Dear Friends,

After a memorable U.S. Open, the reviews are in for Erin Hills and they are outstanding! United States Golf Association officials say they were "thrilled" with the event.  The pros who played Erin Hills  are impressed and Wisconsin golfers Steve Stricker and Mequon's own Jordan Niebrugge were fantastic.

But the most impressive review came from Golf Digest who said Erin Hills and Wisconsin beat out Disneyland as the "Friendliest Place on Earth."  The U.S. Open was an opportunity for our area to shine and it did!  Wisconsin was already named the best golf destination to visit in 2017.  The U.S. Open at Erin Hills is making our great state a must visit for golfers from all over the world.

As always, if you have any ideas on how to improve our great state, including how to improve the budget, please do not hesitate to contact me at  [email protected]  or 608-266-5830.   

On Wisconsin!

State Unemployment Rate Tied for Lowest in Midwest

As you may know, Wisconsin's unemployment rate has dropped from 9.2% back in 2010 to 3.1% today.  That's a huge improvement from where we were when Governor Doyle was in charge.  But that's only part of the good news.  Here's more:
  • Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows unemployment dropped in all 72 counties last month from a year ago.  
  • Several counties are at all-time lows for unemployment!
  • Our unemployment rate dropped 0.8% from January 2017 to May 2017.
  • That's the steepest decline for that period since 1983!
Here's how we stack up to our neighbors:

State
Unemployment
Labor
Rate
Participation Rate
Wisconsin
3.10%
68.8%
Minnesota
3.70%
69.7%
Illinois
4.60%
64.6%
Iowa
3.10%
68.7%
Michigan
4.20%
61.8%
Indiana
3.20%
64.5%
U.S.
4.30%
62.7%
BLS Data
  • Wisconsin is outperforming the U.S. in both unemployment rate and labor participation rate.  
  • Wisconsin's unemployment rate is tied with Iowa for the lowest in the Midwest and tied for 7th in the nation.  
  • Our labor participation rate is in the top five in the country!  
  • Our unemployment rate is the lowest since October of 1999! 
Wisconsin is open for business again, and the numbers prove it!
REINS Act Heads to Governor


Keeping up with government regulations can be a struggle for small business owners. Learning about and complying with constantly changing regulations can take an average of 200 hours per year for small business owners.  Eighty-percent of small business owners take on this challenge by themselves, meaning they spend five work weeks of their time complying with rules instead of making sales. W e either need to add more hours in the day or start reducing red tape. 

The REINS Act makes the administrative rules process more fair by giving the public more access to regulators and the process from the beginning.  Too often the public finds out about a regulation after it affects them.

The legislature, not unelected bureaucrats, should have the final say over what rules are created. This bill increases legislative control over the rule making process in three ways:

(1) It a llows the legislature to request an independent economic impact analysis.

(2) The legislature may request a preliminary public hearing on a rule to gain public input before the rule is finished being drafted.

(3) It allows the legislature to permanently block a rule from being promulgated.

 

A similar bill is working its way through Congress.  I'm very pleased Wisconsin continues to lead the way in reforming government.
Around the 8th...

Congratulations to Whitefish Bay Girl's Soccer who won the Division 2 title!
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St. Eugene School in Fox Point visited the Capitol.
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Wilson Elementary in Mequon also visited the State Capitol.
Senator Alberta Darling | [email protected] | 1-800-863-1113| http://darling.senate.wisconsin.gov
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