Before the holidays, I sat down with media for end-of-year interviews to discuss the accomplishments of 2023 and what we're planning to introduce in 2024. Spectrum News 1 started by asking for one word to sum up the biennium so far I said it would be "success."

We helped increase literacy in school. We passed a housing package to create more affordable housing. We authored a shared revenue package that will help better fund local governments with growing costs. We got an expansion of school choice. We passed a bill to allow birth control over the counter. We did a bunch of election reforms including Monday processing, text notifications for absentee ballots, requiring that only a voter can make changes to their ballot, requiring frequent updates of the voter roles, and requiring all voters to show their ID to vote.

Like previous sessions, over 90% of legislation was passed with bipartisan support. Some of the major legislative packages include the historic deal on shared revenue, alcohol reform, as well as funding for improvements of American Family Field where the Brewers play.

Overall, there were many accomplishments in 2023.

One of the things that will be brought up soon is a medical cannabis bill. Assembly Republicans have been working hard to find consensus on the issue and it's my goal to have Democrats vote for it too, but the sad thing is, I think most of my Democratic colleagues, because they only want recreational or nothing, are going to oppose this proposal.

I've also been advocating for a ballot referendum that would ask the voters whether to limit abortion access to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Currently, because of a recent court case, abortions are allowed until 20 weeks after conception.

A full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks, so that means right now, women can get abortions well into the second trimester and over halfway through the pregnancy.

Globally, this is not the norm. Most of Europe has a 14-week or less limit on abortion, keeping it to the first trimester. I am proudly pro-life and wish we had the ability to restrict abortions to only rape, incest, and the life of the mother, but with a liberal governor and now liberal court, we are seeking to lower the number from 20 weeks to something that can be agreed upon by a majority of our citizens.

Governor Evers has already vowed to veto this bill. His mantra has been "the will of the people is the law of the land," yet he has promised to block this referendum from going to the voters.

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