Dave Hansen

Dave Hansen
Wisconsin State Senate District 30
Incumbent
In office
2001 - Present
Term ends
January 2, 2017
Years in position	12
Party	Democratic
Leadership
Assistant Minority Leader, Wisconsin State Senate
2013-present
Assistant Majority Leader, Wisconsin State Senate
July 17, 2012 – 2013
Majority Leader, Wisconsin State Senate
2009
Compensation
Base salary	$49,943/year
Per diem	$88/day
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 6, 2012
First elected	2000
Next election	November 8, 2016
Term limits	N/A
Education
Bachelor's	University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, 1971
Personal
Birthday	12/18/1947
Place of birth	Green Bay, WI
Websites
Office website

Dave Hansen (b. December 18, 1947) is a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Senate who currently serves as State Senate Assistant Minority Leader. He has represented District 30 since 2000. He was the Assistant Majority Leader from July 17, 2012 to 2013. He was previously a Brown County Board Supervisor from 1996 to 2002.

Hansen's professional experiences include steward with Teamster's Union; teacher; and truck driver for Green Bay Department of Public Works.

Hansen earned his BS from University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. He is married and has three children.

Hansen was the target of a recall in 2011. He easily defeated his opponent, David VanderLeest, to keep his seat.

Committee assignments

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Hansen served on the following committees:

2011-2012

At the beginning of the 2011 legislative session, Hansen served on the following committees:

2009-2010

At the beginning of the 2009 legislative session, Hansen served on the following committees:

Issues

Legislation

Legislation sponsored or co-sponsored by Sen. Hansen includes:

• A resolution to provide some school district property tax relief to people who live in Wisconsin
• A bill permitting tort action against the seller of residential real estate for fraud or intentional misrepresentation
• A bill increasing the property tax deferral loan amount for elderly homeowners

Nonpartisan redistricting

See also: Redistricting in Wisconsin

In December 2012, Hansen said he planned to introduce legislation to make the once a decade redistricting process nonpartisan. It process, which is currently controlled by the legislature, saw was extremely partisan and divisive following the 2010 census. Hansen's bill would put the Legislative Reference Bureau in charge of redrawing the maps as well as require a nonpartisan redistricting advisory commission.

2011 Legislative walkout

Hansen and the 13 other Democratic senators participated in a legislative walkout on February 17, 2011 in opposition to Assembly Bill 11 - a Republican-sponsored bill aimed at limiting collective bargaining rights, compensation and fringe benefits of public employees. The Democratic departure left the Senate one vote shy of a quorum. Reports confirmed the senators fled to a hotel in Rockford, Illinois. State police were dispatched by Governor Scott Walker (R) to retrieve the senators, but were unable to cross state lines. The 14 state senators who left the state are being described as the "Badger 14" or "Fab 14."

On February 22, speaking from the basement of an Illinois hotel, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller provided the minority response to Gov. Scott Walker, saying, "The governor has the tools at his disposal to put this issue to an end. As soon as he is willing to take a compromise, we will go back to work in an instant." Miller stated that the legislators payed for the trip themselves, and that no taxpayer money was spent.

Walker called on the Democratic senators to return to the state by March 1 in order to vote to restructure the state's debt. If they did not, he stated he may have to start cutting state jobs, saying:

It’s not just a number, it’s not just a budget, it’s ultimately a real person with a real family, so I’m going to push that back as far as I can. We’ve got to have real numbers to balance the budget to avoid layoffs. My hope is those 14 state senators … realize that in the end, it’s much better off to avoid those cuts, it’s much better off to avoid the most dire consequences that will come if we don’t pass this bill.

The Democratic senators said they would not return until the governor was willing to compromise on the budget-repair bill.

Democrats threatened with arrest

Republicans passed a unanimous resolution on March 3 finding the missing legislators in contempt and threatening them with arrest. It gave them until 4 p.m. to return or the sergeant-at-arms was ordered to take "any and all necessary steps, with or without force, and with or without the assistance of law enforcement, by warrant or other legal process, as he may deem necessary in order to bring that senator to the Senate chambers."

The constitutionality of that resolution was unclear, however, as the Wisconsin Constitution only allows for the arrest of legislators while in session if they are suspected of committing a felony, treason, or breach of the peace. Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said the resolution was an "unreasonable abuse of police power."

Sen. Jon Erpenbach provided the Democratic response, stating, "All 14 of us remain in Illinois, very strong in our convictions. Issuing arrest warrants at 4 p.m. isn't going to solve the problem. This is a debate about protection of the middle class in Wisconsin; that is what the Republicans should be focusing on."

The move by Republicans came the day after they issued fines of $100 a day for not showing up at the Capitol, along with taking away parking spaces. The week before Republicans also passed a rule suspending direct-deposit of paychecks. Sen. Erpenbach found a way around this by granting power of attorney to two of his aides, giving them power to, among other things, pick up his paycheck. In the end Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald mailed the check to Erpenbaach.

Meeting/possible compromises

On March 7, Democratic leader Sen. Mark Miller sent a letter to the governor and senate majority leader asking for a meeting near the Wisconsin-Illinois border to restart talks on the collective bargaining issue. Gov. Walker responded at a press conference, calling the letter "ridiculous," and saying that several meetings between the two sides have taken place, but that Miller has stood in the way of a compromise.

Sen. Chris Larson said, "Dems will return when collective bargaining is off the table. That could be soon based on the growing public opposition to the bill and the recall efforts against Republicans."

On March 8, the Governor's office released an email exchange dated March 6 between Eric Schutt, Walker's deputy chief of staff, and Democratic Senators Cullen and Jauch. The exchange discusses possible compromises on the bill, including allowing unions to bargain for wages beyond inflation rates, permitting collective-bargaining on certain economic issues, allowing public workers to collectively bargain workplace safety issues, and limiting collective bargaining agreements to 2 years or less.

Republicans pass bill

2011 Wisconsin Senate Recalls
Senators Facing Recall
Robert Cowles • Alberta Darling • Sheila Harsdorf • Dave Hansen • Jim Holperin • Randy Hopper • Dan Kapanke • Luther Olsen • Robert Wirch
Other Recall Information
Recalls by Year • Recall Law in Wisconsin • Recall laws in other states • Recalls in Wisconsin • 2011 Scott Walker Budget Repair Bill • Protests over Budget Repair Bill • Wisconsin Government Accountability Board • Recall timeline • Election Results

In a surprise maneuver, Senate Republicans on March 9 passed controversial reforms to the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers. In a process that took just over two hours, Republicans passed the bill by a vote of 18-1, with Sen. Dale Schultz (R) casting the only no vote.

Republicans skirted the need for a quorum by removing the sections of the bill that had to do with appropriating funds. With these removed, the bill only needed to be passed by a simple majority -- rather than requiring a quorum of 20 senators. At 4 p.m. on March 9 a conference committee on the budget-repair bill was convened. Two hours later the committee met and advanced the new measure without debate. Immediately following that, the Senate met and passed the new version, also without debate. It was then sent to the Assembly.

The only Democrat present at the meeting, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D), attempted to stop the proceedings, stating that the committee was in violation of the state's open meeting law. According to the law, most public bodies are required to give 24 hours notice before a meeting. The two hours notice that the committee provided led Barca to declare, "Mr. Chairman, this is a violation of law! This is not just a rule — this is the law." Ignoring Barca, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) ordered the vote taken as shouts of protest rang from the galleries.

The bill was given a stay by Dane County Court Judge Maryann Sumi. On May 26, 2011, Sumi struck down the legislative actions leading to the bill eliminating public employee collective bargaining on the grounds that it violated the state's Open Meetings Law. The state Departments of Justice and Department of Administration appealed the decision to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On June 14 the Wisconsin Supreme Court overruled the district court decision, stating it "exceeded its jurisdiction, invaded the legislature’s constitutional powers...and erred in enjoining the publication and further implementation of the act."

Recall campaigns

In the wake of events surrounding the bill, both Democratic and Republican senators were targeted by active recall campaigns. Recall sponsors filed signatures on petitions targeting 6 Republican state senators and 3 Democratic state senators. Challenges were filed in all 9 of those campaigns, and the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board approved the six campaigns against Republicans at meetings on May 23 and May 31, and approved the three campaigns against Democrats on June 8. Democrats held onto the 30th district seat on July 19. Republicans lost two seats in the August 9 recalls, but held onto four. Two incumbent Democrats successfully retained their seats on August 16.

Elections

2012

Hansen won re-election to the 2012 election for the Wisconsin State Senate, District 30 seat. He ran unopposed in the primary election and defeated John Macco (R) in the general election on November 6, 2012.

Wisconsin State Senate, District 30, General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Dave Hansen Incumbent	54.2%	42,949
	Republican	John Macco	45.7%	36,178
	-	Scattering	0.1%	77
Total Votes				79,204

2011 recall

2011 Wisconsin Senate Recalls
Senators Facing Recall
Robert Cowles • Alberta Darling • Sheila Harsdorf • Dave Hansen • Jim Holperin • Randy Hopper • Dan Kapanke • Luther Olsen • Robert Wirch
Other Recall Information
Recalls by Year • Recall Law in Wisconsin • Recall laws in other states • Recalls in Wisconsin • 2011 Scott Walker Budget Repair Bill • Protests over Budget Repair Bill • Wisconsin Government Accountability Board • Recall timeline • Election Results

See also: Recall of Wisconsin State Senators (2011) and Dave Hansen recall, Wisconsin State Senate (2011)

Hansen easily defeated David VanderLeest (R) in the July 19 recall election.

July 19 Recall
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Dave Hansen (D) a		22,051	65.93%
David VanderLeest (R)		11,054	33.05%
Scattering		340	1.02%

An effort to recall Hansen from office got underway in March 2011. About 18,872 signatures were filed with state election officials on April 21. In early May the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board verified 17,099 signatures on the petition, enough to force a recall. They disqualified over 1,700 and still had to review some 5,500 that have been challenged by Hansen.

The GAB was initially scheduled to review the challenges on May 31, but that was delayed until June 8. At that meeting, the Board validated 15,540 signatures, enough for the recall, setting the election date for July 19.

Republican Assemblyman John Nygren announced on May 10 that he would run against Hansen. The leader of the recall campaign, David VanderLeest, joined the race on May 22. A primary between the two was scheduled to be held July 19, but Nygren was removed from the ballot for having an insufficient number of signatures on his nomination papers.

He appealed the GAB decision in circuit court, but the original decision was upheld. Nygren blamed the outcome on “Democrat-appointed GAB staff that has constantly worked against me as I defended myself from the Democratic Party’s frivolous challenges.”

Mary Scray, vice chair of the Brown County Board, announced she would probably run against Hansen in a recall. However, on May 26, 2011, Scray dropped out of the race, citing family and professional responsibilities.

2008

On November 4, 2008, Dave Hansen won re-election to the Wisconsin State Senate, District 28.

Dave Hansen raised $238,107 for his campaign, while Chad Fradette raised $37,679.

Wisconsin State Senate, District 28 (2008)
Candidates		Votes
Dave Hansen (D)		51,643
Chad Fradette (R)		26,483

Campaign donors

2012

Campaign donor information is not yet available for this year.

2010

According to records available as of May 17, 2011, Hansen raised $24,705 during 2010, a year he was not up for election. Listed below are the top five contributors.

Donor	Amount
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 400	$1,000
Wisconsin Teamsters Joint Council 39	$1,000
Ironworkers Local 8	$1,000
Association of State Prosecutors	$1,000
Centene Corp	$1,000

2008

Some of the top contributors to Sen. Hansen's 2008 campaign, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics:

Time Warner, State Senate Democratic Committee, Martin L. Hazuka, Democratic Party of Brown County, Peter G. Earle, and others

Health interests were his largest donor group, followed by communications and electronics interests.

In 2008, Hansen collected $238,107 in donations.

Listed below are the top four contributors to his campaign.

Donor	Amount
Time Warner	$23,168
State Senate Democratic Committee	$5,448
Martin Hazuka	$1,258
Chip Kolocheski	$1,000

Recent news

Know more information about this profile? Submit a bio

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google News search for the term "Dave + Hansen + Wisconsin + Senate"

All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.

Dave Hansen News Feed

• Jane Kelly's experience rare on US appeals court - Wisconsin Law Journal
• Wisconsin lawmakers pass Milwaukee County Board changes - Green Bay Press Gazette
• Senate to debate bill weakening Milwaukee County Board, requiring vote on pay - The Republic
• Wis. lawmakers pass Milwaukee County Board changes - Ct Post
• Wisconsin legislature passes bill to protect sanitation workers - Waste & Recycling News
• ANC of Wisconsin Commemorates 98th Anniversary of Genocide - Armenian Weekly
• Budget provision allowing foreigners to buy more Wisconsin land scrutinized by ... - Superior Telegram
• They paid how much? A closer look at WEDC compensation - Kansas Watchdog
• Madison Report: Democrats oppose foreign land sales - SWNews4u.com - Swnews4u
• Jay Heck: NOW is time to reform redistricting process - Capital Times (blog)

External links

Suggest a link

• Sen. Hansen's Wisconsin State Legislature website
• Project Vote Smart legislative profile
• Project Vote Smart biographical profile
• Campaign contributions: 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011
• Sen. Hansen's campaign website
• Dave Hansen on Facebook
• Friends of Dave Hansen

References

Political offices
Preceded by '	Wisconsin State Senate District 30 2000–present	Succeeded by NA