Advocating for a Second Judge in Sawyer County

After listening to the feedback of the people of Wisconsin for the past few months, we have reached the point in the state budget process where the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) is beginning to take action on the budget proposal.  Over the next month or so, the JFC will examine each part of the budget proposal and vote on which parts of the governor's proposal to accept and what to change.  As this process unfolds, I will continue to communicate with the members of the JFC about the priorities of the people of the 87th Assembly District.  During this process, legislators can submit budget motions to the JFC to request additions or changes to the budget proposal.  Earlier this week, I submitted a motion to create a second circuit court branch in Sawyer County.

Last year, I had the opportunity to sit on the bench with Sawyer County Judge John Yackel for the day and get a glimpse of what he has to handle day in and day out as Sawyer County's lone judge. Sawyer County has been hit hard by the drug epidemic that is ravaging our state. Over the past several years, the number of felony filings in Sawyer County has risen significantly.  After that day, it was clear to me that the caseload in Sawyer County has reached a level that is impossible for just one judge to handle.

According to the most recent case study from the Director of State Courts' office, Judge Yackel has the highest caseload of any judicial officer in the state. In 2016, there were 290 felony complaints filed in Sawyer County. Just last year, the number of felony filings rose to 402. In contrast, Barron County had 452 felony filings in 2018, but that was split between the county's three judges.  As the JFC continues their work on the budget in the coming weeks, I hope they adopt my motion to give Sawyer County the second judge that it so desperately needs.

Rep. Edming during his judicial ride-along with Judge Yackel on June 19th, 2018 

Pay Raises for Corrections Officers

In honor of National Correctional Officers and Employees Week, I would like to take this moment to thank all of the correctional officers and employees we have in the 87th District. Thank you for working to keep the public safe by making sure your facilities are secure. We appreciate the work you do.

Corrections officers have an incredibly difficult and often dangerous job and are often not paid enough for the important work they do.  It is no secret that we have a shortage of corrections officers in Wisconsin and that the wages are not competitive enough to retain the number of workers we need.  I firmly believe that this is a problem we must begin to address.

Recently, Governor Evers and the Department of Corrections (DOC) announced the Critical Vacancy Rate Add-On Pilot Program. This program uses temporary department funds to temporarily raise the wages of correctional officers at just six of the over 30 DOC facilities in the state.  I was disappointed to hear that DOC decided to single out employees at just a handful of facilities who would receive this raise. While I certainly agree that we need to raise the wages for our corrections officers, I do not believe we should pick and choose the institutions that receive this raise. We should work through the state budget process to increase wages at all DOC facilities.

That is why I, along with my colleagues who also have Department of Corrections facilities in their districts, have sent a letter to DOC Secretary Carr and Governor Evers to address our concerns about this new program and our desire to address this issue through the state budget process.

Under the Dome

Meeting with County Leaders

I was pleased to meet with several county leaders yesterday, including Sawyer County Board Chairman Tweed Shuman. They stopped by to chat about a proposal to direct more tribal gaming revenue to the counties where the tribes are located.

Around the 87th 

Governor's Fishing Opener
Last weekend marked the 54th Annual Governor's Fishing Opener, which was held in Rusk County. I was pleased to welcome the governor to the 87th District and enjoyed seeing everyone have a great time fishing. As part of the weekend, I also had the opportunity to attend a ribbon cutting for a warming shelter built by Dairyland Power Cooperative near Big Falls Dam.

Birchwood School Visit

Last Friday, I was pleased to be back in the Birchwood School District for a tour of the school and to visit classrooms around the district with Governor Evers and legislative colleagues.  We also had a round table discussion with some of the school officials. I always enjoy visiting the outstanding schools that serve the 87th District.

Girl Scout Gold Award Ceremony

On Sunday, I attended a Girl Scout Gold Award Ceremony for several area girls including Samantha Daniels from Athens.  As you may know, the Gold Award is the equivalent of the Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scouts. These girls should be tremendously proud of themselves for all their hard work. 

National Day of Prayer

Thursday, May 2nd was the National Day of Prayer. I enjoyed visiting with folks of faith and even met some young men from Trail Life USA, a Christian scouting organization.

Stay Up to Date

One of the best ways to stay up to date with what is going on in Madison is to sign up for the legislature's notification tracking service. This service allows you to follow legislative activity in Madison. Once you create a free account you can sign up to receive notifications about specific bills or committees as well as legislative activity pertaining to a subject area (i.e. agriculture, veterans). You can sign up for this service at notify.legis.wisconsin.gov.