It’s time to reform state expungement law

In 2019, only 0.23% of all Wisconsin prison admissions were for marijuana cases that did not include more serious crimes, according to a new policy brief published today by the Badger Institute. “Few marijuana offenders in prison,” authored by Badger Institute Policy Analyst Julie Grace, found that incarceration is rare for pot-only convictions.

Only 21 of the more than 9,000 people who were sentenced to prison in 2019 were guilty of solely a marijuana offense or combination of such offenses, including possession, manufacture and intent to deliver. Of those 21 cases, only three were first-time offenders.

Gov. Tony Evers recently proposed legalizing recreational marijuana, saying that it would provide more state revenue, create jobs and reduce criminal justice system costs. In order to determine potential savings in the criminal justice system, the Badger Institute partnered with Court Data Technologies, a Madison firm that analyzes Wisconsin court data, to examine whether judges sentenced individuals convicted of marijuana offenses to prison or jail or neither.

Read the full brief here.

Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed 2021-’23 budget adds a variety of spending and programs aimed at assisting low-income households. Some of the spending proposals represent useful and targeted assistance to low-income working families in Wisconsin, while others will crowd out private investments, invite abuse or simply be ineffective.

Badger Institute Visiting Fellow Angela Rachidi took a deep dive into Evers' proposals and analyzed what might work and what won't.

Read her full analysis here.

A dentist who owns two growing practices in adjacent rural counties in south-central Minnesota, Shawn Knorr is busy, and he prefers it that way.

“I like the work, and I like to work hard,” he says. “We have a productive office.”

Some of Knorr’s patients drive up to an hour to see him for their crowns, root canals, implants or oral surgery. Those who need preventative exams and restorations — the technical term for fillings — often will open wide for his dental therapist, Brie Borntrager, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate.

“It makes a lot of sense to have Brie on the team. She’s particularly gifted working with children,” Knorr says.

Regarded as mid-level providers, dental therapists are to dentists what physician assistants and nurse practitioners are to doctors.

Read the rest of the article here.

Wisconsin has a dental access problem, particularly for children on Medicaid, rural residents, people with disabilities and lower-income populations. Twenty percent of the state’s residents — more than 1.2 million people — live in an area that has a shortage of dental health professionals. Only 40% of children on Medicaid received preventative dental services in 2019, and only one-third of Wisconsin dentists accept Medicaid patients at all.

Thankfully, there is a solution. Allowing for dental therapists — mid-level providers similar to physician assistants or nurse practitioners — would go a long way toward addressing Wisconsin’s dental provider shortage without burdening taxpayers.

Read the full fact sheet here.