Speak Out! Share dairy’s priorities for state budget

DBA wants to make sure you know about another opportunity to ensure decision-makers keep the dairy community moving forward.

State lawmakers are seeking input as they work on the 2021-23 state budget. The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee will be holding four public hearings — three in person and one virtually — to collect comments on various proposals included in the spending plan. We encourage you to participate and we can help you prepare. We’ll also have a member of the DBA staff on hand for each hearing. Even if you can’t attend a hearing, you can submit comments.  

Hearing dates and locations (All run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

April 9  
UW-Whitewater 
Irvin L. Young Auditorium 
930 W. Main St., Whitewater 

 April 21 
The Hodag Dome  
665 Coolidge Ave., Rhinelander 

April 22               
UW-Stout 
Great Hall of the Memorial Student Center 
302 10th Ave E. Menomonie 

 April 28           
Virtual 
More information to come.

How it works
Attendees will be asked to fill out a form and then wait their turn to speak. Room capacity and spacing will be managed. Each speaker will have up to 2 minutes for comments.

What to talk about
To prepare, pick a couple of topics you are passionate about. Here are a few of DBA’s budget priorities to help frame your comments:

• Rural transportation — Request support for Wisconsin’s rural roads. Highlight the importance of good roads to your farm and to the Wisconsin dairy community overall.
• Water quality — Dairy farmers are proactively working with each other and with conservation groups to find ways to collaborate. Watershed conservation efforts led by farmers are making a significant positive change. Please support additional funding for this program. Farmers are sharing best practices, finding innovative solutions and using science to measure progress. Help us build on the efforts of last session’s Water Quality Task Force.
• Dairy/ag exports — Exports are essential to the dairy community and we should be investing in efforts to expand markets at home and abroad. Please support creating and funding the Wisconsin Initiative for Agricultural Exports and increasing funding for the existing Dairy Processor Grant Program.

Click here for a press release DBA distributed last month with more details about priorities.

If you participate, we will support you
If you plan to attend one of the in-person hearings, please fill out the DBA registration link below.

SIGN UP HERE.

Send in comments
You can email written comments in two forms:

1. Send them to budget.comments@legis.wisconsin.gov
2. Use a pre-written message through DBA's Speak Out! to email all the committee members. Click here to participate.

The state also has this website with additional information and links.

Please contact me if you have questions.

Chad Zuleger
Associate director of government affairs
czuleger@dairyforwad.com