Penalties in overdose deaths and the professional licenses backlog. Here are key issues before the state Assembly today
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MADISON – The Wisconsin Assembly on Wednesday approved a bill that would increase penalties for drug dealers in overdose deaths amid rising reports of fentanyl-laced drug fatalities.
Current state law charges individuals responsible for distributing drugs leading to an overdose death with a Class C felony for first-degree reckless homicide, punishable by a maximum $100,000 fine or 40 years in prison.
But as reports of overdose deaths rise — especially from drugs containing fentanyl — lawmakers voted Wednesday to reclassify drug dealing-related overdose deaths as a Class B felony, adding an extra 20 years to the maximum prison sentence and eliminating the chance for a convicted person to get off without prison time.
“The soft on crime issue doesn’t work here,” said Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, who owns a bar where drugs laced with fentanyl were sold, resulting in four overdoses and one death.
The measure now heads to Gov. Tony Evers’ desk. Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback did not respond to a question about whether the governor would veto the bill.
Why the focus on fentanyl?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid noted for its cheap cost, potency and addictiveness. It’s often an added ingredient in a range of street drugs, but its presence isn’t always advertised to buyers.
The drug was identified in 78% of Milwaukee County overdose deaths from 2020 to 2022, according to data from the county medical examiner’s office.
“These drug dealers know that fentanyl can kill, but they would rather risk their client’s lives to make a quick buck,” Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, testified in March. “This needs to end.”
The Wisconsin Professional Police Association, Milwaukee Police Association and Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association are registered in support of the bill.
Only one group, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, registered in opposition to the measure. The ACLU warned increasing penalties would further criminalize addiction and cause more overdose deaths.
“Lawmakers argue that the bill will target drug kingpins and mass distributors," the ACLU wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “But the way the legislation is written, as well as how similar policies have been enforced, this law could be used to lock up friends, family and romantic partners of people who die of an overdose.”
The ACLU cited a 2018 report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, which found higher drug imprisonment rates don’t translate into lower drug use rates, arrests or overdose deaths.
Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Milwaukee, echoed the ACLU’s concerns during the debate Wednesday.
“I want to make sure that somebody who is an addict does have a chance of some life,” she said. “Sixty years, for most folks, is a life sentence.”
Lawmakers took up a number of other proposals Wednesday.
Bill package to speed up licensing delays passes
Assembly lawmakers approved a bill package Wednesday that would speed up the licensing process for a wide range of professionals after years of delays.
Six of the seven bills in Wednesday’s legislation package passed along mostly party lines, though a bill requiring professionals renewing their license to submit their application and fees before their credentials expire passed with broad bipartisan support.
The bill package still requires Senate approval before being sent to the governor’s desk.
Calls for reform gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic as critics lambasted Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services for taking too long to approve licenses for frontline health workers.
Nurses, therapists and other professionals reported waiting months for their paperwork to go through DSPS.
Although average wait times dropped last fall, Republicans still wanted to speed up the process. A key piece of Wednesday’s legislation package would double the license renewal period from two years to four, something backed by an array of Wisconsin health providers.
The changes would reduce license application workloads and give hospitals more flexibility to stagger reapplication dates, the Wisconsin Hospitals Association told lawmakers last month.
Other bills in the package require DSPS to share more processing data with the Legislature, allow professionals with licenses in good standing from other states to begin work immediately and streamline the licensure process for people with minor criminal offenses from five or more years ago.
Democrats opposed most of the bill package, which they said could strain DSPS resources as the department modernizes its application process. The governor’s office accused Republican lawmakers last year of not providing enough money for the department to run efficiently.
DSPS officials previously warned the changes could allow people with more serious past convictions to go unnoticed for years. The package could also pose safety risks for people who rely on licensed professionals without proactive tools to ensure continuing education, officials told lawmakers last month.
Personal finance course requirement for high schoolers
Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would require students at Wisconsin public high schools to take one-half credit of personal finance coursework to graduate.
Wisconsin began requiring public schools to incorporate a K-12 personal financial literacy curriculum in some capacity since 2017, whether as a standalone course or as part of a wider business/economics curriculum.
Wednesday’s legislation would mandate all students graduating in 2028 or later take a standalone course that covers six overarching topics: financial mindset, education and employment, money management, saving and investing, credit and debt, and risk management and insurance.
“We need to be able to gear our next generation up to have the tools they need and the information they can have to be successful in their finances as they move forward into their lives and become more impactful on our economy,” bill author Rep. Alex A. Dallman, R-Green Lake, told reporters Wednesday.
Lawmakers previously floated requiring a full credit of coursework but abandoned the idea after talks with the Department of Public Instruction, according to Dallman.
According to a 2023 report from Next Gen Personal Finance, a nonprofit promoting financial literacy education, 34.6% of Wisconsin students take personal finance as a standalone graduation requirement. Less than 1% attend a school with no personal finance requirements.
Evers proposed a total of $5 million in grants for schools to implement or expand personal finance curriculums in his 2023-25 executive budget, but the Legislature’s finance committee removed the grants last month.
Rep. Krisitina Shelton, D-Green Bay, called the financial literacy requirement an “unfunded mandate” during debate Wednesday.
The measure still requires approval from the Senate and Gov. Tony Evers before becoming law.
Expanding sexual contact definition
Also on the Assembly docket Wednesday was a bill that would expand Wisconsin’s criminal definition of “sexual contact.”
The new definition would include situations where a victim is forced to touch “ejaculate, urine or feces of any person” for the purpose of “sexually degrading, sexually humiliating, sexually arousing or sexually gratifying the perpetrator.”
The legislation closes a loophole in state law governing unlawful sexual contact, bill author Rep. Nik Rettinger, R-Mukwonago, said Wednesday.
The measure passed with unanimous support. It will now head to the Senate.
Tyler Katzenberger can be reached at tkatzenberger@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Assembly lawmakers seek stronger overdose death penalties
