Cost Estimates Would Be Required For Criminal Penalty Proposals Under Bill

Democrats on the Legislature’s budget committee are introducing a bill they say will help reduce the state’s billion-dollar prison budget.

The bill, which its Joint Finance Committee authors have named the “Truth in Corrections Budget Act,” would bar proposals for new criminal penalties from moving forward without such a cost estimate provided by its author.

“What our bill is trying to do is to say, ‘Let’s look at the cost of incarceration with each new bill that is put forward that makes incarceration the option,’” said Taylor.

Taylor said a similar law has been effective in Minnesota where the prison population is half what it is in Wisconsin. She also said she’s optimistic about getting Republican support for the bill, since she said there’s a growing conservative consensus nationally to support cost saving criminal justice reforms. Similar bills have failed to win support in past years.