Under current law, generally, public utilities, including railroad companies, are subject to a property tax imposed by the state instead of being subject to local property taxes. This bill creates a personal property tax exemption to the property tax for railroad companies in order to comply with the requirements of the federal Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act.
The bill also makes a number of technical changes related to the repeal of the personal property tax, such as providing a process whereby manufacturing establishments located in this state that do not own real property in this state may continue to claim the manufacturing income tax credit.
Other provisions
Prohibition of certain discrimination and preferences
The bill prohibits a political subdivision, which means a county, city, village, or town, from discriminating against or providing a preference in hiring or contracting based on race, color, ancestry, national origin, or sexual orientation unless it is required to receive federal aid.
Collection of certain data related to criminal or ordinance violations occurring on school property
Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, the bill requires public high schools and private high schools participating in a parental choice program to collect statistics on violations of municipal disorderly conduct ordinances and certain crimes, including homicide, sexual assault, burglary, battery, and arson, that occur on school property or on transportation provided by the school. The high school must collect statistics about the crime or disorderly conduct only if 1) it occurred on a weekday between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.; 2) it is reported to law enforcement; and 3) a charge is filed or citation is issued. The bill further requires that the collected statistics be reported to the Department of Public Instruction and included on the annual school and school district accountability report. In addition, the bill clarifies that DPI may not consider crimes statistics reported by a school or school district for purposes of determining a school or school district’s performance on the annual school and school district accountability report.
Maintenance of effort for protective services
The bill requires cities, villages, and towns with populations of 20,000 or more to certify to DOR that the city, village, or town is maintaining a level of law enforcement. The bill also requires political subdivisions to certify that the political subdivision is maintaining a level of fire and emergency medical services that is at least equivalent to that provided in the previous year. County and municipal aid to political subdivisions that do not satisfy the maintenance of effort requirement are reduced by 15 percent.
Advisory referenda
The bill prohibits a county or municipality from holding an advisory referendum except for certain referenda related to capital expenditures.
Local government spending reports
The bill requires DOR to annually produce a comparative local government spending report from information DOR annually collects from counties, municipalities, and public officers regarding the collection of taxes, receipts from licenses, and the expenditure of public funds and to create and maintain a web page on its Internet site to display the information contained in the report.
Local health officer
The bill prohibits a local health officer from issuing a mandate to close a business in order to control an outbreak or epidemic of communicable disease for longer than 30 days unless the governing body of the governmental unit in which the order is intended to apply approves an extension. Under the bill, no approved extension may be longer than 30 days.
Levy limit reduction for service transfers
Generally under current law, local levy limits are applied to the property tax levies that are imposed by a political subdivision in December of each year. Current law prohibits any political subdivision from increasing its levy by a percentage that exceeds its “valuation factor,” which is defined as the greater of either 0 percent or the percentage change in the political subdivision’s equalized value due to new construction, less improvements removed.
Also under current law, if a political subdivision transfers to another governmental unit the responsibility to provide a service that it provided in the previous year, the levy increase limit otherwise applicable in the current year is decreased to reflect the cost that the political subdivision would have incurred to provide that service. Similarly, if a political subdivision increases the services that it provides by adding the responsibility for providing a service transferred to it by another governmental unit that provided the service in the previous year, the levy increase limit otherwise applicable in the current year is increased to reflect the cost of that service. The bill makes these provisions optional.
Tax incremental district effect on levy limits
This bill changes the formula for calculating the levy limit “valuation factor” for tax incremental districts (TIDs) created after December 31, 2024, to include only 90 percent of new construction within TIDs located in the political subdivision. That is, under the bill, net new construction for a political subdivision is the percentage change in the political subdivision’s equalized value due to new construction, including 90 percent of the value of new construction occurring within a TID, less improvements removed, but not including any improvement removed within a TID.
Also, under current law, when a city or village creates a TID, DOR calculates the “tax incremental base” value of the TID, which is the equalized value of all taxable property within the TID at the time of its creation. If the development in the TID increases the value of the property in the TID above this base value, the amount by which the equalized value exceeds the base value is the TID’s “value increment.” The taxes collected on this value increment pay for the project costs of the TID.
Current law provides an increase in a political subdivision’s levy limit upon the termination of a TID located within the political subdivision. If DOR does not certify a value increment for a TID for a year because the TID has terminated, the levy limit of the political subdivision in which the TID is located increases by an amount based on 50 percent of the previous year’s value increment for the TID. (The actual amount is equal to the maximum allowable levy for the preceding year, multiplied by a percentage equal to 50 percent of the amount determined by dividing the terminated TID’s value increment by the political subdivision’s equalized value, as determined by DOR.) Also under current law, a similar increase in levy limit results when a political subdivision amends a TID to subtract territory.
For TIDs created after December 31, 2024, this bill changes the calculation of the levy increase upon TID termination or amendment to an amount equal to 10 percent of the aggregate of the value of new construction in the district, for each year that the district is active. The bill provides an increase of an additional 15 percent of the aggregate of the value of new construction in the district if the TID’s life span is 75 percent or less of the length of the expected life span of the TID.
Local regulation of nonmetallic quarries
The bill limits the ability of a political subdivision to place limits or conditions on the operation of quarries from which nonmetallic materials that are used primarily in the construction or repair of public transportation facilities, public infrastructure, or private construction or transportation projects are extracted, as follows:
1. The bill prohibits a political subdivision from requiring a quarry operator to obtain a permit unless, prior to the establishment of quarry operations, the political subdivision enacts an ordinance requiring a permit. The bill also prohibits a political subdivision from, during the duration of a permit that is required in order to operate a quarry, adding conditions to that permit unless the permittee consents and from requiring compliance with another political subdivision’s requirements as a condition of the permit. In addition, if the permit is a permit that is granted pursuant to an ordinance that is not a zoning ordinance, any conditions in the permit must be related to the purpose of the ordinance authorizing the permit and be based on substantial evidence.
2. Under the bill, if a political subdivision enacts an ordinance, other than a zoning ordinance, regulating the operation of a quarry that was not in effect when quarry operations began at a quarry, the ordinance may not be applied to that quarry or to land that is contiguous to the land on which the quarry is located that a) has remained under common ownership, leasehold, or control with the land on which the quarry is located since the time the ordinance was enacted; b) can be shown to have been intended for quarry operations prior to the enactment of the ordinance; and c) is located in the same political subdivision.
3. The bill prohibits a political subdivision from limiting the times that activities related to extracting or processing minerals at a quarry occur if the minerals will be used in a public works project that requires nighttime construction or an emergency repair.
4. Under the bill, a political subdivision may not limit blasting at a quarry, except that the political subdivision may require the operator of the quarry to do any of the following: a) provide preblasting notice to owners of structures within the affected area and to the political subdivision; b) cause a third party to conduct a building survey of structures within the affected area; c) cause a third party to conduct a survey of and test any wells within the affected area; d) maintain records and reports; e) comply with other properly adopted local blasting regulations that are not related to airblast, flyrock, or ground vibration; and f) comply with requirements under current law and rules promulgated by the Department of Safety and Professional Services related to blasting.
The bill also allows a political subdivision to petition DSPS for an order granting the political subdivision the authority to impose additional restrictions and requirements related to blasting on a quarry operator that are more restrictive than requirements under current law and rules promulgated by DSPS related to blasting. DSPS may not charge a fee for the petition, but if the petition is related to the potential impact of blasting on a qualified historic building, DSPS may require the quarry operator to pay the costs of an impact study related to the building.
Emergency medical responder certification requirements
The bill also affects the requirements for certification as an emergency medical responder, formally known as a first responder. First, the bill prohibits the Department of Health Services from requiring an applicant who is applying for certification as an emergency medical responder to register with or take the examination of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT). An ambulance service provider or another emergency medical services program is allowed to require an emergency medical responder to register with or take the examination of the NREMT. Current rules promulgated by DHS require an applicant for a license as an emergency medical services practitioner at any level, including an emergency medical responder, to be registered with the NREMT or, in certain circumstances, to complete the NREMT examination.
Currently, an applicant for certification as an emergency medical responder who demonstrates to DHS that the education, training, instruction, or other experience gained by the applicant in connection with military service is substantially equivalent to the course required for emergency medical responder certification is considered to have satisfied completion of that course. The bill requires DHS to issue the certification for an applicant who has relevant education, training, and experience gained in connection with military service. For applicants with military service who are not affiliated with an ambulance service provider, the determination of whether an applicant has obtained the relevant education, training, and experience remains with DHS as under current law. For applicants with military service intending to volunteer for or be employed by an ambulance service provider or emergency medical services program, the determination of whether an applicant has obtained relevant education, training, and experience is solely within the discretion of that ambulance service provider or emergency medical services program.
Ambulance staffing
The bill allows an ambulance that is engaged in a nonemergent interfacility transport to be staffed with one emergency medical technician and one individual who has a certification in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Currently, an ambulance may be staffed with any of the following: any two emergency medical services practitioners, licensed registered nurses, licensed physician assistants or physicians, or any combination of those individuals; one emergency medical services practitioner plus one individual with an emergency medical services practitioner training permit; or, for certain rural ambulance service providers, one emergency medical technician and one emergency medical responder.
Under the bill, an ambulance service provider or emergency medical services program may not prohibit an emergency medical responder or emergency medical services practitioner who is employed by or volunteering with it from being employed by or volunteering with another ambulance service provider or emergency medical services program.
Rural ambulance service providers
Under current law, a rural ambulance service provider may upgrade the service level of an ambulance to the highest level of license of any emergency services practitioner staffing that ambulance if approved by the medical director. The bill prohibits DHS from requiring a rural ambulance service provider to stock an ambulance with equipment to perform all functions that the emergency medical services practitioner with the highest level of license staffing the ambulance may perform in order to upgrade its ambulance service level.
Joint Committee on Finance approval of stewardship projects
The bill requires the Department of Natural Resources to obtain support from local governments before taking certain steps with respect to activities or projects that will be funded under the Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship 2000 Program.
Current law authorizes the state to incur public debt for certain conservation activities under the stewardship program, which is administered by DNR. The state may incur this debt to acquire land for the state for conservation purposes and for property development activities and may award grants or state aid to certain local governmental units and nonprofit conservation organizations to acquire land for these purposes.
Under current law, under certain situations, stewardship moneys may not be obligated for a given project or activity unless DNR first notifies JCF in writing of the proposal. If the JCF cochairpersons do not notify DNR within 14 working days after DNR’s notification that JCF has scheduled a meeting to review the proposal, DNR may obligate the moneys. If, within 14 working days after DNR’s notification, the JCF cochairpersons notify DNR that JCF has scheduled a meeting to review the proposal, DNR may obligate the moneys only upon JCF’s approval. This process is generally known as “passive review.”
Current law provides that each city, village, or town (municipality) and each county may adopt a resolution supporting or opposing the proposed acquisition of land funded under the stewardship program. Under current law, if DNR receives a copy of such a resolution within 30 days after notifying the municipality or county, DNR must take the resolution into consideration before approving or denying the land acquisition. The bill expands these resolutions to apply to any stewardship program project or activity, but limits the application to a project or activity on land north of USH 8. The bill prohibits DNR from obligating stewardship money and from submitting a project or activity to JCF for passive review, if required, unless every municipality and county in which all or a portion of the land on which the project or activity will occur is located adopts a resolution supporting the project or activity by a simple majority vote of the governing body.
Because this bill relates to an exemption from state or local taxes, it may be referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Tax Exemptions for a report to be printed as an appendix to the bill.
Because this bill relates to public employee retirement or pensions, it may be referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems for a report to be printed as an appendix to the bill.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
AB245-engrossed,,44The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: AB245-engrossed,,668.06 Special elections may be called. Towns, cities, villages, and, subject to ss. 67.05 (6a) (a) 2. and 121.91 (3) (a), school districts, may call special elections for any purpose authorized by law. If an election is called for a special referendum, the election shall be noticed under s. 8.55. A county in which a 1st class city is located may call an election for a special referendum for the purpose of imposing the tax under s. 77.70 (2). AB245-engrossed,,8813.94 (1) (w) Once every 5 years, conduct a financial audit of expenditures of revenues generated by the sales and use taxes imposed under ss. 77.70 (2) and 77.701. AB245-engrossed,,101013.94 (1) (x) Annually, conduct a financial audit of the retirement systems of Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee, to include financial statements and an evaluation of accounting controls and accounting records maintained by the systems for individual participants and departments. Within 30 days after completion of such audit, the bureau shall file with the legislature under s. 13.172 (2), the governor, the legislative reference bureau, the department of administration, and the respective systems a detailed report thereof, including specific instances, if any, of illegal or improper transactions. AB245-engrossed,,121213.94 (1) (y) At least once every 5 years, contract for an actuarial audit of the retirement systems of Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee. AB245-engrossed,,141413.94 (1s) (c) 1m. The retirement systems of Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee for the cost of the audits required to be performed of those systems under sub. (1) (x) and (y). AB245-engrossed,,161613.94 (1s) (c) 1s. Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee for the cost of the audits required to be performed under sub. (1) (w). AB245-engrossed,7g17Section 7g. 23.0917 (5t) of the statutes is renumbered 23.0917 (5t) (intro.) and amended to read: AB245-engrossed,,181823.0917 (5t) Local governmental resolutions. (intro.) Each city, village, town, or county may adopt a nonbinding resolution that supports or opposes the proposed acquisition of land to be funded by moneys obligated from the appropriation under s. 20.866 (2) (ta) if all or a portion of the land is located in the city, village, town, or county. The department shall provide written notification of the proposed acquisition to each city, village, town, or county in which the land is located. A city, village, town, or county that adopts a resolution under this subsection shall provide the department with a copy of the resolution. If All of the following apply to a resolution under this subsection: AB245-engrossed,,1919(a) For the proposed acquisition of land located south of USH 8, if the department receives the copy within 30 days after the date that the city, village, town, or county received the notification of the proposed acquisition, the department shall take the resolution into consideration before approving or denying the obligation of moneys for the acquisition from the appropriation under s. 20.866 (2) (ta). AB245-engrossed,,212123.0917 (5t) (b) For the proposed acquisition of land located north of USH 8, the department may not approve the obligation of moneys for the acquisition from the appropriation under s. 20.866 (2) (ta) and may not notify the joint committee on finance of the proposal, if required under sub. (6m), unless every city, village, town, or county in which the land is located adopts a resolution under this subsection approving the acquisition by a simple majority vote of the governing body. AB245-engrossed,,232325.17 (1) (jf) Local government fund (s. 25.491); AB245-engrossed,,252525.491 Local government fund. (1) There is established a separate nonlapsible trust fund designated as the local government fund. AB245-engrossed,,2626(2) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated the “county and municipal aid account” to make the payments under s. 79.036. AB245-engrossed,,2727(3) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated the “expenditure restraint program account” to make the payments under s. 79.05. AB245-engrossed,,2828(4) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated “state aid, local government fund; tax exempt property” to make the payments under s. 79.095. AB245-engrossed,,2929(5) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated “state aid, local government fund; personal property tax exemption” to make the payments under s. 79.096. AB245-engrossed,,3030(6) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated “state aid, local government fund; repeal of personal property taxes” to make the payments under s. 79.0965. AB245-engrossed,,3131(7) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated “state aid; video service provider fee” to make the payments under s. 79.097. AB245-engrossed,,3232(8) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated “municipal services” to make payments as determined under s. 70.119 (7). AB245-engrossed,,3333(9) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated the “supplemental county and municipal aid account” to make the payments under s. 79.037. AB245-engrossed,,3434(10) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated the “innovation account” to make the grant payments under s. 79.038 (1). AB245-engrossed,,3535(11) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated the “innovation planning grants account” to make the grant payments under s. 79.038 (2). AB245-engrossed,,3636(12) There is established in the local government fund a separate account that is designated the “community youth and family aids account” for the improvement and provision of community-based juvenile delinquency-related services under s. 48.526 and juvenile correctional services under s. 301.26 and for reimbursement to counties having a population of less than 750,000 for the cost of court attached intake services as provided in s. 938.06 (4). AB245-engrossed,1137Section 11. 26.03 (1m) (b) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read: AB245-engrossed,,383826.03 (1m) (b) (intro.) Paragraph (a) 1. does not apply to a person harvesting raw forest products on public lands, as defined in s. 70.13 (7), 2021 stats., to a person harvesting raw forest products for fuel wood for his or her home consumption, to a person harvesting for the purpose of clearing the land for agricultural use or to a person harvesting from the person’s own land, any of the following: AB245-engrossed,,404033.01 (9) (a) For the purpose of receiving notice under this chapter, a person whose name appears as an owner of real property on the tax roll under s. 70.65 (2) (a) 1. that was delivered under s. 74.03 on or before the 3rd Monday in December of the previous year. AB245-engrossed,1341Section 13. 33.01 (9) (am) 1. and 2. of the statutes are amended to read: AB245-engrossed,,424233.01 (9) (am) 1. A person whose name appears as an owner of real property on the tax roll under s. 70.65 (2) (a) 1. that was delivered under s. 74.03 on or before the 3rd Monday in December of the previous year. AB245-engrossed,,43432. The spouse of a person whose name appears as an owner of real property on the tax roll under s. 70.65 (2) (a) 1. that was delivered under s. 74.03 on or before the 3rd Monday in December of the previous year if the spouse is referred to on that tax roll.
