2023-24 Republican Assembly Leadership Elected

There is no one that really stands out in this crowd as a cannabis legislative leader, maybe Summerfield.

Senate Republicans

• Speaker – Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester)
• Speaker Pro Tempore – Rep. Kevin Peterson (R-Waupaca)
• Majority Leader – Rep. Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva)
• Assistant Majority Leader – Rep. Jon Plumer (R-Lodi)
• Majority Caucus Chair – Rep. Rob Summerfield (R-Bloomer)
• Majority Caucus Vice-Chair – Rep. Cindi Duchow (R-Town of Delafield)
• Majority Caucus Secretary – Rep. Nancy VanderMeer (R-Tomah)
• Majority Caucus Sergeant at Arms – Rep. Treig Pronschinske (R-Mondovi)

Speaker Robin Vos

Assembly Speaker Vos and was first elected to that office in 2013. He is the longest-serving Speaker of the Assembly in Wisconsin history if I recall. The other thing I recall is the time Vos authored a controversial pharmacutical based medical cannabis program that was doomed from the start. Rather than work with more friendly Republicans on a bill that might attract a Democrat or two, Vos wanted to rule vs govern and tried to ram his bill down the Senate Republicans throat and the whole GOP choked.

The “Bill” Vos authored was co-authored by one of the most 420 friendly Republicans, Rep. Clint Moses.

Not only did Vos author the bill, he sent the bill to the Committee on Health, in which Rep. Moses (R) is the chair. Moses has a supporting cast in the committee, but to date has failed to hold a public hearing on his bill in his committee.

Speaker Robin Vos (R) has always been critical of any medical marijuana program that would lead to a further push for recreational marijuana and has publicly threatened to kill the bill if any of that poison talk makes its way into the conversation.

Speaker Pro Tempore – Kevin Peterson

Kevin Petersen has been around since 2008 and I cannot remember him saying one friendly word about marijuana since he has been elected. As a candidate for office, he has not returned our requests for his stance on cannabis going back to 2020.

Majority Leader Tyler August

May 2018:  Rep. August replied that no matter what the polls say (77 percent are in favor of medical, 61 percent are in favor of recreational), their constituents are not in favor of either. As the right hand man of Robin Vos, Rep. August could have helped moved a 2018 bipartisan medical marijuana to a public hearing in the Assembly Committee on State Affairs.  In fact, in January 2019 he seemed open to supporting a push for a public hearing on the issue among the assembly by saying, “It’s a conversation (re medical marijuana) that I’m not opposed to having, but we need to have that separate of the state budget.” He has never co-sponsored any cannabis reform legislation since first elected in 2010.

Assistant Majority Leader Jon Plumer

“He is not a fan of recreational marijuana”  2020 Campaign Interview. Rep. Plumer is a sponsor of the Republican 2019-20. In 2021-22 he did not co-sponsor the decriminalization bill, but showed up again as a co-sponsor of the Republican medical marijuana bill and was again along for the ride on the Republican 2024 bill as bill 2nd author.

Majority Caucus Chair Rob Summerfield

Summerfield He co-sponsored the Republican version of medical marijuana three sessions in a row and came on as a co-sponsor to decriminalization in 2021-22.

Majority Caucus Vice-Char Cindi Duchow

A new name to marijuana reform is Rep. Cindi Duchow from the Town of Delafield.  This Republican legislator looked like she was going to sign onto medical marijuana reform in 2018.  She came out of the gates early and helped author a bill to protect firearms owners who are also medical marijuana patients. But in 2018, in 2020 and in 2022 this legislator was a no show to the table when it came time to co-sponsor legislation. In January 2024 she hinted that she might support the very limited Republican medical cannabis bill, but again was absent from an official co-sponsor. Varieties of smokeless medical cannabis would be available through state-run dispensaries staffed by government-employed pharmacists, and would only be available with a prescription for qualifying patients.

Majority Caucus Secretary Nancy VanderMeer

There is an assembly district 70 that stretches from La Crosse area to Stevens Point. It is represented by someone on the “Republican Leadership Team” that often blamed for killing progress on cannabis reform. Who is Rep. Nancy Vendermeer (R – Tomah) anyways….. Elected since 2014, this Tomah area representative has never co-sponsored legislation to reform marijuana laws. In 2018 VanderMeer’s campaign did not respond to multiple contact attempts from a USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reporter which poised a marijuana question to her challenger. She is a former automobile dealer; small business owner; family dairy farmer and is currently the Majority Caucus Secretary.

Majority Caucus Sergeant at Arms Treig Pronschinske

Elected in 2016, this assembly representative from Mondovi has not supported any legislation on marijuana reform since elected.  Rep. Pronschinske represents the home district of life long medical cannabis advocate Jacki Rickert, who passed away in 2017 before her medicine was legal or her elected official championed the issue for her. He was been absent from supporting any legislation.