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Governor Inks Dozens More Bills Tuesday, Including Strip Search Expansion

Change To Agency Budget Requests Also Among 58 Measures Singed Into Law

Michael Vadon (CC-BY)

Gov. Scott Walker’s writing hand was busy again Tuesday: He signed 58 bills into law, according to a statement from his office.

Among them were measures expanding authorities’ ability to conduct strip searches and requiring state agencies to develop plans for cutting or maintaining their budgets.

The strip search bill expands on an existing policy that said anyone arrested or detained on suspicion of a crime that isn’t a felony could be strip-searched only if the person would be held with others for at least 12 hours. The updated policy removes the 12-hour requirement.

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GOP lawmakers say the change will increase safety for inmates and guards. Democrats have questioned how Republicans can expand strip searches given the potential for abuse, pointing to a $5 million settlement the city of Milwaukee reached in January with 74 black men who alleged police subjected them to illegal strip and body-cavity searches.

The budget bill, meanwhile, will have state agencies include more options in their biennial funding requests.

Under the current budget process, agencies submit budget requests for the next two years to the governor by Sept. 15 of every even-numbered year. The new GOP-backed plan has them also including plans for cutting their operations budget by 5 percent and for maintaining operational spending levels for the biennium.