What can I do if I don’t like a boating industry supported wakesports bill
Here are some thoughts on what you can do to be prepared and act proactively on a wakesports bill, or really any bill that you aren’t supporting
By Wisconsin Lakes staff
An industry wakesports bill could drop at any time. How should I be prepared and what can I do when it does?
Communicating your opinion on an issue in the right way at the right time is the most effective way to stop a bill you do not like. Follow this handy guide for how you can help prevent meaningless or even harmful legislation regarding the impacts of wakesports make it through to becoming law.
The boating industry is working hard to get legislation introduced in Wisconsin that will do nothing to lessen the impact of wakesports on lakes, if not cause outright harm or strip local governments of authority to control those impacts on their own lakes. While we don’t know exactly when it will drop or what form that bill will take, it’s important to be ready to take action – indeed to start taking action now, if you haven’t already – to prevent subpar legislation from becoming law in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Lakes will do its best to keep you informed of what is happening legislatively on this front, and mobilize you when necessary. But in the meantime, here are some thoughts on what you can be preparing to do, and even do right now:
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BEFORE INTRODUCTION: DISCOURAGE YOUR LEGISLATORS FROM CO-SPONSORING
Before a bill is officially introduced as legislation into the legislative session, its authors send it around to all legislators seeking cosponsors. If a bill is introduced with a bunch of names attached to it, it’s perceived as being well-supported and has a better chance of making it to the Governor. Usually the authors of a bill give a week or two for colleagues to decide whether to sign on, though it can be just a matter of a day or days in some cases. We usually get a heads up when a memo for cosponsorship goes out and we’ll do our best to let you know when that happens and what the deadline is for legislators to sign on.
~ What you can do…
You can let your legislators know today what you do and do not support, even if a bill hasn’t been circulated for co-sponsorship yet! Communicating with them ahead of time gives them a heads up on how their constituents feel about an issue, and you can refer to your previous communication when the co-sponsorship memo is circulated and you reach out to them again.
When the co-sponsorship memo goes out, contact your legislators and discourage them from signing onto the bill.
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AFTER INTRODUCTION: LET YOUR OWN LEGISLATORS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS KNOW OF YOUR OPPOSITION
Bills are introduced separately into both the Assembly and the Senate and then assigned to committees who will decide whether the bill moves forward in their respective bodies. This is prime time for influencing the bill and the best place to stop it in its tracks!
~ What you can do…
You can let your own legislators, the legislators in whose district your lake lies, and the members of the committees to which the bill is assigned know that you do not support the bill and ask them to oppose it. You can even ask the chairs of the committees to forgo holding a public hearing, a necessary step in moving the bill forward. In your communication, consider including not just a statement of opposition, but also a statement of what you would support.
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IF A HEARING IS SCHEDULED
Once a bill is assigned to Assembly and Senate committees, each committee chair gets to decide if and when the bill will receive a public hearing. The committee cannot vote for or against moving the bill to the full house of the legislature until a public hearing has been held (though not holding a hearing prevents the bill from moving forward, giving the committee chair significant control over its progress). Once a hearing has been held, the legislative process provides no other time where citizens can publicly weigh in on the bill (of course you can continue to have private conversations with lawmakers). This is a VERY important step in influencing a bill.
~ What you can do…
You could attend the hearing and register your opposition. Usually held in the capitol in Madison, hearings are a chance for legislators to hear from the public. You can choose to testify to the committee or simply fill out a form that registers your opinion. You can also provide written testimony that will go into the public record of that hearing. If a lot of people want to testify, the committee chair might put a time limit on testimony from individuals, though that can get extended if committee members ask questions of the person giving testimony.
If you can’t get to Madison for the hearing, you can still communicate directly with committee members. Sometimes those comments will be placed into the record of the hearing, though committee chairs do not have to allow that and many do not. Even if they don’t, you’ve at least provided comments to the members of the committee to consider. If possible, get those comments to committee members before the public hearing. Even if they are not entered into the record, a committee member might mention something you brought up when engaging with someone giving testimony.
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IF IT PASSES OUT OF COMMITTEE
Once a bill passes out of its Assembly and/or Senate committees it can be taken up by that body. The bill must pass both the Assembly and Senate to move onto the Governor.
Unfortunately, once a bill moves onto the full legislature, it becomes much more difficult to influence whether it passes or not. At that point, it is up to the Assembly and Senate leadership to decide whether to put the bill onto the calendar for a vote.
~ What you can do…
Continue to communicate your opposition to the bill to your legislators.
Contact the Governor’s office and encourage him to veto the bill if it passes out of the legislature. Contacting him before it passes does a couple of things. First, it gives the governor’s staff notice to be watching for this bill and that there is opposition to it that warrants veto consideration. Second, if the legislature knows that a gubernatorial veto is likely, they may choose not to bother passing the bill in the first place!
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IF THE LEGISLATURE PASSES THE BILL
Once both houses of the legislature pass a bill, it goes to the Governor to either be signed into law or vetoed.
~ What you can do…
If you haven’t already (and even if you have), contact the Governor’s office and encourage him to veto the bill.
Some notes on contacting legislators:
- If you need to find who your legislators are, go to https://maps.legis.wisconsin.gov/
- If you need to find out who is on a specific committee, go to legis.wisconsin.gov, click on “committees” and find the page for the committee you are looking for;
- Every legislator likes to communicate differently. Some prefer emails. Some react more strongly to postcards or letters. If possible, try to use different ways to communicate – e.g. start with an email, but the next time call their office directly;
- Don’t be afraid to speak with the legislator’s staff. Staff often knows more detail about a bill and how constituents feel about it than the legislator, and can be an important entry point to the office to get your opinion heard;
- Regardless of how you are communicating, do so politely, concisely, and be willing to listen to them if they come back with their own thoughts on the issue. You may not agree with what they are saying, but just like anyone, legislators and staff are more likely to react well to you if they feel listened to and understood.