Combatting Human Trafficking
For the last several months, I’ve been working with a few of my colleagues on legislation to combat human trafficking as a member of the Speaker’s Task Force on Human Trafficking. This week, the members of the task force released their legislative proposals. I’m happy to announce the proposal I’ve been working on, which will empower victims of human trafficking by removing barriers to civil action. First, the bill would increase the statute of limitations for civil action by victims of child trafficking to age 35. Currently, child trafficking victims have a three year window to bring forward civil action, which poses an undue burden on them as they try to navigate their legal options.
The bill also allows victims of child trafficking to pursue civil action whether or not someone has been criminally convicted in their case. Under current law, child trafficking victims can only pursue civil action if someone has been criminally prosecuted or convicted.
I look forward to advocating for these important bills as they move forward in the legislative process over the next few months. Victims of human trafficking deserve our full support as they seek justice. This package of bills will expand their legal options and help ensure the perpetrators of this heinous crime are held accountable.
Back-to-Back Committee Hearings
It was a busy week in the State Capitol! From press conferences to committee hearings, the Capitol was abuzz with activity as we resumed session after the holidays. Next week, the Assembly will be on the floor to vote on bills as a full body.
On Thursday, I testified in back-to-back committee hearings. First up was my PPT bill, which eliminates the personal property tax for telephone companies. In the 2023-25 state budget, we eliminated this cumbersome and outdated tax for other businesses, but telecommunications companies were not included in that group. This bill would provide the same tax relief to telephone companies that other companies received in the budget. To be clear – this is not asking for special treatment for telephone companies. They would continue to pay the same income, payroll, and sales and use taxes as all other businesses across the state. Rather, this is a way to provide parity for these companies under Wisconsin’s business tax laws.
Next was a hearing in the Assembly for my expungement bill. This is a bill I’ve been working to get across the finish line for several sessions. This bill would make simple changes to Wisconsin’s expungement law to provide low-level offenders a pathway to employment and employers access to a larger pool of potential hires. Expungement is simply a fancy word for having a criminal record sealed from public view. Here are the major provisions of the bill:
- Eliminates the mandate on judges to grant/deny expungement at the time of sentencing. This will provide judges the opportunity to review an individual’s growth and development in a post-sentencing hearing when making an expungement decision.
- Provides employers and employees with clarity and certainty in regards to criminal background disclosures on employment applications.
- Clarifies that only low-level offenders are eligible for expungement.
- Defines what it means to successfully complete a sentence prior to being eligible to ask for an expungement.
- Removes the arbitrary age limit of 25 to have a record expunged. An expungement decision should be based on merit, not age. Wisconsin is an outlier when it comes to an age requirement and removing this limit would place us in line with other states.
This bill not only grants low-level offenders an opportunity to gain meaningful work and a chance to rebuild their lives, it also gives employers access to a group of underutilized, ready-to-work individuals. Ultimately, this bill will help address our state’s workforce shortage. I appreciated the opportunity to testify on this bill and look forward to advocating for it moving forward!
Request a Wisconsin Blue Book
You can now request a 2023-24 Wisconsin Blue Book! Blue Books are a fantastic resource to learn about Wisconsin’s government, geography, history, and so much more. And, they’re FREE! If you would like a Blue Book, email my office at Rep.Steffen@legis.
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Contact Me
My office is always available to help with any state-related questions or concerns you may have. You can reach my office at (608) 237-9104, or email me at [email protected].
