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No decision on emissions law

In a long-running floor session on Tuesday, the state Assembly rejected a motion that would have allowed an Assembly vote on a bill aimed at reducing Wisconsin’s impact on global warming.

The Wisconsin Safe Climate Act, authored by Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, and Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state of Wisconsin to pre-1990 levels.

Black and Miller, along with Lt. Gov. Barbra Lawton and other state legislators, pitched the bill to students at a climate change awareness event at the Union earlier this month.

Black said action to combat global warming must take a preemptive approach. 

“We have an obligation to act before we see damage to our environment, our economy and our quality of life,” he said in a statement. Black also noted that 17 other states have passed similar legislation to reduce greenhouse gases.

The decision to reject the proposal came after disagreement between Democrats and Republicans in both houses over its merit. Until now, Republicans in the Assembly have refused any action on the bill. Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, a key opponent to the proposal, said it would do little to alleviate the causes of global warming. 

“We should all protect our natural resources,” Ott said in a statement, “but [this bill] would have no impact on reducing global temperatures.” The statement went on to say that the bill would ineffectively address the issue by implementing a “carbon tax,” installing costly pollution controls and reducing production levels, all of which Ott sees as ineffective means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Ott also pointed out the fallibility of climate prediction and recalled that some scientists in the 1980s thought a new Ice Age was imminent, a belief which later proved false.
In response to the claims made against the proposed legislation by Ott, Black pointed out similar bills passed in California and New York, saying both bills resulted in a dramatic economic growth in alternative energy industry.

“Ten billion dollars are spent on fossil fuels every year,” Black said. By reducing dependence on foreign fuels, he said, Wisconsin could reduce the net loss of money that results from the dependence on fossil fuels.

Black cited a recent poll that showed 84 percent of Wisconsinites favor state action to reduce the believed causes of global warming. Ott said those numbers clearly reflect strong public opinion on the issue, but that there are better ways to address this concern than allowing the bill to pass.

“If people really understood what was in the bill, I don’t think it would have much support,”’ Ott said.

Ott added any attempt to reduce carbon dioxide in Wisconsin would make little or no difference in overall carbon dioxide production in the world. He listed repealing the moratorium on nuclear power plant construction and building more windmills as possible alternatives to the proposal. 

 

Human trafficking bill passes Senate

A bill defining and setting a penalty for human trafficking was also on the Legislature’s plate Tuesday, passing the Senate unanimously.

The bill, which makes trafficking of humans a felony punishable with up to 25 years in prison, defines human trafficking as “recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing or obtaining an individual without the consent of the individual.”

Sen. Carol Roessler, R-Oshkosh, applauded the bill’s passage.

“Human trafficking is a serious problem in Wisconsin and nationwide,” Roessler said in a statement, citing a report that said nearly 15 percent of the known cases of human trafficking in Wisconsin are children forced into commercial sex acts.

— Beth Mueller contributed to this report.