The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is seeking to simplify state rules for this gun hunting season. Starting last Friday, November 1, rifles will be allowed statewide. The first statewide vote on the proposed change occurred at the Conservation Congress in 2011, following a 2010 citizen resolution, where an overwhelming majority of counties supported it. In 2013, the DNR again found widespread public support for the rule change.

The Assembly was in session this past Tuesday, November 5, to discuss some very important legislation.

Assembly Bills (AB) 67, 68, and 467 aim to curb drunk driving here in Wisconsin. AB 67 would require an individual to make a personal court appearance for their first OWI, which is currently not mandated until the second and subsequent offenses. Under current law, a driver’s first OWI offense is only a civil forfeiture with a fine between $150 and $300. A second OWI that occurs within 10 years of your first conviction brings enhanced penalties, and the same applies to a fourth OWI within five years of the previous conviction. AB 68 would make a second offense OWI a misdemeanor and fourth offense OWI a Class H felony, regardless of timing. AB 467 clarifies the intent of 2009 Act 100, which mandated first-time OWI offenders with a blood alcohol content of 0.15 and above to install ignition interlock devices on their automobiles. Between the time the court revokes the offender’s license and the installation of the device, offenders who are pulled over for a traffic violation are cited only for that traffic violation, and not the more serious criminal offense of circumventing the ignition interlock installation. AB 467 makes it illegal for an OWI offender to drive any vehicle without an ignition interlock device, while also closing the revocation period loophole.

In Wisconsin, drunk driving is one of the leading causes of traffic accidents. It is unacceptable that Wisconsin has the highest rate of drunken driving in the nation, and I voted in favor of all three of these bills in committee and on the floor. While we must continue to fight against drunk driving, the goal of the bills’ author, Rep. Jim Ott, developed legislation with the best likelihood of passing through the Legislature. I think this is a first step in the right direction.

Additionally, the Assembly passed a package of bipartisan jobs bills to help fill the skills gap in Wisconsin and get people back to work. It is projected that 70% or more of the jobs being created in our modern economy will not require a traditional 4-year college degree, but instead will require the technical training that the skilled trades are offering. Senate Bill (SB) 336 will help the best and brightest high school students enter highly skilled fields through investments in apprenticeship, on-the-job training, and new technical education scholarships. Furthermore, SB 335 will reimburse either the apprentice or the employer – whoever pays the cost of the classes – 25% of tuition and fees up to $1,000. Many students and parents are familiar with the Academic Excellence Scholarship awarded to Wisconsin high school seniors who have the highest grade point average in each public and private high school in the state. A new, similar scholarship will be created in SB 334 that would be given to the highest performer in a technical education program at a high school, if that student chooses to attend a tech college. 

The jobs bills also focus on helping unemployed workers keep their skills fresh with on-the-job training, expanding the Transform Milwaukee Jobs program into other regions of the state with high poverty and high unemployment (SB 333). After students and workers complete training, it can still take weeks or months to schedule an exam and become licensed. These jobs bills streamline this process while preserving all existing requirements on education and training hours (SB 337).

There is still work to be done. Demographic projections indicate that many skilled workers of the “baby boomers” generation will soon be leaving the workforce.  The new generation of workers needs adequate skills to fill these openings, and these jobs bills are just the start. I am proud of the work the Legislature has done thus far to improve the business and employment climate here in Wisconsin, and will continue to work on behalf of the 67^th Assembly District and all residents of the state of Wisconsin.

The Assembly will be in session next Tuesday, November 12, and Thursday, November 14. You can watch the session live on Wisconsin Eye or track proceedings in the Assembly InSession.