Lawmaker removed from comittee for wanting to read bill

Lawmaker says she was removed from panel over global warming bill concerns

Original Post:JS Online
By: Lee Bergquist and Jason Stein

A Democratic member of the Assembly said Thursday that she was removed from a committee that advanced legislation limiting carbon emissions.

Rep. Ann Hraychuck (D-Balsam Lake) said Assembly leaders pulled her from the Special Committee on Clean Energy Jobs after she expressed concerns in the morning that revisions on the last-minute legislation didn't give her enough time to review the changes and talk to constituents about the bill.

The changes, in the form of a substitute amendment, were circulated among lawmakers on Tuesday.

Hraychuck is a former sheriff who has taken on a number of law-and-order bills for Democrats since defeating incumbent Republican Mark Pettis in 2006.

Rebekah Sweeney, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan (D-Janesville), said Hraychuck had five bills on Thursday's Assembly agenda, including one to raise penalties on those who help felons illegally purchase guns.

The decision to have Hraychuck leave the committee, which was considering only the climate-change bill, was to allow Hraychuck to focus on her own bills, Sweeney said.

But Jim Bender, spokesman for Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon), said the move was about keeping a Democratic lawmaker in a competitive district from voting on a controversial bill.

Bender said the move showed Democrats were nervous about the public's reaction to the contentious proposal.

The panel voted 6-3 Thursday to advance the bill to the full Assembly. Eight amendments offered by Republicans were rejected by majority Democrats.

The bill would require that 25% of the state's energy to generate electricity come from renewable resources by 2025.

The aim of the legislation is to lower heat-trapping carbon emissions and to reduce the state's reliance on out-of-state fossil fuel sources. Wisconsin spends $16 billion a year on oil, natural gas and coal to generate electricity.

Proponents say the legislation will spur new employment in the energy sector and green technologies, but opponents say it will increase the cost of electricity and drive up manufacturing costs.

Hraychuck said there were many good provisions in the bill and that she was committed to passing legislation that will increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and create jobs.