District Attorney, Prison Funding Likely Dead In State Legislature

A proposal to pay for more district attorneys in Wisconsin and set aside funding for a new prison appears to be dead in the state Legislature.

Under the proposal, the state would budget $4 million to hire about 53 new prosecutors in 40 counties across the state. Eligible counties would be those that are operating with less than 79 percent of the state’s recommended staffing level. Dane and Milwaukee counties would not qualify because they exceed that benchmark.

District attorneys across Wisconsin have been pushing for years to address what they call a critical shortage of assistant DAs.

The plan passed the state Assembly in February, but unless the Senate takes it up during an extraordinary session next month, the bill will be dead until next year, at the earliest.

The office of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill.

“It’s disappointing,” said Jacalyn LaBre, president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association. “We were hopeful once it passed the Assembly that it would also pass the Senate as well.”

However, LaBre said she has spoken with a number of senators and is optimistic about the bill’s fate in the 2019-2020 legislative session.

“I think this just maybe wasn’t the right bill or the right time,” LaBre said. “It’s my understanding that this is something that will be looked at in the next session.”

DA shortages have led to longer waits before criminals are charged, LaBre said, which affects victims as well. It prolongs the amount of time before their case is settled, delay the return of stolen property and add to psychological burdens.

“They won’t get the closure as quickly as they need if there’s a delay,” she said.

Ashland County District Attorney Kelly McKnight said his county would’ve qualified for the bill’s additional funding. He said an increase in meth cases in Ashland County has led to an even more difficult workload for an understaffed office.

“It’s not even just as simple as we have more cases, but the cases we have now are more difficult and more complicated cases that get litigated more heavily,” he said.

Some opponents to the bill said it should have also included funding for public defenders.

The plan would have also borrowed $350 million for a new state prison, a measure that a number of groups protested in Madison earlier this month.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, expressed support for the funding late last year, saying something must be done to address overcrowding in Wisconsin prisons.

The bill also included language that would require the state Department of Corrections to revoke extended supervision, probation, or parole for people who commit crimes while on extended supervision, probation or parole.