First Responder of the Year 

This week instead of a survey, I would like to ask for your help in nominating a First Responder of the Year. 

Annually, members of the Wisconsin State Assembly nominate someone from their district to be recognized as a First Responder of the Year. One individual from all ninety-nine Assembly districts will be recognized during an October 2021 floor session.

My office is currently seeking nominations for the 60th Assembly District's 2021 First Responder of the Year. This award highlights the exceptional work the brave men and women of our emergency services are doing in the district. 

If you know someone in the 60th Assembly District who exemplifies community service, selflessness, and dedication, please fill out the following application. My office will be accepting applications through October 8, 2021. 

Survey Results

Thank you for answering last week's survey question regarding the Wisconsin wolf hunt. In total, 112 individuals responded to the question, with thirty-five percent in support of having groups on both sides meet with DNR to find a compromise on the quota limit. The second most popular options were: The current harvest quota of 300 wolves is adequate (17 percent), and the wolf hunting season should be postponed until the ongoing lawsuits are resolved.

Additionally, twelve percent of respondents voted "other." Responses include:

"The statute is too prescriptive and should be repealed. Let the DNR manage wolves like they manage other species."

"Wolves in the western great lakes region surpassed federal recovery goals in the winter of 1999-2000 when Wisconsin and Michigan had a combined total of 100 wolves for five consecutive years. A quota that brought the population closer to 100 would be more appropriate than 1,100."

"Eliminate wolf hunting regardless of endangered status."

"The DNR should set the limit based on good science, not political pressure."

"The wolf quotas should be based on scientific data. If we are paying all that year to compensate people for losses, we have too many wolves. Their numbers are beyond the common sense "part of the ecosystem" argument. Wolves are eating more than just wild animals. What value do wolves provide to the current ecosystem? 

Assembly Floor Session

This week, the Wisconsin State Assembly voted on several consequential pieces of legislation, the vast majority of which dealt with education policy. The following is an analysis of the bills approved during this week's floor period.

Assembly Bill 116: Helping those with severe disabilities access medical equipment

Assembly Bill 116, which has overwhelming bipartisan support and was approved unanimously via voice vote, establishes additional circumstances under which DHS reimburses a provider for a complex rehabilitation technology prescribed for a recipient of Medical Assistance who resides in a nursing home. Specifically, the bill requires DHS to reimburse a provider for that technology if it does any of the following:

1. Contribute to the recipient's independent completion of activities of daily living.

2. Support the recipient's vocational, occupational, and psychosocial activities.

3. Provide the recipient with the ability to move about the nursing home, or to attain or retain self-care. 

Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 116 ensures the bill does not affect prior authorizations and ensures Medicaid's coverage of the technology is consistent across all benefit areas. 

Assembly Bill 254: Extension of certain construction approval waivers

Assembly Bill 254, which has bipartisan support and was approved unanimously by voice vote, affords municipalities the ability to waive late interest and penalties for late property taxes in 2021 due to hardship. This can be done if a county or first-class city passes a resolution authorizing the waiver and defining the criteria for determining hardship.

To get an extension, the approval holder must provide written notification to the governmental unit that issued the approval. This provision is consequential as it prevents construction projects from being unnecessarily delayed or stopped. 

Since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislature has made a number of changes to state statutes to give local governments, schools, businesses, and families increased flexibility. The bill was introduced to continue providing flexibility for those who live and work in our communities. 

Assembly Bill 376: Urban Search and Rescue Task Force

Wisconsin maintains several specialized emergency response teams consisting of personnel from local agencies that contract with the Division of Emergency Management in the Department of Military Affairs. 

In 2018 the contracts governing the Structural Response Team and the relationship between the Department of Military Affairs and eleven fire departments lapsed. The fire chiefs from these communities expressed concerns regarding duty disability liability and financial risk for their communities under the current arrangement. 

Last session, 2019 Assembly Bill 568 was introduced to address those issues but failed to pass before the Senate adjourned. 

Assembly Bill 376, which has overwhelming bipartisan support and was approved unanimously, via voice vote, makes the statutory changes necessary to ensure the teams and individuals serving on them are protected. 

• Assembly Bill 376 changes the Structural Collapse Team to an Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, enabling these units to maximize their service potential, broadening the scope of practice, and making the asset much more valuable to Wisconsin residents. New deployments for the team would cover collapse, trench, confined space, high angle, cave, wide-area search, swift water rescue, and flood response.
• The bill also streamlines the reimbursement schedule for deployments; requiring DMA to reimburse a qualifying municipality in a timely fashion and to seek reimbursement from the responsible party. If DMA does not have adequate funds to cover that cost as it awaits reimbursement, it may request those funds from the Joint Committee on Finance under Wis. Stat. 13.10. 
• Finally, Assembly Bill 376 would allow DMA to reimburse a local agency for any increase in contributions for duty disability premiums because an employee incurred an injury while performing duties as a member of an Urban Search and Rescue Task Force or a Regional Hazardous Materials Team.

Assembly Bill 378: School spending transparency

Assembly Bill 378 which passed out of committee with bipartisan support, establishes a school spending advisory committee tasked with developing and designing, in conjunction with DPI, a financial portal. The financial portal recommendations must include (but are not limited to):

• Categories of financial information to be available
• Whether DPI's existing technology is adequate to collect and report required data
• The resources required to maintain the portal

The advisory committee will be comprised of eleven members, including:

• State Superintendent of Public Instruction or her designee
• Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Education or his designee
• Chairperson of the Senate Education Committee or her designee
• Assembly minority leader or designee
• Senate majority leader or designee
• One representative from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, appointed by the state superintendent
• One individual representing a rural school board appointed by the Assembly speaker
• One individual representing an entity that may authorize a charter school appointed by the Assembly speaker
• One individual representing an urban school board appointed by the Senate majority leader
• One individual who represents a charter school appointed by the Senate majority leader
• A school district administrator appointed by the governor

DPI will receive the advisory report and determine which recommendations to implement. Additionally, DPI will be required to deliver the advisory report to the Joint Committee on Finance. Doing so triggers a fourteen-day review process by the committee.

While the data displayed on the portal is already available, the portal will make the data easier to access and more digestible for the typical taxpayer. 

Assembly Bill 411: Anti-racism and anti-sexism training for employees of school districts and independent charter schools

Assembly Bill 411 was introduced at the behest of hundreds of Wisconsin parents concerned about the subjects being taught to their children in primary and secondary schools. Parents are requesting information about classroom curriculum and this legislation ensures they will be afforded that information.

It has come to the legislature's attention that a growing number of school districts are teaching material that attempts to redress the injustice of racism and sexism by employing racism and sexism, as well as promoting psychological distress in students based on these immutable characteristics. Assembly Bill 411 prohibits this type of material from entering Wisconsin schools. 

Assembly Bill 411 details seven concepts that would be prohibited from being taught in Wisconsin schools. These concepts seek to serve as a check on the radical ideology being pushed by some school board members and/or teachers throughout the state. Additionally, the bill affects training provided to employees of school boards and independent charter schools. The following concepts are included in the bill and would be prohibited from being taught in Wisconsin schools:

• One race or sex is inherently superior to another
• An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive whether consciously or unconsciously
• An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of their race or sex
• Individuals of one race or sex are not able to, and should not attempt to, treat others without respect to race or sex
• An individual's moral character is necessarily determined by their race or sex
• An individual, by virtue of their race or sex, bears responsibility for acts committed in the past by other individuals of the same race or sex
• An individual should feel discomfort, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex
• Systems based on meritocracy or traits such as hard work are racist or sexist or are created by individuals of a particular race to oppress individuals of another race

The penalties for violating the law include a 10 percent reduction in a school district's state aid distributions via DPI's assessment that the school and/or school district is not following the law. In addition, the bill allows a parent and/or guardian to bring immediate action in circuit court to compel a school board to comply with the requirements outlined in this bill.

Assembly Bill 414: Anti-racism and anti-sexism training for employees of state and local government

Assembly Bill 414 was introduced to address race-based training by governmental entities. The bill details seven concepts prohibited from being used for training at the state and local levels. The following concepts are analogous to those outlined in Assembly Bill 411.

If a political subdivision violates these restrictions, their shared revenue payment will be reduced by ten percent. If a state agency violates these restrictions, DOA must withhold ten percent funding for all positions for one year.

Assembly Bill 420: Independent charter schools

Assembly Bill 420, of which I am a cosponsor and was approved unanimously via voice, states that an independent charter school is authorized by one of the following entities: 

• The Office of Educational Opportunity in the University of Wisconsin System
• The City of Milwaukee
• The chancellor of an institution in the University of Wisconsin System
• A technical college district board
• The Waukesha county executive
• The College of Menominee Nation
• The Lac Court Oreilles Ojibwa Community College

Under current law, independent charter schools authorized by a tribal college are funded at a lesser amount than their counterparts. For the 2020-21 school year, the Department of Public Instruction paid $8,719 in per pupil funding to these schools, whereas other independent charter schools received $9,165.

Assembly Bill 420 addresses this funding disparity by ensuring independent charter schools authorized by a tribal college receive the same per pupil amount as all other independent charter schools. 

Assembly Bill 435: Cursive writing

Assembly Bill 435, which has bipartisan support, requires all schools to include cursive writing in their elementary school curriculum. Each elementary school curriculum must ensure students be able to write legibly in cursive by the end of fifth grade.

As denoted in an earlier e-update, I am opposed to additional top-down government mandates. The decision to teach or not to teach cursive writing is best made by local school boards in consideration of local values and preferences in each community. I was one of just two Republicans to vote against Assembly Bill 435; nearly every Democrat opposed this bill. 

Assembly Bill 488: Curriculum Transparency

Assembly Bill 488 requires a school district to post on its website the learning materials and educational activities used for student instruction at each school, organized by subject matter, grade level, and teacher. The posting must include bibliographic information for identifying specific learning materials, including textbooks, curricula, and educational activities, as well as the full text of any school or teacher-created lesson plans, presentations, or videos.

School districts must also post any district policies or procedures for reviewing or approving these materials and activities. Additionally, school districts must update the posting of learning materials, educational activities, and policies at least twice each school year--the first by the beginning of the year and second by January 15. 

Assembly Bill 488 establishes a private enforcement mechanism allowing any school district resident to file an action asking the court to order the school board to comply with the posting requirements. If the resident prevails, the court must award the resident reasonable attorney fees up to $15,000. 

Assembly Amendment 1 changes the required materials a school district must post to exclude teacher lesson plans but to include syllabi, outlines, and handouts created by the school board or teacher.

Assembly Bill 561: Credit Recovery Courses

Current law allows schools to provide credit recovery courses to help ensure that students are provided with a means to receive a diploma, but school districts and the Department of Public Instruction are not required to collect information on students who are struggling academically. 

Assembly Bill 561 addresses this issue by requiring school boards to report to DPI the number and grade level of pupils who complete a credit recovery course, as well as the subject of which recovery course was completed. Additionally, the Department of Public would be required to submit this information to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature.

Assembly Amendment 1 requires the provisions of the bill to be implemented in the 2021-22 school year, rather than the 2022-23 school year.

Assembly Amendment 2 expands the bill to apply to the operators of charter schools and the governing bodies of private schools.

Lastly, Assembly Amendment 3 includes reporting data for pupil's grade level, ethnicity, truancy, and subject of the credit recovery course. 

Assembly Bill 563: Civics Education

Assembly 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. 

The superintendent of public instruction must promulgate rules to develop a model curriculum and instruction for schools to use that include the following concepts:

Students gain an understanding of:

• Their shared rights and responsibilities as citizens of the United States
• Civic pride and a desire to participate in local, state, and federal government
• Civic-minded expectations and the responsibility for preserving and defending the benefits of liberty are inherited and secured by the Constitution. 
• History and content of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
• The process for effectively advocating before governmental bodies and officials
• Other nations' governing philosophies, including communism, socialism, and totalitarianism, and how these compare with the principles of freedom and representative democracy.

Draw Your Map

Every ten years following the completion of the United States Census, the legislature is charged with drawing new maps for legislative and congressional districts. Recently, the legislature unveiled a website for members of the public to participate in the map-drawing process. Submissions will be accepted until October 15, 2021. 

For details of how the website works, check out the brief video by clicking here or the picture below. You can also view the website at drawyourdistrictwisconsin.com

Stay up to date

One of the best ways to date with what is happening in Madison is to sign up for the legislature's notification tracking system. This service affords you with the opportunity to track legislative activities in Madison. Upon creation of a free account, you can sign up to receive notification about specific bills of committees as well as legislative activity pertaining to a subject (i.e., health care, education, etc.).