Last summer an innocent teenage boy, Jared Kellner, was on his way to Summerfest in my Assembly district. Tragedy struck as he exited the parking garage and walked on the sidewalk to the festival grounds when a concrete slab fell off the parking structure. Jared was crushed to death. This tragedy never should have happened.

When he was Milwaukee County executive last summer, Gov. Scott Walker publicly pledged to Dawn Kellner, Jared’s mother, that he would reach out to her and join her in any potential lawsuit. In her emotional testimony before the Legislature last week, Jared’s mother called out Walker for promoting a bill that would protect people like those responsible for her son’s death. She said she wanted to know why Walker wants to protect the worst of the worst. Good question.

In his first bill proposed as governor in the special session on jobs, Walker is urging lawmakers to pass legislation to make it difficult for the Kellners and families like them to hold people accountable when their loved ones die because of someone else’s carelessness. As the families of the victims eloquently and courageously told the Legislature last week, Walker’s bill would protect people who drive drunk, who harm nursing home residents, and who cut corners making children’s toys or building parking garages.