With the legislative session coming to a close tomorrow, the Senate passed a few last minute bills Tuesday including giving more protection to journalists and tax credits to businesses that pay for a student’s tuition.
One bill passed by the Senate gives reporters more protection in fighting cases where they are asked to reveal anonymous sources by prohibiting any person or group except a court from making a reporter testify or offer identifying information about confidential sources. If signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle, Wisconsin would be the 39th state to enact such a statutory protection for reporters.
The so-called “shield law” was passed in the Senate on a voice vote, and it is now awaiting the governor’s approval.
Robert Drechsel, University of Wisconsin professor in journalism and mass communication, wrote in an e-mail to The Badger Herald that this type of legal protection is important not only because it protects journalists, but also because it ultimately facilitates and protects the flow of important information to the public.
“Having such powerful protection will make it more important than ever for journalists to make careful and ethically responsible decisions when granting confidentiality to sources, but I am confident they will continue to do so,” Drechsel said.
Bill Lueders, president of Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, agreed with Drechsel that the new legislation helps the public, because it gives protection to people who bring up important information confidentially.
“Look at the Pulitzer-winning stories done by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on fraud within the state program. The whistle blowers within the government provided the journalist with crucial information on the condition of anonymity. Though [the journalist] wasn’t dragged into the court, the new law recognizes that type of protection,” Lueders said.
Christa Westerberg, attorney at McGillivray Westerberg & Bender LLC, said Wisconsin would join many other states with the new law, following Kansas which passed a similar law last week.
The Senate also passed a bill that would give tax credits to businesses that pay for a student’s tuition, as well as appropriate funds to the UW System Board of Regents.
The new tax incentive law provides an income tax and franchise tax credit for businesses that pay tuition for employees’ post-secondary education.
The amount of the tax credit is equal to 25 percent of the tuition paid by a business if the individual is eligible for a grant from the Federal Pell Grant Program, or 30 percent of the tuition paid by a business if the individual is enrolled in a course relating to a worker shortage in Wisconsin and is also eligible for a Pell Grant.
The new law will also direct the UW System Board of Regents to award a grant of $250,000 to the WiSys Technology Foundation to further promote technological innovations developed in the UW System. They would also receive $125,000 annually to create a business plan competition program for students.
One of the Senate’s last actions of the day included an attempt by Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse, to bring a resolution to a Senate committee that would allow Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to sue the federal government over President Barack Obama’s new health care reform.
The action ultimately failed after it was voted down 18-15 on party lines.
