Lena Taylor - Wisconsin Legislature

Wisconsin Legislature

Taylor was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in a special election in April 2003 and was subsequently elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 2004. When Democrats were elected to the majority in the Wisconsin State Senate in November 2006, Taylor was chosen to Chair the Committee on Judiciary and Corrections, on which she had served for the preceding two years. In January 2007, Taylor was selected by the Majority Leader to serve on the powerful Joint Committee on Finance for the second time. Following the recall of Van Wanggaard in June 2012, and the return of Democrats to majority party control, Taylor was named co-chair of the Joint Committee on Finance. She is the first African-American woman ever to serve as the co-chair of the committee.

In addition to her duties as chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, Taylor serves as a member of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, the Joint Legislative Council, the Joint Committee on Employment Relations, as well as the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations, and the Committee on Health, Revenue, Tax Fairness, and Insurance. As part of her appointment as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, Taylor sits ex officio on the Wisconsin State Claims Board and the Wisconsin Center District Board of Directors. Senator Taylor was also appointed as a member of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District Board of Commissioners by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.