State Bar of Wisconsin

Lawyer-Legislator Q&A: Representative Rich Zipperer (Assembly District 98)

August 12, 2009

Please provide a brief description of your professional background and your legislative district.

I am presently in my second term in the Wisconsin State Assembly and have the honor of serving on the Assembly Judiciary and Ethics Committee, the Energy and Utilities Committee, and the Joint Committee on Tax Exemptions. I am also the ranking Republican on the Assembly Committee on Jobs, the Economy, and Small Business. The district I represent includes all or parts of Brookfield, Pewaukee, Sussex, and the Town of Lisbon in Waukesha County.

Prior to being elected to the Assembly, I served as an aide to Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner in both his Washington, D.C. and Brookfield offices for eight years.

Last year, I received my law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, after having studied as a visiting student at both Marquette and the University of Wisconsin law schools. Earlier this summer I started my legal career by joining the West Allis law firm Glojek Limited, where I am working primarily in the fields of estate law, probate, and family law.

How has your legal career/legal studies shaped your experience in the state legislature?

My legal studies have aided my experience in the state legislature in a number of ways. First, and most obviously, law school helped prepare me for the work of analyzing statutes and legislative proposals that come before the state Assembly. Beyond that, however, law school helped sharpen my skills at presenting and defending ideas and policies. Law school places a considerable emphasis on not only understanding, but also debating the merits of court decisions, statutes, and constitutional provisions. Learning to carefully explain legal matters in the classroom helped prepare me to carefully analyze public policy alternatives and explain my positions to the public in a more effective manner as a state legislator.

What current pieces of legislation are you working on that might be of interest to the State Bar of Wisconsin?

I am working on a number of proposals that will have broad impact on the state as a whole, including the justice system. Among my legislative proposals is a bill to provide a higher education tax credit to employers who help fund higher education for their employees. This proposal would help businesses invest in their workers, reduce the “brain drain,” and grow our economy. Another proposal I have introduced aims to bring transparency and openness to the state budget process, target wasteful spending, and allow the public to have more input into how their tax dollars are spent.

Members of the State Bar may also be interested in two bills I have proposed that will directly impact the justice system. First is my proposal to create a Theft of Service statute in Wisconsin. As the service economy has grown larger, prosecutors have noted the fact that Wisconsin’s lack of a theft of service criminal statute has prevented some recent prosecutions from moving forward. My proposal would simply bring Wisconsin in line with other states to ensure that theft of valuable services is punishable just as theft of tangible items is punishable.

Finally, in an attempt to provide the justice system with more tools to combat domestic violence, I have introduced the Repeat Domestic Violence Prevention Act, a bill to provide judges with discretion to order GPS monitoring on some of the most high-risk repeat domestic abusers in our state. This bill, funded by a fine on repeat abusers, would give needed protection to victims of abuse for whom restraining orders alone have failed to provide adequate safety.

What would you identify as the major issues/challenges facing the justice system?

The biggest issue facing the justice system, in my view, is a common issue throughout state government: how to make the most efficient use of limited resources? All levels of state and local government must strive to be wise stewards of taxpayer money, but in this time of recession and rising deficits, this goal is more important than ever. In the justice system, a recession may cause budgets to tighten, but the need to protect the public and ensure justice is not diminished. That is why the state government, local law enforcement, the court system, prosecutors, and others involved in the justice system right now must constantly be striving to get the most “bang for the buck” with the taxpayer dollars they receive.

 

Rotunda Report is a new newsletter, issued once every two weeks, from the State Bar of Wisconsin that highlights legislative, judicial and administrative developments that impact the legal profession and the justice system. It is produced by the Bar’s Government Relations Team and is distributed free to attorneys, public officials and others who help shape public policy in Wisconsin. We invite your suggestions to make the Rotunda Report more informative and useful and we encourage you to visit our website for the most current information about justice-related issues.

© 2009, State Bar of Wisconsin