Still Waiting on the Wisconsin Senate

Our Voice blog

February 10, 2022

Still Waiting on the Senate

byJake Beckstrom

(Above, a map of Wisconsin Senate District 33 via Ballotpedia.)

Despite many of you emailing and calling on behalf of our Wisconsin SCI Research Grant bill (full text of the bill here), Senator Chris Kapenga (R - Delafield) has yet to indicate he will introduce our bill in the Senate. And this legislation can't move forward until that happens.

We need Senator Kapenga to introduce our bill and refer it to a committee as soon as possible if we want a chance to pass this session. We only have a month left to make this happen, so we need to keep the pressure on!

Everyone from everywhere (in other states and countries) should contact Senator Chris Kapenga. All calls and emails his office receives help to demonstrate that this is a critical issue.

And if you know anyone from Senator Kapenga’s district (see map above), please forward this message to them. Legislators are most attentive to their constituents, and we need to keep Kapenga’s ear right now. Click here to view a detailed map of Senator Kapenga’s district.

Please contact Senate President Chris Kapenga today, and urge him to introduce our bill in the Senate and refer it to a committee.

You can say something like this:

Hi Senator Kapenga,

My name is ____ ______, and I [have a spinal cord injury / am family/friend of someone with a spinal cord injury]. Please introduce our Spinal Cord Injury Research Grant bill in the Senate and refer it to committee as soon as possible. This is a smart, efficient bill that would:

Keep the funds in Wisconsin

Allow SCI Community members like me to help decide what research gets funded

Cap indirect costs at 8% (ie no bloated admin costs)

This model of funding has worked well in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Washington state by getting research out of the lab and into people. We desperately need this bill passed now. Our community can’t wait! Let’s start helping the spinal cord injury community in Wisconsin by passing this bill ASAP. Thank you!

If you haven't written or called yet, please do so today. It only takes a few minutes. You can leave a message after hours if you want to call but feel nervous talking to someone. Just call or email Sen. Kapenga today!

Senator Chris Kapenga