2013 Assembly Joint Resolution 58
ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION
Relating to: declaring October 2013 Co-op Month.
Whereas, cooperatives are independent member-owned and member-controlled businesses, organized to process and market products and goods for their members; and
Whereas, cooperatives serve many needs, including credit and financial services, health care, child care, housing, insurance, and legal and professional services; and
Whereas, cooperatives sell food, farm supplies, hardware, and recreational equipment, and provide electricity, telephone, and Internet services; and
Whereas, today approximately 2.9 million Wisconsinites depend on approximately 650 cooperatives to provide these needed goods and services; and
Whereas, cooperatives help grow Wisconsin's economy, supporting nearly 20,000 jobs for Wisconsin residents and recording about $8.6 billion in gross sales each year; and
Whereas, Wisconsin was one of the first states to enact a law authorizing cooperatives, in 1887, spurring the growth of electric, telephone, and agricultural cooperatives and town mutual associations; and
Whereas, the first Wisconsin rural electric cooperatives were started in Richland Center and Columbus in May 1937, the Cochrane Cooperative Telephone Company was one of the first telephone companies, incorporated in 1905, and the first grain farmer cooperative was started in Madison in 1857; and
Whereas, Wisconsin's strong roots as a co-op state continue today, and two in every five people in the United States belong to a cooperative; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the Wisconsin legislature declares October 2013 "Co-op Month" and encourages Badger State residents to recognize the important role that cooperatives play in their everyday lives.
