Mary Lazich

Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws.

Mary Lazich is a Republican state senator representing Wisconsin's 28th Senate District.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

Sen. Lazich has been a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). She was a member of the ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force in 2011. According to One Wisconsin Now, she used $200 in taxpayer funds to pay her membership dues in 2007. In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Sen. Lazich co-sponsored 12 bills that reflect ALEC models, according to an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy.

In March 2013, Sen. Lazich told a constituent by email that she is no longer an ALEC member. Please see Legislators Who Have Cut Ties to ALEC for more.

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.

2011 Legislation

Sen. Lazich introduced or co-sponsored the following legislation in 2011:

• Sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution claimed; federal mandates provision............SR-18
  • Compare with ALEC Resolution Reaffirming Tenth Amendment Rights

• Transportation fund created in DOT and revenue generated by use of the state transportation system to be deposited into it: constitutional amendment (1st consideration)............SJR-23
  • Compare with ALEC Constitutional Amendment Restricting the Use of Vehicle Fees and Taxes

• Identification requirement for voting in elections created, provisional and absentee ballot provisions; use of corroborating electors to verify residence discontinued; DOT ID card fee waived, obtaining a card without a photo for religious reasons, and issuing an identification certificate; special voting deputies to certain adult family homes and residential care apartment complexes permitted; GAB public informational campaign............SB-6
  • Compare with ALEC Voter ID Act

• Condemnation law revisions re public purpose, blighted property, residential property, public utilities, and procedures; PSC provision............SB-83

• Economic development tax credit program: credits allocated by Comm.Dept increased............JR1AB-4

• Motor vehicle insurance revisions re proof of financial responsibility, medical payments coverage, uninsured and underinsured motorists, and permissible policy provisions............SB-7

Lazich and Education

Lazich co-sponsored Assembly Bill 94, which would, according to analysis done by Center for Media and Democracy’s Mary Bottari, “expand the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) to all private schools in Milwaukee County and eliminate the 22,500 enrollment cap. It also modifies the Milwaukee program to provide direct payments in lump sums to private schools, not as individual payments to parents as is required by current law. Turning over public funds to private religious schools has been a highly litigated issue on the lines of separation of church and state. Included in the drafting file for this Wisconsin bill is a legal memo penned by Dick Komer from the conservative Minnesota think tank, the Koch Family Foundations-funded Institute for Justice, setting out the legal argument for this provision's constitutionality….The proposal incorporates elements of ALEC's Parental Choice Scholarship Accountability Act and three different versions of this bill, which alter the eligibility requirements.

• MPS prohibited from placing residency requirements on its teachers............SB-34

Support for Wisconsin Act 10's Collective Bargaining Limits

Sen. Lazich supported Governor Scott Walker's Budget Repair Bill (Act 10) that curtailed collective bargaining for public employees.

2011 / 2012 Committee Assignments

Senate Standing Committees:

• Committee on Labor, Public Safety, and Urban Affairs
• Committee on Public Health, Human Services, and Revenue
• Committee on Transportation and Elections (Chair)

Joint Committees:

• Joint Legislative Audit Committee
• Joint Legislative Council (Co-Chair)

Legislative Council Study Committees:

• Special Committee on Review of Emergency Detention and Admission of Minors Under Chapter 51 (Chair)