Jill Billings is a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly representing District 95, which includes the City of La Crosse and portions of the Towns of Shelby and Campbell. Born January 19, 1962, she is a lifelong resident of the Driftless Region and has lived in La Crosse since 1990. She is the oldest girl in a family of nine, raised in the Midwest with values of hard work and community service. Billings taught English and Citizenship classes to Hmong adults while raising her two children, Zoe and Josh. She previously served on the La Crosse County Board for eight years, including as vice chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, and founded the development team for La Crosse County’s OWI Treatment Court program, which became a statewide model.

Education and Political Experience

Billings earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communications from Augsburg College. Before entering the Assembly, she worked at the Friendship Program for ten years teaching English as a Second Language and Citizenship, and served on boards including the Community Foundation Granting Advisory Board, YMCA Pioneering Healthy Communities initiative, and Couleecap.

Elected in a 2011 special election, she has represented the Coulee Region since. Notable achievements include co-chairing the bipartisan Legislative Children’s Caucus , serving as ranking Democratic member on the Assembly Committees on Children and Families and Tourism, and passing 2023-24 legislation protecting child victims of human trafficking via the Speaker’s Task Force on Human Trafficking. She chairs the State Building Commission Higher Education Subcommittee and holds positions on the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, Mississippi River Parkway Commission, Historical Society of Wisconsin Board of Curators, Council of State Governments Health and Human Services Committee, and National Caucus of Environmental Legislators Mississippi River Caucus. Awards include the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Legislative Award . Her priorities encompass child welfare, environmental protection, tourism, local economic development, and support for working families.