One Chamber Down, One to Go
Welcome back to the Sortwell Scoop. I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!
I have some great news to share! AB 234 was recently passed in the Senate. Senator Cowles and I worked together on this legislation to create a school psychologist loan forgiveness program that models the program for teachers. This will incentivize students to go into this field, which would improve Wisconsin’s student-to-school psychologist ratio of 815:1 (the goal is 500:1) and, thereby, create better mental health treatment access for WI youth.
Now that it has passed in the Senate, I am hopeful to see it pass in the Assembly as well and then make its way to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families
Two Rivers Assistant Police Chief, Melissa Wiesner, visited the Capitol this week to testify on SB 621. This legislation allows the Department of Justice to create a program that allows agencies to establish peer support and critical incident stress management (CISM) service teams.
Many departments have similar peer support programs already in place, but the people receiving the support are not promised or granted privilege rights. This bill ensures that any conversations being had will remain confidential unless there is a suspected crime occurring or thoughts of harm to themselves or other people.
I appreciate the time Assistant Chief Wiesner took out of her busy schedule to make the drive down and testify on something important to the Two Rivers Police Department.
New Legislation Heading Your Way!
Earlier this week, my office introduced a piece of legislation that requires a prospective buyer of a residential property to disclose in their bid whether they intend the property to be owner-occupied or not.
For the last few years, Wisconsin has seen a hot housing market like the rest of the U.S. Low mortgage rates and low housing supply created a seller’s market that had prospective buyers scramble to make bids on houses that would be accepted within a couple days or even hours. Families competing with one another for single-family houses is the standard for a free and fair market system. However, when these families have to compete with big corporations making all-cash offers just to rent the houses out at astronomical amounts, the market becomes less affordable and creates a tougher situation trying to secure a place to live.
This legislation seeks to alleviate this issue without compromising the free market. It doesn’t violate fair housing law and would give sellers more transparency on who is seeking to buy their homes.
It is currently being circulated to other legislative offices and will hopefully receive co-sponsors and a bill number in the next few weeks.
De Pere Greenwood Cemetery Groundbreaking
This past Monday, I attended the groundbreaking event for the De Pere Greenwood Cemetery. This project will help restore the cemetery’s shoreline and has received $1 million in funding from the Wisconsin legislature. This grant will help in the initial phase and will focus on stabilizing the riverbank, controlling invasive plants, and restoring over an 1100-foot shoreline section.
For more on the event, visit Historic De Pere cemetery embarks on $2.5 million restoration project | WLUK (fox11online.com).
It’s a Wonderful Life Indeed!
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A full Thanksgiving weekend with the family! What an awesome community we live in to host so many events! The De Pere High School craft fair, the Two Rivers Christmas parade, and the De Pere Kiwanis Pancake & Porkie Breakfast were just a few of the reasons why my holiday weekend was so great. I hope yours was just as amazing!
In-District Events
Friday, December 1st, will be the Village Tree Lighting Ceremony in the Village of Wrightstown (104 High Court) from 6 to 7 p.m.
Saturday, December 2nd, will be Christmas in the Village of Mishicot from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Saturday, December 2nd, will be De Pere’s Holly Day from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Downtown De Pere (117 N Wisconsin St.)
Saturday, December 2nd, will be the Christmas Parade in the Village of Wrightstown. This event starts at 4:30 p.m., and the route will follow Fair to HWY 96.
Sunday, December 3rd, will be the St. Nick Pancake Breakfast at the St. Peter the Fisherman Catholic Parish (3201 Mishicot Rd., Two Rivers) from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. For more information, visit St. Nick Pancake Breakfast | Two Rivers Wisconsin (exploretworivers.com).
Saturday, December 16th, will be Cool City Christmas in Downtown Two Rivers (1700 Washington St.) from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. For more information regarding this event, visit Cool City Christmas | Two Rivers Wisconsin (exploretworivers.com).
Sunday, December 17th, will be Breakfast with Santa at the Two Rivers Fire Department (2122 Monroe St.). Breakfast will be at 9:30 a.m., with a visit from Santa at 10:30 a.m.
