Clean Water Partnership

I would like to make sure all of you are aware that four environmental and agricultural organizations are coming together to advocate for state-level policy changes related to clean water and resilient farms.

The partnership was announced earlier this week by Clean Wisconsin, the Dairy Business Association, The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association.

I am extremely optimistic about this collaboration because the group shares my philosophy of bringing both sides together to develop realistic, innovative and meaningful solutions that will benefit the state as a whole.

When it comes right down to it, we all need clean water. Our economy, our health and our very way of life depend on it. By finding common ground, I know that we can help our agriculture industry thrive while also protecting our natural resources.

The group has identified four principles that will guide them as they seek policy changes: ensuring clean drinking water; reimagining the CAFO program; supporting current conservation efforts and fostering innovation; and improving Wisconsin’s non-point program. To learn more, please click here.

As the chairman of the Assembly Environment Committee, I look forward to working with these organizations throughout the upcoming legislative session so we can pursue our shared priorities of responsible farms and clean water.

DWD Audit

One of the glaring things we have learned during the COVID-19 pandemic is that we need to improve certain levels of government by making them more efficient and responsive to constituents.

Case in point: An audit released this week by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau found that the state Department of Workforce Development was largely responsible for the delays in getting our residents their much-needed unemployment benefits.

From March to October, DWD had sent 514,026 of the 662,731 unemployment applications it received – or 77 percent – into pending status to be adjudicated, according to the audit. In 90 percent of those cases, DWD either had the information it needed to process the claim but failed to do so, or did not request the proper details from the applicant or their former employer.

Some of those cases had been in adjudication for more than 75 days before they were resolved. At the time of the audit, more than 96,000 applicants were still waiting in adjudication.

Furthermore, residents have also had extreme difficulties in contacting DWD about their unemployment claims.

Of the 41.1 million phone calls that were made to DWD call centers, only 225,864 of them – or 0.5 percent – were actually answered.

Since the pandemic first hit our state, my office has received hundreds of contacts from constituents who could not reach DWD and were not getting their unemployment benefits in a timely fashion. Many of their stories have been absolutely heartbreaking. Fortunately, we've been able to help most of these constituents by contacting DWD on their behalves and getting them quicker resolutions.

To this day, we are still assisting members of our community with their unemployment claims.

Although all state agencies are under the control of the governor’s executive branch, the Legislature needs to continue to do everything within its power to rectify this situation. What has happened over the past eight months is simply unacceptable.

Assembly Citation 

I had the pleasure this week of presenting an Assembly citation to Jay Zahn, who is retiring from his position as Door County treasurer after serving our community for an impressive 30 years.

It goes without saying, but Jay has been a great asset to our area and will be sorely missed by many people. 

I wish him nothing but the best of luck in his future endeavors and I hope he enjoys his retirement. He certainly deserves it.

To read more about Jay's respected career, please check out this article from the Peninsula Pulse.