By: Abigail Sippel
Within the first day and a half of Model Gov, delegates are hard at work debating bills and cases. Many bills are being sent to the Senate and Assembly today for approval before being sent to the lieutenant governor and governor to sign off on it. Some of the bills that have passed the Assembly, Senate, and the lieutenant governor and governor are being presented out at the State dinner tonight.
Senate Bill 202, an act to eliminate the sales tax, or “tampon tax”, on period products, was passed. This bill had very little opposition, but had one con speaker that was opposed to an aspect of the bill. Otherwise this bill was unopposed and passed with all ayes and no nays. As was said earlier there were more pro speakers that thought this bill was a good idea and wanted it to pass. For this bill there was some clarification needed, but the bill author responded effortlessly and cleared up any confusion. The author in the closing summation used it to wish everyone a happy national women’s day at the end as well.
Senate Bill 209, an act to protect high school students from overdoses on school grounds, was passed in the Senate and is waiting to be debated in the Assembly. This bill has 3 amendments made to it. This bill had a lot of support behind it and had more pro speakers than con speakers. One of the main arguments was that this will help with school overdoses and prevent them from happening or for saving the lives of students who do overdose. This bill didn’t have much opposition since it would benefit a lot of students. However, there were a few delegates who liked the intent of this bill, but not something in the bill itself. That was the reason that they wanted to withstand this bill. In the closing summation of this bill, the author acknowledged the cons and the amendments to the bill and finished strong with the closing summations.
Bill #208, an act to protect the civil duties of jury duty in the State of Wisconsin, was passed in both the Senate and Assembly. 208 has just 1 amendment to it as well. It is now just awaiting the approval of the signatures of the lieutenant governor and governor. This bill at least in the Senate had less con pro con debate and more open debate. When the open debate was happening there were many informative statements and speakers rather than just stating their opinions. The author also acknowledged the con speakers in the closing summation and refuted the con arguments about the bill.
Bill #224, an act to repeal Wisconsin Act 302 has passed in the Senate. It is still awaiting debate in the Assembly. This bill was an amazing bill to watch because of all of the debate that was going on. There were multiple debates on how this bill will affect the people of Wisconsin and if the next step would be banning plastic in general, and not just plastic bags. This bill was very controversial because people were worried about the effects that it would have on stores. The debate was very equal in the amount of pros and cons that were spoken. When there was a con speaker, there was a pro speaker and vice versa.
These are just a few of the many bills the Senate has debated and passed. The bills that were debated in the past few days had extraordinary debates and many amendments made and passed to bills.