The Wisconsin State Assembly was back in session on Tuesday and Thursday as we returned for the Spring Session. The Assembly took up many bills that passed unanimously with bipartisan support.

Assembly Bill 665, which I am a co-sponsor of, relates to scholarships for Marquette University School of Dentistry students who practice in dental health shortage areas and passed with bipartisan support. With shortages of dental professions in rural communities, this legislation will provide additional support to students who agree to practice in dental health shortage areas for at least 18 months. With less than a quarter of dentists practicing in rural communities, where 30% of our population resides, it is evident that there is a need for incentivizing and supporting the recruitment and training of dentists who are willing to serve in underserved communities. I am proud to support his bipartisan legislation to help rural Wisconsin continue to have access to high-quality care.

Assembly Bill 666/ SB 692 was passed unanimously, relating to ratification of the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact. Interstate compacts allow states to coordinate across state lines and create agreements to implement standards for the licensing of specific professions. Wisconsin has recently enacted legislation enabling our state to participate in a number of interstate compacts, including the Physical Therapy Compact, the Occupational Therapy Compact, the Enhanced Nurse Licensing Compact (eNLC), and others. This legislation will help dentists and dental hygienists from other states to practice in Wisconsin to help treat patients.

Assembly Bill 667 passed the Assembly unanimously. This bill relates to funding for technical college oral health care programs. The $20 million in the state budget would allot technical colleges to expand Wisconsin’s dental programs. With the shortages of hygienists and dental assistants, this bill would allow Tech College to expand its programs, reduce its waitlist, and train more assistants and hygienists.

I am proud to support these bills that will ensure that citizens have access to oral health care and will lead to a reduction in other health complications.

Assembly Bill 356, which I am a co-author, passed the Assembly with bipartisan support. This bill relates to grants for incumbent local exchange carriers for costs associated with Next Generation 911 and making an appropriation. The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) must award grants to public safety answering points, more commonly known as 911 call centers, for a variety of purposes related to advance 911 operations, known as Next Generation 911. DMA must award grants to county land information offices for the purpose of preparing geographic information systems data to help enable Next Generation 911.

Dispatchers equipped with outdated 911 systems are unable to meet the demands of today’s digital society. As the first line of communication during an emergency, switching to updated infrastructures with Next Generation 911 technology has proven essential for dispatchers to provide quick and effective response services to every community.

For more information on the bills passed this week, please click here. Also, a reminder that floor sessions are always streamed live on WisEye.org.

Assembly Committee on Local Government

This week, I chaired an executive session and public hearing during the Assembly Committee on Local Government.

The committee passed the following bills for floor recommendation. Assembly Bill 562 relates to adding rural emergency medical services providers to the Emergency Medical Service Board. Assembly Bill 622 relates to multijurisdictional business improvement districts, annual reports for neighborhood improvement districts, and certain notifications for neighborhood improvement districts and business improvement districts. Assembly Bill 645 relates to county assistance to certain nonprofit organizations. Assembly Bill 661 relates to town clerk and treasurer appointments, publication requirements for proposed budget summary and notice of public hearing, and discontinuance of highways. Assembly Bill 723 relates to local government competitive bidding thresholds and requires school districts to utilize competitive bidding. 

The committee held a public hearing on Assembly Bill 881, related to town withdrawals from county zoning and the effect of a jurisdiction change on zoning provisions. This bill provides a procedure for towns to withdraw from coverage of a county zoning ordinance and standardizes statutory language related to the continuing effect of zoning requirements upon a change of the authority with jurisdiction over zoning matters.

Thank you to the bill authors and stakeholders who came to testify on these bills. We had a great discussion and conversation.

Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice & Public Safety

This week, the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice met for an executive session and public hearing.

During the executive session, the committee passed the following bills recommended for floor passage. Assembly Bill 536 relates to fleeing an office and providing a penalty. Assembly Bill 542 relates to grants to schools to acquire proactive firearm detection software and making an appropriation. Assembly Bill 37 relates to the expungement of records of certain crimes and discrimination based on expunged convictions. Assembly Bill 896 relates to imposing conditions on a juvenile between a plea hearing and a fact-finding hearing or disposition hearing.

During the public hearing, the committee heard two bills, Assembly Bill 730 and Assembly Bill 615.

Assembly Bill 730, authored by Representative Gustafson (R- Fox Crossing) and Senator Wanggaard (R-Racine), relates to the distribution of certain materials to minors. This bill prohibits business entities from knowingly and intentionally publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of such material unless the business entity performs reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the website.

Assembly Bill 615, authored by Representative Stubbs (D- Madison) and Senator James (R- Altoona), which I am a co-author of as well, relates to creating a task force on missing and murdered African American women and girls. This bill creates a task force on missing and murdered African American women and girls. The attorney general will administrate this task force, and must consist of members who are knowledgeable in crime victims’ rights or violence protection. 

Office of School Saftey Legislation

I had the privilege to join WMTV 15 to discuss legislation funding the Office of School Safety with fees collected from licensing guns. You can watch my full interview here on channel 15. I authored this bill along with Senator Quinn (R- Cameron). 

The Office of School Safety (OSS) is a division of the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) created in 2018 to keep students safe at school. OSS has become a critical resource for students, teachers, school administrators, and education communities throughout Wisconsin, with the intent to prevent violence in schools.

While the program has seen significant success in keeping students and teachers safe, the OSS has struggled to maintain adequate funding to support a full-time program.

LRB-5615/1/1 and LRB-5616-/1 ensure that OSS may retain the necessary full-time staffing levels and continue to fund the program through the fall of 2025 while providing DOJ the ability to re-allocate existing funding sources from the Department collects for issuing to fund OSS.

The Office of School Safety has been proven to be an effective tool in preventing violence and other potential threats in our schools. We must continue to provide funding for this vital program as the DOJ continues to work with the Legislature on solutions for long-term financing for the program. 

Capitol Meetings

I had the opportunity to meet with law enforcement from my district as part of the WI Chief of Police & Badge State Sheriffs’ Association lobbying day. We had a great conversation on legislation to support our local law enforcement and keep our communities safe. Thank you to all of our law enforcement and for what you do to keep the 51st Assembly District safe.

Thank you to Brian Hammill (Benton Police Chief), Kyle Teynor (Prairie du Chien Police Chief), Szvon Conway (Monticello Police Chief), Alan Schrank (Linden Police Chief), and Michael Peterson (Iowa County Sheriff) for meeting with me.

This week, I met with folks from the Green County Child Advocacy Center (CACs). I had a great conversation with staff about the important work CACs provide to Green County. Green County Child Advocacy Center provides a safe, child-friendly environment where law enforcement child protective services, prosecution, medical and mental health professionals may share information and develop effective, coordinated strategies sensitive to the needs of each unique case and child.

Thank you to Dan Williams (Green County Service Director), DeeJaye Miles (Green County HIS CYF Division Manager), Hannah Mellem (Green County Internship), Stephanie King (Green County CAC Coordinator), and Adrienne Jurewicz (Green County Trauma Therapist) for taking the time to meet with me. 

Advocates from the Wisconsin Farmers Union met with me this week on various issues. We had a productive conversation relating to agriculture priorities affecting rural Wisconsin.

Thank you to Ruby Sheaffer (Monroe), Tom Mosgaller (Blanchardville), Sally Leong (Avoca), and Susan Anderson (Monroe) for meeting with me.

WHEDA Foundation Grants

The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) Foundation announced the 2023 Housing Grant Awards in December. Recently, the Foundation has expanded its scope to address Wisconsin’s high demand and need. In this round of awards, the Foundation’s annual Housing Grant Program is funded by $2 million from WHEDA reserves. WHEDA received 96 applications requesting more than $3.8 million in 2023. 

This year’s grants will create or improve 1,674 beds and housing units across the state, supporting 53 organizations in 27 counties. The investments at the community level also support economic recovery by creating valued construction jobs, assisting individuals,

The projects in the district were awarded to Family Promise of Green County, which helps homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence, and Green County Development Corporation, which promotes and encourages economic growth while maintaining the quality of life that makes Green County, Wisconsin, a great place to live and work. 

— Rep. Todd Novak represents Wisconsin’s 51st Assembly District. He can be reached at 608-237-9151 or email rep.novak@legis.wisconsin.gov.