2024 WI Legislative Scorecard

SB466 forbids a financial institution from requiring the use of a merchant category code that identifies the merchant as a firearms retailer and provides that no governmental entity may maintain a list of firearms owners. The Assembly passed SB466 on January 18, 2024, by a vote of 62 to 35, prior to it being vetoed by the Governor. We have assigned pluses to the ayes because this bill prevents the unlawful use of credit card payment information to track firearms purchases. Recent adoption of a new merchant category code for “gun and ammunition shops” by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)—a globalist collaborative linked to the United Nations—aids unconstitutional efforts by the federal government to conduct mass surveillance, which, in part, is intended to create a national gun-owner database and confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens. States should interpose between and nullify the actions of private or public entities that frustrate, if not blatantly violate, the Second and Fourth Amendment rights of the American people.

AB975 would have placed on the April 2024 ballot a referendum on legalizing abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy, except in the case of a “medical emergency.”

The Assembly voted to pass AB975 on January 25, 2024, by a vote of 53 to 46. We have assigned pluses to the nays because the care of human life—not its destruction—is the greatest responsibility of government. Wisconsin ought to enforce its 1849 abortion ban and secure the right to life for every pre-born child. The right to life is the most fundamental, God-given, and “unalienable” right asserted in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Moreover, state laws should not be subject to popular votes. Referendums are insufficient safeguards from what the American Founders described as the “dangers of democracy.” Article IV, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution guarantees to “every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,” which implies government limited to the ‘rule of law,’ as opposed to mere unchecked ‘majority rule.’

AB291 eliminates the six-month waiting period for remarriage after a divorce. The Assembly passed AB291 on January 25, 2024, by a vote of 93 to 6. We have assigned pluses to the nays because this bill is a consequence of “no-fault divorce,” which is unjust and unconstitutional. It permits persons to commit serious acts of injury against their spouses and children (e.g., adultery or abandonment) with impunity—thereby aiding and abetting violators of the marital covenant while denying victims due process of law. Innocent parties are sued with no right to their day in court. It also mistakenly assumes that valid grounds for divorce, along with marriage itself, are to be determined solely, even frivolously, by the government. Yet, nothing in the Bill of Rights or the 14th Amendment can be used to render marriage vows as meaningless. On the contrary, marriage, being coeval with mankind, is ordained by God, not the state. The most sacred of all human institutions, marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, whose one-flesh union serves as the foundation of the family. God-honoring marriages are essential to securing the blessings of liberty and self-government for our children, whereas the fallout from "no-fault divorce" has been devastating. Wisconsin should seek to protect families rather than tear them apart.

AB470 adopts a "right of first refusal" for incumbent public utilities to build transmission projects.

The Assembly passed AB470 on February 15, 2024, by a vote of 85 to 12. We have assigned pluses to the nays because this bill ends competitive bidding of new and large-scale multi-billion-dollar transmission projects in Wisconsin, granting exclusive control over the state's electric grid to existing public utilities, further expanding their monopolies. Removing the benefits of competition and restricting access to utility providers will result in higher electricity rates and less reliable service, harming both families and businesses. Rather than contribute to Wisconsin's energy inflation and threatening its industries through corrupt, corporate-sponsored protectionism, the Legislature should encourage competition and free-market enterprise, which spur innovation and create cost-savings for customers.

AB29 creates a sales and use tax exemption for gold, silver, and other precious metals.

The Assembly passed AB29 on February 20, 2024, by a vote of 86 to 12. We have assigned pluses to the ayes because this bill is a necessary step toward restoring sound money and adhering to the U.S. Constitution’s monetary provisions. According to Article 1, Section 10, of the Constitution, “No State shall … make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” States can and must act now to protect Americans’ financial freedom and privacy by both ending the Federal Reserve’s unconstitutional monopoly on money and thwarting government plans to impose a Central Bank Digital Currency.