ISSUE BRIEF: HEALTH CARE - OVERVIEW Wisconsin's medical assistance (MA) program provides health care services for people with limited resources, using a combination of state funds and federal matching funds.
ISSUE BRIEF: TRANSPORTATION The Segregated Transportation Fund was created in the 1977-79 BUDGET. Over time, different revenue streams were added or subtracted to the fund. Most transportation related functions were paid for out of this fund, including highway construction and rehabilitation, aids to local government for transportation functions and railroad, airport and harbor improvements.
ISSUE BRIEF: JOBS AND ECONOMY - BUSINESS As Republican legislators, we have embraced the fact that the private sector creates jobs, not the government. The government's role, rather, is enacting reforms to create a business climate that is friendly to economic expansion.
ISSUE BRIEF: PRO-LIFE Legislative Republicans are committed to protecting the most vulnerable in our society - and there is no more vulnerable population than the unborn. Since 2011, legislative republicans and Governor Walker have aggressively pursued an agenda which not only has saved the lives of unborn children, but has also enhanced the quality of women's healthcare in Wisconsin.
ISSUE BRIEF: AGRICULTURE "Wisconsin is America's Dairyland but there is more produced and processed in our state than just milk and cheese. Wisconsin ranks first in the nation for: snap beans for processing, cheese, cranberries, ginseng, mink pelts, dry whey for humans, milk goats and corn for silage."
ISSUE BRIEF: HIGHER ED - UNIVERSITIES The University of Wisconsin System was created on October 11, 1971, by Chapter 100, Laws of 1971, which combined the two public university systems of the state under a single board of regents. Today the UW is comprised of 13 four-year universities, 13 freshman-sophomore UW Colleges campuses, and statewide UW-Extension.
ISSUE BRIEF: HIGHER ED - TECH SCHOOLS The Wisconsin Technical College System has 16 colleges with multiple campuses.
ISSUE BRIEF: TOURISM & SPORTING HERITAGE Wisconsin is well known for having a rich sporting heritage and ample hunting, fishing, trapping, and other wildlife opportunities. Additionally, Wisconsin has a wealth of tourist destinations from the north woods to the cosmopolitan cities of Madison and Milwaukee and everywhere in-between. Both of these activities contribute greatly to the strong state of Wisconsin's economy.
ISSUE BRIEF: PUBLIC SAFETY - DRUNK DRIVING We have made dramatic strides in the last decade towards reducing the impact of drunk driving on our state. Crashes, injuries and fatalities related to alcohol have been cut in half, and more than two-thirds of drivers who receive a first OWI never reoffend.
ISSUE BRIEF: PUBLIC SAFETY - GUN VIOLENCE One in every three Wisconsinites own a gun and the majority use their firearms safely and responsibly. Statewide, Wisconsin has a very low rate of death due to firearms, with approximately 10 injuries for every 100,000 people in our state.
ISSUE BRIEF: PUBLIC SAFETY - HOPE In the last decade, heroin abuse has skyrocketed. The rate of heroin-related overdose deaths increased 286 percent between 2002 and 2013. In 2002, 100 people per 100,000 were addicted to heroin but that number had doubled by 2013.
ISSUE BRIEF: PUBLIC SAFETY - DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and emotional abuse. The frequency and severity of domestic violence can vary dramatically.