February 12, 2016

Volume 2 Issue 5

State Representative Janel Brandtjen

A Victory for Life in Wisconsin - Assembly Bill 311:

Planned Parenthood has over-billed the State of Wisconsin and the Medical Assistance Program millions of dollars. A current provision in the funding mechanism allows the pro-abortion group to charge the state's Medical Assistance Program a premium (over and above the cost of the medicine and distribution). AB 311 closes that loophole and thus organizations such as Planned Parenthood will no longer be able to pad their bank accounts from these programs. According to a fiscal memo prepared by The Department of Health Services (DHS) groups such as Planned Parenthood would lose up $9 million per year.  Now that is a significant  amount of taxpayer savings.

Property Rights Gain Ground in Wisconsin:

(No pun intended). Tuesday we passed a package of bills that clarify and extend property rights. AB 568 allows landlords to evict tenants who engage in criminal activity. AB 600 and AB 603 provide some common sense to shoreline property rights. The package protects the environment and endangered species while permitting landowners to groom their beaches, build gazebos and repair boathouses.

   No New Taxes:

As recent as this week several talk show hosts in the area were concerned about a bill that would allow counties to enact a half of a percent sales tax to be used for road construction and repair. A few like-minded conservatives joined me in expressing our concerns about the bill. My objections to the measure can be viewed on several different levels. First, we have a bill sitting in committee right now, AB 565 that would save counties millions upon millions of dollars. The bill is very simple,  we would use federal money for major projects and use state money for smaller projects thus avoiding federal hurdles unnecessary mandates. I could not vote to raise taxes while cost saving measures are not enacted. Secondly, I am not convinced that the State of Wisconsin has done all it can do to bring down the cost of building and maintaining our roads and highways. The bill has been taken off the calendar 

Happy Birthday ACT 10:

It has been five years since Governor Walker introduced ACT 10. The bill limited the scope of collective bargaining for public unions. The measure also required public workers to pay for a portion of their benefits and retirement plans. The bill paved the way for merit pay for teachers in our public schools allowing good teachers to reap financial rewards while giving poor teachers incentive to improve. The MacGyver Institute has a nice piece on their website.

God Bless Wisconsin!

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             Wisconsin State Capitol