It is very important for you to March 2021 stay up-to-date on the latest Volume 14 Issue 6 orders from the county health departments in our jurisdic- tion: www.ranww.org You will find updates at the local, state and national level regarding the coronavirus. The GAD Report As vaccines roll out, there will be changes to the current SPRING IS HERE!! restrictions. Be sure you Well, meteorological spring is here, the other spring happens in three weeks. That means know the rules in your area. the spring election is right around the corner. City Council, Village boards, school boards and Superintendent of Public Instruction will be on the ballot. For southeastern Wiscon- Stay safe, and stay informed sin and across the northern two thirds of our jurisdiction, there are two elections for Circuit Court of Appeals. Shelley Grogan and Gregory Gill are on the ballot. Both have with your Association. been endorsed by WRA (the first time that our state Association has made an endorse- ment of Court of Appeals judges). Bruce King — Government Affairs Director So why, with our 20 year involvement in state Supreme Court races is WRA involving itself in Court of Appeals races? First, like cases in front of the Supreme Court, court of appeals decisions have statewide impact. Opinions are binding on all circuit courts and courts of appeals throughout Wisconsin. And because any case can be automatically ap- pealed to the court of appeals, the court decides many appeals, many of which involve issues impacting the real estate industry like land use, zoning, legal title, contracts, fi- nancing, foreclosure and liability. Unless an appeals court opinion is reversed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, these opinions are binding. Spring also means that the 2021 RPAC investment campaign is ramping up. We are going to need involvement at all funding levels to build Direct Giver funds this year for the election onslaught on 2022, where the usual local elections will occur, but the fall elec- INSIDE THIS ISSUE tion cycle will have all 99 Assembly seats, half the state Senate (including all three Sena- tors from our jurisdiction), two members of the House of Representatives, a United Spring Is Here! .......................... 1 States Senator, plus Governor, Lt. Governor, State Treasurer and Secretary of State. LCO Housing Grant .................. 2 These campaigns start earlier, last longer, cost more, involve many venues of media and RPAC Award .............................. 3 require our financial support at all levels of governance. REALTORS® support those who support our issues, which has made NAR the number one lobby organization in the na- Capitol Insights ......................... 4 tion, and WRA one of the top Associations in Wisconsin. Change to REALTOR and Gov- ernment Day………………………… 4 There many be some who just do not want to give to a candidate running for Assembly or Congress, but still want to be politically involved (those two words are two you repeated House Passes COVID Bill………..6 when you took your oath at New Member Orientation). I’ve got the perfect venue for you to be involved. Invest in a local candidate running for school board. When I was last elected in 1994, I spent $20 to get elected, it’s a whole lot more today! Invest in someone SPECIAL POINTS OF running for City Council, Village Board, circuit court judge, Sheriff, County Board or INTEREST town board. The contribution limits are such that $50 or $100 can make a real difference when the level of advertising is an ad in the newspaper and a few yard signs. • Spring Elections It can make a huge difference. • HUD Grants • R & G Day Virtual Happy Spring and be sure to register for this year’s REALTOR® & Government Day! • Capitol Insights • New Homes Surge Bruce • COVID Relief Bill HUD GIVES HOUSING GRANT TO LCO TRIBE IN HAYWARD The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as part of a $652 million Indian Housing Block Grant so that tribes can pursue affordable housing projects within their juris- dictions. The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Hayward has been awarded $3,210,462 as a part of $21 million in grants to Wisconsin tribes. The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa received $1,111,310 and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa received $1,618,950. “Just Because You Do Not Take An Interest In Politics, Doesn’t Mean That Politics Won’t Take An Interest In You.” —Pericles (430 B.C) WRA Issues Successes 1. REALTORS® and RANKED-CHOICE VOTING IN WISCONSIN? Real Estate are Es- sential A bill with bi-partisan support was recently introduced in the state 2. Remote Online Nota- Legislature. The bill would authorize ranked-choice voting in certain rization elections in Wisconsin. This is the first time that Republicans have supported such a measure. 3. Condominium Asso- Democrats proposed this last session, but the bill was never taken up or ciation Dispute Reso- given a public hearing. lution Ranked-choice voting is not new to politics, a number of communi- 4. More Money for K-12 ties, mostly larger urban areas, use it to whittle down candidates, and the theory is that more voices will be heard as the playing field is more Schools and Property leveled (the person that spends the most money on a campaign is equal Tax Relief to the person who spends nothing, letting the issues and the candidates position do the talking.) 5. Broadband Expan- So, instead of holding a primary, where both parties vote on candi- sion dates, everyone from all parties runs on the same ballot. Electors can 6. Income Tax Cuts then rank their favorites in order from first to fifth. The top five go on to the election. The election then ranks the electors favorites from first 7. Seller Audio/Video to fifth, if one candidate gets a majority, of first-place votes, the candi- Surveillance at Show- date wins. If no candidate gets a majority, there is a run-off where the ings lowest vote-getter is eliminated and anyone that had the eliminated person as their number one choice will instead have their second favor- 8. Prohibit Chasing ite counted. Sales This process continues until someone has a majority and is elected. If passed, it will be used for U.S. Senate and House of Representative rac- es in Wisconsin. 2 YOUR PARTICIPATION IN RPAC HELPED RANWW TO RAISE THE MOST DOLLARS OF ANY LARGE BOARD IN WISCONSIN! THANK YOU MEMBERS!! RPAC AND YOU Did you know that you can make your RPAC in- vestment securely online using your Visa, Master- card and now American Express card? Go to https://www.wra.org/ dgcontribution/ If REALTORS® do not speak out, get involved and help shape the discus- Governor Evers has released his budget. Included are a number of things that sion, someone else will. will be good for housing and real estate, a few things that are not so good, and a couple that are really “drugly”. Tom Larson, Joe Murray and Cori Lamont will Nobody knows a commu- take you thru the proposed budget. Listen here for your own Capitol Insight. nity better than a REAL- https://youtu.be/pY3MswOnmnU TOR®. You are on the front line as defenders of real estate issues. WHY YOU NEED TO BE AT REALTOR® AND GOV- Investing in RPAC assures ERNMENT DAY THIS YEAR you a seat at the table The year-long pandemic has moved all meetings out in an in person when critical decisions are format and onto platforms like Zoom and Webex. The same is true for made for homeowners this year’s REALTOR® & Government Day. Held on Wednesday, April and private property own- 14th, this year’s virtual event (for the first time ever) will also be short- ers. er. Just two hours. But plenty will be happening during that two hour period. Supporting vetted candi- dates and incumbents at We’ll begin with a welcome and remarks from WRA leadership. Then all levels of elective gov- at 1:15, we’ll hear from Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. At 1:35, WRA ernance is part of what lobby team will update you on the issues that will be discussed with our RPAC is about. legislators and their staffs. Due to the constraints of time and a need to be concise during the meetings, we will be discussing three to four is- Now more than ever, we sues only. Most likely topics will be broadband, workforce housing, need your financial invest- property taxes and landlord tenant issues. ment in RPAC thru the Our Legislative briefings will occur at 2:20 and will last for 35 Large Donor Council or minutes. Our legislators and their staffs will already have our position Direct Giver. papers well in advance and will have an understanding of why the is- sues we will present are important to us. We will have 3 to 5 people that will be assigned to give testimony to back up our position. The Zoom platform will allow you to text message our legislators with your thoughts, or WRA staff can take your information and get your ques- tions/comments to the appropriate legislator. Again, we will have 35 minutes for our discussion. At 2:55, we will again electronically gather to wrap up the day and at 3pm, the event concludes. The event is free, and we are looking for a very large repre- sentation from our Association. We will be joined by members of the Lake Superior Area REALTORS® and the Western Wisconsin REAL- 4 TORS® Association for our meeting.