Note --- The bill passed through the Assembly. Disturbingly 13 Democrats voted yes for it, including several who I normally credit with having much more sense than to jump on this bandwagon. If your representative was among them you might want to tell them what you think. I also note that in the last day before passage multiple amendments were offered to make it slightly less awful, including allowing the purchase of anything made on a Wisconsin farm, any kind of milk, or any kind of cheese. These were, of course, tabled for being too sensible and perhaps out of a fear that they might create Wisconsin farming jobs.
The state assembly is today considering AB 110. This is a bill sponsored by Dean Kaufert (R, Neenah) regarding food that can be purchased on the SNAP program (called Foodshare in Wisconsin). This is the program that most of us think of as food stamps. Healthy food is a great thing, and I certainly understand that there may be good reasons to try to make sure that people who are on financial assistance are eating well with the taxpayer-funded money going to them.
That being said - this is yet another in a series of ill-considered bills being introduced into the legislature that almost certainly stand no chance of actually being implemented. These bills waste the efforts of the state legislature, waste our tax dollars, and seem to serve no purpose other than to be divisive. Let's look at a few of the problems, since clearly the Republicans in the legislature aren't interested in examining the effects of their own legislation.
