MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) – As protesters continue to demand change, especially at the local level, some state lawmakers are thinking about how activism can turn into action with new policies for all of Wisconsin's 72 counties.

Lawmakers in the Legislative Black Caucus say the time for change is now.

State Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) has been trying to pass a bill for the last two sessions which would require police policy to make use of physical or deadly force the last resort.

“AB 1012 is at the core of what this protest is all about,” State Sen. Johnson said. “The only reason that it hasn't gotten a hearing is because Republicans feel like it was written by liberal groups. So the question that's posed is does it matter who wrote the legislation if the legislation does exactly what it's intended to do, and that's to preserve life?”

AB 1012 would require law enforcement agencies to have a public policy on the use of force with the following requirements:

• That the primary duty of all law enforcement is to preserve the life of all individuals
• That deadly force is to be used only as the last resort
• That officers should use skills and tactics that minimize the likelihood that force will become necessary
• That, if officers must use physical force, it should be the least amount of force necessary to safely address the threat
• That law enforcement officers must take reasonable action to stop or prevent any unreasonable use of force by their colleagues

A second bill that hasn't moved through the legislative process would require the DOJ to publish an annual report on the use of force incidents, including those where a firearm was discharged in the direction of a person even if there were no injuries, as well as other serious bodily harm the resulted from the incident.

Another bill would require eight hours of use of force and de-escalation training annually for officers.

State Rep. Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) said the legislature could take action right now not only on those bills, but others including one of her's that would provide alternatives to incarceration, which has bipartisan support.

AB 933 would create community restorative courts for nonviolent criminal offenders ages 25 and under.

“In 2018, I was profiled, right here in Madison, Wisconsin on the westside when I was knocking doors,” State Rep. Stubbs said. “Unarmed, running, jogging, all of these incidents come down to one thing: biased. And the Office of Equity and Inclusion would address that incident. That is something we can move forward on.”

Several protests have demanded the defunding of police, but State Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) doesn't want that to be misunderstood.

“If you're not having the conversation you will get fear mongered into believing that we're just going to abolish police services,” State Rep. Bowen said.

State Rep. Bowen said money is going into police services, but the community is not getting results.

“How do we have a new conversation about taking the money that would go to criminalization and police services and defunding that so it could be shifted to invest in community services that we know will make our officers safer and lessen the burden on them?” State Rep. Bowen asked.

When it comes to having a conversation, other members of the caucus said the protests are getting people to pay attention.

“When we leave the house in the morning when we get home at night, there's this relief of not knowing if we're going to get back home at night because of one reason or another,” Rep. Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee) said.

State Rep. Haywood said though a statewide solution is ideal, a piecemeal solution could happen quicker at the local level.

“The state government moves kind of slow sometimes, or a lot of the time, but if we can get our local electeds, our local governments to actually take action now, we can begin to template what they do to see whatever works,” State Rep. Haywood said. “We've got 72 counties, and if we get legislation or policy in all 72 counties happening now, when we at the state legislature convene for what we do next we'll now have some examples of what worked and didn't work.”

On Tuesday, the Legislative Black Caucus sent a letter to Gov. Tony Evers asking him to call a special session on June 19 to reform the justice system at the state level.

State Rep. LaKeshia Myers, who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus, said this is not a moment, rather this is a movement.

“This is not just a Milwaukee or Madison issue,” State Rep. Myers said. “There are people that are all the way in Ashland that have protested. Folks have been protesting in Wausau, Appleton, Racine—everywhere. Whether they be Republicans or Democrats, no matter where they fall on the spectrum, something has to change. Equity is going to be the way of the future and they should get on board now versus being left behind.”