In the last week of the regular session, Democratic legislators in the Assembly introduced a package of bills they say will help create jobs in the state.
According to a statement released by Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, and Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, D-Monona, the package, introduced Tuesday, is comprised of nine proposed bills. The bills hope to connect workers with jobs and help give Wisconsin workers the appropriate training to obtain jobs in the future.
The statement said the most emphasized bill, sponsored by six Democrats, is the Workforce Growth Program. The bill aims to work with the Wisconsin Technical College System to provide grants that enable technical college students to enroll in programs that provide important jobs skills.
Morna Foy, WTCS vice president of policy and governmental relations, said the Workforce Growth Program helps employers fill job skill shortages. She said the program is designed to encourage employers to collaborate with technical schools to identify problems with local tech employers.
“The real beauty of it is that it is driven by the needs of those who have jobs available and recruiting workers with the right skills,” Foy said.
Foy gave examples of common problems technical employers face and how the proposed bill could help. If an employer has workers ready to pursue a program but not enough facilities to train them all, funds from the bill could help, Foy said.
If other employers did not have enough people interested in a certain career, the funds could be used to create scholarships or other incentives to pursue that field.
Mike Mikalsen, spokesperson for Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, said there are several problems with the job creation package. Mikalsen said the bills aimed at technical colleges and the package itself are more of a political statement than anything else.
“The bills themselves are not a bad idea, but their bills are so focused on one entity,” Mikalsen said. “Even though we are still pumping out record numbers of graduates from the tech college system, the reality still comes up short. Their proposal does nothing to create jobs in the private sector.”
According to Mikalsen, Republicans have supported maintenance of grant programs that helps to create jobs in the private sector, but they would not support the Democrats’ plan to put more money into the system itself because of cuts to the agency.
Mikalsen criticized the timing of the package and emphasized the political nature of the package proposal.
“It’s not lost on people that Democrats waited until the last week of the floor period,” Mikalsen said. “We’re done in terms of schedule, and Thursday is the last day until January. They waited until the third to last day to introduce these bills. That again speaks to the partisan nature of them.”
Rep. Louis Molpske Jr., D-Stevens Point, was the main sponsor of another one of the job package’s main bills that aimed to create the Wisconsin Agriculture Corps. This program would work to connect Wisconsin youths with agriculture and farming jobs that Molpske said he believes have received an undeserved perception of a lot of work and not a lot of fun.
“If you want to keep one of the most important sectors of Wisconsin going, $59 million part of the economy, you have to replenish the wealth. Just like the Brewers, they’re only as good as their farm teams. Wisconsin’s economy needs a good farm team,” Molpske said.
