February 16, 2024 - Introduced by Representatives Emerson, J. Anderson, Bare, Conley, Considine, Drake, Jacobson, Joers, Ohnstad, Moore Omokunde, Palmeri, Ratcliff, Shankland, Sinicki, Snodgrass, Stubbs, Subeck and Clancy, cosponsored by Senators Smith, L. Johnson, Agard, Larson, Pfaff, Roys and Spreitzer. Referred to Committee on Rules.
AJR124,,22Relating to: proclaiming February 4, 2024, as Transit Equity Day. AJR124,,33Whereas, Rosa Parks was an iconic figure in the movements for social justice and racial equality and played a major role in the inception of the Civil Rights Movement that ended legal segregation in the United States; and AJR124,,44Whereas, the immediate focus of Rosa Parks’ historic protest was the unequal access of African-Americans to public transit; and AJR124,,55Whereas, unequal access to public transit based on race, income, and disability has persisted to this day, and has to a degree become worse, with cuts in public funding for transit and consequent fare increases in many transit systems; and AJR124,,66Whereas, paratransit is a necessary component for any public transit system to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities who require it, and any expansion of public transit necessitates further strengthening of paratransit so that it is minimally held to the same reliability and timelines standards as other parts of the system; and AJR124,,77Whereas, the required expansion of public transit to address the climate crisis provides an unprecedented opportunity to continue the tradition of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement by ensuring that transit systems are affordable and accessible and that people of color, economically disadvantaged people, people with disabilities, and other marginalized populations have full access to the benefits of public transit; and AJR124,,88Whereas, the expansion of public transit provides an unprecedented opportunity to create a large number of good, environmentally sustainable, high-skill, family-supporting transit operation jobs, as well as construction jobs for building new transit facilities; and AJR124,,99Whereas, increased community access to public transit enforces a reduction in racial, economic, and other disparities while building mobile equity within the community now, therefore, be it AJR124,,1010Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That that the day of February 4, 2024, shall be designated as Transit Equity Day in Wisconsin.
