The Wisconsin legislative Joint Finance Committee ultimately passed two bills on child care fraud and campaign finance reform for the State Supreme Court after heated debate Tuesday.

The justice campaign reform bill creates public financing of Wisconsin Supreme Court elections through the newly established Democracy Trust Fund, in which extra money generated by higher donation limits is set aside for the elections.

Proponents of the bill, including Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, cited concerns regarding the possibility that campaign contributions could affect judges’ rulings, especially in regard to large corporations and wealthy individuals.

“This is about trust in our system. This is about supporting justice, and the vote should be an optimistic vote of yes,” Taylor said.

Other supporters of the bill, such as Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, questioned the future of equality in the justice system without such a measure.

“If we want to see money in some way checked and in some way controlled so that we don’t have the kind of elections we’ve had in the recent past, we have to pass a bill like this,” Colon said.

However, many on the committee vocalized their opposition to the bill, including Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine.

Vos said the notion those on the Wisconsin Supreme Court were “bought and paid for” was ridiculous, and locally and on the federal level, actions of government officials are affected more by personal beliefs than by campaign contributions.

“I don’t think anyone is (in contributors’ pockets). [Democrats] who believe in liberal philosophy and spending money like a drunken sailor, I think you really believe it,” Vos said.

Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Green Bay, also spoke against the bill and said the proposed reform was more about providing for more government control by wasting taxpayer dollars and inhibiting free expression than ensuring justice.

“The most despicable part of this are the words ‘Democracy Trust Fund.’ That is so far from the truth, it is not worth the paper that it is written on,” Montgomery said.

However, Colon said those claiming the government would be inhibiting free speech of the people by limiting campaign contributions do not truly have the good of all people in mind, just those who are wealthy.

The bill eventually passed out of committee along party lines ,11 to 4, with Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, absent from the meeting.

Also debated was a bill that would prohibit certain individuals charged or convicted with particular felonies from providing child care or living in a residence where child care is provided.

The bill would also regulate the steps in reporting child care fraud, requiring individuals who have knowledge of a criminal act committed by a child care provider to report it to the proper authorities.

Debate regarding this bill revolved around whether to pass an amendment providing no extra funding for fraud investigation in Racine and Milwaukee Counties, which had not used all the money they had been previously allocated for the investigation.

However, all committee members agreed without proper funding, the counties would not be able to enforce the bill.

While the amendment failed to pass, the bill itself received strong support and was passed unanimously by those in attendance out of committee.