Wisconsin 24th District Senator – Patrick Testin – September ‘25

Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report, probably brought to you by Croc

Conceptic for the September 19th, 2025. Have your host James here, and we're joined

right now by our friend Wisconsin State Senator Patrick Teston, Wisconsin State

District 24 representative. Sir, how you doing? I'm doing great James, I'm actually

on a job site today doing one of my own jobs. Fantastic! Oh, you know what, let's

wrap up talking about that. I want to hear more about it, but we got a couple of

other things to get to, and certainly, you know, we get to talk once a month, so

oftentimes we are kind of rewinding a little bit and catching up on things, and

I wanted to go back just a little bit ago. Last month, you were invited to take a

tour of both of the former Wisconsin Rapids Paper Mill site and the Consolidated

Water Power Company. What were some of the things you saw, and your take from

that? Yeah, I mean, you know, it's sort of a bittersweet going through what used to

be the crown jewel of paper making here, and all of North America seeing, you

know, essentially what was once the largest paper machines in the entire

country be taken apart piece by piece, and loaded on the shipping containers, and

then sent over to a company in India. But, you know, it was actually really insightful

being able to sit down myself, represent Scott Crub, to meet with Bill Rude,

Bill Rude, who owns the property, and, you know, I do think there's

opportunity for future development there, and so we've had very successful

conversations and working with the power company to hopefully entice new

opportunities that could be extremely transformative, not just for the

Wisconsin Rapids area, but all essential Wisconsin. When it comes to this, we

certainly, you know, take it with a bit of a heavy heart because we know how

much this, the buildings they mean to people, the industries mean to people, at

the same time, we don't do anybody any favors, just being, you know,

melancholy about it or sad about it, we have to keep looking forward, and that's,

I mean, that's the motto of this state. So when it comes to that, we're seeing

some encouraging things we had Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Matt in earlier this

week, and we're talking about that, and I'm looking forward to seeing more and

more what's being able, what will be able to be done with that. And I think when

it comes to the legacy of the mills in this area and honoring those, I think the

best way we can do that is keeping this town, you know, afloat, if you will, not

to be blunt about it, but I think that that's a big part of keeping this legacy

going. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, I still think there's always going to be a

place within Wisconsin for paper manufacturing. In fact, you know, in this last

day budget that the governor signed into law, you know, we put aside $42,000,000

to for Dom Tarv for the redevelopment of the dam up in Rothschildman, as a result

of that, they're going to be committing over $100 million of investment in

their Rothschild as well as the Dacusa mills and going to be sourcing much of

their fiber from Wisconsin timber producers, which is a win-win for the state.

You know, it's those types of partnerships that we've been able to foster over

the last several years that, you know, are going to ensure that these mills

remain viable moving forward. Now, it's not to say there won't always be some

bumps in the road, but going back to the Wisconsin Rapids mill side, I do think

there's a lot of potential there. And so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And as we've

done throughout this entire process, it's been a lot of partnerships at both the

local, state and federal level. And, you know, we're, I'm rather optimistic about

the future of that site. Most of us, you know, we tend to, we all live in bubbles to a

degree. And when you live in an area, you tend to just see what's going on in your

area. I don't blame locals for this, but I do think that it's a good idea to take

a bigger perspective sometimes. Our area, when it comes to businesses, and whether

it's bigger or small, we've been pretty fortunate here in Central Wisconsin compared

to some other cities and other parts of the state that haven't seen maybe some of

that influx or some of those new businesses. There's some real potential here for

that. And I, we're not the only one seeing that. There's a lot of businesses out

there that are. Oh, absolutely. And I think that just goes the show. I mean, even when,

you know, back in 2020, when the initial announcement came down that the mill was

going to idle, it was certainly a gut punch for everyone within the area. But, you

know, I think it's also a testament to that diversification that we've seen in recent

years within the greater Wisconsin rapids areas, well, Central Wisconsin, where, you

know, I think initially there were concerns that we are going to see a lot about migration,

but that hasn't happened. And so I think that's a really strong sign that people are committed

to this region of the state. And so long as we have individuals who are willing to come

to the table to have meaningful conversations and work together, it just goes the show

that we're, we're a really good spot right now. Also last month, one of the committees

that you chair, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Revenue held a public hearing on several

legislative proposals. Would you mind kind of going over that a little bit highlights

of that, if you will, in some of those important proposals? Yeah. So my committee, the chair,

the Agriculture and Revenue Committee. And so a couple of weeks ago, we held a public

hearing. It was primarily on things like tax cuts, or not tax cuts, but tax credits,

various tax credits, dealing with things like trial care. And again, doing what we can

to really help families with the high cost of trial care. And obviously, again, going

back to the state budget, we made some significant investments there. Although I would argue,

I think we still have to think outside the box to help this industry move along. And

really address the areas of things like creating more slots for for parents, and then also

trying to do what we can to address the compensation for really childhood educators, which, you know,

it's a really tough, tough job. And I know I've mentioned this in the past, but, you know,

I've done one of mine in the jobs at the UWST Child Care Center. And I give those individuals

a lot of credit because after about eight hours of having wood blocks and legals tossed

that pretty random bunch of toddlers, it gives you a whole new perspective that, you know,

doing that job for 12, 13 bucks an hour when you could easily go to a place like Quick

Trip and start off at 18 or 19 bucks an hour. It's tough. And so some of these tax credits

were hoping will incentivize individuals go into the profession as well as helping families

with the high cost of child care around the state. And I encourage people to, I mentioned

that the newsletter where you can find a lot of this information, sign up for that newsletter.

It's a great way to keep up the day and all the things the senator is up to. And also these

bills and the details of them be informed everybody and getting informed about these bills and how

they impact us and how important they are in our area. Recently, you and our friend representative

Scott Krug participated in a press conference where you introduced legislation allowing for the

construction and operation of community solar facilities here in Wisconsin. One of the bigger

topics we've had as far as solar power and talking about this. And we've had some recent, not recent

recent, but some other, you know, conversations about solar power in this area regarding other

businesses and nonprofits and some of these things. What were you and representative Krug getting

into the details of this legislation and what was the kind of feedback that you received from people?

Yeah. So the community solar bill, it's not a new idea by any means. In fact,

20 other types of enacted legislation similar to this. And one of the reasons why I decided to

work with representative Krug in spearhead this is, as we have seen in recent years,

some of these larger developments that have come into places like the Central Sands where, you know,

my district as well as Scott Krug's district have become sort of ground zero for these

solar arrays. And I'm the current process. There really isn't much that local governments and

communities can do. There certainly is a process that works its way through the public service

commission. They can lend people can lend public input, but outside of that, provided there's no

wearing red flags. There's really no local control. And so what the community solar legislation

aims to do is provide opportunities for farmers and landowners who have the smaller solar

developments where essentially they can help lower the cost of their electricity bills and

utility bills, which Wisconsin, we have seen our utility rates skyrocket in recent years. In fact,

we have the highest kilowatt per hour rate in the entire Midwest. And so I think when it comes to

energy generation, we have to have an all above the approach to do what we can to lower the cost

of utilities and also think up flat the box. And for me, primarily, making sure that locals

have some say in where these projects get cited within their own communities.

When you and you've mentioned thinking outside the box, and I appreciate that we are not going

to get anywhere not to say that old ideas can't still work, especially with some fine tuning.

But we know that whatever business we're talking about, it's all about innovation and looking

ahead and thinking differently. When you talk about that, are we talking about also bringing in

different minds, different angles, different minds, a different set of eyes, if you will,

on some of these topics to be able to kind of maybe give a different perspective,

even a constituent perspective. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I take a look right now and we were joined by

workers who are smaller solar developments where one of companies is based up in Ashland where

their guys have to drive to Illinois to get work. So think about that. We have Wisconsin

presidents who are employed by Wisconsin businesses who currently aren't allowed to do business

in the state of Wisconsin have to go to Illinois. I mean, that's definitely getting sent.

So I think if this legislation were to get enacted, there's an opportunity to create jobs right

here in the state, which is ultimately a win for everyone. I was speaking with State Senator

Patrick Teston right now and sir, there's a couple of things that I wanted the community to know

about and make sure that they got in on if they could and wanted to highlight some of those right

now with you. One of them is high school juniors and seniors in the 24th Senate district. You have

a chance to participate in a very rewarding educational experience at the Capitol in Madison.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2026 Senate Scholar Program. Submission deadline is

November 7th. We'll probably touch on this once or twice more before then of course, but I wanted

to get out the gate right away and get this out there and make sure that not only kids and parents

knew, but teachers knew about this because I know I would have loved to have been a part of this

program when I was in high school. Oh, I mean, really for the rest, when you come down to the Capitol

for an entire week and participate in committee hearings, you know, when we're on the Senate floor,

teachers really have a front row seat during the Senate proceedings. I believe they even get the

opportunity to draft mock legislation and debate it within the mock committee hearing. And really,

if there's an interested junior senior out out there with, you know, has an interest in government

and politics and really want to see, you know, behind the curtain of how the government operates

on a day-to-day, it really is a unique opportunity in the future. I wish I would have had this

opportunity when I was in high school. And so I always liked the opportunity because it changed

for me to go down with some Senate scholars and have a great conversation with them. And then,

you know, they get to spend a week in Madison, which we are blessed to have one of the most beautiful

state-owned states in our country. I think we're number one by far. And it's a great

learning experience and a surely great honor as me. It really does. And you are a kid and that

Capitol is beautiful. Madison itself is a beautiful city, but that Capitol is a beautiful one.

I've seen a lot of state capitals and that is one of the most beautiful ones you will walk into.

And this is kind of an annual thing of ours. One of the remind everybody that the annual coolest

thing made in Wisconsin competition is going on this statewide contest. Sponsored by the Wisconsin

manufacturers and commerce and the Johnson financial group aims to bring more attention to Wisconsin's

nearly $74 billion manufacturing industry and job opportunities it provides. Nominations are

being accepted now through September 22nd to the 30th. One encourage our local Wisconsinites

here to get in on this and maybe you can have the coolest thing made in Wisconsin.

Yeah, it's a fun contest at WM on every year and we certainly encourage there's a manufacturer

out there 24 cents district. People want to nominate for the coolest thing made in Wisconsin.

You know please go to our website social media or WMC's website and make the submission. I would

love to take home the trophy this year of having the coolest thing made in Wisconsin made in the 24

cents district. Yeah, that's what we're pulling for. So all you creatives out there, all you

everybody get in on this one looking forward to seeing the results and how that goes and we'll

talk about it probably the next time we get together. As we get to ready to let you go, sir,

I didn't want to keep you too long today because you're putting in work today. You're on the job.

I sure am. In fact, I'm with Lycon concrete ready mixed concrete right here in Wisconsin

Rapids. In fact, I was just up in a cement truck or not a cement truck, a concrete truck.

And we're on a job at Adams County and we're heading back to the shop to pick up another

work slip here and we're gonna go for more concrete. Right on, right on. I hope it's going well.

Keep at it. Appreciate it. Another reason to sign up for the newsletter, everybody. Saw your

on the job at the Central Wisconsin Airport. Great stuff. That was fun to see.

Do you enjoy yourself? Oh, it was super cool. You know, they they had me do a little bit of

everything. I even got to do a gate announcements as as people were boarding the flight. And then

oddly enough, I was actually doing concrete work on on the tarmac. We were doing some repairs.

Even got the opportunity to, as we're doing perimeter checks, got to harass some birds.

Which they got the really cool devices that like fireworks and poppers and bangers that

get the shoot off and and get to go up into the flight control tower, which is really cool.

And probably the neatest and the ball. I actually got the refuel one of the jets, which was

super neat. I am extremely jealous of you right now. That sounds awesome. Oh, that sounds cool.

I got to reach out to them try to do this myself. We also want to let the audience know that

you've got a very exciting on the jobs event coming up. We'll talk more about it with our

audiences. We're closer to it, but could have a little bit to do with the Senator and us hanging

out together and everything. So we'll get more into that another time. But I really do appreciate

you as always, Pat. And thank you for the time. Safe travels out there. Don't work too hard.

Safe travels out there. And we'll talk again next month. Yeah, I look forward to it, James.

Take care. And we encourage you to sign up for that newsletter. Everybody keep in date.

Keep up to date on everything the Senator is up to and the things that are going on in our

community. Go to his website and sign up for that newsletter and be listening for another

edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.