Testifying Before The Wisconsin Legislature

I had a very unique experience about two weeks ago.?I spoke before a state legislative committee on the importance of a bill the committee must decide upon before forwarding onto the floor for a vote.

I belong to the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and have been a member since 2006.?My father took me to a local chapter meeting back then and afterwards had me sign a membership application.?I eventually served on the board at the local chapter rotating through various positions and did a tour as the President from 2015-2016.?Since then, many things have changed with the association.?Many of the members were from the Baby-Boomer generation and retired.?This demographic shift has resulted in smaller numbers of members.?This resulted in dues increases.?More smaller membership.?More dues increase. And so on.

About 5-years ago the local chapters dried up and consolidated to a single state-wide chapter.?I am currently serving on the Board now as the Treasurer.?The organization still focuses on advocacy of legislation that favors “Main Street” vs “Wall Street”.?NAIFA’s big claim to fame is keeping life insurance as a tax free benefit.?Without NAIFA, life insurance could be an income taxable benefit to the millions of Americans that own policies on their loved ones.?Thus, I am a big believer in NAIFA.?I go to the State Capitol in Madison usually in February and the Nation’s Capital in May to discuss the legislature (preferably with the politician from your legislative district) about an issue NAIFA is addressing.

In the State of Wisconsin, a recent legislative bill under current debate is called Assembly Bill 109 which deals with financial literacy.?Several years ago, the issue was addressed and the legislature agreed to have the bill passed with it saying it is highly recommended the school district’s employ a financial literacy curriculum.?This bill did not have any teeth and only 1/3 of the school districts promoted financial literacy.?A couple of years later, a draft of a bill mandating that 1-year of financial literacy become a high school graduation requirement met with stiff opposition and the bill soon died.?Behind the scenes discussions with the lobbyists agreed that a half year financial literacy curriculum would be more palatable to all parties and thus the bill AB109 (Assembly Bill 109) came to life this year with bi-partisan support.?The Education Committee will have a huge say on how the bill will proceed.?NAIFA asked for several subject matter experts to come and speak about the draft bill.?I volunteered and drove down to Madison to attend the Education Committee’s bill review?

The bill has huge bi-partisan support and there is no doubt that financial literacy is badly needed.?Even the Wisconsin Department of Instruction put a neutral opinion on this bill knowing that this will generate another educational requirement to graduate.?If the bill is passed, the financial literacy requirement would go in effect for pupils graduating in 2028, so there is time to make the adjustments.?The concern is the government spending.?Wisconsin currently has a budget surplus and the Democrats would like to use that money for more government programs.?The Republicans are the opposite.?As I arrived for the hearing and first observed the co-authors Rep. Alex Dallman and State Senator Joan Ballweg discussing their reason for the bill, it became apparent that some of the Education Committee members, who were once teachers themselves, desired more funding in the educational portion of the budget if they were to support this bill.?Many of those members argued about the smaller rural school districts not having qualified teachers available to teach this material.?The Republicans on the committee countered that the private sector could help provide resources for teaching financial literacy.?This first round of testimony lasted about 35 minutes.?Afterwards, a former Chair of the Education Committee spoke in general support for the Bill.?Afterwards, two women representing the credit union bureau testified on the success of some high schools having credit unions inside the school to allow for students to do their banking needs.?Then it was NAIFA’s turn to testify.

I had drafted notes in advance to discuss two ideas.?One being that as a financial advisor, I meet with many employees and enroll them onto retirement accounts.?In my qualifying process, I discuss their financial background and usually discover they are lacking on the basic understanding of insurance, taxes, and budgeting, as well as investing.?I have always found this disturbing.?The second idea I was going to discuss was the fact that there are many resources available for teachers to use volunteers to teach financial literacy.?I am a member of the Boy Scouts of America and am a Personal Financial Management Merit Badge counselor and know of many other counselors that speak fluently on the topic.?Also, as an advisor, I have spoken several times at a financial literacy class in Grafton, WI.?I know that other advisors would also step in and help out.?Since the former idea had been discussed with other examples during the previous testimony – I focused on discussing the latter idea once it was my turn to speak.?I spoke for two minutes.?This was preceded with an introduction of myself, my certifications, and the number of years in the industry.?After I spoke there were no questions and I was done.?The next group assigned to testify would be various high school students from Oconomowoc High School so I did not want to stick around and watch this go on for any longer than I had to.

I am glad I got to put in my contribution into the political machinery and observe democracy in action.?It is ironic that a financial literacy graduation requirement would be mired in the politics of funding – and in particular millions of dollars.?Perhaps some of the politicians should be taking the financial literacy course.

Richard A Balch, CFP, CLU, RICP

Woodmen Financial Resources

1234 S Ridge Road

Green Bay, WI?54304

1-920-499-8833 Ext 110

[email protected]