2023-2024 Session in Review
Authored New State Law to Honor Local Hero
I authored Wisconsin Act 215 with Representatives Ellen Schutt, Clinton Anderson, and Jenna Jacobson, which designates Highway 11 between Orfordville and Footville as the Corporal Benjamin H. Neal Memorial Highway. After graduating from Parkview High School in 2009, Cpl. Benjamin Neal joined the U.S. Army and was on his second deployment when he was killed in action in Afghanistan in April 2012.
Gov. Evers signed Act 215 in Corporal Neal’s hometown of Orfordville at Well-Davis-Young-Neal American Legion Post 209 with Corporal Neal’s parents and loved ones in attendance. This new law will ensure that a local hero is honored for his sacrifice, and I am grateful to the bipartisan coalition of legislators and advocates who worked together to make this possible. To read more about this new state law, click here.
Authored New State Law to Support Farmers and Protect Our Environment
I am proud to have authored Wisconsin Act 42, a bipartisan act which strengthens and updates the farmland preservation program. This crucial legislation supports farmers across the state and protects our environment by increasing farmland preservation tax credit amounts and making other updates to the program.
The Land Conservation staff in Rock County first brought this issue to my attention in 2019, and I have been working with my colleagues over the last three legislative sessions to ensure it becomes law. I am grateful for the partnership of a bipartisan coalition of legislators, agriculture and conservation groups, and farmers that worked together to ensure this bill became law, and I look forward to seeing the positive impacts of this act on farmers and our local communities for decades to come. To read more about this new state law, click here.
Authored New State Law to Prevent Misuse of AI in Campaign Ads
I authored Wisconsin Act 123 with Representative Clinton Anderson, which provides safeguards against the misuse of new artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in Wisconsin campaign advertisements. This act requires disclaimers stating that an ad "contains content generated by AI” to ensure voters know when they see or hear video or audio made by AI.
As products that produce synthetic media continue to advance, it is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate synthetic media from authentic audio recordings or video – making it even more important to ensure that voters can easily separate truth from fiction. To read more about this new state law, click here.
Investing in Local Communities
I played a large part in ensuring that Wisconsin Act 12, a critical local funding bill, will provide desperately-needed resources to our local communities to help pay for services like public safety and road repair. This new act will bring more than $10 million in new shared revenue to the communities in the 15th District!
This is the first time in decades that the legislature has meaningfully increased shared revenue. I prioritized this legislation so that local municipalities aren’t forced to cut essential services like police, fire, or EMS because the state’s commitment hasn’t kept up.
We still need to provide more money for our rural communities and work to fix the inequities in the funding formula that hurt midsize communities like Janesville. The new state funding provided by this law has helped local governments prevent the worst from happening in the short term. While I am immensely proud of the work we did, I will work to ensure that the legislature comes back soon to increase this funding. To read more, click here.
Promoting Workforce and Senior Housing
I also worked on a bipartisan package of new laws to provide $525 million of state funding to expand access to workforce and senior housing across Wisconsin. The legislature appropriated half a billion dollars in the 2023-25 state budget for initiatives to make home ownership more affordable in Wisconsin.
As a WHEDA Board Member and a member of the Senate Committee on Housing, Rural Issues, and Forestry, I was proud to support these five bills. I am excited to see these resources deployed across our state!
