Today, Governor Evers signed three bills authored by Rep. Kurtz into law.
2023 Wisconsin Act 221 was authored with Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green).
Act 221 creates a grant program to assist local agencies with updating their technology
equipment and infrastructure for the Wisconsin Interoperability System for
Communications (WISCOM), a radio system that permits emergency responders from
public safety agencies to communicate across jurisdictions.
2023 Wisconsin Act 222 was authored with Sen. Patrick Testin (R- Stevens Point). Act
222 will continue the current practice of allowing providers to recover their costs of
facilitating Next Generation 911 (NG-911) by creating a grant program for incumbent
local exchange carriers to receive reimbursement for some of their costs. These costs
may include IP-based transport of NG-911; purchasing, installing, and maintaining NG-
911 equipment; and NG-911 database management. Next Generation 911 provides
better technology and access to emergency communication. In addition to 911 voice
capabilities, NG-911 allows the public to send texts, images, video and data to a 911
center.
2023 Wisconsin Act 244 was authored with Sen. Joan Ballweg (R-Markesan). Act 244
increases the cap for state aid for local fairs from $10,000 to $20,000 and prohibits the
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection from implementing rules
that prohibit someone from being able to collect a state-aided premium for their exhibit
at multiple fairs. This rule would discourage increased participation at fairs and places
an administrative burden on fairs that is difficult to enforce, especially for smaller fairs
like the Juneau County Fair and Elroy Fair. The most recent state budget provided
additional funding for county and district fairs, bringing the state aid up to a total of
$650,000 annually to account for the changes made in the bill