For the first time in state history, this bill mandates fiscal estimates and appropriations, among other things, for new crime bills. Rapid Rise in Prison Spending State corrections costs threaten to outstrip those of the University of Wisconsin System. During that same period, GPR spending for corrections rose 26.2 percent. Prison spending has unbalanced our system of justice. Probation and parole agents are in short supply.
Court dockets are jammed for lack of circuit judges.
Civil court cases take years to schedule in some places. Counties are crying for more assistant district attorneys. The governor vetoed the addition of 17.5 such prosecutors from the budget bill. Various measures to add assistant district attorneys this year have been proposed. Whether they will be approved cannot be predicted.