Zac Schultz:
As governor, you could have a Democratic majority in the Legislature. What would your AB 1 be want to be? What's your Act 1 you want to sign?

Kelda Roys:
Well, I want sign a budget that raises wages for people, restores people's rights, lowers costs on the biggest ticket items like health care, and funds our public school system. Our kids have been getting shortchanged for a generation and it's not fair, and it's actually terrible for our economy. Big signature policy items that I'm interested in passing is opening up the state health insurance and the state pension systems to any person to be able to buy in. So, if you're a small business owner or if you're taking time out of the workforce to be a caregiver, or if you run a big company and you're tired of those double digit increases, you can buy in to these low cost, very well-managed, high-quality plans and know that you or your employees are taken care of.

Zac Schultz:
On the flip side, as governor, you could have Republicans still in control of part of the Legislature. What's your history of working across the aisle to get things done?

Kelda Roys:
Well, I have a long history, again, over 20 years of working with some of the most conservative Republicans to get things done, whether it's criminal justice reform, whether it's helping to pass the first pro-choice legislation in a generation working in a Republican anti-choice Assembly and getting that passed into law, or just earlier this year where I helped expand access to rural health care options by allowing nurse practitioners to practice. For a long time, I was the only Democrat on that bill, and Gov. Evers vetoed that bill several times. We finally got it done. So, I have a long history of being able to work well with folks from across the political spectrum.

Zac Schultz:
The Public Service Commission is looking at a lot of rate hikes across the state. We've got data centers that are popping up all over. What will you do to make sure that regular rate payers aren't going to be covering the costs of all these expansions?

Kelda Roys:
This is a huge issue, and we need a statewide strategy to deal with data centers, because they're coming into local communities and kind of steamrolling them. And I think that people deserve to have a voice in what happens in their communities, and we also need to really know what the impact is going to be on our environment, on water and land usage, as well as the impact on ratepayers for these data centers. I've sponsored legislation along with my colleague, Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin, to ensure transparency as these data centers are coming in and trying to negotiate. We want to know exactly what the impact is gonna be. And, we have to make sure that not only are ratepayers not going to be bearing the cost, because that is happening all around the country, but that we're actually going to see massive public investment. These are huge, very profitable companies that are run by billionaires and the most powerful people in our country. They need to help pay to upgrade our infrastructure. They need to pay more than their just the cost of energy that they're going to be using. They need to, actually, give community something of value.

Zac Schultz:
When it comes to public education, is it simply a matter of more money or do you think there needs to be reform into how schools are funded?

Kelda Roys:
Well, you can't do it without money, and we've been asking schools and teachers to do more and more with less and less and less. Our kids haven't even gotten an inflationary increase for 15 years. That, to me, is unacceptable. So, money is essential, but it's not only money, right? Teachers also need professional development time and training and the respect that they deserve as professionals. The single most important factor in a kid's success is the quality of the teacher at the front of the classroom. So, investing in teacher retention so that we have the most experienced, the most capable, skilled teachers able to stay in the classroom and stay in the education field and mentor newer teachers, I think is absolutely essential. To do that, I think high standards for teachers and kids, along with giving them the resources that they need are necessary. We also need to start with early childhood education too. There's no reason that we should wait until a kid turns five to start nurturing them and help setting them on a path for success.

Zac Schultz:
What would you like to see happen with the voucher system — expand, contract, reform?

Kelda Roys:
I would like to see the voucher system brought to a responsible close. We simply cannot and should not try to fund two different separate school systems. Their taxpayer money needs to be accountable to taxpayers, and public dollars should fund the public school system.

Zac Schultz:
When it comes to tax reform, is there a number one policy that you think needs to happen?

Kelda Roys:
I want make sure that the wealthiest and the big corporations that have been getting not just a free ride, but have been getting hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies, actually pay their fair share. Because what's happened over the last few generations, Zac, is that you and I and working people around the state have been forced to pay more and more and more for the cost of the public services that we all need and share. And big businesses have gotten away with paying very little. It's time for that to change, because we all have a stake in making sure public services are strong.

Zac Schultz:
Over the course of the last year, the Supreme Court has rolled back a lot of legislative oversight over the rulemaking process, both with the attorney general, with the fiscal, and also with the governor's office. Do you think there needs to be some sort of compromise to bring legislation back to retain some oversight from the legislative process?

Kelda Roys:
The Legislature always has the first say and the last say on any piece of Legislation, and I don't think that the Legislature should be abusing the oversight process, which is what has happened under Republican rule. I think that once a Legislature passes the law and they direct the experts at the agency to implement that rule, the agency should be allowed to do that. And if the Legislature doesn't like it, guess what? We can always go in and change it and pass a new law, but we shouldn't hold laws in limbo and not allow them to be enforced just because Republicans didn't like what the governor did. And a perfect example of this is PFAS. So, the Legislature passed laws directing the DNR to set standards for PFAS and the DNR did as they were directed. And then the Legislature at the behest of special interests like WMC came in and said, well, actually, we don't want you to put those in standards in place, we don't like them. And so, we have a law in the books that is now not enforceable, because there aren't rules in place. What that means is that people are drinking poisoned water, like a gentleman that I met up in Marinette who was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's, because his well is contaminated.

Zac Schultz:
When it comes to local government funding there's also been another short change over the years. What would you like to see there?

Kelda Roys:
I think that the state needs to meet its commitment to local governments and to our public schools. You know, the promise was the state would cover two-thirds of the cost, and we have really very, very infrequently ever lived up to that. Meanwhile, local property taxpayers are asked to raise their own already too high property taxes just to keep the lights on for our schools and keep the snowplows on the road and police and firefighters on the street. That's not fair. The state is sitting on a multi-billion dollar surplus and has for years, and it's time that we reinvested that money where taxpayers expect and deserve it to be spent in our local communities.

Zac Schultz:
Across the North Woods, there are a number of exploratory drilling projects that are looking at becoming potential mines. What would you like to see in terms of state oversight of mines and would you want to change the current law?

Kelda Roys:
I think the current law has worked well for us. I want to see mining companies prove first before they open up a hillside and pollute our water that they're going to be able to extract things in a safe way that is consistent with our natural resources management and our environmental goals.

Zac Schultz:
Do you have concerns about your own safety in this modern political environment with threats regularly being made?

Kelda Roys:
I do, and it's something that I take seriously. My staff and my family take it seriously and I think it's very unfortunate that we have political leaders at the very top of our system whose use of violent rhetoric and violent actions are making us all less safe. And as Americans, you know, every one of us lives with the specter of gun violence. Every time your kid walks out the door to school, every time you go to church or a concert, you have to think, is this going to become a mass shooting event? We have to do so much more to help all Americans be safe and free from violence. And there's a lot that states can do to make that true.

Zac Schultz:
A lot of people talked about affordable housing. What needs to happen there? Is it about regulation? Is it about density? Is it all of the above?

Kelda Roys:
It's all of the above. I'm really passionate about this. Thirteen years ago, I started a small business with the goal to make it more easy and affordable for Wisconsinites to buy and sell homes. My business has helped save Wisconsin homeowners nearly $2 million in real estate fees. But this is an issue that I'm really passionate about. The state should both be doing more to incent development projects, helping local governments make zoning changes to allow for more housing to be built, and to allow more flexibility in how we use our dollars so that we can actually get more bang for our buck in terms of building new housing. But ultimately, this is really a supply and demand problem. We have too much need for housing and not enough houses being built, and it's been that way for since the Bush recession. We've underbuilt housing and now we're really reaping the consequences. So we just have to get more housing online quickly.

Zac Schultz:
When it comes to corrections would you follow through on Gov. Evers plan on how to overhaul the correction system?

Kelda Roys:
Yes, I think we need to right size the correction system, and we have to get serious about safety. In this state, we have pursued policies that are not only not evidence-based, but that really undermine public safety. It is how we incarcerate people, it is how long, and it is the lack of services and training to help people succeed when they actually reenter society. We've spent an ocean of money on this and we are not getting the safety return that we deserve.

Zac Schultz:
When it comes to the topic of abortion, are there any bills that you would like to see brought forward to change Wisconsin's laws?

Kelda Roys:
Yes, and I've authored many of them. I believe that abortion — and frankly, all health care decisions — are a personal and individual. Politicians have no role in making those decisions for you. And certainly we cannot allow abortion, contraception, IVF to be criminalized or put doctors under threat when they're simply providing care. I want to see your freedom to make your own decisions guaranteed in this state.