been invaluable and serves to demonstrate the commitment they have to pursuing excellence,” Testin added.

This is the second go-round for this legislation. Tusler first introduced it back in 2017. It didn’t become law, so he is trying again.

The difference between the 2017 proposal and the 2021 proposal is that there is a new governor and a new attorney general in Wisconsin.

That change may mean a difference in what new training standards for officers will be.

Testin and Tusler said they had at least one Democratic lawmaker on board with the legislation, as well as the state’s major law enforcement groups.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, the Wisconsin Association of Police Chiefs, the Badger State Sheriffs’ Association, the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association and the Wisconsin Professional Police Association all support the plan.