2017-2018 Legislative Summaries

by Kids Forward | May 2, 2018

Home 9 Early Care and Education 9 2017-2018 Legislative Summaries

Wisconsin state lawmakers wrapped up the 2017-2018 legislative session in March. During the session they passed several bills affecting K-12 education, health care, taxes, and public assistance. To learn more about specific bills, please read our legislative summaries:

K-12 Education: Legislative Summary

Health care: Legislative Summary

Taxes: Legislative Summary

Public Assistance: Legislative Summary

Corrections and the Justice System: Legislative Summary

Some of the most concerning bills to be introduced and approved by the Wisconsin legislature this past year was a package of bills that made changes to Wisconsin’s public assistance programs. Governor Walker declared these special session bills as “welfare reform,” but in reality these bills do very little to improve the welfare of children, families, and communities. Instead, the policy changes will increase the number of children and families that are hungry, homeless, and uninsured by creating barriers to participating in safety net programs. Within just a few weeks of when they were introduced, the legislature approved nine of the ten special session bills proposed by Governor Walker.

The legislature is scheduled to be out of session for the rest of the year. Unless lawmakers call for a special session of the legislature that is not on the regular schedule, they will not meet again until January 2019. Bills that did not pass during this session can be brought up again at that time, but will have to start the process over.

Join us to build a Wisconsin where
every child and family thrives.

Recent

Testimony: Opposing Barriers to Health Care

Testimony: Opposing Barriers to Health Care

Main Takeaways Kids Forward submitted the below testimony opposing Assembly Bill 163. This bill would make it harder for people to stay on Medicaid by adding extra paperwork and hoops to jump through. This bill would especially hurt children, parents, and people with...

State Budget: Mental Health

State Budget: Mental Health

Main Takeaways Everyone in Wisconsin, regardless of their county, age, or profession deserves to live in a community that supports their wellbeing. This means access to quality, affordable mental health and substance use disorder services. Governor Evers’ proposed...

Sign up for Emails

Your address helps us identify your legislators and the most relevant messages to send you.