The Capitol is buzzing with activity as we are ramping up to budget season. As we attempt to peel back the layers of the onion that is the 1,800 page budget, we know our work is cut out for us. Along with my Democratic colleagues, I am steadfast in my efforts to stop the draconian cuts to K-12 schools and our university system. Likewise, I will work day and night to preserve needed health care for our elderly and needy.

I will be holding listening sessions each month throughout the 48th Assembly District to hear your voices. I cannot do my job without hearing your priorities and your values.

As always, if you have any topics you would like to see discussed in future issues of the Sargent Voice, please contact me at 608-266-0960 or Rep.Sargent@legis.wi.gov.

Sincerely,

After a cursory look at Governor Walker's proposed budget, it's hard to know where to start. This budget and the values it portrays do not resemble the Wisconsin I grew up in. We must get back pursuing a positive agenda that invests in our state and in our future. I will be doing everything I can to take some of these damaging items out of the budget and to put money back into our public schools, our environment, our families, and our universities. Here is a brief, though by no means exhaustive, list of my concerns:

Cuts to UW System.
$57 million cut to UW-Madison next year.
Along with 2013 budget cuts, this will lead to a $91 million budget hole for UW-Madison next year.

Cuts SeniorCare by $15 million over the next two years causing prescription disruption for over 85,000 seniors.

Freezes Stewardship purchases until (estimated) 2028.
The budget would prohibit new land purchases until the Stewardship program has only $1 of debt for every $8 of property owned.
Even Speaker Vos has said this is unacceptable.

Turns the Natural Resources Board into an advisory board.
Vests more power with the politically-appointed DNR secretary.

Lifts the cap on private school vouchers.
This essentially creates two separate, disjointed school systems in Wisconsin – the public school system and a private voucher school system.

Borrows $1.3 Billion for highways.
Bonding will take generations to pay off, and WisDOT Secretary Mark Gottlieb supports a gas tax hike to pay for roads NOW rather than kicking the can down the road.

Changes the pay structure for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
This just seems political and vindictive. Will it remain in the budget now that we may have a new Chief?

Slashes funding to the Complete Streets program and the Transportation Alternatives program which help provide safe, accessible bike routes in Wisconsin.
We must keep bikers and pedestrians safe and thriving on our roads by supporting these vital programs.

Cuts Public Radio/Public Television by $2.5 million over the next two years.

Public television and radio provides educational, informative, and entertaining programming. Cutting this out of the budget would be upsetting to many people and seems petty considering it is not a large dollar amount in regards to the entire state budget.

Changes School Accountability standards.
Will offer several standards tests rather than just one set of uniform tests
Supt. Evers: "using results of multiple tests in the state's accountability system will diminish the transparency of the schools' report cards."

Teachers have been implementing Common Core for the last four years. It would be incredibly discouraging to give districts the option now to opt out of Common Core and diminish their thorough preparation.

SeniorCare Decimated in Walker Budget

This could affect over 85,000 seniors in our state and will create a coverage gap from where Medicare Part D ends and SeniorCare prescription coverage begins.

I will work tirelessly to stop this harmful cut from going into effect.

Drafting Error...?

The Wisconsin Idea is not just a mission statement. UW-System President Ray Cross put it perfectly when he said: "The Wisconsin Idea is embedded in our DNA. It is so much more than words on a page. It is the reason the UW System exists. It defines us and forever will distinguish us as a great, public university. Wisconsin must not abandon this core principle and value. We will work to preserve the Wisconsin Idea in every form." That is why I was so disappointed when I heard that Scott Walker's administration wiped away OUR Wisconsin Idea with the stroke of a pen.

I do not believe that this was a 'drafting error', or something that got lost in translation when discussing his budget intentions. This, along with the proposed $300 million cut to the UW-System, and the lifting of the voucher school cap prove that there is a front-on attack on public education in our state.

I believe in fully funding our public education system at all levels. This is an investment in our future. Take a moment to think: What would Wisconsin look like without our esteemed University's? What would that do to our academic and economic future?

Honoring Dode Lowe

I was honored to present Gretchen Lowe and her family with a legislative citation honoring her late husband, Dode. Dode will be remembered as a lion in the Madison labor movement. After growing up the son of an Osseo rubberworker, he moved to Madison in 1972 to work for AFSCME Council 40.

He was elected to five terms on the Dane County Board and mentored countless candidates, including myself, as they ran for office.

I am lucky to have known Dode, and he will not soon be forgotten.

Assembly Floor Session

AB 10: Clarifies that a person being harassed can file for a restraining order locally rather than having to go across state lines if the perpetrator lives in another state.

AB 19: This bill, authored by Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee), is in-line with my privacy bills from last session. It prevents people from placing a GPS on a person's vehicle without their knowledge.

SB 6: This bill reaffirms that the Legislative Audit Bureau has the authority to obtain all records from any agency they are auditing. Due to an opinion by the Attorney General last year, the LAB was stopped from gathering vital information from the Government Accountability Board. As the ranking Democratic member on the Joint Audit Committee, I applaud the Audit Bureau's hard work, and the committee for taking swift action to fix this oversight in state law.

A Day in the Life of Rep. Sargent

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February 16, 2015
Issue 47