Renee A. Paplham
Democrat
Town of Carlton
Q&A with the Candidate
Why should voters elect you?
No response
What is the top issue in your district? How would you address it?
No response
How should Wisconsin government operate differently than in the past?
No response
What is your favorite fun Wisconsin history fact?
No response
NEW News Lab general election questions
Relevant Experience
This is Paplham’s second campaign for state Assembly.
Wisconsin has a large budget surplus. What should lawmakers prioritize: tax cuts, increased spending on public services, or something else?
I believe there will be an increase in the need for investments in public services in the coming years, including investments in affordable housing, affordable health care and public education. I am not opposed to using the surplus for a tax cut, so long as the tax cut targets those who need it most.
What policies are most important to address Wisconsinites’ concerns about cost of living?
I support lowering the cost of prescription drugs and capping the cost of life-saving drugs like insulin and asthma medication, extending the Childcare Counts program and expanding the Homestead Tax Credit.
Housing costs have risen in many Wisconsin communities. What role should state government play in creating more affordable housing?
The people of Wisconsin need more affordable options for housing; therefore, the need for government intervention is urgent. The state needs to address the large increase in short-term rentals and its impact on communities. Wisconsin also can provide tax incentives to build affordable housing.
What policies would best address Wisconsinites’ concerns about property taxes?
Property taxes are high in large part because public schools have been chronically underfunded for over a decade by the Republican-controlled Legislature. I would like to see an increase in the general state aid to public schools so that school districts rely less on local levies.
Funding of public education has been an issue and has been tied to property taxes for years. Schools often rely on local referendums for funding staffing, programs and maintenance. What specific changes would you support to the state’s school funding formula and how would you pay for them?
The state funding formula needs a complete overhaul; however, one policy change that can positively impact schools almost immediately is raising the reimbursement rates for special education. Voucher schools are reimbursed for special education at a rate of 90%, while public schools are reimbursed at about 35%. That needs to change. We need transparency in education funding. Communities need to know how many of our tax dollars support private schools. We can use surplus funds for this investment.
Should the state direct more funding toward voucher and school-choice programs and what evidence supports your position?
I strongly oppose increasing funds to the voucher school program, as they are essentially syphoning money from public schools to give to less accountable private schools. Public tax dollars should stay with public schools.
What steps can the Legislature take to alleviate court backlogs and address the need for more judges, prosecutors and public defenders?
Court backlogs affect everyone, including victims waiting for justice and defendants waiting for their cases to be heard. The Legislature needs to adequately fund our court system and address shortages of judges, prosecutors and public defenders based on actual caseload and workload needs. We also need to improve recruitment and retention of attorneys, particularly in rural and underserved areas, and consider incentives that encourage attorneys to practice where shortages are greatest. Adding judges alone will not solve backlogs if there are not enough prosecutors, defense attorneys and court staff available to move cases through the system efficiently.
How do you feel about the number of prisons in Wisconsin - should there be more? Less? Why?
Most importantly, violent criminals belong behind bars. Wisconsin has three times the incarceration rate as our neighbor Minnesota, as well as one of the largest corrections budgets in the nation, reflecting our high incarceration rates. Wisconsin should increase the use of community supervision over incarceration in cases where appropriate.
How significant an issue is climate change? What would you advocate for related to climate change if elected?
Climate change is an increasingly urgent issue and can bring challenges to the agriculture industry. I would support sustainable grant programs to help farmers implement fossil-fuel efficiency measures and develop conservation management plans. Our state also can focus our efforts on increasing green infrastructure throughout the state.
Wisconsin’s bipartisan support for a PFAS law to hold polluters accountable and the state's lower maximum contaminant levels for drinking water put it out in front nationally on forever-chemical protections. Some say the best way to prevent PFAS contaminations is to outlaw their use, while others hope to reverse the regulations. How important is this issue? What still needs to be addressed? How should remediation costs be raised?
The topic of PFAS is a serious one with potentially catastrophic health outcomes for Wisconsinites. Since we have yet to know the full scope of the contamination problem in our state, I would support the expansion of testing for PFAS. Contaminators of PFAS should be held responsible for covering costs to clean up PFAS.
What do you think of the implementation process for the new Medicaid work requirements so far in Wisconsin? What has worked? What could be improved?
Studies have shown that Medicaid work requirements have a heavy administrative cost and are often plagued by high administrative error rates. Longer grace periods and retroactive reinstatements should be sought to reduce gaps in coverage for Wisconsinites. Since rural hospitals will likely feel the largest impact, these critical access hospitals should be targeted for extra support for coverage losses.
What do you think about funding the 988 crisis line long-term at the state level?
Like other states, Wisconsin should pass legislation to permanently fund the 988 crisis line. This issue has bipartisan support in the Legislature.