Patrick Marley

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Guards at Wisconsin’s troubled juvenile prison complex would be required to report suspected child abuse and neglect to law enforcement under a bill the state Senate is to take up Tuesday.

The legislation is the first concrete step lawmakers are taking in response to a criminal investigation of Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls.

Senate Bill 35 would make juvenile guards — or youth counselors, as they are known at Lincoln Hills — mandated reporters, just as doctors, teachers, day care providers and others who work with children are.

The measure was approved unanimously last week by a Senate committee, signaling that it will have broad support in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The investigation of Lincoln Hills began more than two years ago and is focused on prisoner abuse, child neglect, excessive use of pepper spray and other potential crimes. The probe is now headed by the FBI.

"There is no way that abuse should have taken place for so long, for so many years, without the Legislature knowing about it," said Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), a sponsor of the legislation.

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Johnson called the bill "a good first step," but said she believed the state should ultimately close Lincoln Hills and house inmates in regional facilities so offenders can be held in their communities.

Also Tuesday, the Senate is taking up measures to eliminate the office of state treasurer and ensure concealed weapons permits are good for five years. The Assembly will vote on bills allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental medication and making a drug derived from marijuana more readily available to children who suffer from seizure disorders.

Here’s a look at what’s on the agenda:

Treasurer. Senate Joint Resolution 3 would set the stage for eliminating the position of state treasurer, which has been stripped of most of its duties in recent decades.

Lawmakers approved the idea in the last legislative session and must do so again to send the issue to voters to decide if they want to amend the state constitution in a referendum. If approved by the Senate on Tuesday and Assembly on Thursday, the referendum would be held in April 2018.

Concealed weapons. Permits to carry concealed weapons would be good for a full five years under Senate Bill 7. Currently, when someone renews a permit early, it is good for five years from the date it is issued — meaning the owner doesn’t get a full five years of use from the original permit.

Under the bill, the renewed permit would be good until five years after the previous permit expired.

The Senate is expected to approve the bill on Tuesday and the Assembly on Thursday. It would then go to GOP Gov. Scott Walker, who signed the legislation allowing concealed weapons in 2011.

Right to try. Terminally ill patients, working with their doctors, would be able to try treatments that have not received full approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration, under Assembly Bill 69.

The measure has the backing of some of the most conservative and liberal lawmakers in Wisconsin, but not doctors, who say medicine should be fully vetted in clinical trials to avoid worsening anyone's condition.

The Assembly is taking up the bill on Tuesday and it would next go to the Senate.

Cannabis oil. A drug derived from marijuana used to reduce seizures in children would be more readily available under Senate Bill 10.

In 2014, legislators and Walker approved legislation — Lydia's Law — to allow families to obtain cannabidiol oil, or CBD oil, in limited cases to treat a patient. But the conditions have proved so restrictive that families and physicians have been unable to make use of it.

The latest legislation would ease those limits, allowing families to possess CBD oil for any medical condition if approved by a physician on a yearly basis.