By Rep. Warren Petryk

Representing Wisconsin State Assembly District 93

With the winter legislative session already in full swing, it is always good to take a moment to reflect on the work that I’ve done down in Madison in 2021, and on the work I look forward to accomplishing in 2022.

Reflecting on 2021, we started with a new state budget to pass for the next two years. The governor’s original budget proposed raising taxes by over $1 billion while also expanding the bureaucracy in Madison. Through the leadership of the legislature, we kept our promise to invest in the priorities of western Wisconsin. This includes providing a historic income and property tax relief package for families and businesses while we were recovering from the effects of the pandemic. The budget also provided the most funding for Wisconsin schools ever while also securing federal education aid. In addition, we invested more money into our local roads while bonding less. We also increased funding for broadband by nearly $130 million.

Beyond the budget, the legislature continued to pass bills to help the 93rd Assembly District, with 74% of them passing in the Assembly with bipartisan support. I was also able to have several bills passed that I authored so far this session. Assembly Bill 218 passed with unanimous support to ensure that when constituents complete their application for a license in Wisconsin that they have a reasonable expectation to hear back in a timely manner if their license was approved or not. Assembly Bill 287 was also passed to help ensure that local road funding continues to stay with our local communities and that they are not egregiously penalized for making a mistake on their paperwork.

Looking forward, we still have a lot of work to do. One of my top priorities for the remainder of the session as Chair of the Assembly Workforce Development Committee is to ensure that we continue to expand and train our workforce while aligning our government programs to help people return to the workforce. This includes passing the Reemployment Assistance Act that I’m authoring which would reform the Unemployment Insurance System into a program that will provide people with the tools that they need to find work faster.

As we continue to move Wisconsin forward, if there is a piece of legislation that you are interested in learning more about, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office at 608266-0660 or [email protected] ov.

State Rep. Warren Petryk