Dear Friends, Our area is once again getting high marks. Several of our communities are among the safest in the state according to the website Backgroundcheck.org. Grafton is the third safest city in Wisconsin. Mequon is number five overall. Menomonee Falls is tenth. Whitefish Bay is ranked 14th. Our area is a great place to live, work, and raise a family. Many out-of-state companies are finding that out. In case you missed it, more and more companies are moving their headquarters to Wisconsin. In 2017, sixty companies moved into our great state. That generated $11.6 billion in investments and created more than 30,000 jobs. That's not all the good news for our state. Read below on how Wisconsin is generating even more revenue than expected! 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.wisconsin.gov. On, Wisconsin!

Revenues Beat Projections Again

Thanks to our reforms, Wisconsin has its largest Rainy Day Fund ever! We are also seeing more revenue than expected. According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau and the Department of Revenue, tax collections are up 7.4% over last year. Our state is taking in $75.5 million more than projected. Thanks to an important reform I fought for, half of any surplus will go to the Budget Stabilization Fund or Rainy Day Fund. That helps protect our state from downturns in the economy. This latest surplus put the Rainy Day Fund at $649.1 million and growing. We didn't get here by accident. In addition to careful budgeting, Republicans cut taxes by more than $8 billion and stopped Governor Evers' tax hikes before they could hurt our economy. Without those reforms, our outlook might not be so rosy.

Expanding Access to Healthcare

Wisconsin has more than 100 free and charitable clinics that serve more than 150,000 people a year. They are an important safety net for the uninsured and under-insured in our state. This week, the Senate Committee on Universities, Technical Colleges, Children and Families held a public hearing on a bill I authored with State Representative Mary Felzkowski which will help make healthcare available in more parts of Wisconsin. Right now, health care professionals are eligible for loan assistance if they agree to serve in rural or "eligible practice areas" which are tribal lands or areas with primary care or mental health shortages defined by federal law. Our bill expands the loan assistance program to areas with free and charitable clinics. This simple change should encourage more professionals to work at these clinics which will lead to more people being treated.

Wisconsin is Still Winning!

Did you know? Our last budget started with a surplus of more than $1 billion. We’ve cut taxes by more than $8 billion since 2011. Wisconsin is finally out of the top ten highest taxed states in the nation. Wisconsin’s GDP was 2.9% for the first quarter of 2019. That’s higher than Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Michigan. For all of 2018, Wisconsin’s economy grew 2.5%, the best year of growth for the state since 2010. The property tax bill on a median valued home is lower now than it was back in 2010.  For the last 18 straight months, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate stayed at 3% or lower.  Unemployment has never been this low for this long. Our labor force participation rate is five points higher than the national average. WalletHub ranks Wisconsin as the 6th best state to live in. Wisconsin ranks number one in the Midwest for Health Care Access and Patient Safety. CNBC ranks Wisconsin as the 17th best state in the nation for business. According to the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy, the income for a median family of four in Wisconsin grew 13.1% since 2010. Nationally, incomes grew 10.7%.

Around the 8th...

Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 12 PM – 9 PM 11333 N Cedarburg Rd, Mequon

Click on the picture for more information.

Celebrate the new Port Washington State Bank River Stage in Thiensville. Click the picture above for more information.

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