Great stuff from State Senator Glenn Grothman

E-update		March 24, 2014
	Senate Bill 324 and Assembly Bill 19: Legislative Accomplishments As the legislature wraps up and Governor Walker prepares to sign his final bills of the session, the Left has focused their hostile attention on two bills – SB 324, the uniform hours for early voting bill and AB 19 – the so-called asbestos bill. I happen to be the lead Senate sponsor of both bills. Fourteen years ago the state changed its absentee voting rules so that you no longer had to have a reason to vote absentee, such as illness or being out of town. This allowed local clerks to not only have absentee voting by mail, but also have people vote in-person before an election official. Cities such as Port Washington or Mequon allow voting in normal business hours from 7:30 or 8 in the morning to 4:30 or 5 in the evening. Rural towns, which do not even have full-time clerks, may set aside less than ten hours a week. Since voters in each municipality should have the same opportunity to vote, this creates unfairness. Unfortunately, Milwaukee and a couple other cities aggressively began abusing this law by allowing voting into the evenings and even on Saturdays and Sundays. In Milwaukee, early voting has increased from approximately 5,000 individuals in 2000 to approximately 35,000 individuals in 2012. In response, SB 324 limits in-person early voting to forty-five hours a week – between 8am and 7pm weekdays only, exact hours to be determined by the local municipality. Obviously, it is unfair that in Milwaukee people are early voting almost seventy hours a week and in other parts of the state they are only able to vote six hours a week. The left says this will make it hard for people to vote in Milwaukee, but in the fourteen years that we have no-excuse early voting, I have not had one person say that they could not early vote because the clerk’s office was not open at night or on weekends. This is a commonsense bill that Duey Stroebel and I were pleased to shepherd through the legislative process. The second bill the Left is vilifying is AB 19. Anyone who watches late night TV or listens to radio at night is familiar with trial lawyers looking for victims of diseases caused by asbestos. Unfortunately, these lawsuits are very lucrative for trial attorneys. Most victims of asbestos poisoning file claims against trusts set up under federal law by companies, all of which have filed for bankruptcy. There is over $30 billion in these trusts and settlements of over $1 million per person are frequently paid out just weeks after claims are made. Tens of thousands of people have been victims of horrible diseases caused by asbestos, and one of our major priorities must be making sure they are adequately compensated. Unfortunately, there is evidence that some trial attorneys are suing the trust and at the same time suing a manufacturer that had a small amount of asbestos in their plant. Manufacturers have been sued for even making products that have a small amount of asbestos encased in metal. Perhaps, even dozens of companies are sued at once. There have been examples of trial lawyers suing Wisconsin manufacturers while not disclosing claims against trusts. This is incredibly damaging to Wisconsin manufacturers who may pay tens of thousands of dollars rather than fight a lawsuit, all while simultaneously a lawsuit is yielding hundreds of thousands of dollars from a trust. AB 19 will force trial attorneys to disclose any other claims being made while filing a suit in a Wisconsin court. Because many claims are made by older people, who served in the military, the trial lawyers have tried to claim that we are hurting veterans. They fail to mention that when claims are fraudulently made against more than one defendant it dries up money for other deserving victims. Nevertheless, the trial lawyers smelled an end to their gravy train and even put up radio ads against the bill. As more and more veterans find out the true facts, they are supporting the bill. AMVETS has even supported the bill as a group. It is disappointing that greedy trial lawyers are using veterans as a shield to sue different companies simultaneously and give themselves undeserved riches. I am glad Governor Walker has the guts to put an end to these abuses.
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Recent News
Uniform Early Voting Hours Bill Passes Assembly, Heads to Governor
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	Commending the Service of Reps. Daniel LeMahieu and Pat Strachota It is with a sadness that I must bid a fond farewell to two good friends and colleagues as they have both recently announced their intention to retire from the Legislature, Representatives Daniel LeMahieu and Pat Strachota. I have always enjoyed working with Dan and I have felt that his natural intelligence, combined with his prior experience on the county board and his private sector experience in Oostburg, gave him the unique ability to understand both what is right and wrong with government in a way that few legislators can grasp. My relationship with Dan extended prior to him being in the legislature. He was a constituent, an owner of the Lakeshore Weekly, and Chairman of the Sheboygan County Board. He was one of the constituents that I could always count on most, both for advice in the legislature and during my campaigns. It was particularly enjoyable after all the years serving with Dan, to then spend four years together on the Joint Finance Committee. This time on the committee encompassed the four years in which more was done for the conservative cause than in the last fifty years combined. I have very much enjoyed getting to know Dan, his wife Rosemary and also his son Devin. I wish them all well in their future endeavors. -------------- I have enjoyed working with Representative Strachota in the state legislature the past ten years. While most of you know Pat for her work in the legislature, I’ve seen her longtime commitment in Washington County while serving on the Washington County Board, West Bend Boys and Girls Club, West Bend Economic Development Corporation, Kettle Moraine YMCA, and the West Bend Community Foundation Board. She has done all of these things while being engaged in many other organizations and her church, St. Frances Cabrini Parish. It is a testimony to her character that at a time when she has progressed to the important role of Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, she is leaving for the benefit of her family. Ultimately, I would like to commend Representative Strachota on her service to our constituents and the state.
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Toll-Free: (800) 662-1227 Sen.Grothman@legis.wi.gov P.O. Box 7882 Madison, WI 53707-7882