Good to Know Info

It's Planting Time

Sound crazy? It's fall and it's time to plant flowers for pollinators next year. Wisconsin native seeds need to be exposed to an extended cold period to grow well in spring. Create a healthy environment for our butterflies and bees by planting native milkweed, Joe-Pye-weed, coneflowers and asters. Do them one more favor and leave a few fallen leaves for some of them to shelter in. They will appreciate the insulation you provide. 

Help our pollinators help us!

Click Here to view the DNR article.  

Reminder for Deer Hunters

The upcoming deer season is about nine days away. While you are out in the field you must carry proof of your deer tags indicating the unit and zone you are assigned.

Hunters also need to remember that while tagging rules have changed, registration requirements have not. Electronically register your harvested deer by 5:00 PM the day after you recover it and register it in the correct zone.

Review the DNR rules and have a successful hunt.

Winter Preparedness

Governor Scott Walker declared this week, November 6-10, 2017, Wisconsin's Winter Awareness Week. Our Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs suggests having two emergency kits, one for your vehicle and one for the home. Read Here. Please don't forget to include your pets when gathering materials for your kits. You will want to have a pet porter and leash available for each pet.

In Progress Legislation

Prior to re-election last year I stated that education was my main area of concern for the state for this session. I am proud that our efforts are showing results.

We passed a state budget that adds $639 Million to K-12 education statewide. The funding adds $200+ per student for the first year and an additional $200+ per student in the second year. For a school district of 5,000 students like Wisconsin Rapids that is a major investment. Besides funding I wanted to make sure that we address program related concerns as well and I am happy to have two of my education bills reach the Governor’s desk this month.

My financial literacy bill AB280 received unanimous support in both the Assembly and the Senate. This bill requires every WI school district to incorporate a financial literacy curriculum. Past versions of the bill described exactly what the curriculum should be but we learned very quickly that 74% of WI school districts had some sort of program already in place. We are making sure the other 26% get on board with financial literacy options and are proud to report that local school districts can develop the curriculum that fits their community needs and that they can choose to work with outside sources like banks and credit unions to develop a program as well.

This ability to have flexibility helped this bill received wide bipartisan support in the legislature and in the communities of the state with school districts and financial institutions helping us reach our goal. Many thanks to my Senate co-authors Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) as well as my Assembly co-author Jason Fields (R-Milwaukee).

The second bill, AB266, that passed this month was my Technical Excellence Scholarship Bill. This bill  recognizes the effort and skills of high school students when it comes to technical skills in their education. It improves upon the scholarship plan we created last session that allows local school districts to nominate a student with great skills for a technical college merit scholarship. The program has been successful in getting more students into technical colleges around the state who otherwise may not have been able to afford to go. These students are the skilled individuals that we cannot afford to leave behind when it comes to rebuilding our workforce.

We have a few months left in our fall/spring session and we will keep working to make WI a great place to live, work, learn and play.

Scott