Home Builders Unfairly Targeted in Senate Health Care Bill

Sen. Kohl & Sen. Feingold,

I am a home builder & remodeler. We have a terribly challenging industry right now.

The bill unfairly singles out the construction industry by only giving construction firms an exemption from the bill's employer mandates if a firm employs less than 5 people. Every other industry is granted an exemption if they have fewer than 50 employees.

This narrow provision is an unprecedented assault on the construction industry and unjustly targets an industry trying to keep its doors open during the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression.

Please vote NO on HR 3590.

I can't get through to their Washington office. I recommend that people contact them at their Wisconsin offices. Feingold's staff did not have a statement on this issue; I asked for a call back before the vote is taken so that I know how he stands on it.

Kohl's office was less cooperative and promised a written responses but refused to even consider calling me back before the vote is taken.

DNR Secretary

Sen. Miller,
I ask that you oppose the change to the law about appointment of the
DNR Secretary.

Accountability to the citizens of this state is the main reason I
oppose this law change. Having the governor who is elected by the
citizens of the state of Wisconsin appoint the DNR secretary is the
best way to make sure the agency stays accountable to the citizens of
the state.

And, while the secretary of the DNR is a very important job why should
the appointment of that secretary be any different than any other
state agency?

While this is rare, I strongly support comments made by Governor Doyle
on this topic in March 2009 when he said, "The governor is now held
more accountable for environmental policy. The governor can no longer
just blame the DNR as in past administrations, but must take
responsibility for policy." Finally Governor Doyle concluded, "I
believe that a system that has a strong board and a quality secretary
appointed by the governor is the most effective."

I also strongly support the comments that current DNR Secretary Matt
Frank made on this matter while testifying in committee on the bill
when he stated: "Accountability starts at the top. It is too easy for
a governor to be let off the hook when he can say he is not
responsible for agency actions because he does not appoint the
secretary. When the governor appoints the DNR secretary it makes him
directly accountable for the conservation and environmental decisions
made by the DNR."

Finally, builders, sportsman, environmentalists and members of both
political parties agree that we must do whatever we can to encourage
Wisconsin-based businesses to grow, recruit new businesses to locate
to our great state and protect Wisconsin's natural resources. A DNR
secretary that is accountable to the governor gives Wisconsin the best
opportunity to keep our environment clean in addition to helping to
streamline the permitting process and get our economy going again by
creating good paying jobs.

I hope that you will agree with me on this issue.

AB472 - Real Estate Appraisals

Dear Rep. Ripp,

It was great to talk to you at my office a few weeks ago about the current business climate and challenges. I am now concerned about AB472 which would prohibit a Realtor from providing an opinion on a property value. It is current practice that homeowners routinely consult a Realtor for questions about the possible value of their home, when they are considering listing or sale but have not yet decided to do so. This would hurt consumers and realtors for several reasons. Please consider:

- Consumers would be required to pay for a more expensive appraisal when such an appraisal is not necessary (divorces and estates) and in areas of the state where licensed appraisers are unwilling to perform this type of work at a dramatically reduced charge.

- Appraisers would have no competition from anyone when determining the value of real estate. By eliminating competition, appraisers will be able to charge more for determining the value of a property.

-It is bad public policy that Realtors will be prevented from providing services to customers unrelated to a real estate transaction without an appraiser license.

Thanks for considering this.

BOO for removing Ziegelbauer

Rep. Sheridan,

How disappointing and purely political for you to remove Rep. Ziegelbauer from his chairmanship simply because you disagree with him on a vote. How WRONG! You are wrong on your view on abortion, and you are wrong to have used your bully pulpit to push around someone with whom you disagree. SHAME on you.

Thanks for standing up for LIFE!

Rep. Ziegelbauer,

Thank you for standing up for what is right and for LIFE and trying to keep abortion out of the Meriter Madison Surgery Center. I am a user of that facility and I am appalled about what could be happening there. I'm so sorry that you've been removed from your chairmanship. I have done things personally and in my business to stand up for what is right, and I thank you for doing so in the face of opposition.

Obamacare = Abortion and the opponents prove my point.

Pro-abortion advocates have shown their duplicity, and I have no doubt that their goal is to use our tax money to pay for abortion. Madeline Anderson's letter in the August 19th Wisconsin State Journal tries to portray things differently. But read carefully she proves my very point.

First she claims that its "a myth that taxpayer dollars would be used to pay for abortions." She then asserts that the "reality" is that private plans "already cover abortion" and that "people should not lose the benefits they currently hold."

Well, Ms. Andersen, which is it? Will the federal tax supported health plan NOT cover abortion and therefore "reduce" benefits, or will my taxes pay for abortion so that you can keep your "benefits"? You can't have it both ways. Both cannot be true!

In contrast, the letter the same day from Barbary Lyons points out that unless abortion is specifically prohibited from the "Obamacare" bill, moves will certainly be made to increase the number of abortions, using our tax dollars. That is clearly the truth.

Course appoval fees (builders)

I ask that you do not implement another fee increase for builder education. You are already collecting fees from us to pay for our registrations and supplement the state coffers. Now you want us to pay to register the classes, so that we can take classes, so that we can pay fees, so that we can be in business? No way!

And don't get this wrong: These fees all get passed on to us and to the consumer one way or another. Whether a class is "free" or not, that cost goes into the expenses of the business offering the class. Whether we pay a fee to go to the class, or whether the business fits it into the overhead of their pricing structure, eventually it goes on to the builder and then to the consumer.

The Builders Associations and businesses offering these courses are your allies. The State was to be responsible for funding builder eduction. Now not only has that funding disappeared, you are proposing for things to go the other direction and to charge the educators!

Finally, won't this actually increase the workload at the DOC? You are proposing that the courses be reviewed every 3 years instead of every 5 years. Why increase your workload?

Clearly, I oppose these changes.