State budget committee votes to end same-sex couples program

GOP says it’s no longer needed since 2015 Supreme Court ruling

MADISON - An 8-year-old program that gives same-sex couples some of the benefits of married couples would end under a plan the Legislature’s budget committee adopted Thursday night.

Republicans who lead the Joint Finance Committee said the domestic partnership program was no longer needed because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 there is a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry.

They noted the domestic partnership program is available to gay couples but not straight couples.

“This isn’t personal,” said Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield). “This is simply an equity issue and a fairness issue.”

The plan was folded into the state budget on a 12-4 vote, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats against. Democrats called the move unnecessary and said the system should be made available to all couples instead of ended.

“It’s pushing marriage on people who may not want to be married for whatever reason,” said Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton).

Wisconsin voters in 2006 amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. In response, Democrats, when they controlled state government in 2009, created the domestic partnership program, which allowed same-sex couples to register with counties to receive some, but not all, of the benefits of marriage.

That’s no longer needed because of the 2015 court ruling that allowed gay marriage, Republicans argued.

Their plan would allow existing domestic partnerships to stay in place but would prevent new ones from being formed starting next year.

On another 12-4 vote, the committee agreed to stop providing health care and other benefits to the domestic partners of state and local government workers.

Of the 4,400 couples who make use of these benefits through government employers, nearly four out of five couples are opposite sex, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Also Thursday, the committee rejected Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to create a self-insurance system for state employees to save money.

Instead, the committee agreed to dip into a reserve fund, increase the amount state employees pay for their insurance and negotiate new money-saving contracts with insurers. Together, those changes — adopted 16-0 — will total $63.9 million over two years.

The increased costs for employees could be as much as 10% a year, depending on the plans they are enrolled in.

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said the governor would continue to push for his self-insurance plan.

“Moving to self-insurance is a common sense conservative reform that would save taxpayer money without passing on costs to state workers,” Evenson said by email.

Republicans who control the Legislature remain divided on transportation and education but made headway on other budget areas.

The committee voted unanimously to give state workers a 2% raise in each of the next two years. That would cost $58.6 million in state and federal money.

Prison spending

The committee also agreed to put more money toward mental health treatment for adult and juvenile inmates. Their votes came amid a years-long criminal investigation into prisoner abuse and child neglect at the state’s juvenile prison complex that houses Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls.

County rates. Counties would see the rates they pay to keep juvenile offenders behind bars jump by 35%, from $292 a day to $395 a day.

Counties are responsible for the cost of holding inmates at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake.

The facilities have seen their populations drop as the investigation has escalated, but the fixed costs have stayed about the same. That set the stage for the hefty increase in the daily rates.

Juvenile mental health. The committee agreed unanimously to hire three workers to address mental health for female juvenile inmates.

Earned release. The committee voted, 11-5, to hire 21 workers so the state can put hundreds more adult inmates a year through a drug treatment program that allows them to be released early. Judges have to agree to put inmates into the program when they are sentenced.

The measure is expected to save $5 million over two years.

Mental health. The committee unanimously agreed to hire 22 workers and spend $2.8 million to address mental health at Oshkosh, Waupun, Green Bay and Columbia correctional institutions.

Health services. The committee unanimously voted to spend $5.1 million and hire 66 workers to expand health services at Columbia, Oshkosh and Taycheedah correctional institutions.

Body cameras. On a unanimous vote, the committee decided to buy 269 body cameras so all guards who work in the solitary confinement wings of the state’s maximum security prisons can be equipped with them.