Looking ahead at Wisconsin’s legislative session.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) says this past year was a good one in the state legislature. “If you think back, we were able to pass a mining bill; we passed a budget that not only balanced, but it actually cut taxes and it still invested in schools and our priorities; we came back in the fall and we cut property taxes and passed our bipartisan mental health package,” he says, “So we had a really great 2013.”
Vos reminds us, the Assembly was proactive on a package of bills aimed at those who drive while drunk.
Vos says his chamber will focus on heroin abuse, additional tax relief, and education reforms. Lawmakers plan to wrap things up pretty quickly in the new year, by the end of February or maybe the very beginning of March. “But I really want to focus on getting the job done and not just stalling until the end of session and then a lot of things fall through the cracks.”
AUDIO: In February, Vos plans to work on the state’s Common Core educational standards, accountability, and expansion of charter school reforms. 1:04
The Assembly and the Senate are due back at the Capitol in mid-January.
