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.

Dick Skare

With a pledge to campaign in every village and township in Wisconsin’s First Assembly District, candidate Dick Skare invites voters to attend his campaign kick-off events in Door and Kewaunee Counties. Both events welcome supporters and interested individuals from throughout the District – including eastern Brown County where Skare announced his campaign last week.

“The First District needs and deserves more effective leadership…” Skare says. “Legislation being debated in Madison affects every single resident of the First District and their children and their children’s children. We cannot afford more of the same-old politics-before-all-else, heels-dug-in excuses for doing nothing.”

The Door County event will be held Monday, November 9, from 5:30 – 7 pm at the historic Andre’s Supper Club and Opera House, 23 W. Oak Street (just off Madison St.) in Sturgeon Bay.

The Kewaunee County event will take place on Wednesday, November 11, from 5:30 – 7 pm at S and K Food and Spirits, 7551 County D (at Highway 54) 2.5 miles west of Algoma.

Both events will have food and cash bars. For more information call campaign manager Allin Walker at 920-493-2912.

Good day to everyone out there in the First Assembly District! A few different items for today’s Notes from the West Wing. First, I’d like to mention that the Assembly Tourism Committee is holding an informational hearing in Wisconsin Dells next week, September 30. The hearing will be open to the public and I hope that some people from the First Assembly District can come down to the hearing and share their insights on tourism in Wisconsin in general and tourism in the First Assembly District in particular. Details on the public hearing are:

Assembly
INFORMATIONAL HEARING
Committee on Tourism, Recreation and State Properties

The committee will hold an informational hearing on the following items at the time specified below:

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 – 10:00 AM
Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau Board Room
115 La Crosse Street
Wisconsin Dells, WI

Testimony will be taken from invited speakers and will then be open to the public.

The Status and State of the Tourism Industry in Wisconsin
Recognizing the importance of the Tourism Industry to Wisconsin’s economy and the challenges faced by Tourism businesses over the past two years due to both a natural disaster and an economic downturn, the Committee is seeking input about the status of the Tourism Industry in Wisconsin and advice about what the state could do to aid the Tourism Industry.

In legislative news, I have a couple of issues I would like to briefly talk about.  First, my legislation to require utility companies that operate nuclear power plants to make payments to the communities they are located within if the company stores spent nuclear fuel on the premises in a dry cask storage facility, received a public hearing last week before the Assembly Utilities Committee.  I authored and introduced this legislation at the request of the Town of Carlton where the Kewaunee Nuclear Plant is located.  The energy company that operates the plant wants to store, for the foreseeable future, spent nuclear fuel on the property, a function that was never anticipated to occur.

The storage of spent nuclear fuel was supposed to occur at the Yucca Mountain Repository not on-site at nuclear plants.  However, despite billions of dollars of investment, it is unclear when, if ever, the repository is expected to accept deliveries.  It is unacceptable to ask our local communities to take up the role of Yucca Mountain.

Also of note was the passage of legislation by the Assembly aimed to tighten Wisconsin’s drunken driving laws.  As a co-author of the legislation, I was happy to see the bill pass the Assembly unanimously.  Do I think this legislation will be the answer to Wisconsin’s drunken driving problems?  No, but I do think it is a step in the right direction with some increased penalties and additional ignition interlock requirements.  The legislation still falls a bit short in that it does not criminalize the first OWI offense or make a third offense a felony.  I have another proposal to establish these last two points but it does not appear that my legislation will even receive a public hearing.  None the less, it was important that we pass the legislation as anything the legislature can do to combat drunken driving needs to be done.

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 888.482.0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.