Your Representatives in the News

Your Representatives in the News

Assembly Representative Garey Bies

Bies is circulating a bill to help judges keep track of domestic and child abusers who own guns. The legislation would require abusers served with an injunction to fill out a form listing the make, model and serial number of guns they own and surrender guns within 48 hours, or else attend another hearing or face arrest.

“When people are in a situation where they are supposed to turn their guns in, we will make sure it’s done,” Bies said. “That way, if something arises, they won’t have easy access to a weapon. They will have to work harder to find one, and maybe by then they will have calmed down a little bit. That’s the goal: To take away the heat-of-passion type situations.”

Source:  The Associated Press

State Senator Frank Lasee

Lasee was served with an eviction notice from capital protesters last week, in response to a landlord-tenant bill he co-sponsored.

The bill would allow landlords to dispose of evicted tenants’ property if tenants are notified, allow landlords to evict tenants if a crime is committed on the rental property even if the tenant couldn’t have prevented the crime (exceptions made for sexual abuse, domestic abuse and stalking), and allow vehicles on private property to be towed without a parking citation issued by a local traffic officer as long as law enforcement is notified.

“We’ve been asking the tenants of the building to remove infestation of corporate lobbyists since February of 2011,” said protester Carl Gibson. “They are renting space in our house.”

Source:  The Cap Times

Governor Scott Walker

Walker pledged $2 million to help tear down abandoned houses in Milwaukee, after vetoing a provision in the state budget that would have designated $3.5 million to tearing down foreclosed homes across the state. There are 1,062 foreclosed properties in Milwaukee.

Source:  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

U.S. Representative Reid Ribble

The House of Representatives passed Ribble’s bill that would require the U.S. Forest Service to manage its commercial timberland by forcing it to produce at least half of each forest’s annual sustainable timber yield.

Twenty-five percent of the profits would be shared with the forests’ home counties.

“Healthy forests provide many job opportunities and help our rural economy and our rural schools to prosper,” Ribble said. “This bill will promote the use of our forests for timber production, which in turn supports Wisconsin’s paper sector.”

Source:  Wisconsin Ag Connection

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin

Baldwin and Republican Senator Susan Collins introduced legislation that would extend federal employee benefit programs to same-sex domestic partners to make them equal with legally married spouses.

“We’ve made great progress for committed same-sex couples in America but we still have work to do to move freedom and fairness forward,” Baldwin said. “This bill helps provide federal employees and their domestic partners equal access and opportunity to the benefits that businesses across our country are already providing.”

Source:  Baldwin press release

Senator Ron Johnson

Johnson voted against the federal Marketplace Fairness Act, which would let states charge sales taxes on their residents’ online purchases. He said it would put too much burden on online retailers.

Retailers are supposed to pay those uncollected sales taxes with their income tax, but few do.

Senator Tammy Baldwin voted for the bill when it passed the U.S. Senate in May, and the bill is currently before the house.

Source:  Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

President Barack Obama

Obama addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Sept. 24, regarding working together to prevent atrocities. He again asked for international action against Syrian President Bashar Assad for his use of chemical weapons.

“If we don’t want to choose between inaction and war, we must get better – all of us – at the policies that prevent the breakdown of basic order. Through respect for the responsibilities of nations and the rights of individuals. Through meaningful sanctions for those who break the rules. Through dogged diplomacy that resolves the root causes of conflict, and not merely its aftermath. Through development assistance that brings hope to the marginalized. And yes, sometimes, all this will not be enough – and in such moments, the international community will need to acknowledge that the multilateral use of military force may be required to prevent the very worst from occurring.”

Source:  National Public Radio