The gavel has fallen on the final floor day of the Wisconsin State Assembly’s 2015-2016 legislative session. Our legislators now return home to campaign for the November election. From the release of the state budget draft in February 2015 to the flurry of bills passed in the final days, this session worked to damage open government and open lands, public schools and public water systems.
An adjourned Assembly rarely makes the news. Please don’t think this is an accident. We are supposed to forget the votes of the past year and forgive our legislators by re-electing them.
The passion that drove thousands of our fellow Wisconsinites to testify at budget and committee hearings, write letters and raise voices over the past year must drive even more to the polls in November. Let’s not forget this Assembly’s votes when we take ours.
Ask a neighbor and he or she could have added other important concerns including health insurance, anti-poverty programs, women’s health, economic development, broadband expansion, prevailing wage, and many more. The 2015-2016 Wisconsin State Assembly left our government and our natural lands less open. It focused more on increasing its access to campaign funds than providing resources to schools, state parks, universities, or infrastructure. It further restricted local control, and left too many communities searching for family-sustaining economic growth, from the neighborhoods of our largest cities to the single intersections in our smallest towns. Don’t forget how our legislators used their authority when we elected them to serve our state.
The Assembly has adjourned; the legislators have taken their last votes. The next vote is ours.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s work together to open government and opportunity, invest in education and infrastructure, and protect the natural resources and unique communities that make Wisconsin an exceptional place to live. If you agree we need a better direction, join us.