Notes from the West Wing
By
State Representative Garey Bies
Legislation Status
Well, I just wanted to say, just when you think you’ve seen it all, you
see something you never expect! Remember
the beginning of the previous edition of the Notes from the West Wing I
talked briefly about partisan games and tactics?
Well, folks over in the Senate took those tactics a bit further this
week! The State Senate is supposed
to be the more orderly of the two houses! I
guess that order was a bit much for some as a member of the Senate, during floor
debate charged the rostrum, grabbing the microphone of the chief clerk and
tossing it to the floor! Things
were a bit heated and definitely chaotic for a while there!
Even the Capitol Police were brought in! Level heads did prevail though and the day’s business was
resumed! And the day before, for I
believe only the second time in state history, a State Senate member was
recalled from office. It’s been a
busy week in the “upper” chamber!
This is
the 18th installment of Notes from the West Wing, and to this
point, I have not used a single edition to talk about my own legislation!
So today, I’d like to briefly mention a few of the proposals I have
been working on.
First proposal I’d like to
mention provides a property tax exemption for the Peninsula Players Theatre.
The Peninsula Players Theatre is a cherished part of the Door County
community. The Theatre asked for my
help in their effort to gain a property tax exemption and I was more than happy
to oblige. This will not be an easy
proposal to get passed but hopefully we can prevail.
Another
proposal I authored came about as a result of contacts I received during budget
proceedings concerning the state’s Stewardship Fund. A few residents of the 1st Assembly District
voiced their support for more funding of the program.
As a result, I drafted a proposal that would establish a trust fund for
the Stewardship Program that would allow contributions that the program could
utilize to help finance Stewardship initiatives. Further, contributions to the trust fund would be
tax-deductible.
I also
authored legislation that would require counties to automatically return excess
proceeds from the sale of property seized by the county through a tax deed.
Current law does not require the return of net proceeds by the county,
only notification to the previous owner of the net proceeds.
If the previous owner does not notify the county that they wish the
return of their money within a certain time period, the money is forfeit to the
county! This did not seem just to
me!
A proposal currently in drafting
was requested by the Gibraltar School District. This proposal would allow school districts that receive no
state aid, to be exempted from the revenue caps and permitted to levy an
additional 1 mil on the property tax. Due
to the high property values of school districts within the 1st
Assembly District, some districts receive no state aid.
This proposal would provide a little flexibility to districts such as
Gibraltar that must live within the revenue caps while receiving no state aid as
other districts do.
Also on the educational front, I
have introduced legislation that would require the University of Wisconsin
System to accept credits being transferred by students from the Technical
College System. I have been very
pleased with the progress this proposal has made. As a result of my proposal, the two systems sat down together
and reached their own mutual agreement on the transfer of credits.
Consequently, I have drafted an amendment to my bill that reflects the
agreement struck between the two systems. This
proposal is scheduled to receive a vote in the Colleges and Universities
Committee this week.
These are only a few of the proposals I have authored this session and if you would like more information regarding any of the above or what else I am working on, please feel free to contact me! I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.state.wi.us or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001.