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For quite a few years the Wisconsin Legislative Service has been available on line, but kept a bit of a secret. This Service is a user friendly opportunity for all Wisconsin residents to sign up for notification and updates on legislation of particular interest to them.
Read MoreThe League of Women Voters of Ashland and Bayfield Counties asks you to consider reading this article ( https://wcmcoop.com/2016/12/27/enbridge-line-5-pipeline-threatens-great-lakes-public-comment-needed/) and making your comment to the USFS regarding their decision in the permitting of Enbridge Energy Partners Pipeline Line #5 that runs through the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Bayfield County.
Read MoreWhether you have time to be an active volunteer or simply want to show your support, you will help the League provide nonpartisan voter education and advocate for clean and responsive government- and be a true superhero!
Read MoreThe League of Women Voters of Wisconsin opposes SB 295, the voter registration bill being considered in the state Senate. Although the legislation offers some benefits, such as electronic voter registration, the benefits are more than offset by new restrictions. Contact your state Senator today and let them know you oppose SB 295.
Under SB 295 online registration would be available only to those who have a current and valid Wisconsin driver’s license or ID card. This does not help thousands of people who are qualified to vote in Wisconsin but don't have one of these two types of ID, including many seniors, students, minorities and low-income people.
The proposal would make it virtually impossible for groups like the League of Women Voters to conduct voter registration drives.
League members who are deputized to register voters sign up thousands of citizens every year in Wisconsin. They do so at senior centers, farmers markets, community fairs, high schools and colleges – and not just before an election. The League's volunteers reach citizens where they are, register them and answer their questions about when and where to vote. It would be a terrible mistake to shut down this important form of positive civic engagement.
The bill could have a full Senate vote as early as Tuesday, February 9.
CALL TO ACTION: Phone or email your state Senator today and urge him/her to oppose SB 295, which would make it harder for people to register to vote in Wisconsin.
For contact information for your legislators, click here and enter your address in the box to the left of the Wisconsin map under the heading Find My Legislators.
In the Senate:
SB 295 - Although this legislation offers some benefits, such as electronic voter registration (but available only for people in the DMV database), the benefits are more than offset by new restrictions.
CALL TO ACTION: Contact your State Senator and let them know you oppose SB 295.
On the Assembly floor:
AB 210 would permit local municipalities to put to referendum a 0.5% sales tax to help pay for local roads and highways, but not for public transit. This would make it very difficult for local communities to pass a Regional Transit Authority, which would also require a referendum to allow a sales tax.
CALL TO ACTION: Tell your Assembly representative to oppose AB 210.
AB 563 would allow drainage districts to be exempt from regulations protecting our lakes, streams and wetlands.
CALL TO ACTION: Tell your Assembly representative to oppose AB 563.
AB 582 and AB 600 - These bills would severely undercut shoreland zoning laws and protections for fragile wetlands which the League has supported over the years.
CALL TO ACTION: Tell your Assembly representative to oppose AB 582 and AB 600.
Click here to find contact information for your legislators
AB 481 would restrict the ability of school districts to take referenda to the public, extremely important in times of tight state funding. This should be a matter of local control.
AB 459 would require public school boards to designate school restrooms and changing rooms for the exclusive use of either "males" or "females." Aside from the obvious difficulties in enforcement and the likely litigation that would follow, this should be a matter for local school boards.
AB 751 would change the funding mechanism for voucher students in a way that would decrease state revenue for public school districts in which those students reside. This would seriously exacerbate the budget cuts already forced upon school districts by state budget decisions.
CALL TO ACTION: Tell your Assembly representative you oppose AB 481, AB 459 and AB 751.
Dee Johnson, co-chair of the LWV/ABC’s Water Committee, testified December 17, 2015 at the hearing held by Bayfield County’s Large Scale Livestock Study Committee, in support of the operations ordinance and other regulations developed by the Committee after months of careful study.
Comments by ABC/LWV:
I am here on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ashland & Bayfield Counties. We very much appreciate both the Committee’s thorough review of the potential impacts of CAFOs, and the efforts the County has made to keep its residents informed and involved. The Committee’s extensive work has allowed it to develop an operations ordinance which will hopefully reduce the CAFO impactson the quality of the human and natural environments in Bayfield County.
We understand that CAFOs have a multitude of potential impacts, including those to surface water, groundwater, microbiology and air quality. We are glad to see that these extremely grave risks have been addressed in the proposed ordinance. We also wholeheartedly support the adoption of an animal waste storage and management ordinance, as well as the incorporation of State NR 151 standards into that ordinance. Together, these County regulations would help fill the gaps in the state regulatory scheme. This is a self-reporting industry and this region’s CAFO specialist is located over 200 miles away and has 77 CAFOs to monitor. The County should consider requiring CAFO operators to hire independent monitors to verify that they are meeting state standards, and to prove with written land leases that they have land control for all the acres listed in their nutrient management plans for the duration of their WPDES permit. In addition, the balance of the Committee’s findings and recommendationswhich would provide additional groundwater, air quality, and human and animal health protections, have our strong support.
The Fish Creek and White River watersheds contain Exceptional and/or Outstanding Resource Waters, and Lake Superior, as you know, contains 10% of the world’s fresh water. With increasing threats to other drinking water supplies, it is more imperative than ever that we do everything we can to protect the remaining sources of fresh water,. The LWV Water Position states that “maintaining access to clean water which supports life and a healthy environment is a public trust, a fundamental human right, and is the shared responsibility of all who live or do business in Wisconsin. . . Decisions about water use and management must be made with consideration for public safety and the impact those decisions will have on all current and future generations.”
The League fully agrees with the Committee’s recognition of the “economic and cultural importance of agriculture to Bayfield County.” Large CAFOs bring none of the benefits to the area that our current family farms do. Rather they directly confer risks of pathogens, disease, and anti-biotic resistance, threatening the livelihoods of our existing farms.
The Badgerwood facility would be the first swine CAFO of this magnitude in the Lake Superior Basin and as such, poses unique and frightening risks. We hope the County will do all it can to require state-of-the-art manure management practices, including adoption of the Committee’s proposed operational ordinance and other recommended measures. Lake Superior is a priceless and irreplaceable resource, and we cannot do too much to protect it.
The Large Scale Livestock Study Committee will forward the proposed ordinance and other recommendations to the full Bayfield County Board, which is scheduled to take this matter up at their January 27, 2016 meeting.
CALL TO ACTION: Contact your Bayfield County Supervisor, and tell them to support the operations ordinance. For a list of the Bayfield County Board Supervisors click here to visit the Farms Not Factories website.
Please contact your state Senator and Assembly Representative as soon as possible and urge them to vote no on these bills!
There are a number of controversial bills that have been introduced in the legislature in the past week or so. It is all moving very quickly so I am sending you this Action Alert covering four proposals the LWVWI strongly opposes. It is possible that the GAB and campaign finance bills below will have a hearing as early as Tuesday, October 13.
For contact information for your legislators, go to: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/ and enter your address near the map of Wisconsin under the heading Find My Legislators.
SB 285/AB 373 – This is the civil service bill. It has already had a hearing. In 1905 Wisconsin rejected patronage as the basis on which hiring and firing should be determined for state employees. The Wisconsin LWV has strong positions in favor of merit recruitment and selection for state employees who implement programs, investigate complaints, and/or manage employees. This bill would gut the essential structure of Wisconsin’s civil service.
CALL TO ACTION: Contact your state senator and assembly representative and tell them to oppose SB 285/AB 373, which would return Wisconsin to the discredited system of patronage hiring and firing for state employees.
GAB bill LRB−3073/2 – no bill number yet. This bill would undo everything League supported in the creation of the Government Accountability Board. The bill would make the structure of the GAB similar to that of the Federal Elections Commission, with three members appointed by each of the two major political parties. That is a recipe for deadlock and dysfunction. The bill would take Wisconsin back to the type of partisan appointee system that resulted in the Legislative Caucus Scandal of 2002 which sent legislative leaders of both parties to prison on felony counts.
CALL TO ACTION: Contact your state senator and assembly representative and tell them to oppose the bill which would dismantle Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Government Accountability Board.
Campaign Finance bill AB 387/SB 292 – According to Common Cause in Wisconsin, the bill would open up Wisconsin elections to permit campaign coordination between candidates and outside special interest spending groups, something which was prohibited for decades in Wisconsin, until the State Supreme Court in July said such coordination was permissible. That court decision, which is likely to be successfully appealed, is an outlier in the nation. The bill would make contribution limits meaningless because supporters of candidates could contribute or spend unlimited money on a phony issue ad communication and even remain anonymous!
CALL TO ACTION: Contact your state senator and assembly representative and tell them to oppose AB 387/SB 292, which would increase the influence of dark money in politics.
A bill prohibiting transgender students from using the restrooms and changing rooms that correspond with their gender identity. This mean-spirited bill also requires school boards to designate facilities exclusively for one physical sex or the other. According to Fair Wisconsin: “This bill is an unnecessary solution in search of a problem. It singles out, isolates and stigmatizes transgender students, who often already face harassment and exclusion at school. It also undermines the advances many school districts across Wisconsin, and the nation, have made allowing students to use facilities and participate in sports and activities consistent with their gender identity.”
CALL TO ACTION: Contact your state senator and assembly representative and tell them to oppose any bill which isolates and stigmatizes students.
The worst thing would be for partisan politicians to be able to say they did not hear any opposition to these horrifically bad measures. Thank you, League members, for letting your representatives know you oppose these bills.
Andrea Kaminski, Executive Director
League of Women Voters of WI
In 1905 Wisconsin rejected patronage as the basis on which hiring and firing should be determined for state employees. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, the Senate Committee on Labor and Government Reform will hold a public hearing on a bill, not formally introduced as of today which would gut the essential structure of Wisconsin’s civil service.
The Wisconsin LWV has strong positions in favor of merit recruitment and selection for state employees who implement programs, investigate complaints, and/or manage employees. (The League recognizes that high level policy-making positions are appropriately appointed in a different manner.) Here are the League's positions (scroll down to Civil Service): http://www.lwvwi.org/IssuesAdvocacy/GovernmentStructuresProcedures.aspx
In contrast, the legislative proposal (LRB-2783/1 and LRB 3389/1) which will be considered at Tuesday's hearing does the following:
· replaces the examination process, which is currently used for hiring, with a resume based process. Resume review is inherently more subjective and susceptible to political influence than an objective process that looks at specific achievements and skills.
· “just cause” to discipline an employee is defined as “performance or conduct that is inadequate, unsuitable, or inferior.” Could the definition of “unsuitable” be interpreted as comments supporting a candidate or position opposed by the current administration?
· all personnel authority would be consolidated into the Department of Administration, which is headed by what newspapers routinely call “the Governor’s top aide” and is recognized as the most partisan of state agencies.
CALL TO ACTION: League members should contact their state senators and assembly representatives to express their opposition to the civil service bill, which would return Wisconsin to the discredited system of patronage hiring and firing for state employees.
For contact information for your legislators, go to: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/ and enter your address near the map of Wisconsin under the heading Find My Legislators.
Andrea Kaminski, Executive Director
League of Women Voters of WI
Red Flag marks the site of the proposed CAFO.
The League of Women Voters of Ashland and Bayfield Counties has sent a letter to the DNR providing input re the scope of a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Badgerwood swine operation in the town of Eileen in Bayfield County.
Click here to see a copy of the letter LWV/ABC sent to the DNR.
Please consider sending your own letter. Click here to see our previous Take Action item which has details for sending your own letter.
The 2015 Sacred Water Walk is now in our area! Kate saw them on Highway 2 approaching the Bad River Reservation's east border on August 27th. You can join the walk or festivities. If you are interested in joining the last leg of the walk, please see the Walk Protocols.
The Water Walkers will be walking across the South Shore — From Duluth to Red Cliff and on to Madeline Island. This is the schedule of events and everyone is invited to participate. Walk and talk and be part of an historic event. For more information check out these web sites.
Mother Earth Water Walk
Indigenous Rising
Water Walkers United Facebook page
Walk a block, a mile, or many more! All are welcome!
Tuesday Morning they will leave Port Wing and continue on to Red Cliff.
Aunt Josephine, the infamous lead walker begins her walk at 4:00am, so I'm thinking is that once they depart from Port Wing on Tuesday Morning, Sept 1st, it wouldn't be a surprise to see them walking past the Health Center maybe around 12:00 Noon...
Tuesday FEAST : community of Red Cliff is hosting a feast around 5:00pm at Legendary Waters or nearby. There will be signs on Hwy 13.
Wednesday Morning up and early on the to catch the 6:30 am Ferry to Madeline Island.
From the organizers: try to understand, sometimes as much as we'd like to put a time out there, it might not work out. So, think of the water — the constant movement, or something such as a large rock might get in the way... and the water has to take a few minutes to flow around it... it will all happen as it needs to.
Chi Miigwech to all those that have put their heart, mind and body into making this event a memorable event!
Anishinabe women from across North America have been inspired to take up their work and walk the waters in their community. All of the walks are spiritual and physical in nature and are to raise awareness of the water. They walk to call attention to the sacred gift of water, the source of all life.
The Sacred Water Walkers are going to be coming through Bayfield on Wednesday, September 2nd and need our help and support. The Water Walkers will carry salt water from the Atlantic Ocean along the traditional migration route around the Great Lakes and end on Madeline Island. This walk is to raise awareness of oil spills by ship and train on the St Lawrence River to Lake Superior.
Protecting the water is crucial to our way of life in Bayfield and the Chamber and Visitor Bureau has twice voted to protect the water by resolution, once because of the proposed iron mine and more recently for the proposed pig factory (CAFO). Both of these posed an unacceptable risk to the water in Lake Superior and our region.
If you would like to help the Water Walkers in their current walk you can do so in a number of ways:
1. You can walk with the walkers. You can contact them directly at info@waterwalkersunited.com.
2. You can donate a gift to be given to the Water Walkers on Madeline Island at the end of the walk. Please drop these off at the Chamber office. Any and all gifts are welcome.
3. You can donate fruit, veggies, or pastries for the Walter Walkers to eat on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Please contact David at the Chamber office.
If you are interested in any or all of the above please contact David at the Chamber office. Please drop off any food items on Tuesday to be available on Wednesday morning 6 am.
Support the Walk Tentative Schedule
The Water Walkers led by Elder Josephine Mandamin, will be arriving on Madeline Island Wednesday, Sept. 2 on the 6:30am ferry. This will be the completion of their water walk from Quebec to Madeline Island carrying sacred water to bring attention to the importance of protecting our water resources. Their walk began in June and is re-tracing the traditional migration route of the Anishinaabeg. Other Anishinaabeg leaders and participants will be arriving throughout the morning on Sept. 2.
There will be a feast at Ojibwe Memorial Park at noon on Wednesday sponsored by the Forest County Potawatomi, and a potluck feast noon on Thursday at Joni's Beach on Madeline Island and organized by Islanders honoring the walkers. Everyone is invited to extend a warm welcome to the Water Walkers on the completion of this important walk. Organizers are grateful to the Forest County Potawatomi have donated funds for the feast, housing, and transportation of the Walkers. Thanks to everyone who contributes time, food, and support to this event.
The League of Women Voters of Ashland and Bayfield Counties is a nonpartisan political organization whose main objective is to promote political responsibility through the informed and active participation of all citizens in government at all levels, especially locally. Making Democracy Work!
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