CNOW for Jan. 10, 2024

• Oppose AB 312: Poison Pill Tied to Establishing PFAS Community Grant Programs
• Oppose AB 579: Selling Our Shoreline
• Oppose AB 44: Removing Options for Cleaning Up Contaminated Properties
• Support SB 58: Expanding Access to the Well Compensation Grant Program
• Support LRB 4446: Creating a Local Election Administration Grant Program
• Support LRB 5480: Restoring the 10-Day Voter Registration Residency Requirement
• Support LRB 5557: Removing Barriers to the Ballot for College Students
• Support LRB 5564: Expanding Early Voting

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose AB 312, which is before the Assembly Committee on Environment on Thursday.

Every person in Wisconsin deserves safe drinking water. AB 312 aims to create PFAS Community Grant Programs intended for municipal drinking water systems and private well owners. However, it also includes a poison pill that would limit the Department of Natural Resource’s ability to test for PFAS, and take enforcement action against those responsible for contamination. This would degrade Wisconsin’s Spills Law, a tool that has protected Wisconsinites from pollution for decades. Proposed changes through Amendment 1 to Substitute Amendment 2 further exacerbate our concerns.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose AB 579, which is before the Assembly Committee on Environment on Thursday.

Under the Wisconsin Constitution, our waters belong to all of us. Public access to our shoreline is a right that must be protected into the future, for all people. AB 579 would violate our Public Trust Doctrine by permanently turning over our shoreline to private developers and allowing them to restrict access.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose AB 44, which is before the Assembly Committee on Environment on Thursday.

To protect our health, we need to clean up contaminated properties. People living in impacted areas deserve to have contaminated properties cleaned up as quickly as possible. Under current law, property owners are required to clean hazardous substances and pollution on their own property. AB 44 would remove this requirement and would allow pollution to go unchecked and uncleaned.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support SB 58, which is before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Tourism on Thursday.

Every Wisconsinite deserves to know the water coming out of their taps is safe to drink. Nitrate contamination is the most common groundwater contaminant in Wisconsin and can lead to health effects including cancer, birth defects, and infant death. SB 58 supports Wisconsinites facing nitrate contamination by making small but necessary improvements to eligibility requirements under the state’s Well Compensation Grant Program. These changes will allow more people to access funds that protect their well water from the dangers of nitrate contamination.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to cosponsor LRB 4446, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

Our elections officials are responsible for making voting as accessible as possible. Budget shortfalls can hinder their ability to do that. LRB 4446 would support access to the ballot by creating a grant program administered by the Wisconsin Elections Commission to support the purchase of election supplies and equipment at the local level.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to cosponsor 5480, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

Wisconsinites should be able to vote where they live. Our 28-day voter registration residency requirement can sometimes make that difficult. LRB 5480 would restore our voter registration residency requirement to 10 days.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to cosponsor 5557, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

To build a democracy that works for everyone, we need to build systems that encourage young voters to make their voices heard on Election Day. LRB 5557 would remove burdensome restrictions on whether students at Wisconsin technical colleges and UW System institutions can use their student ID card for voting.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to cosponsor 5564, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

To prevent barriers to the ballot on Election Day, local elections administrators should have the ability to provide a range of opportunities for voters to cast their ballot. This includes access to in-person early voting. LRB 5564 expands the window of time in which a voter can vote early in-person at their municipal clerk’s office, or an alternate early voting site.

Conservation Notices of the Week (CNOW) announces the pro-conservation positions on issues before the senate, assembly and/or governor in the week ahead to state legislators. Others wishing to follow activities in the state legislature also receive CNOW, including legislative staff, conservation voters, and media. All of these issues are tracked on the Vote Tracker. Issues in the CNOW may appear in the Conservation Scorecard.