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Wisconsin Assembly, District 80/Asamblea de Wisconsin, Distrito 80

Wisconsin Legislative BranchWisconsin’s legislature makes state laws. The legislature has two houses: the Wisconsin Senate and the Wisconsin Assembly. Proposed laws (bills) can originate from either the state senate or assembly. Both houses must approve the bill before it is passed on to the governor for signature or veto. The legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds majority vote in each house. The legislature controls the spending of state funds through appropriation.Wisconsin AssemblyThe Wisconsin Assembly has ninety-nine representatives. Voters elect representatives to represent their assembly district for a two-year term. There is no term limit.__________Poder Legislativo de Wisconsin La legislatura de Wisconsin produce las leyes estatales. La legislatura consta de dos cámaras: el Senado de Wisconsin y la Asamblea de Wisconsin. Las propuestas de ley pueden originarse tanto en el Senado estatal como en la Asamblea. Ambas cámaras deben aprobar el proyecto de ley antes de transmitirla al gobernador para su firma o veto. La legislatura puede anular un veto con un voto mayoritario de dos tercios en cada cámara. La legislatura controla el gasto de los fondos estatales a través de las leyes de asignación. Asamblea de WisconsinLa Asamblea de Wisconsin tiene noventa y nueve representantes. Los votantes eligen representantes para representar a su asamblea de distrito por un término de dos años. No hay límite de términos.Nota: Las respuestas de los candidatos que aparecen en español se tradujeron de las respuestas originales de los candidatos en inglés.

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  • Candidate picture

    Mike Bare
    (Dem)

Biographical Information

Please describe your priorities for your term in office and your specific qualifications to effectively address those issues.

What do you see as the most pressing housing-related issue in Wisconsin, and what policies, if any, would you support to address the issue?

What redistricting process, if any, do you believe the legislature should put in place before the next national census to ensure fair representation for voters?

What, if anything, will you do to ensure our schools have the resources to improve outcomes for its students, including those with disabilities?

What guardrails, if any, would you support to protect our environment, health, property values, and household budgets from large projects such as hyperscale data centers and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)?

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Committee Lots of People Supporting Mike Bare
Campaign Email mike@votebare.com
Campaign Phone 608-620-3001
Campaign Mailing Address 543 Harvest Ln
Verona, WI 53593
Website http://www.votebare.com
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/mikebareforassembly
Campaign Twitter Handle @baremike
Instagram http://www.instagram.com/mikebareforstateassembly/
Education BA and MA from American University
We must give Wisconsinites a raise, fix our democracy, restore our rights, and make investments in our public schools and communities. Republicans have been in the majority in the State Legislature for 16 years, and they have allowed our state to languish. Donald Trump's economy is hurting Wisconsinites' ability to afford the basics, while big insurance and tech companies pocket record profits. I'm a progressive focused on making progress on our challenges, and a proven ability to work in a bipartisan way to get things done. I'll continue working hard for the people of the 80th Assembly District as I have done for two terms already, and as I did on the Verona City Council and the Dane County Board before that.
I meet many people living in apartments, duplexes, and small townhomes who want to live in neighborhoods with a yard and good schools. Unfortunately, Wisconsin does not have a large enough supply of housing to meet the demand. We have also gated communities by price. We must have policies that allow for a spectrum of housing by income and by age. A teacher or nurse or firefighter should be able to live comfortably in our communities. Local governments need tools and resources to meet the housing demand. That includes funding for zoning code updates, comprehensive planning, and transit system. Republicans in the Legislature have made it easier for developers and builders, but have not given local governments what they need to be successful.
I am unwilling to stand down when Donald Trump and his Republican allies gerrymander districts across America, and gut key components of the Voting Rights Act that ensure minority voters are represented. Democrats in the State Legislature must be willing to protect our democracy. Gerrymandering of Congressional districts requires a national solution that can guarantee fair representation. I have yet to see a proposal that solves gerrymandering of Wisconsin's legislative districts. Anything in state statute can be undone, and anything in the State Constitution is open to interpretation by the party controlling the State Supreme Court. Regardless, we must strive for fair representation and I'm committed to ending gerrymandering.
Our public schools are the bedrock of our community. The cycle of school referendums is unsustainable for districts and taxpayers. Over time, Republicans have succeeded at shifting the cost of schools from state income tax that is a more progressive tax to property tax where some cannot afford the increases. Wisconsin has been running a state budget surplus that should have been invested in our public schools and special education. We should end the voucher system that sends tax dollars to unaccountable private schools that discriminate against students and get worse outcomes, and reinvest those dollars into our public schools instead. We also need to invest more in UW-Madison and UW campuses and tech schools across Wisconsin.
We must protect Wisconsinites from large projects that are negotiated in secret, built in the shadows, operate in a way that harms our health and our environment, and raise our water and electric bills. I cosponsored a bill that would add transparency in the development process, require large utility customers to pay their fair share and use renewable energy, and protect construction workers while giving them work to do with appropriate tax incentives to the projects. CAFOs require stricter oversight and regulation that what we have today. Court cases have recently reaffirmed the state's role in regulating CAFOs. And I have supported legislation in the past to protect animals, and our health and environment from these dangerous operations.
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