Today is another example of missed opportunities. We had an opportunity for compromise on an important health care workforce bill, and my Republican colleagues rejected it -- we had an opportunity to keep highly qualified people in important roles they were willing to serve and my Republican colleagues rejected them - and perhaps most egregiously my Republican colleagues rejected the opportunity to treat youths merely seeking care like human beings and instead turned them into targets for discrimination.

I am beyond disappointed in my Republican colleagues and their decision to rush this harmful bill through committee. This choice to push forward a bill designed to hurt transgender and nonbinary youth is scary and dangerous.

Today’s hearing continues a dangerous nationwide trend of targeting transgender and nonbinary youth who want nothing more than to live their lives as their true selves. The introduction of this bill and the willingness of Republicans to even hold a public hearing is extremely harmful to transgender and nonbinary youth in our state and across the country.

Instead of limiting DNR authority, we should be empowering them to be able to help communities across Wisconsin who are experiencing dangerous levels of PFAS contamination in their water.

I congratulate Dane County Executive Parisi on his well-earned retirement after decades of public service. Joe has dedicated his career to serving the people of Dane County as Dane County Clerk, State Representative, and most recently Dane County Executive. I always appreciated working with him for the betterment of our shared constituencies.

We are deeply disappointed in our Republican colleagues’ decision today to reject the appointments of four extraordinarily qualified Wisconsinites. Over the past month, we have had the opportunity to hear directly from Sharon Adams, Dylan Jennings, Jim VandenBrook, and Sandra Dee Naas – who highlighted their many years of experience with issues ranging from hunting and fishing, to agriculture, to conservation, to water quality and the environment.

Abortion is healthcare. Today’s announcement that Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will resume abortion care services on September 18^th at the Water Street Health Center in Milwaukee and the Madison East Health Center is incredibly important. This is a critical victory for patients in Wisconsin but we still have a long way to go to restore access and protect reproductive freedom in Wisconsin. We must continue to fight to restore Roe and protect reproductive care in our state.

Under current law, the Council on Veterans Programs advises the Board of Veterans Affairs and Department of Veterans Affairs on solutions and policy alternatives relating to the challenges of veterans. This bill removes representatives from organizations that are no longer active and replaces them with representatives from important veteran stakeholder groups like veterans services coordinators at our colleges and universities. By adjusting the membership of the council we are ensuring that it reflects today’s veteran population.

The Democratic members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee State Senator Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton), State Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee), State Representative Francesca Hong (D-Madison), and State Representative Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) issued the following statement after the committee voted along party lines to audit the state crime laboratories

I am grateful for Governor Evers’ commitment to supporting the Wisconsin workforce through affordable child care, paid family medical leave, investments in our higher education institutions, and supporting high-demand workforce sectors. His plan to use our state’s unprecedented surplus to address these vital issues is needed to keep Wisconsin’s workforce strong.