This week's survey

Under the recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Wisconsin is projected to receive $5.5. billion in federal funding. That is an addition, the more than $2 billion the state already received under the CARES Act. 

Under current law, the governor can receive and direct federal funds sent to Wisconsin. The governor possesses sole discretion as to how these funds are spent. Senate Bill 183 the "Truth in Spending Act," would provide the legislature with a seat at the table. Under the bill, the governor is required to submit a plan to the Joint Committee on Finance for passive review. The passive review process would allow the Joint Finance Committee to approve spending plans, while also allowing for input on the governor's proposed spending. The goal of this legislation is increased collaboration during the decision-making process for these federal funds. 

This is not a new concept to Wisconsin or throughout the country. In 2009, Democrats approved legislation to allow the Joint Finance Committee oversight over then-Governor Jim Doyle's distribution of federal stimulus package funds. The "Truth in Spending Act" is closely mirrored after this language. 

Currently, twelve states prohibit the executive branch from spending unanticipated federal funds without legislative approval. In six states, both the legislature and executive branch share decision-making authority regarding these types of federal funds. 

"The Truth in Spending Act" passed the legislature in late March, but Governor Evers ultimately vetoed the bill. I am curious to know your thoughts on oversight regarding the American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

Please, take a minute to answer this week's survey question on spending authority.

Click here for my survey

Survey Results

Thank you to everyone who answered last week's survey question relating to a ban on conversion therapy by the legislature. In total, 182 individuals responded to the survey question. When asked whether or not conversion therapy of minors should be banned, 71 percent of respondents believed the legislature should enact legislation banning conversion therapy. What is more, eleven percent of respondents posited that professional examining boards, not the legislature, should regulate the practice. Just seven percent of respondents believed parents should have the option to determine what is best for their children. Lastly, just four percent of respondents believed mental health professionals should be responsible for making this decision.

What is more, 5 percent of respondents voted "other." Responses included:

"Please leave it up to the individual and their family."

"No, parents and minors together should have the ability to seek conversion therapy. 

"Leave this to mental health professionals. I do not see appropriate medical credentials in the legislature to be legislating this. 

Legislation

This week, the legislature passed a number of consequential pieces of legislation, ranging from public safety to DNR land sales, to spending the $3.2 billion allocated to the state by the American Recovery Act. The following is a summation of the proposals passed by the legislature, most with bipartisan support, during this week's floor session.

Assembly Bill 17: Public safety PTSD coverage

Assembly Bill 17, which had widespread bipartisan support and was approved by the Wisconsin State Senate, was drafted in partnership with a coalition of Wisconsin's public safety first responders to enable them to receive the necessary help to properly heal. 

Law enforcement and firefighters are routinely subjected to catastrophic incidents involving severe injury or death. The individual and cumulative effects of exposure to these incidents while serving our communities has had a debilitating effect on our brave public service officers, causing many to suffer from and be diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Assembly Bill 17 eliminates the "greater dimensions" requirement for coverage of a public safety first responder's work-related PTSD diagnosis, recognizing that while a single event can trigger PTSD, so can repeated exposure to dangerous high-stress events. Furthermore, this bill requires a preponderance of evidence standard that the mental injury is not the result of or first reported during a good-faith employment action by the person's employer. Additionally, the bill includes a key compromise between all stakeholders of thirty-two weeks of covered treatment after the injury is first reported and a lifetime cap of three times utilization across all employment.

It is critical that the men and women we have depended on as first responders that are affected by PTSD, have access to the treatment and support necessary to recovery.  

Assembly Bill 18: Income tax filing deadline

Assembly Bill 18, which has broad bipartisan support, quite simply, mandates that if the federal government mandated the income tax filing deadline, as it did in the CARES Act, Wisconsin would automatically follow suit and extend the deadline for Wisconsin income tax filing. 

This bill provides certainty that the filing deadline for federal and state taxes will be analogous. 

Assembly Bill 50: Tipped wages

Restaurants often use electronic systems to record sales and tips. While DWD administrative rules are outmoded and require a physical signature on paper, the agency has issued guidance allowing for electronic records.

Lawyers representing former tipped employees are suing for the difference between the tipped wage and the minimum wage. They allege DWD does not have the authority to issue guidance that electronic point-of-sale systems are sufficient to record tips, so unless there is a physical signature on paper every pay period, they claim that restaurants are on the hook for all those back wages.

Assembly Bill 50, of which I am a co-author and has bipartisan support, closes this imaginary loophole so that restaurants may continue to use current technology to record tops and claim the tip credit. 

Assembly Bill 55: Holocaust Education

Assembly Bill 55, which has widespread bipartisan support, adds Holocaust education requirements into academic requirements for social studies in Wisconsin. I am a co-sponsor of this legislation and voted to advance it out of the Assembly Committee on State Affairs, late last month. 

Under this bill, students would be required to learn once about these topics in middle school and again in high school. The Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center has already committed to providing curriculum materials and professional development at no cost to taxpayers.

Assembly Bill 55 is needed to address the serious and growing lack of awareness about these atrocities among younger generations. Twenty-two percent of Millennials have not heard of or were not sure what the Holocaust was and two-thirds could not identify Auschwitz. Additionally, Wisconsin has witnessed a three-hundred-twenty-nine percent increase in anti-Semitic events since 2015. 

Assembly Bill 56: Personal property tax aid payments to a closed TID.

The 2017-2019 state budget established a new personal property tax exemption, sec. 70.111(27), for machinery, tools, and patterns, not including such items used in manufacturing. 

An issue has arisen with regard to DOR's interpretation of the personal property aid distributions. The department interprets state law to mean that any personal property aid payments being made to a TIF district for exempt personal property existing in the district terminates when the TIF district closes.

Assembly Bill 56, which has bipartisan support, clarifies that personal property aid payments the state makes to a TIF District continues after the TID closes, but transfers to the municipality and other taxing jurisdictions. 

Assembly Bill 61: DNR land sales

Assembly Bill 61 would give the state more opportunities to better utilize revenue generated from the sale of public lands.

Under current law, the proceeds from the sale of state-owned property controlled by the Department of Natural Resources must be used to purchase other parcels that will be utilized as public hunting and fishing grounds, wildlife and fish refuges, or additions to state parks.

Assembly Bill 61 would allow this revenue to also go toward property development or the purchase of easements so the state's existing properties can be better utilized by visitors. 

The bill also includes an amendment, which I recommend and worked closely with the author's to draft, that would do the following:

• Require the creation of a biennial report that details the land sales by the DNR and the use of the generated revenue.
• Ensure that stipulations placed on the use of federal funds are followed.
• Provide cross-references for the definitions of lands and easements.

Assembly Bill 83: Stalking and providing a penalty

This partisan proposal provides beneficial rewording of the statute, codify existing practice and interpretation. Under current law, stalking is a "course of conduct" that includes, among other things, "sending material by any means to the victim, or for the purpose of obtaining information about, disseminating information about, or communicating with the victim, to a member of the victim's family or household or an employer, coworker, or friend of the victim." To make clear, prosecutors and judges interpret the "by any means" language to already include cyberstalking: this bill is not intended to upend this understanding or call into questions cyberstalking convictions achieved under this statute.

Assembly Bill 83 explicitly includes electronic means. This is a constructive addition as texting and other forms of messaging on a variety of platforms and applications have become ubiquitous. What is more, the bill also codifies current statutory interpretation and practice that electronic communications may constitute stalking.

Assembly Bill 232: Property tax relief

Assembly Bill 232 uses $1 billion from the state recovery funds in the American Rescue Plan Act that will provide the equivalent of a ten-percent return of net property taxes on all real property in this state. The Department of Revenue would use 2020-21 levies and work with counties and municipalities to send the payments to taxpayers.

Additionally, state ARPA funds totaling $20 million would be set aside for DOR and local governments to administer the program. Delinquent property taxpayers could have their payments intercepted. DOR would have sixty-day after the effective date of the bill to send payments to local governments and they would have an additional twenty days to send payments to taxpayers.

Assembly Bill 233: Small business grants

Small businesses comprise 99.4 percent of all businesses in Wisconsin and employ nearly half of our workforce. Small businesses are the backbone of our local economies.

Now that Wisconsin is expected to receive $3.2 billion in additional federal dollars through the American Recovery Plan Act--it is more than justified that a fraction of this money goes to help small business owners.

Assembly Bill 233 will allow small businesses that suffered economic damages due to COVID-19 to apply for a grant, so long as their sales were less than $7 million in 2010. This bill will direct $200 million in funds from the American Recovery Plan Act to be used for grants to small businesses. It also stipulates that each business that applies must be certified to collect and remit sales tax and be primarily based here in Wisconsin. These grants will help small businesses who struggled to make it through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assembly Bill 234: Tourism industry grants

Assembly Bill 234 requires the Department of Tourism to award grants ($50,000,000) to nonprofit organizations whose primary purpose is the promotion and development of tourism in Wisconsin and to assist those organizations who remain operational in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this bill requires the availability of amusement industry grants ($25,000,000) which will provide relief for organizations that own or operate amusement or theme parks in Wisconsin.

In previous rounds of federal funding, Governor Evers allocated money to restaurants, movie theaters, and other small businesses that have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Small businesses, on the contrary, most of which have been adversely impacted by the pandemic, received less aid than the aforementioned entities. 

Assembly Bill 235: Rural Economic Development grants

Assembly Bill 235 allocates $50 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for WEDC to administer toward the following:

• Existing economic development programs that assist economic development in a rural county.
• Future economic development programs that assist economic development in a rural county, subject to passive review by the Joint Finance Committee.
• Grants to state agencies to assist economic development in rural counties, also subject to passive review.
• One-time grants of more than $50,000 each to county or regional economic development corporations that serve rural counties, for program operations in marketing.
• $5 million set aside for one-time grants of more than $250,000 each to county or regional economic development corporations that serve rural counties, subject to certain criteria, for creating or expanding revolving door funds that promote economic development or entrepreneurial startups.

The bill defines a rural county as having less than one-hundred-fifty-five people per square mile. WEDC would be required to "make every effort" to prioritize underserved communities in rural counties. What is more, WEDC would have to submit reports to the Joint Finance Committee about how it spends the allocated money. 

In addition to rural economic development programs, AB 235 allocates an additional $50 million in ARPA funds for farm support grants administered by DOR in consultation with DATCP, analogous to the farm support program Governor Evers created last year using CARES Act funding. These grants would be available to farmers who have gross sales between $35,000 and $5,000,000 in 2019 and who experienced financial hardship due to COVID-19. 

Assembly Bill 236: Payments to long-term care facilities

Assembly Bill 236 requires Governor Evers to direct $150,000,000 from the money received under the federal American Rescue Plan Act Fund of 2021 to the Department of Health Services to distributed to nursing homes and assisted living facilities that apply to DHS for a one-time payment. The funds will make grants available for long-term care facilities and nursing homes, bonuses for their staff, capital projects, and update the statewide health information exchange system for record-keeping modernization. To receive a payment, the nursing home or assisted living facility must ensure that no less than fifty percent of the payment provides bonuses to employees subject to limitations that ARPA has on payment to individuals.

Assembly Bill 237: Unemployment insurance tax stabilization

Assembly Bill 237, which I co-authored with Representative Warren Petryk, directs Governor Evers to use funds from the State Fiscal Recovery Funder under the American Rescue Plan  Act or to make one or more deposits into the unemployment insurance trust fund for the purpose of maintaining the lowest UI tax rates for calendar years 2022 and 2023. Without the deposits, if the balance of the UI trust fund falls below $1.2 billion on June 30, 2021 or June 30, 2022, it would trigger higher unemployment insurance tax rates across the board for employers for the subsequent calendar year. 

Since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses throughout the state have been struggling to keep their doors open. The last thing our businesses need at this critical moment is increased unemployment insurance rates.

Assembly Bill 237 sends a positive, confident signal to businesses throughout the state that they can count on lower unemployment insurance tax rates while they work hard to recover from the effects of the pandemic. 

Assembly Bill 238: Local Road Improvements

Using only federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Assembly Bill 238 establishes a local highways and bridges supplement program under the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that annually provides $1 million to every county in Wisconsin and $1,000 for every mile in every town, village, and city in the state over the course of the next two years. Funds must be used to complete maintenance and construction projects on roads and bridges. They may not be used to purchase vehicles, plow snow, or construct buildings. 

Assembly Bill 239: Broadband expansion

Wisconsin is set to receive $2.3 billion in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This bill would allocate $500 million of those funds to the Broadband Expansion Grant Program, with $125 million being awarded each year through 2024. Furthermore, Assembly Bill 239 requires the Public Service Commission to submit an annual report to the Joint Committee on Finance concerning the evaluation of applications and the disbursements of said funds to the grant recipients.

This one-time influx of federal dollars provides a unique opportunity to address critical needs throughout the state pertaining to broadband access.

Rural broadband is a priority for the majority of the members of the Assembly Republican Caucus and taking the initiative to provide a defined plan for this federal allocation shows that it is a foremost priority.

Assembly Bill 240: Emergency service and psychiatric bed capacity

Assembly Bill 240 updates Next Generation 911, WISCOM, and grants money to Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph's Hospitals to expand psychiatric bed capacity using federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Next General 911 (NG911) allows for better communication with individuals calling 911 including accurate location detection, texting, video messaging, telematic capabilities, and enhanced communications for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. ESInet is the backbone of NG911 and allows the system to operate. This bill directs $18.5 million in one-time funding for upgrades to the system. GIS programming is the mapping and pinpointing of locations for higher accuracy and response times. The bill directs $1.7 million in one-time funding to upgrade GIS programming under NG911.

WISCOM is the hand-held radio communication system for all first responders that allows them to communicate across jurisdictions and departments. It is used by 1,132 local, state, federal and non-governmental agencies across the state, with more than forty-two thousand subscriber radios. The bill directs $34 million to upgrade WISCOM.

Assembly Bill 240 will allow the building commission to award a grant of $15 million to Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph's hospitals to expand psychiatric bed capacity by twenty-two beds. The hospital will be required to give preference in admission to fill the beds to individuals who are under chapter 51 and who reside in twenty-nine counties in northwestern Wisconsin. The hospital will identify measures necessary to address the mental health needs in their communities. The hospitals will report to the legislature annually on the services it provides from the grant awarded and how it has diverted individuals from being taken to Winnebago Mental Health Institute. 

The aforementioned hospitals will be liable to repay the grant funds to the state if the hospital fails to continue to maintain the expanded services and the number of expanded psychiatric beds available because of the grant awarded. If the grant awarded is not used for expanding psychiatric bed capacity, the state will retain an ownership interest in the hospital's expansion equal to the amount of the state's grant.

Assembly Bill 241: Retiring public debt and transportation revenue bonds

Assembly Bill 241 proposes that Wisconsin use a portion of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 dollars to pay down the state debt by using $250 million to pay down outstanding debt in 2021-22, and using an additional $250 million to simultaneously pay down outstanding transportation debt. 

If one or both of these uses is ineligible for federal funding, the money would be spent on projects outlined in the 2021-23 Authorized State Building Program in lieu of borrowing.

Assembly Bill 242: Summer sales tax holiday

Assembly Bill 242 creates a one-time "Summer sales tax holiday," from June 1-August 31, 2021. The sales tax holiday would apply to more than eleven thousand businesses that are: drinking places; restaurants and other eating places; special food services; amusement parks and arcades; and movie theaters. This legislation is necessary because these industries were devastated in 2020 by government-mandated closures due to COVID-19. As more people are vaccinated and things return to normal, this summer could be the ultimate make-or-break point for many businesses. Spurring additional spending at the businesses that make Wisconsin great is part of our return to normal.

The exemption would apply to the state sales tax, county sales tax, premier resort taxes, and the food and beverage tax for the exposition district. If a business is not classified as one of the allowable establishments but feels it should be, they could apply to the Department of Revenue for a waiver. 

Assembly Bill 243: Funds for the environment

Assembly Bill 243 earmarks $61 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to pay for several environment-related projects. 

Assembly Bill 243 allocates $61 million for the following environmental undertakings:

• $40 million for the replacement of lead service lines
• $12 million for the DNR's program that provides financial assistance for projects that manage urban stormwater and runoff
• $6.5 million to bolster the DNR's program that provides financial assistance for projects that control pollution that comes from diffuse sources--rather than from a single concentrated discharge of pollution-in areas that qualify as high-priority due to water quality issues.
• An additional $2 million for the state's existing Well Compensation Grant Program
• $500,000 in grants for well testing and public education.

Please feel free to contact my office with your thoughts regarding these proposals; I value your input. 

Budget Listening Session

On Monday, April 26, 2021, Representative Rick Gundrum and I will be holding a joint budget listening session in the Village of Jackson.

Listening sessions provide me with an opportunity to hear directly from my constituents regarding their budget priorities. I truly value constituent input and use their feedback when determining whether or not to support portions of the biennial budget. I look forward to meeting with constituents and hearing their thoughts on the budget and other legislative initiatives. 

The joint listening session will occur on Monday, April 26: 12:00-1:00 p.m.: Jackson Village Hall--N168W20733 Main Street, Jackson.

My office is in the process of planning additional budget listening sessions. Stay tuned for the dates and times of those meetings. If you are unable to attend my listening sessions but would like to discuss the budget or other issues of importance to you, please contact my office to schedule an in-district meeting. 

Stay up to date

One of the best ways to date with what is happening in Madison is to sign up for the legislature's notification tracking system. This service affords you with the opportunity to track legislative activities in Madison. Upon creation of a free account, you can sign up to receive notification about specific bills of committees as well as legislative activity pertaining to a subject (i.e., health care, education, etc.).