Affordability

There is little that causes a feeling of insecurity as much as not knowing if you’re going to be able to afford basic needs from month to month. About one in four households face this reality in America, and are one illness, major repair, or injury away from financial ruin.  As your representative, I will work to change this in the following ways.  

First, we need to help those who are struggling the most. This can be accomplished by raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage from$7.25 an hour to $15 an hour. Additionally, several measures can be taken with the tax code, which are discussed in a separate section.

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Second, we need to make housing more affordable. For renters, this would include shoring up or expanding programs currently in place, such as Wisconsin Emergency  Rental Assistance, and helping people apply for federal Section 8 vouchers. For homeowners, it would include providing improved access to programs currently in place and providing tax credits to reduce down payment costs. We need to find ways to increase the supply of affordable homes and apartments as well.  

Next, we need to continue childcare support negotiated by Governor Evers with the legislature. 

 To help with everyday costs, eliminate sales tax on personal care items and all groceries except alcohol and tobacco, and reduce the sales tax, as it disproportionately impacts lower-wage workers and families.  

To reduce insurance costs, prevent insurers from using your credit score to affect your home and auto insurance costs. This has the potential to save hundreds, and in some cases thousands of dollars per year, and has been implemented in other states.  

Regarding energy costs, a significant stress will be the construction of new data centers. I would not automatically oppose these if supported by the locality where they’re being built, as they could be a significant source of tax revenue and jobs.  However, they must be made to add to the energy infrastructure in a way that will lower costs for our state, not raise them. Increased use of renewables has become a more cost-efficient way to generate electricity, as well as being cleaner. We must aggressively increase renewable usage, as well as examine other energy sources.  

Additionally, we need to reexamine what happens with the “stranded assets” of utilities.  These are power plants that are shut down, but utility customers are still on the hook for debt related to the plant, as well as a guaranteed profit for the utility. One way to deal with this is by requiring securitization of these plants, something Governor Evers tried to do in the last budget. However, the Republican led Joint Finance Committee scrapped the provision. Getting this passed will help reduce energy costs.  

An overriding effort will be working with our federal partners to reduce or eliminate tariffs, which (despite what the administration claims) are a tax that we pay.