After sixteen years in the Wisconsin legislature, Representative Gary Tauchen has seen a lot of change. He ran for election in 2006 and took office in 2007. He says that things change after the first two years of being involved so he wrote an article called, “Perspectives of a Freshman Legislature.” Tauchen reflects back on his time in office and provides insight into what’s next.
“When I took office in 2007, there was a split in the legislature,” says Tauchen. “The assembly was Republican, the Senate was Democratic, and the governor was a Democrat. Then the next term, the Democrats took all three, The next year everything changed so that Republicans took all three and so for the next eight years, it was much more fun to be in a position where you can make changes.”
During his first years in office, Tauchen helped to pass Act Ten which dealt with pensions and health care so that those that participated in that paid more in, but about equal to what private industry paid. That act saved the state about $15 billion over the course of 15 years or so. That was a huge change and something that the whole country was watching and many states implemented similar programs.
When the pandemic happened, he put more emphasis on broadband. Using an expanding broadband education over the internet was a tool that could be used instead of in person, and that really helped some individuals maintain their education goals. They also used it for helping expand telemedicine, and agricultural and rural economic development.
“You come in not knowing much, and you leave learning a lot,” explains Tauchen. “But the thing about the legislature is you have the most important bills and policies, and things you’re working on seem like they’re the most important things at the time. But over the course of time, the things you remember are the people you worked with.”
Tauchen says he appreciates his time working with lobbyists, township and city leaders, and those who work closest with the people he was trying to represent.
While he may be retiring, the work does not end. Tauchen explained that every session there’s issues that come up and they constantly change and evolve. During his time in legislature he was able to help develop the Dairy Hub, lunch saving initiatives, funding for the Mississippi locks, and much more. But he says they can all be improved on and that future legislature needs to have someone that is involved in agriculture.
Tauchen adds, “It’s always important to have somebody that’s involved in agriculture so that we can keep the diversity that we have. Agriculture, tourism and manufacturing are the top three economic drivers in the state and we need to make sure that we keep that diversity because it allows us to have economic strength. When one part of our industries are not doing well, the others can help build them up and make life better for the people in the state of Wisconsin moving forward.”
The 2023 Farm Bill is also on the mind of Tauchen and other legislators. Tauchen says that rural development is important to Wisconsin. There are some problems around the state with areas that want to put moratoriums on agriculture or anything that is a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). He says that if you’re not going to have those in areas, you’re going to have to figure out what kind of economic development you can have in those areas that will provide jobs for the local community.
Tauchen continues, “It’s a real challenge because agriculture in the state is something that we need and want. We’ve lost a lot of farms in the state over the course of many years but we’ve been able to hold and maintain the cow numbers. But we’re going to have to figure out how we can improve water quality and prevent pollution, which isn’t just agriculture.”
Tauchen says that it isn’t just the agricultural community that causes problems. There are leaking septic systems that run untreated sewage into the lakes and that the state a ways to go, but he thinks legislature is on track to making some improvements.
Retirement will not be holding Tauchen back however as he will still be involved in special projects. He also plans to become more active in his local community while continuing to work on his family’s 1200 cow dairy.
“I’m looking forward to retiring, but retiring is not for me,” says Tauchen. “I need something to do. I can’t just sit and so I’ll be able to stay as active as I want. I’ll be able to not have a full time job, but instead work part time on those things that I have the expertise for and have the passion to help improve the quality of life for the people of the state.”
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