The historic recession of the last two years has been incredibly difficult for the private sector economy with businesses shedding 180,000 jobs over that time. When I came back to the Legislature I pledged that my priority would be to get Wisconsin workers back on the job.

Beginning the day after the November elections, I and other legislators began our planning for legislative initiatives to spur job growth. In addition, Governor Walker began planning and developing his “Wisconsin is Open for Business” effort. Even before he officially took office he was laying the groundwork in an effort to begin stimulating job growth. When January came around with the Legislature in Special Session we tackled the issue of job creation and realized almost immediate results as businesses saw the efforts being made in Wisconsin to foster a more friendly business environment.

When the January job numbers were released, the efforts of Governor Walker and the Legislature began to be realized as Wisconsin created over 10,000 new jobs, with over 4,000 of those jobs being manufacturing jobs. That increase following a net loss of manufacturing jobs in December. The positive results continued and just yesterday, the Department of Workforce Development released the February job numbers showing the creation of an additional 5,200 jobs, of which another 4,300 were manufacturing jobs. Already in the first two months Wisconsin has over 15,000 new jobs and the February unemployment rate is 7.4%, which is 1.7% less than this time a year ago and is below the national average. Wisconsin job creation is off to a good start but there is much more work needed to correct the errant direction Wisconsin was sent during the previous two years.

As the State Budget process goes forward, I will be very attentive and interested in the provisions designed to stimulate the economy and create jobs. But I am also working on a couple of additional proposals of my own that I intend to introduce over the coming months. Both are proposals that I introduced last session. The first is a proposal to provide tax credits to the tourism industry for out of state advertising. Tourism is important for many parts of the state and especially for the First Assembly District. It forms an important part of our local economy and this incentive to boost tourism can bolster the industry and create jobs.

I am also currently drafting my legislation to provide tax credits to businesses in the ship building industry. The legislation will provide a payroll tax credit only for new jobs created in the industry and the credit cannot reduce the tax liability of the company to a level below the level of the previous year. Ship building is a historic cornerstone industry of the First District and one that has fallen on hard times during this recession. This industry provides quality jobs and growth in this industry would provide great benefits not only to the workers employed there, but to the entire region.

We cannot passively hope for job growth in Wisconsin. With the unemployment rate at 7.4% there are still too many people out of work. The job outlook is improving and if you know of someone still looking for work please get the word out that there are lots of employers now looking to fill positions. People looking for work should visit www.JobCenterofWisconsin.com where there are currently 26,000 positions posted and to connect with the state Job Service system if additional training and other assistance is needed.

Thanks for reading today. As always, feel free to contact me with your thoughts or concerns.

A wide range of emotions and long hours, the longest session in the history of the Wisconsin Assembly, which when it was all said and done, reached 62 hours. Beginning when Governor Walker introduced his Budget Adjustment Bill on February15, I have had many heart-felt conversations with a lot of people and some folks have been very angry.

A lot of public employees are upset at the increased benefit contribution requirements and the limiting of collective bargaining rights. I understand their opposition to this. After all, one of the mantras of unions is to fight to improve benefits and then protect those won. But, during the past two years, Wisconsin has lost 180,000 jobs, seen its economy shrink, and faced decreased state revenues while at the same time, expanded the size of state government by over 6%.

This has left Wisconsin facing a state deficit of $3.6Billion. At the state level, salaries and benefits eat up 60% of General Purpose Revenue and are 75% of expenses for school districts. Wisconsin is now broke. For too long politicians have been just kicking the problems of state finance down the road. And this past November, the people spoke loud and clear that enough is enough.

No more passing the buck on to the next generation. Fix the problems now.

The past two years have been very difficult for a lot of people: family members, friends, fellow district residents, all facing tough financial circumstances. One thing about being“older and wiser” is when you get to my age, you seen enough years to experience the entire range of such circumstances.

My wife reminded me of the early days when after the bills were paid and the food was bought I would say “Two weeks until the next payday and we have $10 left.”

It wasn’t easy then, and it isn’t easy now. In the Assembly it was a very long, historic debate. All those hours over amendment after amendment. Lots of reading, talking, and research to find out the “what ifs” and“therefores.” The question came down as to how to vote. And that question was not a question about what was best for my family or my friends, but what was best for all citizens of Wisconsin and the financial future of the state.

I voted to support the Governor’s bill. The consequences of not doing so were too severe: over 1,500 public employees will lose their jobs in just the next three months and an additional 6,000+ state workers will lose their jobs in the next budget and thousands more local public employees would also lose their jobs.

In addition, $30 million will be lost for health care coverage in the next 3 months, affecting 92,000 adults or 16,000 elderly and blind. It’s time for state government to share in the difficulties affecting the rest of Wisconsin. This bill is only the first piece of the puzzle to fix the state budget and represents less than 10% of the $3.6 billion deficit. But it is a significant piece that will allow government the flexibility to deal with the single biggest portion of their budgets so that the rest can be addressed.

Without tackling the costs of salaries and benefits for now and in the future, a balanced state budget once again just becomes an accounting gimmick.

Thanks for reading today. As always, feel free to contact me with your thoughts or concerns.

Good day people of the First Assembly District! This is the first edition of Notes from the West Wing for the 2011-2012 Legislative Session, which of course does not officially start until January! I am looking forward to getting to work in the new session with the recently elected Republican Majority! I hope you will find my updates as informative as in the past.

The past two years have been difficult for all of us. Friends, family and neighbors have lost jobs, the economy has struggled, and businesses have closed or left the state. As a small business owner myself, I have seen first hand the effects of this recession.

State government too has floundered. Increased tax rates led to less revenue and massive spending increases compounded to leave the state with a deficit of over $3 billion. This has left the incoming legislature and Governor-Elect Scott Walker an incredible task of getting Wisconsin’s fiscal condition back in order. Wisconsin has been running up its credit card balance and this has to stop and this balance must be paid down.

For Governor-Elect Walker and the Legislature, addressing the deficit, reducing state spending, and getting government to live within its means, is going to require some very difficult decisions. Decisions that must be made. Decisions that our constituents demanded when they went to the polls on November 2^nd.

Since the day after he was elected, Governor-Elect Walker has been meeting with his budget team and budget representatives of the state agencies to begin to analyze just how deep the problems are and how to work to fix them. The 2011-2013 State Budget will be the defining element of Governor-Elect Walker’s first term.

Just a quick refresher on the State Budget process: The Budget is crafted by the Governor and is introduced to the Legislature typically by the end of February. Once introduced, it is referred to the Legislature’s budget committee, the Joint Committee on Finance. The Finance Committee will, in a lengthy process, review the Governor’s budget and modify it with their desired changes. Once the Finance Committee finishes its work, the now modified Budget is reviewed, further modified, and acted on by both the State Assembly and Senate. Once the Budget receives final approval by the Legislature it returns to the Governor for his signature by the end of June for enactment beginning July 1, 2011.

It is a long process and with the state facing a deficit which at the latest estimates stands at $3.3 billion, there are going to be cuts that we would all like to avoid, but must be made. It is going to be a painful budget. But these decisions are going to be necessary if we are going to get Wisconsin’s fiscal ship back in shape.

Thanks for reading today. As the budget process gets underway next session I will provide regular progress updates. In the meantime, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wi.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.

The proposed Green Energy legislation will set new thresholds for the utilization of renewable energy in Wisconsin.  Moving to green alternatives should be encouraged; it is the right thing to do for the environment.  But any legislation requiring utilization of green energy must always be carefully analyzed for the fiscal ramifications that will result.

These ramifications include some that affect our citizens through the amount of money taken out of their pockets in the form of taxes, their own increased utility costs, as well as, whether the new requirements will attract jobs or chase them away. This proposed bill, as all bills, must be carefully looked at from all angles – so there are no unforeseen consequences.

Early numbers indicate that this legislation will greatly increase the cost of government – costs that must be shouldered by taxpayers. Some early estimates of the legislation indicate that the net infrastructure costs will total $16 billion though the year 2025.  We all know who is going to end up paying this extra $16 billion.

This is $16 billion that the already-strapped Wisconsin taxpayer does not have. Proponents of the bill say that it will create many jobs to help offset its costs. However, initial reviews by economists are casting some doubt on the proponents’ assertions, citing the fact that Wisconsin’s economy is heavily reliant on manufacturing.

The simple fact, according to economists, is that Wisconsin’s manufacturers are highly susceptible to increases in energy costs and passage of the legislation would result in higher, potentially significantly higher, energy costs.  Manufacturing is struggling and compounding their difficulties will not generate jobs, but chase them away.

Once again, the bottom line here is that the state does not need to be spending money it does not have. And while it would be nice if we could buy more green energy now and in the future, the price tag associated with this specific proposal is far too high. It is another example of the errant priorities of the Democrat-controlled legislature.

The legislature should be working to create real jobs for the people of Wisconsin.  We need to get the people of Wisconsin back to work. Instead, this legislature has allowed such erosion in the manufacturing sector that government jobs now outnumber manufacturing jobs in the state.  This is unacceptable!

Earlier this year, Assembly Republicans established the Jobs Now Task Force which traveled around the state and gathered suggestions from people on ways to stimulate the economy. Many of the recommendations were drafted into legislation and introduced with bi-partisan support. We are in the final few months of the legislative session, but there is still time to act on these proposals. It is job-creating efforts like these, that we need to focus on, not more spending.

Many of the proposals have completed the committee review process and are now in the Rules Committee waiting to be scheduled for floor debate. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, these proposals have yet to be scheduled.  Four proposals that form the cornerstone of the Jobs Now initiative are:

• Assembly Bill 476- Which would direct the State of Wisconsin to develop strategies to prevent businesses from moving to other states;
• Assembly Bill 477- Which would advance the ability of employers to claim the job tax credit;
• Assembly Bill 478- Which would end combined reporting; and,
• Assembly Bill 184- Which would increase the allowable income and franchise tax deduction for businesses.

The people of Wisconsin need more jobs – not more government tax-and-spend policies.

As always, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 888.482.0001.  You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.

The growing momentum behind our effort to prevent invasive Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan got a cold shoulder from the Obama Administration this week when U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court opposing the lawsuit.

Last week Attorney General Van Hollen added Wisconsin to the growing list of states from Minnesota to New York backing a lawsuit filed by the State of Michigan. The suit seeks to close the locks on the Chicago Sanitary Ship Canal to keep the invasive carp from gaining access to the Great Lakes. The lawsuit was filed as the outcry from state and federal officials to close the locks seems to be falling on deaf ears.

Congressmen and Senators from both parties along with environmental groups like the National Wildlife Federation have been calling for swift action by the State of Illinois and the Army Corps of Engineers to close the locks, at least temporarily, to make sure the carp do not gain a foothold in the Great Lakes.

The partisan politics in Madison stink sometimes, but the brief filed by Kagan on behalf of the Obama Administration has an even worse smell – old fashioned Chicago politics.  The administration appears to be willing to play Russian roulette with the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem and a $7 billion dollar fishing industry (not to mention all the waterways connected to the Great Lakes) in order to protect the short term financial interests of the Chicago shipping industry.

The position taken by Illinois and Kagan in the lawsuit is essentially that even though DNA from the carp has been found beyond the electronic barrier that is supposed to keep them from spreading, they’re not sure the barrier is failing.

Closing the barn doors after the horses are out of the barn is pointless. Refusing to close the locks until we’re sure these fish have entered the Great Lakes would be inexcusable! Despite this setback, I will continue to pursue every option available to prevent this highly destructive species from entering the Great Lakes.

As always, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001.  You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.

Hello to everyone in the First Assembly District!  Before we get into today’s topics, I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  With no legislative activity scheduled until January, this is likely my last column for 2009.  So for this last 2009 edition of Notes from the West Wing, I want to talk about legislative activity this week on Drunken Driving and Asian Carp.

This week, the State Assembly and State Senate met in Extraordinary Session to consider legislation to toughen Wisconsin’s drunken driving laws.  As you may know, earlier this fall the Assembly and Senate each passed bills regarding drunken driving.  However, the two bills differed and neither house passed the other’s legislation, so a new version of the legislation was needed, one that both houses can approve.

The Democrats made passing the new drunken driving legislation a priority for their agenda so the legislature was called into a special session in order to be able to pass the legislation before the end of the year. Toughening Wisconsin’s drunken driving laws has been a priority of mine for years, and I am very pleased to see this action happening, but why has not the same importance been placed upon job creation or stimulating Wisconsin’s economy?

None the less, the legislation passed this week makes some important improvements including making a fourth offense a felony, requiring the use of ignition interlock devices, and increasing the fines and penalties on those convicted.  The legislation does not, however, criminalize the first offense or make the third offense a felony which my own legislation would do.  Because of this, some will say that the legislation passed this week does not go far enough.  While on one hand I tend to agree (hence my own legislation), anything we can do to make existing law tougher is an improvement.

This week the Assembly also passed a Resolution authored by me and Representative Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) authorizing Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to pursue any and all legal means to prevent invasive Asian Carp from getting into Lake Michigan.  The State of Michigan’s Attorney General is in the process of filing a lawsuit to force closure of locks on the Chicago Sanitary Ship Canal to make sure the carp do not enter Lake Michigan, and we have now given Attorney General Van Hollen the authority to take similar action.  This invasive species could destroy the $7 billion dollar per year fishing industry in the Great Lakes and radically alter the environment of the lakes.

These fish came up the Mississippi River and have been kept in check by electronic barriers which may now be failing.  Last week I sent letters to members of Wisconsin’s Congressional Delegation, including Congressman Steve Kagen, asking them to pressure the Obama Administration to close the locks to make sure the carp do not get into Lake Michigan.  These fish destroy the natural habitat of the waters they infest, and devastate native fish populations.  It is imperative that action is taken quickly.

View the resolution passed this week here: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2009/data/AR-16.pdf

That is all for today’s update.  As always, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!

State Representative Garey Bies talks about auto insurance, another component of the 2009-2011 State Budget that has recently been generating many phone calls and emails to his office.

For those of you who have been subscribing to my e-mail update for a while, you will remember my April 10, 2009 update that dealt with non-fiscal policy that the Democrats had included in their budget bill.  One of the provisions that I specifically mentioned in that update concerned changes to mandated auto insurance coverage limits and the removal of related tort reforms.  In that column, I warned that if the final budget included these provisions people could see auto insurance premium increases in the range of 33-43%.  Unfortunately, this is exactly what has come to pass and as people have received their most recent auto insurance bills, they have been justifiably upset.

First of all, as I mentioned in that April update, these auto insurance provisions should never have been in the budget.  They bore no fiscal impact upon the state, they neither increase nor decreased revenues or expenditures.  Yet they were included, and passed.  Why?  Because the Democrats did not want to have to deal with the public outcry against these provisions had they been required to go through the normal legislative process.

However, now that people are receiving their new insurance bills, the outcry has been loud, and widespread.  To add insult to injury, not all of the budget provisions have gone into effect yet either.  A couple of provisions go into effect on January 1^st and June 1^st 2010.  Already making an impact on your insurance bills are drastically increased insurance coverage limits and the ability for the trial lawyers to go after multiple insurance policies when trying to recover damages, referred to as stacking.

The bottom line is that Wisconsin, like the rest of the country, is facing a major recession and is shedding jobs.  Companies are either going out of business or are simply moving jobs from Wisconsin to other states.  As a result, Wisconsin residents are being squeezed.  Less income and higher taxes are difficult to take and to have dramatically higher insurance rates tacked on is simply strike three.

On the bright side, I and several of my Republican colleagues drafted legislation to rescind the auto insurance provisions passed in the state budget.  Thankfully, this legislation is scheduled for a public hearing next week.  Whether the Democrats allow the legislation to move forward and be passed remains to be seen.  We can always hope!

As always, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.

Greetings once again to everyone in the First Assembly District!  For today’s edition of Notes from the West Wing, I want to talk about another consequence of the Democrats’ 2009-2011 state budget that is generating a lot of discussion now here in the capitol and around the state: prevocational services.

Prevocational services are jobs at work centers for physically and mentally handicapped workers throughout Wisconsin.  Because of recommendations at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), 10,000 jobs for the handicapped will end.  This is not right.

According to Rehabilitation for Wisconsin, an advocacy organization for Wisconsin’s disabled workers, more than 65,000 disabled persons are served by Wisconsin’s 66 work centers and more than 10,000 of these people are at risk of losing their jobs if DHS is successful.  The DHS proposal calls into question prevocational services, which help disabled participants learn and acquire work experiences where they can develop general, non-job-task-specific strengths and skills that contribute to paid employment in integrated, community settings.

I am a strong supporter of Prevocational Services.  I have been a part of The Sunshine House, Door County’s work center, since the early 1970s.  For the last 20 year I have been the legal guardian of Harold, a mentally handicapped man who has utilized prevocational services.  Harold’s job at the work center is very important to him.  For Harold and thousands of other individuals, these programs instill an invaluable sense of pride and accomplishment.

I cannot idly allow DHS to close off this option to so many of our most vulnerable citizens.  Last week I made a speech on the floor of the State Assembly about the importance of prevocational services.  I and 45 of my colleagues have written a letter to Governor Doyle formally requesting that he and DHS reconsider eliminating these opportunities.  Prevocational services are not about a paycheck.  It is so much more than that.

It is unfortunate that DHS did not communicate with the disabled workers, their families, advocates, or legislators before making this decision.  I sincerely hope that Governor Doyle will listen to legislators and families and stop the DHS proposal that will affect so many people.

As always, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.

Good day to everyone out there in the First Assembly District!  For today’s edition of Notes from the West Wing, I’d like to comment on a subject that has caused my office to receive a flood of contacts from constituents the past few weeks.

Recently, Wisconsin Public Service (WPS), the utility out of Green Bay, included with their most recent bills to customers, notification of a new tax on utilities as a result of Wisconsin Act 28, the biennial budget bill which I voted against, passed by the Democrats in the legislature and signed by Governor Doyle.

The notification to customers about the new tax has generated a lot of unhappy phone calls.  Residents are more than justified in their anger.  This new utility tax is just one of $4.7 billion in new taxes the Democrats have enacted since the beginning of the current legislative session – all at a time when the state and national economies are reeling and unemployment is high and continuing to rise. Raising taxes is never a good idea, but when our families are facing pay cuts and unemployment, higher taxes are the last thing we need.

The kicker regarding the new utility tax bill, is the claim by Democrats that it is going to pay the salaries of District Attorneys. District Attorneys should not be the target of the people’s ire. The DAs did not request this tax, nor did they lobby for it. In fact, the tax doesn’t even go to pay for the DA’s salaries! The revenue from this tax goes into the General Fund where it can be used for anything.

It is similar to another new tax I talked about in a previous Notes from the West Wing that the Democrats implemented on cellular phones. That new tax was claimed to be used for funding emergency services. Of course, in the same swipe of the pen that created the new tax, the Democrats re-routed the proceeds of that tax to… guess where? That’s right, the General Fund where it can be used for anything.

The bad news for residents is that new utility tax and the new cellular phone tax and many others, like the 127% tax increase on nursing home beds, were part of the budget bill that is already signed into law. We tried to remove these (and other) taxes from the budget and ultimately I voted against the budget bill, but unfortunately the Democrats had the votes and passed it. Now, it is going to take a new legislature to undo the damage done.

By the way, anyone notice their new garbage tax yet?

Well, that is all for this update. As always, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.

Good day to everyone out there in the First Assembly District!  For today’s edition of Notes from the West Wing, I’d like to provide an update on legislation that I have authored here in the State Legislature.

First off, I want to mention my bill, Assembly Bill 154 (AB 154), which prohibits a person from purchasing tobacco products and providing them to a minor.  It is currently against the law to buy cigarettes and provide them to a minor, but not illegal for an individual to buy other tobacco products, like chewing tobacco, and provide it to a minor.  This bill, AB 154, would extend the prohibition on purchasing cigarettes and providing them to a minor to other tobacco products.  AB 154 has a long list of bi-partisan co-sponsors here in the legislature and was unanimously approved in Committee.  Unfortunately it has not yet been scheduled for floor action.  I am not sure why as there is no opposition to the bill, even the tobacco companies are in support, but it languishes anyway.  Hopefully we can get it scheduled soon.

This week saw the introduction of two more of my proposals.  The first allows full-time members of the military stationed in Wisconsin to receive residents’ rate for entry into Wisconsin’s state parks.  A simple bill that deserves consideration.  Also introduced this week is my legislation to update Wisconsin’s Inattentive Driving Law.  Many changes in technology have occurred since this law was written, like cell phones, DVD players, GPS devices, etc.  My legislation will provide a comprehensive update to the law to reflect the advent of these types of devices.

Lastly, I would like to mention a new proposal that I have authored that I am currently circulating amongst my colleagues for co-sponsorship.  The legislation concerns how state funds are distributed to our public schools.  I think everyone agrees that the current school aid system is flawed as the distribution of state aid is dependent on the market value of property within a school district rather than on the residents’ ability to pay.  In districts where land values are inflated due to wealthy out-of-towners bidding up prices, school districts are left footing the entire bill for educating the children as the state sends no assistance.  This is unfair.  My legislation does not change how much aid is distributed, but how that aid is distributed.  First, my legislation will establish a floor payment to every school district of $1,000 per student.  Then, the balance of the money is distributed per the current school aid formula.  Even this token amount of school aid will be of great benefit to districts that currently receive no state aid.  For those districts that currently receive state aid, the impact on their aid will be minimal, typically a reduction in aid of around one-half of one percent or less.  If Wisconsin is going to claim that it provides monetary aid in the education of our children, then I think it is only appropriate that every school district receive at least some state aid, no matter the amount.

Well, that is all for this update.  As always, I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.