This week's survey

One of the most consequential issues facing our state is a shortage of workforce housing. According to a 2019 report published by the Wisconsin Realtors Association, "Wisconsin is not building enough housing to keep up with demand for our growing workforce. Our existing housing stock is aging and construction prices and housing costs are rising faster than inflation and incomes" (p.4). 

Three factors are largely responsible for the state's workforce housing shortage:

• Housing costs are rising--Housing prices for ownership now exceed pre-recession levels; rents are also growing faster than incomes.
• Declining homeownership--Wisconsin has a lower homeownership rate for twenty-five to thirty-four-year-old's than all of our neighbors except Illinois
• Declining housing affordability--Entry-level housing, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association, declined from 2010-2017 in fifty-seven of the state's seventy-two counties (Wisconsin Realtors Association, 2019). 

What is workforce housing and why is it important? According to the Wisconsin Realtors Association (2019), "workforce housing is the supply of housing in a community (a variety of housing types, sizes, locations, and prices)that meets the needs of the workforce in that community. Specifically, workforce housing is housing that is "affordable" for renting families earning up to sixty percent of the area's mean income and for owning families earning up to one-hundred-twenty percent of the area's median income.

For decades, workforce housing was ubiquitous in Wisconsin communities. In the Village of Kimberly in Northeast Wisconsin, for example, the paper mill, then owned by Kimberly-Clark, built housing, within walking distance for their employees. These houses, generally, were higher density, had fewer amenities, and were more loosely zoned than those in other parts of the community. 

Eventually, when the government became more involved in the process, workforce housing virtually disappeared. The new trend is more amenities, stricter zoning requirements, and lower density. In addition, subsidized housing is becoming more common. Local governments, particularly the city of Madison, have begun subsidizing occupants. 

During the past few sessions, I have worked with my colleagues on legislation to address the state's workforce housing shortage. If you have any ideas for ways that we can increase workforce housing, please share them with my office. 

Please take a minute to answer this week's survey question regarding workforce housing. 

Click here for my survey

Floor Session and Legislation

Late last week, Governor Evers signed into law Senate Bill 46, the riparian rights bill that I coauthored with Senator Rob Stafsholt. Senate Bill 46, quite simply, returns more than one-hundred-forty years of riparian rights back to Wisconsin property owners. Senate Bill 46 is a win-win for property owners and taxpayers. Thank you to Governor Evers for recognizing the merit of this proposal and signing it into law. 

During this week's floor session, the Assembly approved several consequential pieces of legislation, including two I authored with Senator Andre Jacque. Among the bills approved by the Assembly, this week was a comprehensive election reform package. These and several other bills will be analyzed at length in this section.

Assembly Bill 19: Marriage officiant

Under current law, only Wisconsin judges, among other persons, may officiate weddings. Assembly Bill 19, which had bipartisan support, allows justices and judges from other states, territories, or the federal bench to officiate a Wisconsin marriage. 

First, the bill replaces the reference to a "judge of court of record" with the phrase "any justice or judge" to more clearly identify that a justice or judge from any jurisdiction is authorized to serve as a marriage officiant. 

Second, Assembly Bill 19 adds a mej koob as an authorized officiating person, for a marriage solemnized in accordance with traditional wedding ceremony customs of the Hmong people. As with other marriage officiants, the bill requires a mej koob to be at least eighteen years of age. 

Assembly Bill 20: Lowering the Driving Permit Age

Assembly Bill 20, which has bipartisan support, would change the current eligible age to receive a driver's learner permit from fifteen-and-a-half to fifteen years of age. This would be completely voluntary and up to the parent or guardian of the child. Additionally, it would allow the permit to last longer so it does not expire before the eligible age of the driver's license. 

Assembly Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 20 would increase the required hours of driving under supervision from thirty to fifty in order to provide for more opportunities to drive inclement weather and in different areas of the state, like rural and urban areas.

Assembly Bill 74: Labeling a Food Product as a type of milk

Ask any dairy farmer in Wisconsin and they will tell you that milk comes from a cow. This is like common sense, but Wisconsin's current labeling laws allow plant-based milk alternatives to be labeled as "milk."  Walk into most grocery stores and you will see whole milk next to "Soy Milk" and "Almond Milk." This is not right. 

Dairy farmers are frustrated that these mislabeled beverages continue to appear in stores and misuse dairy names. Research suggests that more than half of consumers who purchase milk alternatives purchase these alternative beverages thinking they have more nutritional value than milk. This is simply not the case. Plant-based milk alternatives do not have the same nutritional value as milk. 

To help Wisconsin dairy farmers and alleviate consumer confusion, Assembly Bill 74 creates a truth-in-labeling law for milk. This legislation will ensure that the only products that can be labeled as "milk" come from a cow or other hooved or camelid mammal, such as a goat. Plant-based products will be required to be labeled as "drink" or "beverage."

Assembly Bill 84: Voice Recordings for a Search Warrant

Assembly Bill 84, of which I am a cosponsor, will help the courts streamline their proceedings by eliminating an unnecessary provision regarding telephone-sworn search warrants. 

Current law allows circuit courts to receive search warrant requests over the phone but requires that the requestor's statement is recorded, transcribed, and certified as accurate by a court reporter or presiding judge. Furthermore, current law requires that both the transcript of the request as well as the original recording must be filed with the clerk of courts despite the fact they contain identical statements. 

Assembly Bill 84 removes the duplicative statutory requirement that the recording be stored and instead allows the official transcript to be included in the record. Transcripts are permitted into cases during other proceedings throughout the court process and should be sufficient for telephone-sworn search warrants as well.

Assembly Bill 102: judicial Notice of Court Records

Assembly Bill 102, legislation I coauthored with Senator Andre Jacque, allows courts in a family law action involving a child to take judicial notice of records for specific convictions and restraining orders. Judicial notice is defined as "declaring a fact presented as evidence as true without a formal presentation of evidence." The convictions must involve crimes subject to domestic abuse surcharge, crimes against the convicted individual's child pr restraining orders that were ordered by the other parent.

It is commonplace for judges to be unaware of a family member's history of domestic violence. This is true even when a parent possesses a conviction or injunction that is publicly available in court records. Judges do not always ask the involved parties about their history of domestic violence unless prompted by something else in the case file. 

Assembly Bill 111: Fund the Police

Assembly Bill111 decreases shared revenue payments to municipalities who cut funding for their police forces, equal to the amount cut from the force. This reduction in aid then becomes the ongoing amount that the municipality will receive. The reduction amount is also redistributed between municipalities that did not cut funding for their police forces. The bill allows municipalities to enter cooperative agreements to share law enforcement with other units of government or transfer responsibility to another unit of government without having revenues cut. 

Assembly Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 111 includes fire and EMS services in those positions that cannot be cut without a reduction in shared revenue. Additionally, municipalities with fewer than thirty law enforcement officers, fire department members, or emergency medical responders, would be exempt under the amendment. 

Additionally, the substitute amendment exempts from a reduction in shared revenue departments that spend less but actually employ the same number of statutory law enforcement officers. This is meant to address a retirement of a higher-paid officer who may be replaced by a lower-paid officer. The amendment specifies that if a department maintains its budget but does not actually employ the same number of officers, the shared revenue of the municipality is cut by the same amount as the average salary and benefits of the municipality's officers. This is designed to address a city freezing the police budget which can result in a reduction of force strength. 

Finally, the bill as amended, specifies that officers who are hired through a federal grant are exempt from the aforementioned calculations. For example, if a city received a federal grant to hire five officers for five years, the municipality would be allowed to release those officers once the federal grant expires without seeing a reduction in their shared revenue payments.

Assembly Bill 123: Private On-Site Wastewater Treatment System Grant Program

Assembly Bill 123, which has bipartisan support, originated from last session's Speaker's Task Force on Water Quality, on which I served. 

The Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services administers the POWTS grant program, which provides grants to individuals and businesses that are served by failing on-site wastewater treatment systems. The program is designed to reimburse, on average, sixty percent of the cost of replacement or rehabilitation for households earning less than $45,000. Assembly Bill 123 delays the elimination of the POWTS grant program for two years from June 30, 2021 to June 30, 2023. 

The bill authorizes 2 full-time equivalent, two-year project positions funded with program revenue to conduct POWTS plan reviews and permit applications to address the current backlog that exists at the department. The staff will also engage in training and informational programs. 

Assembly Bill 123 incorporates Assembly Amendment 1 to 2019 Assembly Bill 791. The amendment mandates that DSPS fund a septage study at UW-Stevens Point's Department of Soil and Water Resources that analyzes and makes recommendations on practices to mitigate the risk of contamination of the state's groundwater and surface waters through the strategic and data-driven application of septage at sites approved by the DNR.

Assembly Bill 129: The Environmental Compliance Audit

The Department of Natural Resources' Environmental Compliance Audit Program is currently underutilized but has the potential to be a beneficial tool for small businesses. The program is entirely voluntary and allows businesses to audit their own environmental compliance, self-disclose finding, and correct violations with limited liability and fewer penalties for non-compliance.

Assembly Bill 129 that I coauthored with Senator Andre Jacque, removes disincentives relating to Wisconsin's Environmental Compliance Audit Program compared to similar EPA offered programs. Currently, different timelines, deadlines, and procedures exist between the DNR and EPA programs, and businesses may avoid using the program that seems less advantageous. Assembly Bill 129 seeks to more closely align DNR notification and timeline requirements with those of the EPA. The goal is to make participation easier for businesses and encourage both programs to be used simultaneously. This will offer greater benefits to businesses while still maintaining environmental protections. 

Under Assembly Bill 129, advanced audit notification, discovery method, and correction timelines within the existing DNR Environmental Compliance Audit Program will be changed to mirror similar EPA programs. This legislation is a win-win for small businesses and the environment. 

Assembly Bill 132: Immunization-related mail

Assembly Bill 132, of which I am a cosponsor, requires a government entity (public or private elementary, middle, junior, or senior high school; child care center or nursery school; or healthcare provider); that sends a piece of mail containing information disclosing another person's immunization status is enclosed and sealed in the piece of mail and that no such information is visible on the outside of the mail. 

Assembly Bill 153: GPR Dashboard

Assembly Bill 153, which has bipartisan support, establishes a requirement for the Department of Revenue to publish interactive data on their website to report the amounts of general purpose revenue (GPR) collected by source and how GPR tax dollars are spent. The information must be presented in readily understandable graphs and other formats. The bill requires that DOR's e-filing web page prominently link to the DPR dashboard.

Assembly Bill 164: Tax Incremental District Extension

Assembly Bill 164, which has bipartisan support, allows for an extension of the deadline for expansion of police, fire, and other public safety measures for municipalities within a TID. 

In 2017, the legislature passed Wisconsin Act 58, which, among other things, created a tax incremental district in an electronics and information technology manufacturing zone. As a result, the Village of Mount Pleasant and Racine County have experienced economic growth. The village is currently reviewing and assessing public safety needs and would like the original deadline of seven years to complete a public safety expansion to be extended to fifteen years. This will allow for fiscal responsibility and many avoid financial hardship for residents if the village were to rush the process.

Assembly Bill 168: Village Officers Serving as Village Employees

Under current law, members of a town, village, county board, or city council are generally ineligible for any office or position that the board or council has the authority to fill. However, a specific statutory provision authorizes a town board member to receive an hourly wage, not exceeding $15,000 each year, as a town employee. Assembly Bill 168, which has bipartisan support and of which I am a cosponsor, extends this same provision to members of a village board.

Assembly Bill 179: Voting in Long-Term Care Facilities

Assembly Bill 179, of which I am a cosponsor, requires a long-term care facility administrator to notify the relatives of residents of the dates and times when a Special Voting Deputy (SVD) is visiting the facility. A SVD is a trained, nonpartisan individual appointed by the municipal clerk to conduct absentee voting at care facilities. This bill provides a penalty for SVDs that influence a resident's voting behavior.

Much of the concern on how the 2020 election was conducted, involved the lack of access that special voting deputies had to the residents at Wisconsin's long-term care facilities; a factor precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Assembly Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 179:

• Requires administrators of long-term care facilities to notify the next-of-kin of each resident of the dates and times of visits by special voting deputies and allowing them to observe the election process while keeping the ballot secret.
• Provides that administrators of long-term care facilities may not deny special voting deputies from entering the facility unless the governor declares a public health emergency within sixty days preceding the election; or the Department of Health Services or the Centers for Medicare or Medicaid Services recommends that the family members of the occupants of a facility should be denied access. 
• In the event that special voting deputies are denied access to a facility, the municipal clerk is required to appoint at least two employees at a qualified long-term care facility to serve as absentee voting assistants. The amendment specifies that these individuals must be affiliated with different political parties whenever possible and receive analogous training as an SVD.

Assembly Bill 189: Lodging Marketplace Room Taxes

Assembly Bill 189, which has widespread bipartisan support, requires lodging marketplace businesses to remit room taxes quarterly to municipalities and send a prescribed form to the Department of Revenue. To ensure each municipality is receiving the correct amount of room taxes, the forms will seek and include the following information: the total sales for properties located in a municipality with a room tax; the total number of nights such properties were rented; the room tax rate; and the total tax due. To assist the lodging marketplace providers with this process, the Department of Revenue will be required to create a website that lists the room tax rates for each municipality and the name and mailing address of each municipality that imposes a room tax. The list will be updated annually. 

For lodging marketplace companies that do not file the room tax return on time or neglect to pay the required tax, a municipality may impose a forfeiture that does not exceed twenty-five percent of the room tax due for the previous year or $5,000, whichever is less. This is the same penalty for traditional lodging businesses, such as hotels. If a municipality or district has probable cause to believe that an incorrect amount of room tax has been assessed or the room tax return is inaccurate, that municipality or district may audit the room tax-related records of the lodging marketplace provider.

Assembly Bill 198: Defects on Absentee Ballot Certificates:

Assembly Bill 198 provides notice to voters if there is a problem with their ballot and allows them to correct it to ensure their vote is counted. The bill reinforces state law which says voters, not clerks should fix any errors on a ballot and creates standards for election officials and observers and provides penalties for violations. 

Assembly Amendment 2 to Assembly Bill 198 requires absentee voters and witnesses to provide their first and last name, house or apartment number, street address, and municipality. Witnesses are required to also provide their signature. Without this information, the ballot must be cured. Clerks are only required to notify the voter through the MyVote website. The clerk may also contact the voter by email or phone if possible. Assembly Amendment 2 also reduces the fine for anyone who illegally curses a ballot to a Class C misdemeanor. 

Assembly Bill 201: Comprehensive election reform

Assembly Bill 201 as amended, of a which I am a cosponsor, makes a variety of changes to the absentee and indefinitely confined voting processes:

• An indefinitely confined voter may only elect to have ballots automatically sent for one calendar year. In addition, an indefinitely confined voter must show ID when applying to receive absentee ballots. If they do not have an ID, the voter may submit a sworn statement from a witness affirming the voter's identity. Under current law, an indefinitely confined voter may elect to receive an absentee ballot automatically for an indefinite period of time and are not required to show ID. Finally, an indefinitely confined voters must renew his or her indefinitely confined status every four years.
• An absentee voter may only request that ballots be automatically sent for a primary and its associated election. The absentee voter must present their ID at the time of each application. Under current law, an absentee voter may elect to receive automatic ballots for every election within a calendar year.
• Requires the Wisconsin Elections Commission to remove the names of voters who applied for indefinitely confined status during the 2020 election. 
• Prohibits a clerk from sending ballot applications unless an application was requested by the voter. 
• Requires WEC to create an absentee ballot application that is separate and distinct from the ballot certificate envelope. The application must include certain information. 
• Requires clerks to provide hourly updates detailing the number of ballots mailed, returned, and counted beginning at 9:00 PM on Election Day.
• Creates a variety of new election crimes that include making false statements to qualify as indefinitely confined, falsely confirming a voters identity in lieu of voter ID, providing an absentee ballot without receiving a ballot application.

Assembly Bill 218: Passive Review of Professional Licenses

Assembly Bill 218, which has widespread bipartisan support, explicitly allows credentialing boards to delegate authority to the Department of Safety and Professional Services to make determinations regarding whether an applicant satisfies the requirements to be granted a credential and authority to grant or deny a credential in accordance with that determination.

Second, once an application for a credential is considered complete, following an investigation conducted by DSPS, DSPS must, for a credential that is granted by a credentialing board, do one of the following:

1. Forward the application to the board or the board's designee with DSPS's recommendation regarding approval or denial of the application; or
2. If DSPS has been delegated the authority to make a determination on the application, directly approve or deny the application in accordance with its determination.

If DSPS forwards an application to the board with a recommendation that it be approved, the bill requires that the application be considered automatically approved by the board on the 10th business day thereafter, unless the application is acted upon sooner or unless the board takes certain other actions before that date.

Assembly Amendment 1 provides that, when DSPS forwards an application to a board with a recommendation the application be approved or approved with limitations, DSPS must notify the board of the date on which the application would be considered approved unless the board takes certain specified action. 

Assembly Bill 261: School Choice One-time waivers

Assembly Bill 261, which was approved unanimously by the Committee on Education, gives authority to the Department of Public Instruction to issue one-time extensions or modifications to various reporting deadlines and requirements set forth in the statutes and administrative code for independent charter schools and private schools. The authority was established under 2019 Wisconsin Act 185.

The Department of Public Instruction has worked the administrators of choice school programs and independent charter schools to accommodate for the temporary changes to schools' day-to-day operations. These are administrative changes such as enrollment data and extensions to the deadline for audits to account for periods in which virtual instruction served as the primary mode of instruction and school buildings were closed to the public. 

Assembly Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 261 clarifies that authorized waivers are for administrative changes and do not include waivers for student standardized testing. This waiver authority is extended to October 31, 2021. 

Assembly Bill 270: Marriage License Changes

Assembly Bill 270, which had bipartisan support, allows individuals seeking to marry in Wisconsin to apply for a marriage license at any county clerk's office and return their marriage license to any county registrar after their meeting.

The bill allows for several document options for the application process including:

• A certified birth record
• A social security number for each party who has one
• If a birth record is unobtainable, an applicant may present the clerk a passport, license, or identification card that meets the REAL ID requirements, permanent resident card, or naturalization paper
• Affords the applicant an appeal if the clerk is not satisfied with the documentary proof presented.

Finally, the waiting period for a license is reduced from five days to three and extends the period for which a marriage license is valid from thirty days to sixty days.

Assembly Amendment 1 clarifies the types of military service that, if applicable, allow a marriage to be solemnized in the presence of one competent adult witness, rather than two. Specifically, under the amendment, a marriage may be solemnized in the presence of only one competent adult witness, other than the officiating person, if one of the parties is serving on active duty in the military, in a reserve unit, or in the National Guard. 

Assembly Bill 271: Broadcasting Election Night Proceedings

Assembly Bill 271, which has bipartisan support, helps modernize Wisconsin open records laws and our vote-counting process. An increasing number of municipalities have, in recent years, chosen to broadcast their vote count and canvass proceedings live over the internet, including Milwaukee, Green Bay, Madison and others. These broadcasts are an optional public service that allow citizens to see a portion of our democracy that they might otherwise miss.

On rare occurrences when there are questions as to the conduct of election officials or with the tampering of ballots, any and all records will be important to answering these questions. That is why Assembly Bill 271 requires any municipality that broadcasts its canvassing procedures to record that broadcast and treat it as a public record, preserving it for twenty-two months. Partial broadcasts of Dane County's 2020 presidential election recount are available online; however, if a municipality is going to choose to broadcast such an event, the recording should be preserved in its entirety as a public record. 

Assembly Bill 276: Allowing Dogs on Some Retail Premises

Assembly Bill 276, which has bipartisan support, provides retail establishments which sell only pre-packaged food items an exemption from rules prohibiting dogs and cats on the premises. Many hardware and multi-purpose establishments across the state have a customer base that owns animals for various purposes. Under current law, service dogs are permitted on those premises, but this bill would allow a broader group of individuals to have their dogs or cats accompany them while in the store.

One real-world company this would impact is Fleet Farm Group, LLC, which currently operates forty-seven stores in the Midwest, including twenty-two stores in Wisconsin. All their stores sell pre-packaged foods and some carry limited food products behind-closed-door coolers. Under this bill, Fleet Farm Group LLC is seeking to host pet vaccination days and other public functions in conjunction with local humane societies

This legislation establishes a narrow exemption from rules prohibiting dogs and cats on the premises for retail establishments which sell only pre-packaged food items. All of the other laws and rules regulating the sale of food items would still apply to these stores. In addition, although this bill permits these retail establishments to allow dogs and cats on their premises, it remains up to each business' discretion to do so.

Assembly Bill 300: Timeline for Water Utilities

Water utilities have been facing substantial delays trying to receive approval on their applications to the Public Service Commission. Assembly Bill 300 helps to ensure that local water utilities can provide a continuous supply of clean, safe, and lead-free water to everyone in their service territory by ensuring that the PSC reviews and acts on information submitted to them.

Specifically, Assembly Bill 300 specifies that the PSC must determine whether an application is complete and notify the applicant in writing about the determination. For an initial filing, this must occur within forty-five days after application is filed. If the PSC determines that an application is incomplete, the notice must identify any part of the application determine to be income and state the reasons for the determination. The bill also specifies that an applicant may supplement and refile an application that is determined to be incomplete, an unlimited number of times. The PSC must act on any subsequent refiling within thirty days.

Assembly Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 300 was added at the request of the Public Service Commission and requires that final action take place within ninety or one-hundred-eighty days of an application being determined as complete, which does not impact rate cases or opportunities for public comment. Instead of establishing a timeframe at the beginning of a case, the statutes typically establish a date by which final action must be taken by the PSC.

Assembly Bill 302: Meter installation or replacement projects by water utilities

Assembly Bill 302, which has bipartisan support, addresses issues that many water utilities have had when working with the Public Service Commission on water meter replacement projects. Specifically, smaller municipalities have run into several costly and time-consuming bureaucratic hurdles with PSC when undertaking water meter replacement projects, and Assembly Bill 302 attempts to remedy the issue.

Under current PSC regulations, water utilities are supposed to be exempt from obtaining a certificate of authority before undergoing a routine water meter replacement project. However, despite this statutory interpretation by the PSC in their own administrative rules, they have regularly been determining that all water meter replacement projects are non-routine. This has subjected dozens of water utilities to the burdensome certificate process, which delays the projects and costs hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, just to clear this regulatory hurdle.

Current law requires utilities to obtain a certificate of authority from PSC before engaging in certain construction, installation, or improvement projects. The bill, as amended, exempts public utilities from needing a certificate of authority issued by the Public Service Commission before beginning certain projects related to installing or replacing customer meters. Under the bill, a water public utility or a combined water and sewer public utility does not need to obtain a certificate of authority from PSC before beginning a project to stall or replace meters that measure service to customers. 

Assembly Bill 315: Athletic Trainers

Athletic trainers are licensed healthcare professionals who work with their patients on prevention, examination, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of emergent, acute, or chronic injuries and medical conditions. Athletic trainers are located not only in our professional, collegiate, and high school sports facilities, but also work within outpatient rehabilitation clinics, physician practices, and industrial settings. Athletic trainers serve an important role in the protection of the health and safety of youth athletes, especially as our society becomes better informed on the potential dangers caused by failing to properly diagnose and treat concussions.

In 1999, Wisconsin first recognized athletic trainers with licensure. The profession has grown significantly over the last twenty years, with athletic trainers now being required to attend an accredited athletic training program and pass an examination to obtain National Board Certification. With more than seventy percent of athletic trainers currently holding a master's degree, it was recently decided by the Athletic Trainers Strategic Alliance to require a Master's degree for board certification moving forward. 

With the growth of the profession, it makes sense to modernize the AT Practice Act to reflect those changes. Assembly Bill 315 eliminates the current requirement that athletic trainers must have their evaluation and treatment protocol signed by a consulting physician. While athletic trainers currently work closely with physicians, and will continue to do so after this change is made, Assembly Bill 315 removes an administrative burden for athletic trainers while not altering their scope of practice. Furthermore, it is important to note that the bill does not change the requirement that if an athletic trainer determines a patient's medical condition is beyond his or her scope of practice, they must refer the patient to a health care practitioner who can provide the appropriate treatment.

Assembly Bill 325: Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act

Assembly Bill 325 updates and reorganizes Chapter 177 of Wisconsin State Statutes, dealing with unclaimed property. The bill makes a number of changes, including:

• Strengthens confidentiality provisions for unclaimed property information.
• Creates an appeal process for property holders that is analogous to those DOR uses for income, franchise, or states and use tax audits.
• Updates statutes to include modern items such as gift cards, loyalty cards, and virtual currency.
• Allows for voluntary disclosures from property holders without penalties. 
• Expansion of different types of records DOR can use to identify owners of unclaimed property. 
• Eliminates interest and simplifies penalties for holders that do not report or deliver unclaimed property.

Assembly Amendment 1 reduces the time that DOR can audit businesses failing to submit all required information from ten to seven years. 

Wisconsin's unclaimed property chapter has not been updated since 1983, while national model legislation was modernized in both 1995 and 2016.  

Assembly Bill 371: The Broadband Grant Program Restructure Bill

Assembly Bill 371 makes the Broadband Expansion Grant program more efficient and effective. Major changes to current law include:

Eliminating the underserved category and redefine "underserved" as areas lacking access to speeds of at least 100 Mbps download/Mbps upload. This will help provide greater accountability and direction to the program by ensuring that funds are not duplicating pre-existing networks and establishing a high internet baseline for all Wisconsinites and the state economy. The bill also creates scoring points for applications with higher speeds. 

The bill establishes an objection process for providers that will be completing construction in areas up to thirty-six months after an application. This is designed to encourage the dividing and conquering of remaining unserved areas in Wisconsin. If a provider objects to an application and fails to complete their network within the thirty-six-month window, they will lose their objection credentials for the next two grant cycles.

The bill establishes a minimum matching percentage for applications. The bill requires applicants put forth thirty percent of the total project cost. This amount will stay in place for three years before bumping up to forty percent thereafter. This is meant to encourage faster deployment of services and incentivize expansion. It also ensures providers have some skin in the game. 

Assembly Bill 383: Membership in the WIAA in 2021-22

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents sought out alternative learning opportunities for their children who struggled with online learning. In many situations, students enrolled at schools that were closed due to the pandemic chose to find classrooms offering in-person opportunities. Now those parents and students are learning that athletic opportunities may be off the table for the upcoming school year due to that decision. 

The WIAA, with limited exceptions, requires student-athletes to sit out for one year after moving schools without physically moving addresses. While these restrictions may be necessary during normal times, student-athletes should not be punished because their families sought the most optimal learning experiences for their children. 

Assembly Bill 383 grants high school athletes who transfer schools for the 2021-22 school year due to the coronavirus pandemic a one-year reprieve from the WIAA transfer rule. Assembly Bill 383 forces the WIAA to consider the method by which educational programming was offered as a justification for transferring. 

Assembly Bill 392: Creating a PFAS Municipal Grant Program

Assembly Bill 392 creates a municipal grant program, administered by the Department of Natural Resources, to address harmful substances known as PFAS. The bill would provide $10,000,000 for a grant program in order to reduce or eliminate environmental contamination. The funding source would be funds accepted from the federal government under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. 

The DNR must provide grants to towns, villages, counties, utility districts, lake protection districts, sewerage districts, and municipal airports. Grants may be used for a variety of purposes including providing a temporary water supply, remedial actions to treat, dispose of, or remove PFAS contamination. Any applicant who receives grant money must contribute at least twenty percent in matching funds and waives the right to bring an action or claim against any alleged responsible party.

Budget Update

Last week, the GOP-led legislature finalized its plans for the biennial budget bill. The big announcement was the unveiling of a $3.4 billion middle-class tax cut. This generational tax cut would result in the average taxpayer seeing a reduction of $1,200 in the fower of lower income and property taxes. 

The tax cut followed the announcement by the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau that Wisconsin's budget surplus has grown by more than $4 billion than expected. Therefore, Assembly Republicans propose sending $3.4 billion back to taxpayers in the form of an income and property tax cut. 

I have always believed a surplus means government has collected too much of your hard-earned money. It continues to be my priority to return this money back to you, the taxpayer.  The tax cut builds upon the $13 billion in state and local tax relief we have enacted since 2011.

In addition to the income and property tax cuts, legislative Republicans funded education at historic levels. Last biennium's budget allocated $568 million to K-12 education, while this budget invests $3.1 billion, including COVID aid. Additionally, we were able to reach the goal of two-thirds funding for K-12 schools.

Legislative Republicans have also made investing in roads a chief priority. The Republican budget invests more than Governor Evers' proposal in local roads and the State Highway Rehabilitation Program. Our proposal also borrows far less than Governor Evers to pay for rad upgrades. In fact, this is the lowest amount of new bonding for transportation in more than twenty years. 

Republicans are enacting a long-term revenue increase for transportation, which includes not only a one-time, one percent general fund transfer in year one, but also an onging.5 percent general fund transfer. This will provide $300 million of general purpose revenue into the transportation fund. 

Finally, we ensured the budget was responsibly crafted by ensuring a healthy "rainy day" balance. This bill protects our state's checkbook against any future economic downturn. Last week, on the heels of news that our surplus had increased, we made an additional $200 million transfer to the "rainy day" fund. This transfer is in addition to the $350 million previously approved by the Joint Finance Committee. Overall, the "rainy day" balance will grow to more than $2 billion. 

Events

The following are events that will be held this week in the 60th Assembly District. If you have any upcoming events you would like included in my weekly e-update, please contact my office.

Saukville Farmers Market, June 27, Saukville

Friday Night Flicks in the Park, June 25, Port Washington

Port Washington Ghost Walks of 2021, June 25, Port Washington

Great Lakes Sport Fishing Fishing Tournament, June 25-27, 2021

Port Washington Outdoor Farmers Market, Jun 26, Port Washington

UPAF Ride for the Arts, June 27, Port Washington

30th Annual Berry Big Run for the Kids, June 26, Cedarburg

Visit Cedarburg Saturday, June 26-27, Cedarburg

Thirst for Art Fair, June 26, Cedarburg

2021 Kick the Dust Up Rodeo-Bulls and Barrels, June 26, Belgium

Comedy Night at Vines to Cellar, June 26, Port Washington

Stay up to date

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