Public Safety

Cities, towns, villages, and counties are the frontline of crime prevention in Wisconsin. As governor, Fran will support local governments by investing in what local leaders already know works to reduce violence. For example, community violence intervention programs have contributed to a major reduction in gun violence in cities like Milwaukee. Neighborhood-level physical improvement programs have also significantly improved public safety by enhancing street lighting and restoring vacant lots into public spaces.

Programs to expand access to housing produce double-digit reductions in arrests and jail stays. As Governor, Fran will use her executive authority to bolster rental unit regulations, pursue aggressive regulation of slumlords and serial housing-law violators, and make it easier for tenants to flag issues and find support. She will also put front and center a statewide Right to Counsel program, which makes it much easier for people facing eviction to access the legal resources typically only afforded to wealthy people; a program Milwaukee’s pilot has shown saves everyone a lot of money. Fran’s housing agency and public bank plan will also streamline the financing of affordable housing construction — and bring in new sources of construction financing — bringing costs to build and own down. But there’s no home more affordable than the one you’re already in. That’s why Fran supports developing a Whole Home Repair program, offering zero- or low-interest loans to working class people to keep their homes habitable.

Economic inequality is correlated with crime. When our public resources are diverted to subsidizing the super-rich instead of investing in good jobs, it puts a lot of stress on families and neighborhoods. That’s why Fran’s green jobs program promises good work at fair wages for important neighborhood projects, and why Fran’s public bank will offer low-interest loans to entrepreneurs and small businesses — meaning it’s much easier to get off the ground and build something in your community.

Armed police are asked to solve too many of our problems — an inefficient allocation of resources. Often, a trained community responder can de-escalate tense situations or intervene in social problems at a lower price and lower risk. We’ve seen community response programs work all across America (and in Wisconsin) — Fran will develop local funding incentives to help municipalities design programs like these that work for them. We also know that investments in social workers reduce crime – by 34% in one study. Fran’s vision of public safety includes nurses, paramedics, and social workers as frontline responders for problems that demand care, not criminalization.

Wisconsinites report that addiction and overdose issues are leading concerns in many communities. For too many folks, administrative hassle is an unreasonable barrier to lifesaving care. As governor, Fran will cut the red tape by expanding reimbursement pathways and removing obstacles that exclude some providers from being able to bill for services and simplify requirements for healthcare facilities to become certified community health centers. Additionally, she’ll invest in what works — like community response teams in Milwaukee that have cut overdoses to their lowest rate in a decade.

Fran wants to make sure we do everything possible to keep people who have served their sentence from returning to jail. By investing in reentry programs and wraparound services like mental health treatment and housing support, we can make sure people who leave prison can stay out.

Wisconsin’s public schools are places to learn, eat, get health and dental care, and receive social and mental health support. In some communities, schools provide an even wider range of services for the whole community. However, nearly 20 years of funding cuts mean they’re doing more with less. We can’t promise kids a safe future if we can’t promise them safe schools.

That’s why Fran’s TAX THE RICH plan:

• Moves away from an unstable and expensive property tax system to a progressive income tax on the richest Wisconsinites and big corporations, fully funding our public schools
• Recognizes different sources of dedicated revenue for diverse programming

Raising a family is hard enough without $10,000+ a year in childcare costs. Too many parents have to decide between raising their children or paying their bills. Fran’s universal childcare program, modeled after similar programs in New Mexico and Vermont, provides completely free childcare for most families and sharply capped costs for everyone else. It also ensures increased childcare worker wages and fair childcare center reimbursement — all through a tiny 0.75% payroll tax. Wisconsin has no future without children: a few dollars from each of us means we can help set up a stable foundation for the next generation.

Rebuilding communities also means investing in the institutions that anchor them, like schools. Early childhood education and afterschool programs are highly effective at reducing crime. However, Republican-backed budget cuts will mean that fewer children have access to either type of program. Fran’s Universal Childcare program will chart a new course here by investing in what works to improve the safety and prosperity of all Wisconsin communities.

Multiple studies have shown that states with expanded Medicaid programs like BadgerCare experienced significant reductions in both violent and nonviolent crime. As governor, Fran will expand Medicaid, develop new kinds of BadgerCare programs that include more kinds of people — like a Basic Health Plan, and establish a robust public option that competes with private insurance plans — proven in other states to lower insurance premiums.

Funds for victim services, like counseling, safe living conditions, and human trafficking support, are capriciously funded, and the federal government hasn’t been paying their fair share. It’s impossible for victim services providers to plan for year to year without knowing whether funds are coming in each budget. Fran will write stable, dependable funding for victim services in every budget she authors.

It’s simple: Cannabis should be legal. By developing a licensing system like Michigan’s, staffed by regulators familiar with the industry, Fran will finally make this safe recreational and medicinal drug legal in Wisconsin and use the revenue to fund languishing state infrastructure like rural broadband. Fran will also exhaust every resource possible to expand eligibility for expungement, work to get people out of jail, and help get them good-paying jobs in the new industry.

Sign into law bipartisan bills that reform how Wisconsin treats people who committed serious offenses as children. We do not serve justice by locking children away for life. 27 states have banned life sentences for juvenile offenders. As governor, Fran will see that Wisconsin follows suit.

Everyone has a right to an attorney, but public defenders face overwhelming caseloads that slow down the system. Wisconsin hires far too few public defenders — previous budgets allocated funding for only a quarter of the lawyers needed. Fran’s budgets will listen to the needs of the underfunded and overlooked components of our criminal justice system.