Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care

  This week the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care held its first public hearing.  In this public hearing, as the author of this bill along with Senator Bernier (R-23), I gave testimony on Assembly Bill 236.  This Bill requires the Governor to direct $150,000,000 of the money received under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to long-term care facilities, with no less than 50 percent of the money received being spent on bonuses for employees.  Long-term care facilities received the brunt of the consequences from the pandemic and workers on the frontline worked overtime to keep their residents safe.  The industry is to be commended for their hard work during challenging times. 

 Assembly Bill 236 passed out of Committee by a vote of 5-2 and will be voted on by the full Assembly next week. 

For your information, if you click on the bill number you will be able to read the bill in its entirety. 

Assembly Republican's Proposals

Wisconsin is set to receive $3.2B in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.  Governor Evers has sole discretion over how those dollars are distributed. Assembly Bill 236, that was discussed above, is a part of a larger package of bills introduced by my colleagues and me.  This package is intended to direct the Governor on the best way to spend the money.  The bills included in this package are:

• AB 232 - Relating to assistance to households and property owners
• AB 233 - Relating to grants for certain small businesses
• AB 234 - Relating to tourism industry grants
• AB 235 - Relating to rural economic development programs administered by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and farm support grants
• AB 236 - Relating to payments to certain long-term care facilities and their staff
• AB 237 - Relating to deposits into the unemployment reserve fund
• AB 238 - Relating to the allocation of federal American rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds for local highways and bridges
• AB 239 - Relating to the use of $500M for broadband expansion grants
• AB 240 - Relating to the allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds for a statewide public safety interoperable communication system, emergency services IP network contracts, a geographic information systems database, and psychiatric treatment beds
• AB 241 - Relating to retiring public debt and transportation revenue bonds
• AB 242 - Relating to a sales tax holiday at certain establishments
• AB 243 - Relating to the allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds for certain environmental purposes and granting rule-making authority

 For your information, if you click on the bill number you will be able to read the bill in its entirety. 

 Colby Cheese

This week, Senator Bernier and I introduced a bill that would make Colby Cheese the State Cheese.  Currently, cheese is Wisconsin's State dairy product, but there is no State cheese.  We believe that the rich history of Colby Cheese makes it a perfect candidate to be Wisconsin's State Cheese.  On Monday, The Marshfield News Herald published an article about Colby Cheese, and I did two interviews on this legislation.  The articles and radio interview can be found here:

• Marshfield News Herald
• Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire
• WORT Madison radio interview

 This legislation is currently requesting co-sponsorship.  I will continue updates with our progress.

Budget Listening Session

 I have scheduled three more budget listening sessions for next Friday, April 16.  The times and locations are:

• Neillsville - 10:30 a.m. at the Neillsville Public Library (409 Hewett St #1923, Neillsville, WI 54456)
• Loyal - 12:30 p.m. at the Loyal Public Library (214 N Main St, Loyal, WI 54446)
• Abbotsford - 2:30 p.m. Abbotsford City Hall's Public Learning Center room (203 N 1st St, Abbotsford, WI 54405)

 An additional budget listening session will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, April 30 at the 2nd Street Community Center (211 E. 2nd Street, Marshfield, WI) in the CC-Wein Classroom.  Representative Born, Co-char of the Joint Committee on Finance, will also be attending this listening session. 

 Additionally, the Joint Committee on Finance has announced their Budget Road Show for this session.  These will be larger listening sessions with the members of the Joint Committee on Finance and will take place at:

•  UW-Whitewater in Whitewater (Friday, April 9)
• The Hodag Dome in Rhinelander (Wednesday, April 21)
• UW-Stout in Menomonie (Thursday, April 22)
• Virtual (Wednesday, April 28)

 If you would like to submit comments to any of these events please submit them to Budget.Comments@legis.wisconsin.gov.

Contacting My Office

My Capitol office is here to help you with general inquiries as well as questions and concerns regarding legislative matters. Feel free to contact Dylan, my Legislative Assistant, or me. We are always ready to assist you with your needs. Please visit my website for press releases and other Capitol updates.