Putting Wisconsin Families First
BUILDING UNIVERSAL CHILD CARE
When legislative Republicans decided to end the effective Child Care Counts program, Alex did not wait a moment to lead the effort to introduce legislation to save Child Care Counts. This program is crucial to providing parents the opportunity to access affordable care, while allowing providers to keep tuition low and staff paid.
With direct payments for child care ending, Alex also didn’t wait for someone else to propose solutions. To stave off the child care crisis and begin the hard work of building universal child care in Wisconsin, Alex led the way by introducing a six-bill child care cost-cutting plan for parents, providers, and kids. This legislation would extend affordable child care to middle-class families, support early educators with child care assistance, training, and educational support, and open more care slots for families across Wisconsin.
Alex’s plan has already been endorsed by multiple gubernatorial candidates, advocates, parents, and early educators. To get to universal child care, we need to start working towards it, and Alex has been at the forefront of that fight because parents need help, our educators need a boost, and our kids need a strong foundation for a successful life.
When I ran for office, I made a simple promise: I would show up, do the work, and fight for the people of this district every single day.
Even in one of the most gerrymandered legislatures in the country, I proved that progress is still possible. I worked across the aisle when it meant delivering real results, and I have stood firm when our rights were on the line. Whether it is protecting reproductive freedom, investing in public schools, supporting small businesses and farmers, strengthening our democracy, or tackling the climate crisis, my focus is always the same: what actually improves people’s lives.
I believe our government should work for the people, not special interests. We should invest in our kids, respect our rights, protect our environment, and create opportunities in every corner of our community. That is the standard I hold myself to in the State Assembly. This page outlines the priorities I will continue to fight for, and it is by no means an exhaustive list. Our district deserves leadership that listens, delivers, and never backs down from doing what is right.
Alex Joers
SUPPORTING OUR SMALL BUSINESSES
Two decades ago, Alex’s family started a small business right here in our community. Having been a part of it since the beginning, he knows the challenges working families face each day.
Our local businesses are the backbone of our community. As a County Supervisor, Alex championed $30 million in recovery grants for small businesses right here in Dane County through the Dane Buy Local program. These grants helped small businesses weather the pandemic, but we have to continue to support them in recovery.
In the Assembly, Alex kept up the work to strengthen our local economy by introducing the Main Street Bounceback grant program to support small businesses taking over vacant storefronts in an effort to revitalize our communities. Alex was able to move the bill through a Republican-controlled committee and continues to build support for the idea across the political spectrum.
KEEPING OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE
An overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites support common-sense gun safety laws.
We must reinstate the 48-hour waiting period on gun purchases that existed prior to Legislative Republicans stripping that protection away. This “cooling off” period could prevent suicides, as well as mass shootings. This, coupled with stronger extreme risk protection orders, would give families the ability to alert law enforcement before dangerous acts occur. Alex will take action to protect our communities by supporting these measures.
In September 2018, our community fell victim to a workplace shooting when a gunman opened fire at WTS Paradigm. The gunman was ineligible to purchase a firearm, but he was able to legally assemble the weapon’s parts and create an untraceable firearm without a serial number, exploiting this loophole. While working in the Capitol, Alex helped draft and champion legislation to crack down on ghost gun sales.
On the Dane County Board, Alex supported programming through the Public Health Department to reduce gun violence in our community and sponsored a gun buyback program through the Sheriff’s Department, which recovered over 500 unwanted firearms while providing grocery gift cards to participants. Unfortunately, local officials across Wisconsin have their authority on firearm regulations limited by preemption laws implemented by Legislative Republicans. Alex seeks to undo these local preemptions to give back local control to communities.
Alex has also been a leader in protecting kids online. With the ever-increasing threat of cyber crimes against children specifically, Alex was appointed as Vice Chair of a legislative task force on protecting kids in a digital age. Through this work, he advanced critical resources for Wisconsin’s DOJ Internet Crimes Against Children division to bring cyber criminals to justice. He also worked to craft Wisconsin’s first Age Appropriate Design Code to hold Big Tech accountable by designing their products with privacy default settings, security for minors, and preventing addictive technologies.
There’s a lot more we need to do to ensure our communities are safe for everyone, and Alex is committed to common-sense solutions that work.
Protecting Our Environment
Wisconsin has a rich history of environmental conservation, and we must work to ensure our natural resources are preserved for generations to come. During his first term on the Dane County Board, Alex sponsored resolutions to conserve over 400 acres of land for flood mitigation and recreation. He secured $1 million in the 2022 budget to connect the North Mendota Trail from Middleton to Westport. Alex promoted the county’s sustainability and renewable energy efforts as we work to drastically reduce our carbon footprint across the county.
Alex also supported efforts to hold polluters accountable by pursuing companies that contaminated our waterways with PFAS chemicals. Even as Legislative Republicans held up hundreds of millions of dollars to address this issue, Alex supported a compromise to get this needed funding moving to communities. Every Wisconsinite should have access to clean and safe drinking water.
At the same time, climate change poses a threat to everyone in our homes and our planet. Our community saw millions of dollars in damage from historic flooding in 2018. Since that time, Alex has been laser-focused on preparing for future flooding emergencies. He worked across the aisle to pass pre-disaster flooding preparation grants. When the Milwaukee area saw more historic flooding in 2025, he joined his Milwaukee colleagues in demanding that federal resources be brought to Wisconsin to aid those who were impacted.
There are additional steps Wisconsin can take to tackle the climate crisis at the state level. Let’s first start by investing in clean energy solutions, protecting our clean water, and promoting conservation of our natural resources. Alex pushed for energy efficiency grants for schools, strict regulation of massive data centers, and renewal of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund. We need to deliver on these issues for the next generation of Wisconsinites.
ENCOURAGING HEALTHY EATING, IMPROVING FOOD ACCESS, UPLIFTING OUR FARMERS
While serving on a legislative task force on childhood health, Alex saw firsthand how important it is for Wisconsin families to have access to healthy food. He also understands how expensive it is to keep food on the table for a growing family.
Another piece of Alex’s legislative work was to pass a statewide Nutrition Incentive Program. Alex brought together a bipartisan coalition of legislators to introduce the Healthy Food Incentive Program. This initiative, modeled after the successful Dane County Double Dollars program, helps families stretch their grocery budgets by incentivizing the purchase of locally grown fruits and vegetables from our farmers. The bill made it through the legislature and was signed into law, deploying nearly half a million dollars into our healthy food system.
Alex has built on that work since, advocating for more funding through Double Dollars, SNAP, and food assistance at the local and state level. He continued to champion the popular initiative for Healthy School Meals for All, which would provide free breakfast and lunch to every Wisconsin student. This proposal would save Wisconsin families an estimated $1,800 in grocery costs, cut down on absenteeism, increase access to locally grown food, and effectively ban hunger in our schools.
Expanding Higher Education
As a member of the Assembly Committee on Colleges & Universities, Alex pushed back against extremists attempting to curtail free speech, endanger student health, and target trans youth. Instead of attacking our universities, we should be expanding opportunities for everyone to pursue a higher education.
We know that a four-year degree isn’t the only option; there are successful paths students take every day to gain the critical knowledge they need to advance in their field. Let’s support our workforce in getting the training and education they need.
When our National Guard students were having to take out expensive loans to wait for a later tuition reimbursement, Alex worked across the aisle to streamline the process. The bill Alex authored is now law, allowing direct tuition payments so that our students in the National Guard can focus on their studies and serve our country without the added financial stress.
In the effort to make college more affordable, Alex reintroduced legislation to update the tax treatment of 529 accounts, otherwise known as Edvest accounts. Thanks to Alex’s bipartisan efforts, that bill is now law, and families can contribute more tax-deductible funds to their children’s higher education - including employer contributions.
This past legislative session, Alex introduced ‘WisKids’ which would provide every child born or adopted in Wisconsin with $25 to start their own Edvest account. This legislation is paid for by the Department of Financial Institutions, and Alex looks forward to being able to pass into law to ensure every Wisconsin kid has a starting point for future education.
There’s more we need to do to make higher education affordable and attainable for Wisconsin students. Alex is committed to strengthening and expanding the Wisconsin Idea, which starts by supporting our world-class universities rather than restricting their potential.
Defending Reproductive Freedom, Expanding Health Care, AND Lowering Costs
Every Wisconsinite deserves the right to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions. Abortion care is health care, and the chaos and uncertainty that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has led to is having real effects on Wisconsinites. The decision for how and when to start a family is a deeply personal one. That decision should not be dictated by state statute or any politician. The pre-Civil War abortion ban that is on the books today must be removed; it is as out of touch with reality as it is dangerous. In the legislature, Alex will continue to fight to pass the Abortion Rights Preservation Act and expand reproductive health care access across our state.
Furthermore, Alex has been a staunch supporter of women’s health care access and was an early sponsor of Gail’s Law (which requires insurance to cover supplemental breast cancer screenings) and Postpartum Medicaid Extension (which provides health coverage for new moms up to a year after birth). When the Republican-led Assembly refused to put these popular proposals up for a final vote to become law, Alex joined his Democratic colleagues in persistent procedural tactics to pressure Speaker Vos to finally give these two health care proposals the votes they needed to pass the legislature after years of being stalled in committee.
Alex is ready to do more to bring health care costs down, lower prescription drug prices, and ensure seniors have access to the quality care they need. He believes we need more price transparency, protections for patients just trying to get the care they need, and access to life-saving medication.
Fighting For Workers
For over a decade, Wisconsin workers have been left behind. Alex believes it is time to restore the right to collectively bargain to our teachers, nurses, laborers, and all other public sector employees. Wisconsin used to be a leader in labor rights and protections - we owe it to our workers to return those rights.
We also need to crack down on worker misclassification that is costing taxpayers and workers money. Alex wants to raise the minimum wage to a living wage so that no family has to worry about making ends meet when they’re working a full-time job. We need to invest in reliable and sustainable infrastructure for the future that promotes good-paying union jobs.
Investing In Education
Wisconsin’s Constitution guarantees every child the right to a free, uniform, and non-sectarian public education. Alex took an oath to uphold that very right in Wisconsin’s Constitution and will continue to work towards a funding solution that supports our schools and our kids.
Alex is the son of a public school educator and is the product of quality public schools. He knows that when we invest in our schools, we are building a better future. There are problems in front of us that need to be addressed. Property taxes continue to rise because of 15 years of a Republican-led legislature not meeting the state’s obligation to education. School districts are continually forced to go to referendums to make ends meet.
The state's share to fund public schools has not increased with inflation, voucher schools continue to siphon off public dollars while avoiding transparency, and teachers are leaving the profession because of burnout and low wages. This is all while our students take the biggest hit in educational outcomes.
Let’s work towards solutions. Alex wants to keep the promise the legislature made when reimbursing for special education costs. 45% should be the minimum, and we should work for more. We cannot continue to fund two separate education systems in Wisconsin. If parents want to pursue private education, that is their choice, but the longer Wisconsin taxpayers are responsible for funding vouchers statewide, the more we see resources spread outside of accountability.
Teachers also need a raise. They need support in their profession, and we need to encourage more students to pursue this rewarding career. Alex wants the state of Wisconsin to provide the resources our kids deserve and that Wisconsin’s Constitution has always demanded.