March 1, 2019

Working for you!

A Wish List is Not a Budget

Last night, Governor Evers presented an unrealistic wish list, choosing fodder for fundraising emails targeting his backers in Madison and Milwaukee, instead of presenting a responsible state budget.

The governor’s pie in the sky proposal includes items that even Democrats who ran the state a decade ago didn’t include in their budgets. Raising taxes, adding billions in spending, wiping out the state's surplus, and giving handouts to special interest groups is not good for the State of Wisconsin.

Governing the state is different than running for office, and clearly Governor Evers needs to figure out that once you’re governor, sometimes you have to say no to special interest groups. I’m hopeful the legislature will be able to work together to find common ground.

I will continue to reach out to the governor, and the people of Wisconsin who live outside of Madison and Milwaukee, to try and hammer out a responsible budget that serves the entire state.

Making Student Debt More Costly

Just one of Governor Evers’ irresponsible budget items includes a $50,000 appropriation to study the feasibility of creating a Wisconsin student loan refinancing authority, a proposal that legislative Democrats have introduced repeatedly since 2014.

Governor Evers wants to spend tens of thousands of dollars to study something we already know won’t work. Wasting state taxpayer dollars to review a proposal the legislature already held numerous hearings on is simply political pandering. Over burdensome student debt is a growing issue, but Wisconsin will never be able to offer a better interest rate for student loans than the federal government.

Evers’ plan does nothing to address the root of the problem, the exponentially growing costs of higher education that have been subsidized by the availability of loans graduates can’t afford to pay off. Evers would be wiser to spend state money on studying ways to limit higher education costs, instead of ways to feed their limitless hunger for more student debt. Balancing university budgets on the backs of students through debt needs to stop. It should not be subsidized by the state.

I would have shared this information with Governor Evers if he had found time to meet with me before announcing his plan for higher education in the budget. I have had a meeting request with him since Nov. 15, 2018 and have yet to hear back from his office.

I’m optimistic that anyone with a college education will see through this attempt to buy their support.

Capitol Visitors

Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative CEO Cathy Mahaffey and Melissa Duffy stopped by to discuss health care.

Nursing students from our community visited my office for the Wisconsin Nurses Association lobby day.

Outagemie County Sheriff Clint Kriewaldt and I had a great discussion.

Folks from Partnership Health Center in Appleton popped in as part of the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association day at the Capitol.

My son-in-law, Brad Chandler, made an appearance at the Capitol on the cover of UW-Madison's Wisconsin School of Business magazine. Brad is the director of the Wisconsin School of Business Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking where he's been teaching students about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

New Legislation

Since my last update three of the bills I have authored have been introduced. As they advance through the legislative process, I'll be including more information about each bill in future updates:

2019 Assembly Bill 36
Increasing “Tools of the Trade” grants to technical college students for apprenticeship expenses.

2019 Assembly Bill 37
Allows an organization with a Class B raffle license to hold a paddlewheel raffle.

2019 Assembly Bill 38
Streamlining University of Wisconsin research contracts.

Here is the legislation I've co-sponsored since my last update. Click on the links to learn more about each bill or resolution:

Assembly Joint Resolution 10
Congratulating the Green Bay Packers on the occasion of their 100th anniversary and declaring August 11, 2019, Green Bay Packers Day.

Assembly Bill 55
The time frame for reports for sexually violent persons petitioning for supervised release; and placement of sexually violent persons on supervised release.

Assembly Bill 41
Prosecuting a person under the age of 18 with committing an act of prostitution.

Assembly Bill 42
Dispensing, distributing, or selling dialysate, drugs, or devices necessary for providing home peritoneal kidney dialysis.

Assembly Bill 44
Installation of a barricade device on an interior door in a school building.

Assembly Bill 46
The disclosure of a retailer's sales tax liability to a successor.

Assembly Bill 27
The collection of victim restitution.

Assembly Bill 34
Prostitution crime surcharge and making an appropriation.

Assembly Bill 35
Entering certain places with intent to commit battery and providing a penalty.

Upcoming Events

Check out upcoming events near us by visiting the Wisconsin Tourism website or  https://appletondowntown.org/upcoming-events/ 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.