Capitol Update

HCAPITOL UPDATE

NATALIE WHITE Communications Director

Just like that, the 2021-22 Legislative Session has ended. Legislators converged on Madison for several session days at the end of February and in early March, as the last batches of bills were voted on and sent to the Governor. Among those bills was PIA-backed Assembly Bill 911, the bill agreed-upon from the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC) that was discussed in the last issue. It has now been signed into law as 2021 Wisconsin Act 232.

Since adjourning, legislators have been pondering their futures and coming to a decision on the important question: Are they running for another term? For many (and still counting!) the answer has been “No.” At the time of writing, there are twenty-nine incumbent legislators who have made the decision that they will not be seeking re-election. Of those, twenty-two are representatives and seven are senators. As retirement announcements continue to come in, this election cycle has the potential to have the highest number of incumbents not seeking reelection in thirty-one years, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. Many of those who have announced their retirement mention that they have served their time in public service, are moving on to other opportunities or want to spend more time with their families and young children. In any case, it is certain that there will be plenty of new faces coming to serve in the Capitol next session.

In preparation for that coming session, the PIA Legislative Committee came together for a meeting in Madison to discuss current issues for agents and spend time speaking with those leading insurance policy in Wisconsin. First, the committee sat down with OCI Commissioner Nathan Houdek and new Deputy Commissioner Rachel Cissne Carabell to discuss important happenings at OCI and current regulatory practices. Next, the committee was pleased to welcome Past President and current Chair of the Senate Insurance, Licensing and Forestry Committee, Senator Mary Felzkowski. Senator Felzkowski discussed the important work that the committee did during the session and issue areas she is watching that will be important to small businesses and agents in the coming session.

Representative David Steffen also joined the committee to talk about his work as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Insurance and discussed the status of future insurance bills and issues that he has been working on to help Wisconsin stay an attractive place to live.

During the campaign season, PIAW is continuing to fine-tune our policy priorities for the next session and the PIA-PAC is supporting candidates who support small businesses and policy that helps independent insurance agents.

Please continue to stay up to date with PIA Advocacy efforts with our Capitol Report and on the PIA Blog at piaw.org.

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