Billings Builds on Experience

After nearly 15 years in the Wisconsin Assembly, Jill Billings says experience has shown her where government can make a difference and where work remains for families, schools and communities across western Wisconsin.

Billings, a La Crosse Democrat, is seeking another term representing the 95th Assembly District. The district includes Sparta and portions of western Monroe County, along with much of La Crosse and several surrounding communities.

"I love this work, and I love representing my area," Billings said. "I'm good at it, and I still have the energy to do more and the drive to do more."

Her priorities include protecting children online, addressing Wisconsin's workforce shortage, revisiting how public schools are funded, expanding access to childcare and health care, improving the state's professional licensing system, and continuing work on water quality.

The beginning

Billings was one of seven children raised in a Minnesota farming community. Her father worked at IBM and tended bar on weekends to help support the family. She said both parents taught their children to work hard, help their community, and get along with others.

She said, "My father didn't make a lot of money, but his job provided medical and dental coverage, along with a pension." She believes that stability helped shape her belief that all children deserve to feel safe, supported, and valued.

"I was very lucky," she said. "I think that's why I work a lot on children and family issues, because I'd like all kids to have what I had."

After moving to La Crosse, Billings taught English as a second language and citizenship classes to Hmong adults through the Friendship Program at Christ Episcopal Church. She said many of her students later continued their education at Western Technical College and found jobs in the community. When the program ended, it distributed its remaining grant money to local organizations serving Hmong families.

Billings later served eight years on the La Crosse County Board. She worked on health and human services, economic development, and creating an OWI treatment court involving law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, social workers, and addiction specialists. She was elected to the state Assembly in a 2011 special election after then-Rep. Jennifer Shilling left the seat to run for the state Senate.

Looking Ahead

Billings said one area she wants to keep pursuing is protecting children from social media.

She served on a bipartisan Assembly task force focused on social media and children. One proposal that emerged from that work would add four positions within the Wisconsin Department of Justice to investigate online predators.

Although a Republican lawmaker ultimately carried the legislation, Billings said her office did much of the research and drafting. She agreed to let the Republican representative take the lead because she believed that would improve the bill's chances of advancing.

"I don't have to have my name first on this bill," Billings said. "As long as we get this through, that's going to be incredible."

The experience reflected how Billings says she approaches divided government. Republicans have controlled the Legislature for most of her time in Madison, meaning she has needed Republican support to advance her proposals.

"I'm not a gotcha legislator," she said. "I just ask questions: 'Have you thought about this?' or 'I think the department is going to have trouble with this.'"

Billings said bipartisan opportunities often come up in children's issues, tourism, mental health, human trafficking and clean water. Her water-quality notification proposal attracted approximately 70 co-sponsors from both parties, she said, although it did not receive a final floor vote.

"That's another thing I'd like to work some more on," Billings said. "Clean water is so important."

She also wants to make state licensing systems faster and more dependable. Delays in obtaining professional licenses can prevent therapists and other workers from beginning their jobs.

"We have struggles with people getting licenses on time," she said. "Regulations are not a big wow factor, but they affect people big time."

Workforce and schools

Billings identified the workforce shortage and the loss of young workers to other states as two of the district's greatest challenges.

Employers need workers. At the same time, schools and colleges face declining enrollment, staffing shortages, and financial pressure. Billings sees affordable housing, childcare, education and wages as part of the same problem.

Billings also sees the region's universities, technical colleges and health-care systems as sources of new ideas and jobs.

Billings said public-school funding also needs another look. She supports reconsidering the state funding formula, so school districts do not have to rely as heavily on property taxes and repeated referendums.

That reliance can be especially difficult for retired homeowners living on fixed incomes.

"They like living in their neighborhoods," Billings said. "They've got neighbors who are helpful, living a good life, but worried that their Social Security is eventually not going to keep up with taxes."

The current system also forces administrators to spend time and money persuading voters to approve referendums instead of concentrating on students, she said.

Billings wants property-tax bills to show residents how much of their money supports traditional public schools and how much goes to private-school voucher programs.

"We have to make a hard decision. Can we afford three systems of school?" she said, referring to traditional public schools, voucher schools and online education.

Teacher shortages will require attention to pay and the cost of entering the profession. Billings supports stipends for student teachers, who may have to pay tuition and living expenses while completing unpaid classroom placements.

Once in the classroom, teachers also face more behavioral and developmental challenges.

"We ask a lot of our schools," Billings said. "That's why we have to support them."

Childcare and housing

Billings described childcare as a "three-legged stool." Families need help affording care, workers need wages that will keep them in the profession, and providers need enough revenue to operate and reinvest in their businesses.

She said her office is working with several other legislators to study programs used in other states and determine what could work in Wisconsin.

Universal childcare would be too expensive for the state, Billings said, but Wisconsin could increase assistance for working families.

"It's going to take money. It's going to take an investment," she said. "But childcare is like infrastructure. We have to have it."

Housing presents another challenge.

Billings said the shortage of affordable homes and apartments makes it harder for the district to retain workers and leaves families with little room to absorb rising childcare, health care and transportation costs. Communities need to build more housing intended for working families, she said, rather than relying only on existing assistance programs.

She also expressed concern about residents who own mobile homes but rent the land beneath them. When an investor buys a mobile-home community and raises the lot rent, homeowners may have few alternatives because moving the structure can be difficult or prohibitively expensive.

"You own your mobile home, you're on the spot," Billings said. "We have to address this."

Small businesses and farms

Billings said Wisconsin generally does a good job supporting businesses once they are established, but entrepreneurs often struggle to obtain the money and guidance needed to get started. She supports increasing access to early-stage investment and strengthening programs that help new business owners develop plans, understand regulations and find financing.

"We've got the entrepreneurs with the good ideas," Billings said. "We just have to help fund them to get going."

Mentorship could also help small businesses survive their early years, she said. Billings suggested connecting experienced or retired business owners with younger entrepreneurs who have ideas but lack practical experience. That assistance could be especially valuable in communities such as Sparta, where rent and other operating costs can make opening a downtown business difficult.

Billings said agriculture has become a larger part of her legislative work since district boundaries changed to include more farms. She sought a seat on the Assembly Agriculture Committee because she wanted western Wisconsin farmers represented in discussions about state policy. She said farmers face higher operating costs, workforce shortages, trade uncertainty, and difficult questions about who will take over their operations.

Preserving farmland also requires recognizing the financial choices farm families face, Billings said. A farmer may want the land to remain in agriculture but also needs enough money to retire. She supports exploring farmland tax credits and planning policies that reduce development pressure while allowing farmers to build financial security.

Billings said renewable-energy development should be directed away from the state's best agricultural ground whenever possible. "There are places to put it where you're not losing farmland," she said of wind and solar projects.

She also supports mental-health assistance for farmers and programs that help young people see opportunities in agricultural science, technology and business.

Health care

Billings supports accepting federal funding to expand BadgerCare. She said she has backed Medicaid expansion proposals throughout her time in office and would consider allowing small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to participate in BadgerCare.

"I've been on bills for that every single year that they've been offered," she said. "We just have to make it more affordable for folks."

She also wants the state to examine the role played by insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. Doctors should have greater freedom to determine the treatments and medications their patients need, she said.

Billings has supported limits on prescription costs, including a proposal to cap certain costs for people with diabetes.

"If you can't afford your drugs, you will die," she said. "The state needs to step in more in those areas."

The state also needs more mental-health and addiction counselors, Billings said. Treatment courts and housing programs cannot do much if people cannot find help when they need it.

Crossing political lines

Billings said she makes a point of listening, even when speaking with people unlikely to vote for her. During one recent stop at a voter's home, a tense discussion about immigration and the Democratic Party eventually led to some common ground.

The two agreed that the country should keep out violent criminals while creating a workable legal immigration system for needed employees. Billings pointed to a Monroe County dairy farmer who publicly thanked eight Hispanic workers, saying the operation could not continue without them.

"What I learned is, if you actually talk to somebody and have a conversation, you find commonalities," Billings said.

"She knows if she needs something, she can come to me," Billings said. "My office is going to work for her, just like everybody else."

"Most of the issues that I've worked on, it's been possible to find common ground," Billings said. "The proof is in the legislation I've gotten through every year, because I can't do it without my friends on the other side."

Another Term

Billings said voters should judge another term by what she gets done for western Wisconsin, including improving support for schools and childcare, strengthening the workforce and making state services more responsive.

"I listen to my voters, and I work hard," Billings said. "That makes me a better legislator, so I can share the stories I hear when I'm in committee and when I'm on the floor."

Those conversations, Billings said, give her firm ground when she returns to the Capitol and tells lawmakers, "This is what I hear in western Wisconsin." She said another term would mean carrying those concerns to Madison, finding support on both sides of the aisle, and turning them into results for the district.

More info can be found at https://www.jillbillingsforassembly.com/ and https://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/95/billings/