Assembly Floor Session

Among the bills passed this week, there was a focus on education legislation. Here are a few bills that passed:

AB 378: Creates a school spending advisory committee that would work with the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to create and maintain a financial portal for the public to review the expenditures of each school district. 

AB 411: As amended, prohibits six concepts from being taught or used in teacher training in our school districts.

AB 414: Anti-racism- this legislation ensures no student is taught they are inferior or should apologize to another student because of their race or gender.

AB 435: Cursive- incorporating cursive writing into the state model English language arts standards and requiring cursive writing in elementary grades.

AB 488: Requires that each school district post learning materials and educational activities used for student instruction on their websites. 

AB 563: requires public schools, charter schools, and private schools to incorporate civics education in elementary through high school grades. Under current law, three credits of social studies are required for high school graduation. The bill would require 0.5 of those three credits to be in civics.

AB 564: This bill would set aside a minimum of $100 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for school mental health services. It is clear there is a need and we also know that the mental health needs will be ongoing for years to come. ARPA funded costs can be incurred through 2024.

 

 
 
 
 
 
Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy

Yesterday, I testified on a bill that I co-authored, SB 518 in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy. Here is a portion of that testimony:

The Village of Hilbert in my district has a cheese factory that has been vacant for 27 years. A critical issue with this property is the presence of an asbestos coating on the walls and roof. There are no other contaminants. 

The current tax incremental financing (TIF) law does not provide help to revitalize contaminated properties in which that contamination has not been released (such as asbestos found within a building). Therefore, under the current definition of contamination, the village could not create an environmental TIF.

As a result, the village has not been able to eliminate the contamination, because there is no environmental remediation funding to help refurbish the structure. That situation is significantly impacting the redevelopment of the project due to the cost of removing the material prior to demolition.

The bill would help communities in similar situations to address these contamination problems so properties can be revitalized and communities can benefit from increased economic development. In addition, these changes will also contribute to the overall beauty and wellbeing of the communities.

 
 
 
 
 
Nominate Your Hometown Hero or First Responder

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Below you will find the information to nominate your neighborhood hero and/or local dedicated first responder. 

 

First Responder of the Year Nominations

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Please submit your nominations for the 2021 First Responder of the Year Award.

This award highlights the extraordinary work the brave men and women of our emergency services are doing in our communities.

If you know someone in our community who exemplifies dedication, community service, and true selflessness, please let me know by filling out a short application.

I will be accepting nominations through Friday, October 8th. 

 

Hometown Hero Award Nominations

 

The Hometown Heroes program seeks to recognize individuals from around the state who give of themselves to make a difference in our communities and in the lives of those around them. They are people whose care and concern for others causes them to unconditionally intervene, mentor or lend a hand wherever needed.

 
 
Draw Your District

Typically census data is received every 10 years in the spring.  Unfortunately, the most recent data was delayed for many months and was just released to Wisconsin. This data requires district boundaries to be adjusted to account for population changes. Any Wisconsin resident can now submit their input by visiting: DrawYourDistrictWisconsin.com You have until October 15th to do so.

 
 
The Blue Books Are Here!

The Wisconsin Blue Books have arrived! If you are interested in receiving books, please reply to this email or call my office and provide your name, phone, address, and how many books you would like. The Wisconsin Blue Book is the biennial Almanac of Wisconsin government. The 2021–22 Wisconsin Blue Book includes biographies of elected state officers and legislators, information about the units of state government, the text of the Wisconsin Constitution, and statistical, reference information, and more.  

 
 
Stay Connected

As a reminder, we encourage you to follow the representative on social media, including Facebook, and Twitter, for all of the up-to-date information on important issues. His legislative website can be found at: https://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/25/tittl.