WisPolitics Capitol Chats

In this week's Capitol Chats episode, Rep. Dave Murphy in a Zoom interview says he's happy the UW System issued its free speech survey to students. He also says he wants to look closer at the results and hold some hearings in the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee he chairs.

In this week's Capitol Chats episode, State Public Defender Legislative Liaison Adam Plotkin says Wisconsin's criminal justice system needs public defenders taking cases in order to function. As the biennial budget cycle moves ahead, he wants to make sure Republicans include pay raises to address SPD recruitment and retention issues. Plotkin also talks about why a bill to define "violent crime" could increase the load on the justice system.

In this week's Capitol Chats episode, Fond du Lac DA Eric Toney says pay increases for prosecutors and public defenders are crucial to fighting the attorney shortage in Wisconsin. He also says he's been talking with Republican leaders about making sure DAs get what they need in the upcoming budget.

DNR Secretary Adam Payne says he's optimistic about coming to a consensus on setting water quality and PFAS standards after years of tumultuous talks. Payne also says the DNR needs to do a better job at figuring out the carrying capacity for gray wolves and animals they interact with while the department refines its draft wolf management plan.

In this week's Capitol Chats podcast, Minority Leader Greta Neubauer talks more about her idea to move to a full state-funding model for K-12 schools from the current two-thirds model. She also argues increasing shared revenue for local governments will help them keep many of their essential resources, such as public safety staff and equipment.

In this week's Capitol Chats podcast, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, says lawmakers need to keep in mind ways to dismantle Milwaukee's historic segregation issues while crafting legislation. The Ways and Means Committee member also says she hopes the fight to raise the debt ceiling won't again result in a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating as happened in the 2011 fight to raise the debt ceiling.

In this week's Capitol Chats episode Sen. Kelda Roys blasts "right wing billionaires" for foisting the UW System's free speech survey upon the statewide colleges and universities system. The Madison Dem also says the survey was "primed to get a result that would show some kind of a bias."

This week's Capitol Chats podcast covers what freshman Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, wants to focus on in the Legislature. Donovan is a longtime local government veteran and he says he wants to bring that perspective to the negotiating table. He especially wants to focus on shared revenue issues for local governments and public safety issues.

On this week's Capitol Chats episode, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher says the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party he's chairing will focus largely on deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and other U.S. interests. He also said the U.S. sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine is the right move, but the war has unearthed some munitions stockpiling deficiencies.

This week's Capitol Chats episodes features an interview with freshman Rep. Darrin Madison. The Milwaukee Democratic Socialist says he wants to focus much of his time on improving the juvenile justice system. He also says he wants to "center working class citizens" in his discussions with fellow lawmakers.