MADISON–The Assembly Committee on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Prevention met this week for the first time in 2025. A brief public hearing was held Tuesday, and an even briefer executive session was held Thursday. After speaking with Democratic members of the committee, Rep. Ann Roe (D-Janesville), and Rep. Karen DeSanto (D-Baraboo), Ranking Member Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) released the following statement:
“The Assembly Committee on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Prevention didn’t meet in the first quarter of 2025, finally gathered for the first time on April 1st, and the public hearing lasted less than 33 minutes. AB 73, the only bill heard by the Committee Tuesday, was redrafted with the same content that faced opposition in the senate last legislative session (2023 AB 280).
“AB 73 establishes specialty courts that grant businesses special treatment, and codifies treatment courts in state statute–using treatment courts as a Trojan horse to push this bill across the finish line. AB 73 is less about treatment courts and more about special treatment in the courts.
“No testimony supporting AB 73 was provided beyond author testimony at the public hearing, and yet less than 48 hours later an Executive Session called for a vote on the bill. After this, we are left wondering why AB 73 was rushed through our committee. What is the urgency that lack of input supersedes securing testimony?
“We have five bills sitting in our committee right now, four of which were unanimously approved by the Joint Legislative Council on a bipartisan basis. We should be holding a public hearing on these bills, gathering various perspectives on these bills, and having conversations about how these bills could address the mental health needs of Wisconsinites. That is what Wisconsinites expect us to do, and Wisconsinites deserve better than what this legislature is doing right now. Mental health is far too important of a topic to ignore, and it’s most certainly not a topic that should be used as a Trojan horse to promote Republican special interests–that’s offensive!
“Now is the time to hold robust hearings on mental health and substance use disorder prevention, seek common ground for the common good, and get good bills signed into law so that we can move Wisconsin forward, together.”
