August 18, 2017

Working for you!

My Foxconn Vote

Last night, I joined both my Republican and Democratic colleagues in Assembly in a bipartisan vote to adopt the Foxconn bill. After extensive deliberation on your comments, public testimony, expert analysis, and public official recommendations, I am confident that we examined this legislation with all due diligence. I'm grateful for all the questions, concerns, and messages of support from constituents like you, which helped me carefully consider the Foxconn proposal and recommend amendments to the bill. After many of my suggestions and the suggestions of my Democratic colleagues across the aisle were amended into the bill I determined that this is an opportunity Wisconsin is wise to secure.

High-tech screens aren’t going away, and they will certainly evolve with time. At Waukesha County Technical College I experienced Foxconn hologram technology firsthand. Foxconn is an innovator and one of the largest businesses in the world. They won’t let a ten billion dollar investment in our state become obsolete as technology naturally advances.

Colleges across Wisconsin are already cooperating to equip students for these careers. As chair of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities, I’ve personally heard from enthusiastic, supportive leaders at UW System and Wisconsin Technical College System campuses and they are ready to create more engineers, managers, computer scientists, and skilled workers in the emerging field of mechatronics. Partnerships between campuses like UW–Fox Valley and UW–Platteville or Gateway Tech and UW–Milwaukee will ensure that students will have the skills needed for careers at an advanced, highly automated facility.

The Foxconn project and the support systems it will create around transportation, housing, food supply, and entertainment will offer countless opportunities for our college graduates for decades to come. Instead of looking for higher paying jobs in places like Minnesota and California, people will now have the choice of raising a family in beautiful Wisconsin with a solid career. The demand for highly skilled employees will empower Wisconsin graduates to negotiate for nationally competitive salaries right here in Wisconsin. Wisconsin workers deserve more than just jobs, they deserve these careers.

Foxconn’s unprecedented American investment will attract businesses, skilled workers, and innovative ideas to make Wisconsin an epicenter of high tech manufacturing unrivaled in North America. I support this legislation, not because it will increase tax dollars, but because it will increase family dollars.”

Watch highlights of the Foxconn committee hearing, which answered many critical questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdzDG19cSjI

Watch my floor speech about the legislation here: http://www.wiseye.org/Video-Archive/View-Video-Clip?vid=14812&start=04-17-34&end=04-29-46

You can view the final amended bill and the votes taken on it here: http://insession.legis.wisconsin.gov/SessionInfo/Proposal/1538/11922

Interfaith Unity: Condemning Hate

Solar Eclipse Monday

DOT Construction Updates

I get regular updates about the ongoing transportation construction projects in our neck of the woods. Here are a just a few notices that can help you plan ahead as you travel around the Northeast region:

Maintenance crews will be repairing pavement on southbound US 45 between Woodland Road and County G, daily, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday, August 21 through Friday, August 18. The right lane of US 45 will be closed during pavement repairs.

Maintenance operation schedules can change due to weather and maintenance crew manpower. For up-to-date maintenance schedules and locations in northeast Wisconsin, please see the highway maintenance traffic impact website at: http://projects.511wi.gov/maintain-ne/

For project updates, road closure information, and highway construction news in Northeast Wisconsin, please follow the Northeast Region Twitter account at: https://twitter.com/WisDOTnortheast

Summer Wisconsin Activities

Check out other upcoming events near us by visiting the Wisconsin Tourism website, and if you run into me while you’re out and about be sure to stop and say hi!

"Like" Representative Murphy's Facebook Page

I use Facebook to update constituents more frequently on my work in Madison and the 56th Assembly District. I look forward to using this as another way to connect with constituents and encourage you to follow it and watch for regular updates.