Preparing for Wisconsin Library Legislative Day 2013

Getting to know/becoming reacquainted with your state elected officials.

First of all, if you aren’t sure who represents you in the State Senate and Assembly, go to the website “Who Are My Legislators?”  Enter your home street address, city and zip code in the boxes provided.

(Remember that redistricting went into effect since the 2012 Library Legislative Day. Some of you, like me, are now represented by different legislators. After 26 years of being in Sen. Fred Risser’s district, I now reside in Jon Erpenbach’s. And on the Assembly side, last year I visited Brett Hulsey. This year I’ll visit Dianne Hesselbein.)

If you know the name of your state senator, go to the Wisconsin State Senate webpage . The column on the left, “Legislation Information”, provides links to each of the Senator’s standardized webpage, which contains the following information:

• Madison office/telephone/fax/email 
• Voting address
• District telephone number 
• District map 
• Biography 
• Where born 
• Schools attended (high school, college) 
• Organizations in which the senator is a member 
• Awards 
• When first elected, re-elected o Leadership positions • 
• 2013-14 committee assignments 
• Bills sponsored 

The middle column on the Wisconsin State Senate webpage provides links to of the Senator’s personal legislative web pages. No standardized format here; legislators provide their own content. (You’ll note that 4 of the 33 State Senators do not have a personal web page.)

Looking at Jon Erpenbach web pages, for example, I am able to learn what he loves and values as a legislator.

• Personal privacy 
• Consumer protection (author of “Do Not Call” law) 
• Health insurance reform 
• Proactive educational reforms 
• Regulation of third party spending in elections

No, he doesn’t use the word “library”, but I’ve known Jon for many years and consider him to be a solid library supporter.

If you know Assembly Representative, go to this Wisconsin State Representatives page.  As with the Senate, the column on the left, “Legislation Information”, provides links to each of the Assembly Representative’s standardized webpage The middle column on the Wisconsin State Representatives webpage provides links to of the Representative’s personal legislative web pages.  Again, no standardized format here. (You’ll note here that 37 of the 99 State Senators do not have a personal web page. Unfortunately, most of the 14 freshman reps are included in this group, and the biographical information found at their standardized websites is very limited.)

Another option then is to look at a legislator’s campaign website for biographical information and summaries of the issues that are important to them. This series of “Who’s Running for State Office in 2012” blogposts (see related posts list) will get you started in the right direction. You’ll need to know the numbers of the districts your legislators represent. (And I can’t vouch for the fact that all of the sites are still up and running.)

Looking at Dianne Hesselbein’s “Issues and Experience” webpage, for example, I’m a bit surprised she doesn’t give herself a pat on the back for the strong leadership she exhibited as a member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors in support of the Dane County Library Service.

As you work your way through this exercise, you might want to use the blank grid for finding a common agenda with legislators to organize your note-taking.

So between now and February 5th, please take the time to get to know your State Senator and Representative.

The WLA Library Development & Legislation Committee conducted a final review of the Library Legislative Day issue papers at tomorrow’s meeting. We’ll send them out early next week so that you have time to review them before you meet with your legislators on February 5th.

Thank you for advocating for Wisconsin’s libraries.