Kapenga tells ‘UpFront’ LeMahieu may lose management submit if on-line gaming, NIL payments get flooring votes

GOP State Sen. Chris Kapenga says Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu may lose his management submit if he brings the web sports activities betting and NIL payments to the ground for a vote Tuesday, as each face some Republican opposition.

“Precedent has always been you’ve got to have the rule of 17, if it’s Republican or Democrat votes,” Kapenga mentioned on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “So I hope the majority leader doesn’t go there. I think it’s very dangerous for him if he does go there, so I just hope it doesn’t happen.”

Kapenga mentioned neither invoice has sufficient Republican assist to move with out Democrats.”I’ve heard the phrase shameful, so I’ll use that in my feedback,” Kapenga mentioned, referring to the web sports activities betting invoice. “It’s shameful that when you look at the money that’s behind this, and you don’t have a coalescence of the Republican votes, that’s very concerning to me, so I hope it does not go to the floor.”

The laws, which handed the Assembly, would legalize on-line sports activities betting operated by way of Wisconsin tribes.The NIL invoice, which handed the Assembly 95-1, would allocate practically $15 million yearly for debt companies for UW-Madison athletic amenities, liberating up cash for funds to athletes.LeMahieu is the lead co-author within the Senate of the NIL invoice, which Kapenga and three different Senate Republicans voted in opposition to in committee final week. Republicans have an 18-15 majority.

“We’ll just have to see what the majority leader does,” Kapenga mentioned. “But he completely must go to Democrat votes to get it achieved as a result of there’s a big a part of the caucus that doesn’t assist it.

“On ongoing tax reduction negotiations between Republicans and Gov. Tony Evers, Kapenga mentioned Senate Republicans are nonetheless united in calls for that any compromise embrace rebate checks.

“Each side has to move to the middle,” Kapenga mentioned, referring to Evers’ calls for for extra training funding. “So if we see something that keeps our rebate checks in place, we would be open to having a discussion about it.”

Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein says “a lot” of Senate Democrats assist the web sports activities betting invoice, including it has a powerful probability of passing if delivered to the ground for a vote.”I believe numerous us are in favor of this proper now,” Hesselbein instructed “UpFront.” “Sports betting is happening in the state of Wisconsin, but it’s happening with these companies from out of state, out of the country. And I think it makes sense to have our Native American tribes be able to benefit.”

Hesselbein wouldn’t particularly say if she’s pressuring Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu to carry the sports activities betting and NIL payments to the ground for a vote.

“It’s just a lot of conversations, a lot of phone calls that I’m making with members saying what their thoughts are on it, what they think of it,” Hesselbein mentioned. “There are certain people in favor, and some people aren’t, so just trying to figure out what people want to do.”

Beyond that, Hesselbein mentioned Democrats plan to introduce a sequence of amendments Tuesday past the payments that shall be positioned on the calendar.”

We are hoping to proceed to push our amendments that actually assist with affordability and the rising value within the state of Wisconsin,” she mentioned. “We know that people, we’ve been listening to people actually since day one when it first started this session, about what healthy meals at school could do, free healthy meals for kids would give free meals at lunchtime, but they would do better in school, and it would also help parents like $1,500 with their grocery bills. That’s real money that would be an instant savings, so we’re hoping that Republicans will listen to us and actually get a vote on that to move things forward.”

Don Millis, a Republican member of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, says it could be a problem to implement elements of the SAVE Act in Wisconsin if handed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump.

“There could be a lot of impacts,” Millis instructed “UpFront.” “The SAVE Act, as it passed the House, just really has two provisions, the citizenship requirement and the voter ID requirement. We already comply with the voter ID requirement. The citizen requirement would be, that would be a challenge. I know that in the Senate, there have been talks about adding other things into the SAVE Act. That, I think it would be hard for Wisconsin or other states to comply if it is enacted, if it passes the Senate, it was signed by the president and it survives a court challenge.”

Millis additionally weighed in on Milwaukee’s 2020 absentee ballots, which haven’t but been destroyed due to ongoing litigation, amid rising concern from native election officers that the FBI may subpoena election information in Wisconsin.

“I would think that it’s possible,” Millis mentioned when requested whether or not the ballots ought to have already been destroyed. “They’re having two lawsuits, one against the city, which has been resolved, and then one against the county. And if you’re representing the county or the city, it seems to me your first obligation is to tell the judge ‘Look, the election deniers or conspirators who are trying to sue us and want all these sorts of documents, and all that they may be entitled to certain documents, they shouldn’t be entitled to these secret ballots,’ and it seems to me that they should have made an effort. The attorneys or the county should have made an effort to get a court order allowing them to dispose of these ballots as they are normally disposed of everywhere else in the state 22 months after the 2020 election.”

“My understanding, I don’t have personal knowledge, is that those efforts have not been made,” Millis added. “And my concern is if the county clerk can’t stop some yahoo from central Wisconsin who wants to look at these ballots, have access to them, how is the clerk going to stop the FBI with a search warrant or the Department of Justice?”

Millis, although, mentioned there’s no proof but the FBI is ready to subpoena information, because it has in different states like Arizona.

Tourism Secretary Anne Sayers says the state is already seeing curiosity after just lately launching Wisconsin’s new movie workplace and tax credit to provide movies within the state.

“By finally having a film office and the film tax credit, the announcement got a lot of attention,” Sayers instructed “UpFront.” “We’re seeing a lot of interest, so stay tuned because I think we will be seeing more Wisconsin on our screen soon.”

The new provisions, a part of the newest state price range, create the Wisconsin movie workplace and allocate $5 million a yr in tax credit.

“Anytime we’re filming in Wisconsin, we are translating that into big bucks for Wisconsin,” Sayers mentioned. “So anything we take on, whether it’s the ‘Top Chef’ that we saw in the past, huge income for Wisconsin. And it’s the kind of thing that leads to more income down the road because people are doing what’s called set-jetting. It’s two-thirds of global travelers who are actually deciding where to take vacations based on what they’re inspired by seeing on the screen.”

She mentioned the brand new workplace and credit make Wisconsin aggressive.

“It’s kind of amazing to think that just a couple of months ago, we were one of four states that didn’t have an office, one of 14 states that didn’t have any tax credits,” Sayers mentioned. “Now, suddenly, we can be competitive when those productions are being made. We can keep our filmmakers in-state and attract out-of-state filmmakers in a way that we just didn’t have the ability to be competitive only a few months ago.”

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