December 6, 2023

NEWS RELEASE:                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Contacts:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                                        Senator Robert Cowles – (608) 266-0484

                                                                                                                                                                                         Representative Ron Tusler – (608) 237-9103

Representative Tusler, Senator Cowles

Celebrate Signing of Nuisance Wildlife Bill

MADISON – Representative Ron Tusler (R-Harrison) and Senator Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) released the following statement after the Governor signed Senate Bill 207, which they authored with Senator Rachael Cabral-Guevara and Representative Dave Murphy, into law today as 2023 Wisconsin Act 50:

“I am pleased that this legislation is being signed into law. The village of Kimberly came to us with this problem and we solved it. Now, not only will Kimberly be able to apply for these grants, but communities from all across Wisconsin will also be able too,” said Representative Tusler.

“Although Act 50 may seem like a small change of outdated technicalities, its impact will be important in addressing an issue facing many of our communities,” Senator Cowles stated. “With this new law, more municipalities – especially those in Northeast Wisconsin – will be able to gain access to grant funding to prevent damages and nuisances imposed by wildlife in parks and other areas of our communities.”

2023 Wisconsin Act 50 expands eligibility to many communities which were previously excluded from a small urban wildlife grant program to help with nuisance wildlife abatement. Although the current nuisance wildlife grant was originally created in the 1997-1999 State Budget, it relied on a definition of “urban” by the federal government dating to the 1980s.

The new Act rewrites eligibility for the grant program to be defined by population density, significantly increasing the number of potential recipients of the funding. This legislation originated following outreach from the Village of Kimberly, which learned they were previously ineligible for the wildlife grants under prior law, but now joins dozens of other communities in competing for the funding under Act 50.

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