THE GAD REPORT TRUMP, JOHNSON WIN; DANOU LOSES IN 92ND REALTORS ASSOCIATION OF NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN BREAKS OVER, SPRING ELECTION BEGINS

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1 REALTORS ASSOCIATION OF NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 10 DECEMBER, 2016 TRUMP, JOHNSON WIN; DANOU LOSES IN 92ND Wisconsin did something it hasn t done since Ronald Reagan was President. It elected a Republican for President of the United States. With Donald Trump winning Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by small margins, but enough to receive their combined electoral college votes, he receives over 300, more than the 270 needed to elect, and the most by a Republican for President since In Wisconsin, Senator Ron Johnson defeated former three-term Senator Russ Feingold in a close contest, crediting a well placed ground game, and analysis of the state showing the campaign where best to allocate resources to achieve victory. All 99 Assembly seats were up, many open seat contests. While some counting went on thru the night, the GOP held all of their seats, including all open seats, and gained an unlikely seat in the 92nd district where Mondovi Mayor Treig Pronschinske defeated three-term incumbent Chris Danou by a little more than a thousand votes. The vote gives the GOP a advantage in the chamber, the more since the 1957 session was seated. On the Senate side, 10th Senate incumbent Sheila Harsdorf will return for a four year term. There was one upset on that side as well, with long-time incumbent Senator Julie Lassa of Stevens Point losing her bid for another 4 year term. And there is a recount underway in La Crosse where former state Senator Dan Kapanke is 56 votes short of his bid to unseat Senator Jennifer Shilling. If Shilling prevails, the state Senate will be GOP controlled. Both Congress and the state Legislature will be sworn in on January 3rd, President-elect Trump will take office on January 20th at noon. TRUMP, JOHNSON WIN DANOU UPSET THE NEXT ELECTION CY- CLE BEGINS SHORT-TERM RENTAL OR- DINANCE GOES FORWARD BREAKS OVER, SPRING ELECTION BEGINS The dust hasn t settled from the November elections, and with the start of December comes the start of the spring election cycle. Statewide, there will be a contested race for Superintendent of Public Instruction as Tony Evers seat is set to expire. And one justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court as Annette Zigler is set to run for a second ten-year term on the bench. So far, there are no announced opponents for her. In Eau Claire, there will be three seats up for the Eau Claire School Board, and the City Council President, Kerry Kincaid will have her seat up for election. Nomination forms are available and must be turned in prior to 5pm January 3rd. TREGO INTERCHANGE 3 DIRECT GIVER AND LOCAL ELECTIONS LAKEVIEW MEDICAL CEN- TER REZONE 2ND ANNUAL RPAC AUC- TION 3 4 6

2 PAGE 2 SAWYER COUNTY RENTAL ORDINANCE SENT TO BOARD A short-term rental ordinance has been worked on in Sawyer County for more than a year. After revisions and a few modifications, the county Zoning committee held a public hearing on the revisions to the proposed rental ordinance. A full hearing room spoke both in favor and opposed to the ordinance, citing a number of concerns that they felt were not properly addressed within the language of what is being proposed. Among the modifications were: Limiting the focus to short-term rentals making an income of $1000 instead of renting for four days. Both sides questioned who was going to enforce this section of the proposal, with a couple property owners stating they do not collect a fee, but would accept a donation in lieu of the fee, making enforcement nearly impossible. Removing town board approval. Requiring a reapplication of the next year for properties with substantiated violations. Discussion centered on the meaning of substantiated. Who was going to inspect properties for violations, who was going to file complaints (con t below) SAVE THE DATE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD FOR THE 2ND ANNUAL RPAC AUCTION!! ZONING PASSED 3-2, BOARD VOTES DECEMBER 15 And would those complaints be substantiated. As the ordinance is written, there is a two strikes and you re out policy in place. Other questions centered around sanitary systems, with questions arising about homes with sanitary systems designed for two or three people who now have ten people living there for an extended time several times a year. Feedback was limited to areas defined by the latest changes in RANWW President Marty Tauger addressing the Sawyer County Zoning Committee. the ordinance and audience members were instructed to keep their comments to those points and to three minutes in length...something that did not occur as many in the audience questioned why their remarks were trying to be contained to just a few issues. At the end of the hearing, the proposal passed by a three to two vote and will be taken up by the County Board on December 15th at 6:30pm. MARSHFIELD CLINIC S HOSPITAL PLAN FILED The Eau Claire Plan Commission could hear the proposed hospital plan for Marshfield Clinic on December 5th, a meeting that is likely to be a full house with opposition being sounded loudly by Sacred Heart Hospital, citing open beds at their hospital and at Mayo Clinic. The cancer center has been approved, as a zoning change did not need to be approved by the city council, and will begin construction after the first of the year. The 44 bed hospital will be built on the site of the Plaza Hotel, which was originally going to stay open until December 31, but closed on Halloween, and is now holding an auction to sell of furniture and fixtures before the building is demolished in December. If that schedule holds, the site could see construction in January with the cancer opening next year and the hospital opening sometime in 2018.

3 PAGE 3 TREGO INTERCHANGE EXAMINED The Wisconsin DOT is looking at designs for the Highway 53/63 interchange in Trego. The latest concept is to acquire land for ramps and two roundabouts and construction of a bridge over Highway 53. Concerns over safety at the intersection of the two US Highways prompted design upgrades. If approved, construction would begin in THE 2ND ANNUAL RPAC AUCTION IS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD AT HORIZON S IN TILDEN!! I M A DIRECT GIVER, CAN I USE THOSE DOLLARS ON LOCAL CANDIDATES? The simple answer is YES, you can use Direct Giver dollars for any candidates, regardless of partisan or nonpartisan office. That means you can use your Direct Giver dollars to support candidates for County Board, City Council, School Board, District Attorney, Sheriff, Register of Deeds, or Town Board...any position that is elected by the public you can invest Direct Giver dollars. Spring elections are right around the corner. Local candidates can use your investment to run for public office. But before you can do that, you first need money in your Direct Giver account. A minimum of $100 is required. GOP DRAWN LEGISLATIVE MAPS RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL In a 2 to 1 split decision, a federal court has ruled the legislative maps drawn by Republicans in 2011 to be unconstitutional citing gerrymandering as the basis for the negative ruling. Federal judges Kenneth Ripple and Barbara Crabb cited areas where the maps drawn diluted the voting strength of Democrats. The maps have been a contentious issue for Democrats since their inception. The maps are valid until after the next national census in 2020 and will be drawn in 2021 by the party in power at the time, unless the Legislature agrees on a different way of drawing district maps. In its ruling, the court did not say how to correct the maps, giving both sides until mid-december to come up with alternatives. Even if an alternative came be arrived at, the ruling will likely be appealed to the US Supreme Court who has had this issue come before it in the past, and who has repeatedly declined to decide on the best way to handle redistricting maps, leaving it to the states to decide.

4 PAGE 4 FORMER LAKEVIEW MEDICAL CENTER GETS REZONE A proposed housing development on the site of the former Lakeview Medical Center has been approved by the Rice Lake Planning Commission. The 4.8 acre parcel would be used as a mixed-use development, multi-family housing or even some business development, depending on what direction the developer wants to take the project. Land is currently under a pending sale, and work would not start for a year, as plans for a definitive development would need to be drawn up and presented to the Plan Commission. The zoning was approved by a 6-1 vote. The Rice Lake School Board will have a question on the spring ballot to change the way board members are represented, moving to nine at-large seats. In order for that to happen, a petition will need to be signed by 100 district voters, and if approved by voters, the new seats would be in effect in The board voted 4 to 3 to move ahead with the school board change. NEW FEE SCHEDULE FOR BARRON THE 2ND ANNUAL RPAC AUCTION IS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD AT HORIZON S IN TILDEN!! If you live in Barron and want the city to rezone land or allow a conditional use permit, will now have to pay a fee to the city for each project. The Barron City Council approved changes in the zoning policy for the city in order for the city to recoup costs associated with rezoning paperwork, planning and ad- ministrative tasks. The new fees will go along with a new form that residents will need to fill out when they want to have any of their property rezoned, so that the city can better track projects and the amount of administrative work that is involved with in having projects move thru the approval process. RPAC APPRECIATION RECEPTION SCHEDULED FOR AUCTION The RPAC Appreciation Day scheduled for November 9th was cancelled and moved to a one hour reception beginning at 4:30pm at the auction event venue, Horizons in Tilden on Thursday, February 23rd. We are working on one or two national speakers from NAR to come in for this event and to help us kick off our second annual RPAC Auction. Last year s event was a huge success, and our goal is to make this year s event even bigger. You ll find more information on the event on Page 6 of The GAD Report.

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7 REALTORS ASSOCIATION OF NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN 1903 Keith Street Suite #3 Eau Claire, WI Phone: home office/text Phone: board office Bruce King Government Affairs Director WWW. R A N W W. O RG The REALTORS Association of Northwestern Wisconsin is the largest association in terms of area, stretching from Millston, Whitehall and Fountain City to the south all the way to Cable in Bayfield County to the north. We are the fourth largest of the 19 Associations in terms of membership. Your Association covers 355 units of local government, monitoring a wide variety of issues that can and do affect you. In addition to local government, your GAD also monitor issues at the state and national level that will have a direct or indirect impact on housing and the industry, as well as legislation that can affect the consumer. Your Government Affairs Director works with members and affiliates to raise investment dollars for RPAC that help to support elected officials that support your business. RANWW is one of only three REALTOR Association s in Wisconsin that have their own PAC, which was started 37 years ago to support candidates at the local and state level. We have added a Facebook page, called The GADabouts, that aims to keep you up to date on political issues that will affect your business. Your GAD also produces a periodic government affairs program posted on our YouTube channel, RANWWTV!! OUR MISSION IS TO HELP OUR MEMBERS BE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN REAL ESTATE MY THOUGHTS BY BRUCE KING The fall election is over, the spring election cycle has just begun. And the fallout from the election of Donald Trump continues. Calls for eliminating the Electoral College, recounts and challenges to the vote totals in many states (including Wisconsin) loom in the near term. Republicans will hold power in both houses of Congress and the Oval Office, at least for the next two years. True to its intent, the REALTOR Party works with both sides of the aisle to secure legislation that is consumer and land protective and does not put onerous burden upon you and your 1.2 million colleagues across America. In Wisconsin, the GOP holds the Governor s office, and both houses of the Legislature, with the larges majority since the 50s. WRA was successful in passing 49 out of 50 items on its agenda last session, many of which passed with bipartisan support, meaning that the intent of the REALTOR Party works here too. Near record home sales in Wisconsin, definitely the best since 2007, nationally homes sales are at a ten year high, projected to be at least 5.6 million, and prospects for the same next year. Frac sand mining has been banned in Winona County after a 3-2 vote. With OPEC set to reduce output, combined with discovery of over 21 billion barrels in shale formations in west Texas, coupled with over 3000 wells drilled but not pumping, sand will again be flowing out of Wisconsin, albeit at perhaps a slower pace than a few years ago. RANWW has in its jurisdiction over 83% of all frac sand mines, processors and trans-load facilities in the state, which should mean more jobs and more rail traffic soon.