Dear Friends,

In case you missed it, the Nicolet High School Boys Basketball Team brought home their first-ever WIAA state title last week in Madison. The Knights defeated Milwaukee Washington 67 to 54. Nicolet finished the season with a remarkable 27-1 record. I was lucky to attend the school celebration on Monday. You can read more about my meeting with the champs below!

And there's more great news for our area!


The study ranked all 72 counties by Health Outcomes (how long people live and how healthy they feel) and Health Factors (drug/alcohol use, diet and exercise, and several other metrics). Ozaukee County finished first in both categories. Washington County ranked second in Health Outcomes and fourth in Health Factors. Waukesha County came in fourth for Health Outcomes and second in Health Factors. That's great news for our area.

As always, if you have any concerns or ideas on how to improve our great state, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 608-266-5830 or by email at Sen.Darling@legis.wi.gov .

On, Wisconsin!
Celebrate Women's History Month
March is Women's History Month. I have been blessed by many women who inspired and influenced me. Click on the video above to hear more.
Governor Evers' Attacks on Education
We keep finding more and more disappointing items in Governor Evers' very expensive budget.

Governor Evers' education budget is a last-ditch effort to bring back the monopoly of government-run schools. His "pro-kid" plan blocks low-income families from finding the best possible educational opportunities for their children. By freezing families out of choice and charter schools, Evers is telling every parent that their kid is stuck in a failing or under-performing school.

Now we find out that the governor is raising taxes on families leaving public schools for better performing private schools. Making private schools more expensive for families, Governor Evers is making it so only wealthy parents can afford to take their kids out of failing schools.

At the expense of low-income parents, Tony Evers' union friends got almost everything they asked for in the governor's budget. Governor Evers is telling every parent that protecting his bureaucrat friends is more important than if their children. It is time to put politics aside and do what's best for our kids.

Republicans will put parents and children first when we begin our work on the state budget.
Badger Institute/Tax Foundation Expose Evers' Tax Hikes
It's amazing how Governor Evers flip-flopped on his no tax pledge. His budget hikes taxes more than $1 billion and includes the highest property tax hike in nearly a decade.

This week, the Badger Institute and the Tax Foundation took a deep dive into Governor Evers' tax hike plans and the findings aren't good news for your wallet.

The Tax Foundation has been around since 1937 and is the nation's leading independent tax policy non-profit. The Badger Institute was formerly called the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and is a trusted free-market research and education group.

Their report says the governor's plan will end up costing taxpayers:

"While the budget offers targeted income tax cuts for certain low- and middle-income taxpayers, these cuts are far outweighed by tax increases elsewhere, such as business taxes and excise taxes. Taken as a whole, these changes would make Wisconsin’s tax code more complex and less neutral, missing an opportunity to provide tax relief within the context of pro-growth structural reform."

Click on the picture above to read more.
Evers Budget Puts $2 Billion on Credit Cards
Based on recent estimates, Wisconsin begins this budget with an additional $1.8 billion to spend. Not only does Governor Evers' budget spend that surplus, he also raises taxes more than $1 billion, increases spending another $6 billion, and borrows $2 billion.
That's irresponsible.

Making matters worse, the governor refuses to negotiate and prioritize his budget. He's taking an "all or nothing" approach. This week, Governor Evers tried to push his $2 billion in borrowing through the state's Building Commission and failed. Republicans won't support that level of bonding, but we will support many of the important projects in the plan.

However, Tony Evers made it clear he isn't serious about working with Republicans. It's disappointing that he continues to refuse to compromise and negotiate - another broken promise from the fall. 

It's clear the governor refuses to be responsible with your money. We will. 

Republicans will deliver a budget that continues to fund priorities like education without the governor's tax hikes. 
Expungement Public Hearing
This week, the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety held a public hearing on my bi-partisan bill to reduce barriers to employment that many people face in our state. I authored this bill with Representative David Steffen of Green Bay to get good people, who made a mistake, back into the workforce.

Even though people are back on the straight and narrow for many years, a criminal conviction in their past can prevent them from obtaining a family-supporting job. Our bill would give them a chance for a judicial review to have that conviction removed from their record. Only non-violent, low-level crimes can be considered for an expungement hearing. Given our state's workforce shortage, this legislation is more important than ever.

Wisconsin is on its 13th straight month of unemployment at or below 3%. That's a remarkable achievement, yet many jobs are going unfilled. In fact, there are more than 100,000 jobs available on the Job Center of Wisconsin's website.

With a public hearing in each house of the legislature, I hope this common-sense, and bi-partisan reform will come to a vote soon.
Around the 8th...
State Champs!
Thank you to the Nicolet High School boys basketball for letting me join your pep rally on Monday!

Congratulations to a great group of young men! ‬

I would also like to congratulate Jalen Johnson and Jamari Sibley who were named to the WisSports.net Boys State Basketball All-Tournament team and to Kobe Johnson who received Honorable Mention from the website.
Spring Election is April 2nd
Don't forget! The spring election is April 2nd and early voting is underway. To find out where you vote, what's on your ballot, or to register to vote, click on the picture above.