Citizen Action Weekend 2025 Newsletter, Friday, September 5th
Join Citizen Action Today!
Attend Climate March at the State Capitol with Citizen Action Sunday, August 28th, Noon.
Citizen Action of Wisconsin at Labor Day 2025 Events
Thanks to every member who attended an event with organized labor.
$20/Hour Minimum Wage Campaign Launched at State Capitol this Week
This week Citizen Action joined allies in launching a campaign calling on state lawmakers to adopt a platform for workers that would raise the the state’s minimum wage to $20/hour and index it to inflation.
From Wisconsin Examiner:
“The key here is to not leave workers behind with a poverty wage, but instead bring that living wage number up to at least $20 an hour,” said Peter Rickman, president of the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers union — MASH — at a press conference Tuesday in the state Capitol.
Monday was Labor Day, “when politicians issue statements celebrating the American worker, maybe even declaring their support for labor and the working class,” Rickman observed.
“But we’re here the day after Labor Day, calling on political leadership in Wisconsin to make all of those statements real,” he said. “To make work pay, to deliver for the working class majority in our state with a guarantee that no matter where we punch a clock, no matter where we bring our paychecks home, that paycheck has a living wage.”
Sign letter to your state Legislators in support of $20/hour minimum wage.
Citizen Action Driftless Organizing Coop Update: Driftless Members Hold Informational Session Pre-Vance Visit on devastating federal healthcare cuts
“When we found out Vance was coming to La Crosse, we knew he was going to lie and spread misinformation about what this big ugly bill does. We jumped into action so we could provide an opportunity for folks to hear the truth,” said Driftless member Suzanne Morgan.
Kristie Tweed, Healthcare Action Coordinator, outlined the bill’s most devastating provisions, including Medicaid cuts, the non-extension of enhanced premium tax credits on the ACA, and automatic Medicare cuts triggered by the bill’s massive increase to the deficit. She walked attendees through the timeline for these cuts and explained how the legislation was deliberately crafted so that the most harmful impacts to the most vulnerable would not take effect until after the midterm elections.
“This is cutting access to healthcare for millions just so the wealthiest people and corporations can get a huge tax cut. Insurers are already indicating huge increases to premiums citing the HR1 bill and instability in the market as the reason. In WI we could see rate increases averaging 18% which will drive many people to drop coverage all together,” said Tweed. “When people go uninsured, rates go up for everyone.”
About 50 people attended the event to learn more about the harmful HR1 legislation and to share their concerns about how it could impact their families. Larger Town Hall events are being planned across Wisconsin to ensure communities statewide have the opportunity to learn more about HR1 and the work Citizen Action of WI is doing to fight back and protect affordable healthcare for all. Be watching for information on a town hall near you!
Upcoming Event:
Driftless Healthcare Action Team Meeting – We have a lot of work to do! Join us on the third Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m., either in person or via Zoom. For more information, please contact Kristie Tweed at kristie.tweed@citizenactionwi.org or 608-317-1331.
Citizen Action Southeast Organizing Co-op Weekly Update
🏥 Medicaid Team – Wednesday, September 24 at 6 PM
Join us at the Citizen Action office as we continue organizing to protect and expand health care.
🌍 Climate Team – Thursday, September 18 at 6 PM
Our Climate Team is launching! Come be part of the first meeting as we fight for clean energy, good jobs, and climate justice.
🌎 Climate March – Sunday, September 28
Mark your calendar! We’ll take the streets to demand bold action on climate. Don’t miss this powerful day of people power in Madison. We will help figure our transportation if needed.
🚪 Canvassing
We’re gaining new members every week out on the doors. Canvassing is fun, outside, and full of great conversations—come join us!
✨ “Audacity is the courage to imagine the world not as it is, but as it should be—and then act on it.”
TAKE ACTION: Help Stop Utility Rate Hike Approvals by PSC!
Alliant, Xcel, and MG&E seeking huge rate increases.
The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) is currently considering electric and gas rate increases proposed by three of Wisconsin’s investor-owned utilities (IOUs): Alliant, Excel, and MG&E.
You can submit public comments or speak at the public hearing for each rate case.
- The docket is open for Alliant’s rate case through September 11th. Learn more
- The docket is open for Xcel’s rate case through September 15th. Learn more
- The docket is open for MG&E’s rate case through October 2nd. Learn more
While the PSC’s mission is to “ensure safe, reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible utility services,” it continues to consider IOU proposed rate increases without adequate ratepayer protections. The unfortunate result is the system protecting and isolating utility profits, community wellbeing, leaving many Wisconsinites without affordable or accessible energy.
Please advocate for residents and colleagues living in all three IOU service territories. You don’t have to live or work in the territory facing a rate increase. We all must stand together to support Wisconsin residents across the state who are facing unjust increases.
Your voice and your story are powerful! Please weigh in TODAY!
Learn More About NEW State Legislation: 2% of Income Utilities Cap.
The Problem: Basic Utilities are Increasingly Unaffordable.
Utilities are unaffordable for many Wisconsinites.
Working class households and communities of color have the least disposable income yet live in older houses and apartments that are less energy efficient, and therefore more expensive to heat and cool. The result is the families least able to afford it pay the largest proportion of their income on utilities. Many families pay 6% of their incomes and more (even 10% to 15%), being forced to choose between health and lighting and other necessities such as rent, food, and medical care. This is why many communities dread April 15th, when it is legal for utilities to cut off service to homes that are behind on their bills.
The Cause: The Energy System is Rigged Against Us by Big Utilities.
Home electricity and heating is controlled by utilities which prioritize profits over all else. In 2022 alone, Wisconsin’s five largest energy utilities reported a combined $1.3 billion in profits. The burden of these windfall profits falls squarely on Wisconsin families. Exploiting their lucrative government-mandated monopoly over necessities of modern life, big for-profit utilities are the driving force behind high prices for heating and lighting our homes and fossil fuel emissions that are driving the climate crisis.
Here is how the big utilities rig the system against all of us to jack up prices and make the climate crisis worse:
(1) Wisconsin Utilities Refuse to Make Older Homes More Energy Efficient. While utilities in neighboring states such as Illinois are alleviating this problem of older energy inefficient housing by providing financing for energy efficiency upgrades and rooftop solar panels, Wisconsin utilities are refusing to do so.
(2) Utilities Profit From Blocking Energy Efficiency and Rooftop Solar. The way the system has been set up to benefit big utilities, there is a perverse incentive: the more energy is wasted the richer they become. By keeping homes energy inefficient, Wisconsin utilities are able to sell us more electricity and gas. This excess energy use allows them to justify huge new fossil fuel plants we don’t need that pad their profits. We get left holding the bad, subsidizing these new plants through higher energy bills for the next forty years.
(3) Utilities Profit by Making the Climate Crisis Worse. The excess energy use and unnecessary fossil fuel plants massively increase greenhouse gas pollution, making runaway climate change much more likely and risking our environment and our children’s future.
The Solution: A 2% of Income Rate Cap.
Several states have laws capping the percentage of income people have to pay for utilities. Wisconsin has no limit. Citizen Action members are working with State Representative Darrin Madison on a bill that will cap the percentage of income households must pay for electricity and heat to the affordable level of 2% of income. The bill is a win-win for family budgets and for the environment.
- A Rate Cap Guarantees Utilities are Truly Affordable. By capping electricity and heating costs at 2% of household income, everyone regardless of their wealth or the age of their house or apartment will be guaranteed they can afford a vital necessity of life without sacrificing other necessities. Working class communities will no longer have to worry about their lights being shut off after April 15th every year.
- A Rate Cap Will Help Address the Climate Crisis. Big Utility profit motive will be aligned with the financial interests of Wisconsin families and the pressing need to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Eliminating the perverse incentive where big utilities profit from excess energy use, the rate cap will force them to choose between reduced profits and helping improve the energy efficiency of our homes and providing access to rooftop solar power and other renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Join Our Movement
Citizen Action of Wisconsin believes that energy is a basic right, not a luxury. Together, we can break the stranglehold of utility companies and build a more just, sustainable future.
Join us in the fight for a 2% rate cap and take back control of our energy system. With your help, we can ensure that all Wisconsinites have access to affordable, clean energy—today and for generations to come.
To join our organizing fighting climate change, contact: Kat.Klawes@citizenactionwi.org
Citizen Action in the News
Citizen Action Organizing Co-op members were out in force in Eau Claire and La Crosse to remind voters about the massive cuts to health care in the Big Ugly Bill during Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to support Rep. Derrick Van Ordin. See coverage 93.5 FM Eau Claire; TV 13 Eau Claire, TV 19 La Crosse, TV 18 Eau Claire.
Citizen Action Co-Op members in Northeastern Wisconsin staged a town hall in Door County to explain the massive cuts coming to Medicaid and engage directly impacted people in the fight for health care reform. See coverage in Door County Pulse.
Citizen Action is part of a coalition pushing for a $20 Minimum Wage in Wisconsin (what a $15 minimum wage would have been if it had been enacted a decade ago). See coverage from John Nichols in the The CapTimes
Listen to “The State of Working Wisconsin” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
We welcome Laura Dresser from the High Road Strategy Center, a think-and-do tank, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Laura is the lead author of the 2025 State of Working Wisconsin report which presents the Wisconsin workers’ perspective on the economy including, what’s going on with work and jobs, who is winning in this economy, and who is being left behind. We discuss the report’s key findings, including the role a $20/hour minimum wage in Wisconsin could play in improving the lives of Wisconsin working families.
We debrief Labor Day 2025, and take a deep dive into Wisconsin’s brewing AI Data Center Scandal that could threaten the Great Lakes water supply and accelerate the state’s carbon emissions at a time they must be dramatically slashed to head off runaway climate change. In addition to the environmental impact, they are a terrible economic development investment on a par with the Foxconn boondoggle.
We also review the scandalous last couple weeks at Ascension Wisconsin which wants to charge such high prices that even United Healthcare is threatening to cut them off. The ongoing implosion of Ascension continues to highlight the need for the Hospital Accountability Act we are developing with state Senator Jeff Smith.
Listen to the show.
Read the 2025 State of Working Wisconsin report
Social media post of the week
