Contact State Representative Warren Petryk
(608) 266-0660
Madison – State Representative Warren Petryk (R-Eleva) today announced that Assembly Bill 76, authored by Rep. Petryk and legislators on both sides of the aisle, has cleared the Assembly by a bipartisan majority. As Chair of the Assembly Workforce Development Committee, this legislation is one way that the Legislature is continuing to ensure that quality long-term care is available for our aging population.
“Today, the Wisconsin Assembly took decisive action to strengthen the pipeline of trained workers providing quality long-term care for our senior citizens, people with disabilities and veterans,” said Rep. Petryk. “I believe it’s critically important to find common-sense solutions to the issues facing our state and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Legislature to move Wisconsin forward.”
The bill aligns Certified Nursing Assistant instructional standards with the federal government requirements and those of our neighboring states Minnesota, Michigan, and Iowa. With this change, the State of Wisconsin is prohibited from requiring CNA instructional programs to exceed federal minimum requirements while giving training programs the flexibility to develop curricula responsive to employer needs. This bill does not affect the final testing requirements as provided by law for an individual to become certified.
“With Wisconsin’s economy continuing to grow and our unemployment rate at or below 3.0% for more than a year, we need skilled workers to keep our state strong and to fill critical vacancies in areas like healthcare, education, manufacturing, and agriculture. I will continue to work closely with private-sector employers and others to increase funding to train workers for family-sustaining private sector jobs in Wisconsin,” concluded Petryk.
