By Jon Peacock, Policy Director for Kids Forward
Local communities should be able to protect and empower workers, improve the health of their residents, make sure housing is safe, and take steps to address the harmful effects of racial discrimination. However, power in Wisconsin has shifted dramatically over the last few decades.
This shift, coupled with gerrymandering, means that people of color and other residents of Wisconsin cities now have far less ability to shape the public policy choices that affect their lives.
Protecting Local Control: A New Report
The latest brief from the Wisconsin Budget Project, an initiative of Kids Forward, shines a light on the expansion of laws in Wisconsin that restrict—or ‘preempt’—the power of local elected officials and voters.
When I worked as a legislative aide back in the 1980s and 1990s, most legislators routinely professed their support for “local control.” They believed that many areas of policymaking should be left to local communities because conditions can be very different in different parts of the state. That’s what puts people at the local level in a better position to decide what policies will be best for their communities.
However, as the new report illustrates, the legislature has increasingly used preemption to block the authority of local governments.
Paid Sick Leave
In 2008, after years of state inaction, Milwaukee residents overwhelmingly passed a binding referendum, requiring most employers to provide up to nine paid sick days a year. When Republicans gained control of both the legislature and the governor’s office in 2011, they quickly prohibited local governments and voters from setting or implementing any requirements for paid sick leave.
The will of Milwaukee voters was thwarted.
Disenfranchising People of Color
The adoption of preemptive legislation works with other legislative actions to discourage voting by people of color and other city residents. These groups are more likely than other Wisconsinites to have to wait in long lines to vote. To make matters worse, the legislature has drawn district boundaries that ensure the legislators elected from urban areas will be in the minority party. Even if city residents overwhelmingly approve a referendum to create a new local policy, such as the paid sick leave requirement, the legislature can use preemption to block the will of the voters.
Above: Gean Smart shares on the struggles of a constantly changing work schedule. In 2017, the Wisconsin state legislature blocked local governments from passing fair scheduling laws. Photo Credit: Gean Smart, Raise the Floor Milwaukee, COWS
Preemption in the Heartland
A report issued In October 2021 by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Preemption in the Heartland, explains how preemption has grown out of, and compounded, structural racism in midwestern states:
When, in the early Reconstruction years, Black elected officials began to gain power—and Black people could begin to take control of their own lives—backlash quickly followed. Southern lawmakers acted quickly to restore and enshrine their control and supremacy in the post–Civil War political structure.
Labor Standards and Public Health Regulations
The EPI report points to a Wisconsin law enacted in 2018 that prohibits local governments from establishing minimum labor standards or requiring labor peace agreements (LPAs) for publicly funded projects, such as a new convention center or arena. LPAs are pacts negotiated between an employer and its workers in which each side agrees to one or more concessions that will help maintain labor peace. The report notes:
When local governments cannot set even minimal standards for the contractors with whom they do business and the facilities they are financially intertwined with, their ability to improve economic conditions for workers and communities is severely limited.
More recently, legislators in a number of Midwest states have passed preemption bills that have blocked local efforts to protect communities and workers from COVID-19. The Wisconsin legislature passed a bill to limit local public options for combatting the pandemic, but Governor Evers vetoed it.
Similar legislation is likely to be proposed in 2023, and its fate will probably be determined by the outcome of the fall elections.
Preemption at the Polls
In past elections, preemption has not been a significant campaign issue. Perhaps it will get more attention in this year’s campaigns because of the recent attempt to curtail local public health departments’ options, as well as a growing interest in workers’ rights. More campaign debate about local constraints would be a welcome development. The growing use of preemptive legislation has substantially changed democracy in Wisconsin, in a way that has significantly diminished the opportunity for many state residents to influence policymaking.