County Platform 2022
Progressive Dane commits itself to working towards the following goals and principles, and ensuring that all County decisions are made using an equity lens:
1. Equitable Economic Development and Housing Supporting Jobs
2. Open, Inclusive, and Responsive Government
3. Criminal Justice System Reform
4. Responsible Land Use, Accessible Public Transportation, and Response to Climate Change
5. Housing Justice
6. Responsive and Equitable Human Services
7. Healthy Communities
8. Community-Supporting State Policies
1. EQUITABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING SUPPORTING JOBS
Provide health insurance and a living wage adjusted for the higher cost of living in Dane County for all county-funded jobs.
Target economic development subsidies and projects to small, locally-owned, start-up businesses, worker-owned cooperatives, and BIPOC-owned businesses that offer family-supporting jobs, affordable health care, respect for workers' rights, equal opportunity, and environmental soundness.
a. Require county-funded economic development to connect low-income residents to skills training, educational opportunities, workforce supports, and jobs paying a housing wage (as published annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition); and
b. Develop and coordinate resources for targeted projects, businesses, and cooperatives, including entrepreneurial training, micro-lending, business incubators, business-owned storefronts, assistance with business plans, and identifying available office and/or manufacturing locations.
Support a Green New Deal for Dane County that leads on the climate crisis, creates high-quality jobs, grows local sustainable food systems, improves and increases the affordable housing stock, and reduces economic inequality.
Engage in education, outreach, and enforcement to protect consumer rights.
2. OPEN, INCLUSIVE, AND RESPONSIVE GOVERNMENT
CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND ELECTIONS
1. Strictly enforce laws governing full and timely disclosure of all sources of funds for County electoral races and require the County Clerk to post this information within 24 hours on the county website.
2. Address language and other barriers to ensure that all eligible voters are registered and made aware of voting requirements and procedures.
PUBLIC ACCESS
3. Ensure government agencies make data available and accessible to the public, including information about the wages and other compensation paid to county-funded employees, including managers and executives; and information on the County’s private service contracts.
4. Pursue ways to make all aspects of County government responsive and accessible to the public, including:
a. Requiring any governing bodies with authority from the County to encourage public input in all public proceedings, including timely posting of detailed agendas and all related materials in Legistar at least 24 hours in advance of meetings;
b. Listing all county-related meetings in weekly electronic meeting schedules;
c. Limiting meetings held during daytime hours and prioritize daytime meetings for video or audio recording;
d. Allowing public testimony at all meetings without requiring advance registration;
e. Allowing public testimony by phone or video conferencing during hybrid or in-person meetings;
f. Requiring video-recording of all standing committee meetings and additional resources for video-recording of other meetings of public interest;
g. Requiring an evening meeting or meaningful online public engagement process before a committee vote on a major policy initiative;
h. Providing county officials with the resources and tools they need including, but not limited to, user-friendly blogs, email updates, listservs, postcards, surveys, facilitators and other tools to effectively communicate and gather public input;
i. Expanding digital equity initiatives to ensure all residents can access online information and participate in online or hybrid meetings.
5. Ensure that all measures introduced to the Board be considered and voted upon by the appropriate committee(s) within 45 days.
6. Authorize County board rule changes by majority vote at any Board meeting.
7. Pay double per diems and provide childcare for committee members at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level to increase low-income community member participation in county government decisions.
8. Maintain an inclusive and transparent redistricting process including an independent review by a non-partisan entity or organization and opportunity for public input throughout the process.
BUDGETING
9. Support the adoption of an inclusive, transparent, and participatory budgeting process whereby the residents of Dane County directly determine a portion of the County's annual budgets.
10. Make information about the County budget more transparent and accessible, including by posting all information online, listing provider and program names in budget lines, and explaining all acronyms.
11. Explore alternative revenue sources to fund essential county services, such as local income taxes.
12. Support referenda to exceed state levy cap limits to fund needed services.
SUPPORT COUNTY EMPLOYEES
13. Support the rights of County employees to join unions, exercise broad collective bargaining rights, and enjoy protection from all forms of discrimination, sexual harassment, abuse and bullying as defined by law.
14. Oppose privatization of services currently provided by County employees. Reverse privatization of services whenever possible.
15. Ensure that county employees' workplaces are free of discrimination and harassment.
16. Expand access to transition care coverage for transgender persons.
17. Require that proposals to consolidate government services contain evidence that they will result in improved delivery of services and that cost savings will not be derived solely from reduced staffing.
COUNTY CONTRACTING
18. Give preference in County contracts to worker-owned cooperatives and firms that pay prevailing wages or employ a unionized workforce; provide training to low-income residents; have a good environmental, safety, labor, and civil rights history with proven affirmative action records; have culturally relevant practices; and to those owned by members of our community who have been underrepresented due to income status, disability, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, or racial and ethnic background. Identify and address barriers faced by groups underrepresented among County contractors, including by holding public informational sessions on County contracting.
19. Prohibit contracts with parties who produce, use, operate, or administer nuclear weapons, reactors, or technologies.
20. Change county purchasing rules to create a transparent and clear Request for Proposals process for funding Human Services that includes community input and public access to all proposals before approval. Strengthen restrictions on waivers from the County bidding process.
3. CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM REFORM
LEGAL SERVICES AND COURT SYSTEM
1. Provide adequate funding for Dane County Appointed Counsel and develop partnerships with the local bar association, so that those who are not eligible for public defender services continue to have access to affordable legal services.
2. Provide funding for access to counsel at the early stages of criminal proceedings, e.g. pre-charging.
3. Ensure that all individuals in the court system have ready access to legal advice in languages they understand and information regarding the consequences of a criminal conviction.
4. Review all diversion and alternatives to incarceration programs,including, but not limited to the Community Restorative Court, treatment courts, and electronic monitoring, to meet goals of reducing or eliminating racial disparities, reducing the number of persons incarcerated, and mitigating collateral consequences of criminal justice system involvement. Fully fund and implement best practice diversion and preventive programs that address the root causes of crime and juvenile delinquency, while respecting civil rights and individual liberties.
5. Expand restorative justice programs, including the Community Restorative Court Justice Project to reduce jail costs, and facilitate needed closure for those impacted by criminal activity as well as demonstrated rehabilitative services for those accused.
6. Expand supportive services and early intervention for children exposed to abuse and neglect.
7. Support trying individuals under age 18 in juvenile court.
8. Implement weekend court to expedite release of people detained and reduce pretrial detention.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
9. Develop one or more culturally relevant community-based crisis, assessment, and resource centers and/or programs focused on supporting individuals in the community and diverting individuals with mental health, substance abuse, or developmental disability issues from being booked and admitted to the jail. Such a center/program should include the capacity to:
a. Serve as jail diversion by accepting and safely managing referrals of individuals taken into custody by law enforcement who believe (or based on prior contacts know) the individual has mental health issues;
b. Assess and address the immediate mental health needs(s) of the individual referred by law enforcement or at subsequent points of the justice/custody process and link the individual with ongoing support services;
c. House individuals for a time period as determined by health professionals; and
d. Serve as a non-crisis resource center for individuals and families seeking assistance in dealing with mental health issues.
10. Expand the joint City of Madison / County Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES) emergency response team for behavioral health crises to a 24/7 service and explore options for offering CARES in other parts of the County.
11. Work to make the AODA services system, mental health treatment, and the Restoration Center more easily navigable by users. Ensure that anyone who wants treatment can access it in a meaningful way.
JAIL AND POLICING
12. Develop a decarceration plan, informed by the communities most impacted by incarceration, to reduce the average daily population of the jail, reduce or eliminate racial disparities, and construct permanent supportive housing units in the community for persons previously incarcerated and seeking alternatives to incarceration, including electronic monitoring, while in Dane County custody.
13. Pursue the transfer of the Huber work release program from the Sheriff’s Department to the Department of Human Services.
14. Meet data requirements recommended by the 2014 Res. 556 Work Group.
15. Ensure that all persons in Dane County Jail have access to health care, medication, personal contacts, and supplies necessary to support physical, mental, emotional, and sexual health. This includes:
a. Ensuring access to free condoms and menstrual products
b. Ensuring access to transition care for transgender persons
c. Removing barriers to medication-assisted treatment (MAT)
16. Protect and expand the right to in-person visitation, telephone and video calls.
17. Implement policies and practices to support breastfeeding by incarcerated parents and parents in criminal justice system programs.
18. Remove prohibitions on consensual sex in jail between consenting incarcerated persons.
19. Prohibit the cooperation of any County agency, including the police or sheriff, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
20. Facilitate meaningful public review of use of force policies, including people and families with prior law enforcement involvement.
21. End solitary confinement.
22. Ensure a living wage for incarcerated workers.
23. Develop and implement a plan to support the voting rights of people who are in jail.
CRIMINALIZATION POLICIES
24. Oppose all policies that criminalize poverty and homelessness. This includes punitive ordinances with the potential to target low-income and minority populations.
25. Reject state and federal funding to prosecute the war on drugs at the local level.
26. Increase transparency for the Drug Task Force and investigate the harm it has done, especially to communities of color. Transition necessary functions to a model with community oversight.
27. Legislate, tax, and regulate drugs and decriminalize drug use.
4. RESPONSIBLE LAND USE, ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, AND RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Mount an aggressive response to the climate crisis, prioritizing those most vulnerable, including low-income residents and persons who are currently homeless, and by making full use of the Weatherization Assistance Program.
Oppose the siting of F-35 warplanes at the Truax National Guard Base and support transitioning the base to carry out humanitarian missions.
Center Alliant Energy Center redevelopment plans in an equity analysis.
LAND USE AND PARKS
4. Support farmland preservation, family farms, and agricultural practices that are sustainable, regenerative, and organic, through County policies, programs, and funding. This includes:
a. Requiring organic agricultural practices on county-leased lands
b. Using all appropriate regulatory powers to stop urban sprawl development on farmlands, other open spaces, and environmentally sensitive areas
c. Encouraging rural preservation by using Transfer of Development Rights programs in new development areas
5. Encourage higher-density residential development in existing urban locations in concurrence with countywide comprehensive (smart growth) planning.
6. Expand the Conservation Fund to purchase additional parks and open space.
7. Oppose major new transmission line construction and oil and gas pipelines.
8. Manage animal populations on County land ethically, including non-lethal management of geese.
LAKES AND WATER
9. Prevent and mitigate flooding by implementing the recommendations of the Yahara Chain of Lakes Lake Levels Task Force regarding public engagement, dredging, dam management, aquatic plant harvesting, pumping, lake levels, stormwater, and infiltration. Petition the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to order a lowering of the lake levels in the Yahara Chain of Lakes.
10. Protect County surface and drinking water resources by:
a. Performing comprehensive soil and water (surface, ground, and drinking) testing of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at the Dane County Regional Airport and throughout Dane County and supporting the adoption of PFAS standards necessary to protect children and others especially vulnerable to toxins.
b. Supporting watershed restrictions on toxins and pesticides, and limiting mercury runoff from coal plants.
c. Encouraging the use of Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans to reduce the phosphorus runoff into rivers and waterways upstream from our chain of lakes and supporting the removal of legacy phosphorus in waterways.
d. Exercising County regulatory options under the Livestock Facilities Siting law.
11. Explore progressive revenue sources such as a lakefront property transfer fee to expand water quality initiatives.
TRANSPORTATION
12. Provide incentives for all County employees to use public transportation, carpool, bike, or walk.
13. Avoid major new highway construction, including the construction of a North Beltline.
14. Support affordable, convenient, and accessible multimodal transit options with fare-free choices or subsidies for older adults, people with disabilities, and low-income residents.
15. Expand pedestrian and bicycle routes, especially along commuter routes and in areas with fewer transportation options.
SUSTAINABILITY
16. Favor recycled, recyclable, locally produced, environmentally friendly, sweat-free and energy efficient goods in County purchasing policies.
17. As the County’s own climate action plan states, “the recommendations [in the County plan] will leave us far short of the goal the plan establishes to make Dane County carbon-neutral by 2050.” Set necessary, bold goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by:
a. Requiring that any vehicle owned or leased by the county be electric, hybrid, or as fuel-efficient and non-polluting as practicable.
b. Reducing energy use in all county-owned or occupied buildings, auditing all such buildings to determine ways to save energy and increase energy efficiency.
c. Increasing production and purchase of clean energy, including by installing solar panels and other renewables on County land and buildings.
18. Support and incentivize local farmers to grow food for direct human consumption, using regenerative practices that help capture carbon while reducing food miles traveled. Support initiatives to reduce food waste.
5. HOUSING JUSTICE
Implement Housing as a Human Right initiatives to realize that right for all Dane County residents.
Ensure that the development of affordable housing includes training and employment for low-income residents.
Support strategies to increase permanent, affordable, and accessible housing, particularly in high opportunity areas connected to public transportation, including: (a) increasing the affordable housing development fund; (b) land banking to remove property from the speculative market; (c) partnering with the community land trust; (d) creating additional tiny house villages; (e) expanding publicly owned social housing initiatives; and (f) growing capacity of mission driven non-profit housing providers.
Support community-based programs that educate renters about their legal rights and assist them in defending those rights.
Promote and enforce county laws and policies that prohibit housing discrimination.
Discourage economic segregation and work to affirmatively further fair housing and hold municipalities accountable to meet these goals.
Create and make public a registry of vacant property. Prioritize vacant public property for providing housing for people without homes.
Prioritize and support Housing First initiatives that utilize harm reduction and trauma-informed care. Develop standards for community-funded providers to ensure they are following Housing First practices and using eviction as a last resort.
Actively support the Zero Initiative campaign to eliminate veteran, chronic, and family homelessness.
Support efforts to increase federal funding for housing vouchers, creatively implement strategies to increase voucher utilization in our community, and create a locally-funded voucher program.
Develop a housing plan to address the housing gap identified in the Dane County Housing Needs Assessment, including the need for more affordable accessible housing for older adults and people with physical limitations.
Require the Register of Deeds to automatically remove racist covenants in property titles and homeownership documents upon any transfer of property.
Support the right to publicly-funded legal representation for residential tenants facing eviction or termination of subsidized housing (a.k.a. right to counsel).
6. RESPONSIVE AND EQUITABLE HUMAN SERVICES
Fully fund human service agencies, including annual cost of living increases.
Prioritize Human Services funding and program development for the most vulnerable residents. Eliminate service barriers for persons without a permanent address.
Ensure basic safety net services to those who are ineligible for federal Supplemental Security Income and food stamp benefits, and Wisconsin's welfare (W-2) program.
Support due process for residents who have been denied services by state and County social services programs.
Prioritize services that are culturally relevant and use harm reduction and trauma-informed care.
Use surplus carryovers from the Human Services Budget to fund human services gaps. Stop the practice of taking surplus funds to fund the Sheriff’s department, reduce the levy, or contribute to the general fund.
Invest in capacity-building for low-income neighborhoods, including by supporting resident-directed organizing.
Ensure sufficient shelter space and a comprehensive day center that is available to all who need those resources.
Support 24/7 access to restrooms and storage for individuals without housing.
Improve child protection strategies to reduce racial disparities in out-of-home placements and to support prompt reunification of families.
Protect the human and civil rights of all immigrants, regardless of status. Use County resources to provide services to immigrants, including but not limited to universal access to legal representation, public benefits, and municipal identification.
7. HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
Increase and prioritize funding for the County public health infrastructure to plan for and respond to emergencies, monitor problems, lead evidence-based interventions, provide support, and collect data essential to improving population health and informing local policies.
Improve and expand child care assistance for families and training for providers; services and accommodations for people with disabilities; domestic violence prevention; mental health services; HIV and AIDS services, prevention, and education; dental services; alcohol and drug abuse treatment services; and medical and legal services for the poor.
Provide adequate funding to mount a multifaceted response to the public health crisis of racism, with leadership by those most impacted.
Respond to opioid abuse, alcohol abuse, drug and other addictions with a public health approach that emphasizes treatment rather than criminalizing illness. Expand access to treatment for opiate addictions, including methadone, in the community, residential treatment facilities, and the Dane County jail and expand access to overdose reversal drugs like Narcan/naloxone.
Promote reproductive justice, including supports for safe pregnancies and births and access to reproductive health care, including abortion past 20 weeks.
Actively support living wages and paid sick leave for all health care and direct care workers.
Make multi-sector commitments to being an age-friendly and dementia-friendly county, and encouraging municipalities to do the same.
Recognize crime as a danger to public health, with an emphasis on prevention and remediation strategies as part of defunding traditional policing. Work with municipalities to provide:
a. Early intervention and integrated supports for at-risk youth
b. Crime prevention through environmental design
c. Screening and evidence-based interventions, such as counseling and motivational interviewing, for people at risk of alcohol abuse and violence
8. COMMUNITY-SUPPORTING STATE POLICIES
Urge the state legislature to permit counties to enact a countywide minimum wage, paid sick leave, and vacation requirements.
Support local control over elections by urging the state legislature to:
a. Permit counties to implement campaign finance reforms including limits on contributions and significant public funding of all elections;
b. Create state enabling legislation to allow local governments to use alternative electoral processes for local offices, such as Ranked Choice Voting;
c. Create state enabling legislation to allow local governments to enact local public electoral financing; and
Urge the state legislature to allow local jurisdictions to employ progressive sources of revenue, including regional transit authorities, and to eliminate spending caps on raising revenue.
Advocate for changes to state law and local policies and practices to end money bail.
Oppose state efforts to remove zoning rules from local control.
Support state legislation enabling county government oversight of power line placement in utility corridors such as existing or abandoned railroad rights of way.
Support state legislation that requires endorsement by County Boards of Supervisors for city or village annexation of towns' lands for purposes of applying for urban service area expansions or for annexations that would reduce farmland or greenspace protections.
Support state legislation to require the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to add approval criteria for urban service area expansions, including expansion impacts on arterial highway commuter traffic loads, on existing residential housing or building sites, and on farmlands or other open spaces.
Urge the state legislature to repeal laws limiting local governments' ability to expand housing opportunity and tenant protections.
approved by unanimous consent at the December 22, 2021 General Membership Meeting