Meet Jill

Representative Jill Billings is a lifelong resident of the Driftless Region and has lived in La Crosse since 1990. Jill moved to La Crosse after she graduated from Augsburg College with a Bachelor of Arts, where she studied English and Communications. She worked at the Friendship Program for ten years and taught English as a Second Language and Citizenship to Hmong adults. Jill also served the community through many boards and agencies including the Community Foundation Granting Advisory Board, the YMCA Pioneering Healthy Communities initiative, and Couleecap.

Before being elected to the State Assembly, Jill served on the La Crosse County Board for eight years. She was the vice chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and was a member of the Economic Development and Family Policy Boards. Jill was also the founder of the development team that designed La Crosse County’s OWI Treatment Court program, which served as a model for effective treatment courts statewide.

Jill’s work to address the issue of addiction continues in the Assembly, where she has worked with a bipartisan group of legislators to introduce and pass laws legalizing fentanyl and xylazine testing strips to prevent overdoses. She also served on the Assembly Substance Abuse and Prevention Committee, the State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, the Task Force on Opioid Abuse, and the Alliance to HEAL Board.

Since her election to the State Assembly in 2011, Jill has demonstrated a strong passion for child welfare, environmental protection, tourism and local economic development, and fighting for hard-working families across the state. She collaborated with a bipartisan group of legislators in 2015 to establish the Legislative Children’s Caucus, which she now co-chairs, and she is a member of the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board (CANPB).

Jill currently serves as the ranking Democratic member on the Assembly Committee on Children and Families and the Assembly Committee on Tourism. During the 2023-24 legislative session, she was a member of the Speaker’s Task Force on Human Trafficking and successfully passed legislation to help protect child victims of human trafficking. She is also the Chair of the State Building Commission Higher Education Subcommittee, a member of the Mississippi River Parkway Commission, a member of the Historical Society of Wisconsin Board of Curators, and a member of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators Mississippi River Caucus.

Jill has received numerous awards from state and national groups in recognition of her work in the Assembly. These honors include the Outstanding Legislator Award from the Wisconsin Counties Association for 2015, 2020, and 2024, the Wisconsin Conservation Voters Champion Award from 2011-24 and the Conservation Honor Roll recognition in 2017-18, the Wisconsin Historical Society's Legislative Award for 2024, the 2022 LeaderEthics Award, the Wisconsin Public Health Association Friend of Public Health for 2019-20, the Wisconsin Economic Development Association (WEDA) Champion of Economic Development Award for both 2018 and 2020, the Wisconsin Counties Association Outstanding Legislator Award for both 2015 and 2020, the Citizens for a Scenic Wisconsin 2019 Scenic Wisconsin Champion Award, the 2017 Elected Women of Excellence Award by the National Foundation for Women Legislators, and the UW La Crosse Student Senate Higher Education Advocate of the Year in 2013-14 and 2016-17.