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Good morning, Wisconsin! Welcome back to Forward, Wisconsin Watch’s preview of the week ahead in state government and politics. I’m Jack Kelly, Wisconsin Watch’s statehouse reporter and your host. Today, Hallie Claflin highlights what’s new in Gov. Tony Evers’ fourth budget proposal, Joe Timmerman shares a photo from the Capitol last week, and Votebeat’s Alex Shur looks at how the Wisconsin Supreme Court race could shape election law. But first, I’ll give you an update on the GOP war on cellphones in schools, AI in Wisconsin, Elon Musk and more.
Tips, story ideas or questions about state government? Feedback about the newsletter? Drop me a line: jkelly@wisconsinwatch.org.
TOP OF MIND
📱 Consensus? What consensus? During last week’s Assembly floor session, an exasperated Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, had a straightforward question for his colleagues: “If we can’t agree on this, when are we going to agree on anything in this body?” He was referring to a GOP-authored bill to ban “wireless communication device(s)” in K-12 schools during instructional time, an effort Republican lawmakers had seemingly hoped Democrats would support. None did.
The proposal would require school boards across the state to adopt policies barring the use of cellphones, laptops, tablets and other devices, unless they are being used for instructional purposes, during class time. “I think all of us on the side of the aisle agree that cellphones do not belong in school,” said Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee, a former school board member. Democrats want to craft a bill that can gain broad support and be signed by the governor, she added, but “this is not that bill.”
Democrats raised several concerns about the bill: It takes control away from school boards. It creates an unfunded mandate for districts. It applies to public schools but not private schools. Students wouldn’t be able to call for help during an emergency. Those reservations proved too great. All 44 Democrats — and 1 GOP lawmaker — voted against the legislation, which advanced with 53 Republican votes and now awaits action in the state Senate.
🍎📝 Quick! Show me your lesson plan! Along with a handful of other education bills, the Republican-controlled Assembly voted along party lines last week to pass legislation that would require public schools to make textbooks and lesson plans available for public inspection. The bill’s author, Rep. Barbara Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, said parents want transparency in what their children are learning in school.
“Opponents of this legislation will say ‘they can already see what their child is being taught through open records requests’ but there is no time requirement to meet that open records request,” Dittrich told reporters, referring to the state’s open records law. “Parents are finding themselves with their child out of the class that they want curriculum for before the open records request is even fulfilled.”
The bill would establish a 14-day limit for school districts to respond to records requests and provide any instructional material requested. Wisconsin’s current public records law does not establish a timeframe for requests to be fulfilled. When asked why lawmakers wouldn’t apply a 14-day window to all records requests, like the ones submitted to their offices, Rep. Tyler August, R-Walworth, said school material is “readily available.”
“Some of the open records requests in other parts of government … research has to be done, files have to be pulled together, whereas curriculum that’s being currently taught today in the classroom is readily available to the teachers and the students because they’re actively utilizing it,” he told reporters.
The Department of Public Instruction opposed the bill, describing it as “a move to discredit educators and create unnecessary fear and distrust.”
🤖 Work smarter, not harder. Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene two years ago, artificial intelligence, in some form or the other, has become ubiquitous in daily life — raising questions about if and how policymakers should step in with guardrails. A group of bipartisan lawmakers and members of the public set out to consider those questions last year, and it will formally submit its recommendations on how the Legislature should respond to the burgeoning technology Wednesday at 2 p.m. when the Joint Legislative Council convenes. Watch live on WisconsinEye.
The committee outlined seven recommendations in a report earlier this month, with a handful of them facing no opposition. That includes recommending the state avoid the “potential overreach of comprehensive AI legislation” and instead “prioritize high-risk areas susceptible to exploitation or abuse.” Additionally, the committee also unanimously suggested investing “in technology powered by AI that will assist with public safety, such as gun detection software.”
The committee also gained bipartisan consensus on the Legislature establishing a permanent body “to review emerging technologies, including AI, and make legislative recommendations regarding the same.” Lawmakers have so far been slow to legislate around AI. Will a study committee, including several bipartisan recommendations, spur action?
📺 Musk-see TV. If you’ve watched TV in recent weeks, you’ve seen Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel trade attack ads. Now, Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person and President Donald Trump’s efficiency czar, is sticking his Twitter fingers into the race.
A few weeks after declaring on his social media site that it is “important to vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” a conservative nonprofit backed by Musk has placed an ad buy targeting Crawford on stations across the state. The commercial chastises the liberal judge’s handling of a 2018 case involving a man charged with having sexual contact with two kids at a swimming pool. “Dangerous decisions. Wrong for Wisconsin,” the ad declares while showing a photo of Crawford.
Wisconsin Watch’s Tom Kertscher fact-checked the ad and its assertion that Crawford could have sentenced the perpetrator to 100 years. The prosecutor only asked for 10 years in prison and five years of probation. The defense asked for probation and no prison time. She gave him four years in prison and six years of probation.
Attack ads trying to make a candidate look “soft on crime” are a regular piece of the playbook in judicial contests. What’s unique about this is the ad comes from a group connected to Musk, who has virtually unlimited resources. The centibillionaire pumped some $240 million into his America PAC to help elect Trump last year. The group now plans to spend $1 million on canvassing and field operations to support Schimel, according to a filing with the state late last week. I’m watching to see how involved Musk gets in this race — especially as Schimel looks to nationalize the contest.
– Jack Kelly (with an assist from Hallie Claflin)
And now, a look at some of the proposals in Gov. Tony Evers’ executive budget proposal that weren’t in his last three DOA budgets …
BUDGET BITES
New year, (some) new ideas
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers unveiled his 2025-27 biennial budget proposal last week — a two-year plan totaling nearly $119 billion compared to the $100 billion budget currently on the books.
Republicans lawmakers who control the powerful budget writing committee immediately vowed to throw out the governor’s spending plan this spring. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said Evers’ proposals are “dead on arrival.”
Many of the governor’s recommendations have been reviewed and rejected by GOP lawmakers in previous budgets, like his plans to expand Medicaid or legalize marijuana.
But in this year’s budget address, he introduced several new items. Here are four examples from the governor’s fourth state budget proposal.
— Hallie Claflin
SCENE
A few hundred protesters gathered on Presidents’ Day for a National Day of Protest last Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison.
We The People of Wisconsin invited residents to rally on behalf of the national protest organized by the 50501 Movement, which stands for “50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement.” According to the national movement’s organizers, the protests are a “rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.” The idea started in a Reddit community and spread online.
— Joe Timmerman
The April 1 Wisconsin Supreme Court race could have far-reaching effects on voting laws in Wisconsin. Here’s how …
VOTEBEAT
How the Wisconsin Supreme Court race could decide future of election law
With years of continued gridlock between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic governor, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has become the arbiter over some of the most heated election rule debates — from redistricting and drop boxes to the status of the state’s top election official.
That’s what makes April’s Supreme Court election a race to watch. It features two candidates with a stark ideological divide, competing for the seat of a retiring liberal justice and the chance to secure a majority in the current 4-3 liberal court. And it could determine how voters cast ballots in elections for years to come.
Conservative Brad Schimel is a Waukesha County judge and former Republican attorney general. Liberal Susan Crawford is a Dane County judge and former assistant attorney general under a Democratic administration. While the court is technically nonpartisan, both candidates are running with the support of their respective state parties, with partisan politicians providing endorsements on both sides.
“We don’t know what cases are going to come forward or what the facts or the arguments would be,” said Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor and founder of the Elections Research Center. “But Crawford versus Schimel being on the court does send it in a different ideological direction.”
There are several election-related disputes the new justice may help settle. Fights over electronic voting, Wisconsin’s membership in the multistate Electronic Registration Information Center, and election officials’ ability to access citizenship data are brewing in lower courts.
— Alexander Shur
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