Senate approves crime bill that could cost $57M

Proposal would imprison about 1,800 more a year

MADISON – The state Senate approved a bill Tuesday that could put more repeat criminals behind bars at a cost of $57 million a year.

Senators also voted to give crime victims new rights under the state constitution, including the ability to refuse interviews with defense attorneys.

Republicans approved the bill on repeat offenders on a nearly party-line vote of 20-12. It heads to the GOP-controlled Assembly, where its fate is unclear.

Backers say the state needs to quickly punish offenders on probation or parole who commit new crimes. Opponents argue the state should offer more treatment to prevent crimes and say taxpayers can’t afford incarcerating more people at a time when Wisconsin’s prisons are already overcrowded.

Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Brookfield) — a lead sponsor of the measure and one of two Republicans challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin — said she was tired of seeing offenders on probation committing new felonies.

“I can’t tolerate that statistic,” she said.

But Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) said the state needed to address the root causes of crime such as the trauma experienced by the city’s young people. She said the bills were an expensive and outdated “pipeline to prison” that wouldn’t make the public safer in the end.

“Doubling down on that isn’t going to do it,” she said.

The measure, Senate Bill 54, would require the Department of Corrections to recommend revoking probation, parole or extended supervision for anyone under its purview charged with a felony or violent misdemeanor. The Department of Corrections estimates the proposal would send nearly 1,800 more people to prison a year at a cost of more than $57 million a year.

Vukmir spokesman Mattias Gugel called the estimate “guesswork.”

The crackdown on repeat offenders comes at a time when Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher has said the state needs to find more room for its inmates because of a rising population. Department of Corrections estimates say building a new institution would cost about $300 million.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (RRochester) is taking the unusual step of hiring the Council of State Governments to calculate the cost of Vukmir’s legislation. Typically, estimates are generated by state agencies or the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Vos said he supports the goal of the bill but added, “I also want to make sure we are able to afford whatever the real cost is of the project.”

Marsy’s Law. Senate Joint Resolution 53, also known as Marsy’s Law, passed 29-4 and goes to the Assembly on its long road to changing the state constitution. If it passes the Assembly, it will have to pass both houses of the Legislature again in two years and then be approved by voters in a referendum before taking effect.

“This is about elevating a victim’s rights to be nearly equal to a criminal’s,” said Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), a lead sponsor of the proposal.

But defense attorneys have argued the measure could conflict with defendants’ constitutional rights to confront accusers and receive a fair trial.

“It could conflict with the ... U.S. Constitution,” Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (DAlma) said.

The proposal’s supporters say it was amended to say that it is not intended to conflict or outrank a defendant’s rights.

The proposal is similar to other Marsy’s Law measures that have been adopted in Illinois, California, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The Montana Supreme Court struck down a similar measure in that state last week. The ruling, which did not address the substance of the constitutional change there, found that it was not properly put before voters in a referendum.