The bill eliminates the preemptions of local governments from enacting or enforcing ordinances related to the following:
1. Regulations related to wage claims and collections.
2. Regulation of employee hours and overtime, including scheduling of employee work hours or shifts.
3. The employment benefits an employer may be required to provide to its employees.
4. An employer’s right to solicit information regarding the salary history of prospective employees.
5. Regulations related to minimum wage.
6. Occupational licensing requirements that are more stringent than a state requirement.
Certain state and local employment regulations
The bill eliminates the following:
1. The prohibition of the state and local governments from requiring any person to waive the person’s rights under state or federal labor laws as a condition of any approval by the state or local government.
2. A provision under which neither the state nor a local government may enact a statute or ordinance, adopt a policy or regulation, or impose a contract, zoning, permitting, or licensing requirement, or any other condition, that would require any person to accept any provision that is a subject of collective bargaining under state labor laws or the federal National Labor Relations Act.
Project labor agreements
Under current law, the state and local units of government are prohibited from engaging in certain practices in letting bids for state procurement or public works contracts. Among these prohibitions, the state and local governments may not do any of the following in specifications for bids for the contracts: 1) require that a bidder enter into an agreement with a labor organization; 2) consider, when awarding a contract, whether a bidder has or has not entered into an agreement with a labor organization; or 3) require that a bidder enter into an agreement that requires that the bidder or bidder’s employees become or remain members of a labor organization or pay any dues or fees to a labor organization. The bill eliminates these limitations related to labor organizations.
Exception to local law enforcement officer citizenship requirement
Under current law, no person may be appointed as a deputy sheriff of any county or police officer of any city, village, or town unless that person is a citizen of the United States. The bill allows the sheriff of a county or the appointing authority of a local law enforcement agency to elect to authorize the appointment of noncitizens who are in receipt of valid employment authorization from the federal Department of Homeland Security as deputy sheriffs or police officers. The bill also prevents the Law Enforcement Standards Board from preventing such a noncitizen from participating in a law enforcement preparatory training program.
Register of deeds recording fees; land information program
The bill increases the general recording and filing fees charged by county registers of deeds, increases the amount of the fees that counties must submit to DOA for the land information program, and increases the minimum grant amount DOA may award to counties for education and training grants under the program.
Under current law, DOA directs and supervises the land information program and serves as a state clearinghouse for access to land information. Under the land information program, DOA provides technical assistance to state agencies and local governmental units with land information responsibilities, reviews and approves county plans for land records modernization, and provides aids to counties, derived from recording fee revenues collected by counties, for land records modernization projects.
Under current law, counties collect fees for recording or filing instruments that are recorded or filed with a register of deeds. Currently, the general fee for recording or filing an instrument is $30. Currently, a county must submit $15 of each $30 recording fee to DOA for the land information program, but the county may retain $8 of the amount it would have been required to submit to DOA if the county meets certain requirements, including establishing a land information office and council and using the retained fees to develop, implement, and maintain a DOA-approved countywide plan for land records modernization on the Internet.
The bill increases from $30 to $45 the general recording and filing fee. The bill also increases from $15 to $30 the amount of each fee that a county must submit to DOA and increases from $8 to $15 the amount the county may retain if the current law requirements are met.
Under current law, DOA awards land information system base budget grants to counties to enable county land information offices to develop, maintain, and operate basic land information systems. Currently, the minimum amount of a grant is $100,000 less the amount of certain fees retained by the county in the preceding fiscal year. The bill increases that base amount to $140,000 less the retained fees.
Under current law, DOA may award a grant under the land information program to any county in an amount not less than $1,000 per year to be used for the training and education of county employees for the design, development, and implementation of a land information system. The bill increases from $1,000 to $5,0000 the minimum training and education grant amount.
Municipal records filings and filing requirements for certain annexations
The bill transfers the duty of filing certain municipal records from the secretary of state to the secretary of administration and transfers certain records held by the secretary of state to instead be held by DOA. 2015 Wisconsin Act 55 transferred some, but not all, municipal records filing duties from the secretary of state to DOA. The bill completes the transfer of these duties from the secretary of state to DOA for all municipal filing categories. The bill also replaces the term “plat” with the term “scale map” in certain filing statutes to conform with existing statutory requirements for certain filings, including petitions for incorporation and for annexation. The bill reduces the number of copies that must be provided to DOA in certain circumstances from multiple copies to just one copy. The bill also requires that certain boundary agreements between municipalities be filed and recorded with the register of deeds if an enacting ordinance is not anticipated to be enacted within 30 days.
Local advisory referenda
Under current law, a county may not conduct a countywide advisory referendum unless it regards a political subdivision revenue sharing agreement or capital expenditures proposed to be funded by the county property tax levy. In addition, current law prohibits a municipality from conducting an advisory referendum unless it regards tax incremental financing, a local government telecommunications utility, or capital expenditures proposed to be funded by the municipality’s property tax levy.
The bill eliminates these restrictions and specifically authorizes a county to conduct referenda for advisory purposes.
Provision and funding of emergency medical services by towns
The bill authorizes a town to contract for or maintain emergency medical services for the town. The bill also authorizes a town to do any of the following for the purpose of funding these emergency medical services:
1. Appropriate money.
2. Charge property owners a fee for the cost of emergency medical services provided to their property according to a written schedule established by the town board.
3. Levy taxes on the entire town.
4. Levy taxes on property served by a particular source of emergency medical services, to support the source of emergency medical services.
Levy limits
Levy limits under current law
Generally, under current law, local levy increase 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. “Valuation factor” is defined as the greater of either 0 percent or, in general, the percentage change in the political subdivision’s equalized value due to new construction, less improvements removed.
Current law contains a number of exceptions to the local levy limits, such as amounts a county levies for a countywide emergency medical system, for a county children with disabilities education board, and for certain bridge and culvert construction and repair. In addition, a political subdivision may exceed the levy increase limit that is otherwise applicable if its governing body adopts a resolution to do so and if that resolution is approved by the electors in a referendum.
Levy limit reduction for service transfers
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. The bill eliminates that provision.
Joint emergency services levy limit exception modification
Among the current law exceptions to local levy limits is an exception for the amount that a municipality levies to pay for charges assessed by a joint fire department or joint emergency medical services district organized by any combination of two or more municipalities. This exception applies only to the extent that the amount levied to pay for such charges would cause the municipality to exceed the otherwise applicable levy limit and only if the charges assessed by the joint fire department or joint emergency medical services district increase in the current year by an amount not greater than the rate of inflation over the preceding year, plus 2 percent, and if the municipality’s governing body adopts a resolution in favor of exceeding the otherwise applicable levy limit.
Under the bill, the exception is expanded to include joint fire services or joint emergency medical services provided by a combination of two or more municipalities through a joint district, joint ownership, joint purchase of services from a nonprofit corporation, or joint contracting with a public or private services provider. The exception is also expanded to cover all fees charged to a municipality by the joint fire services or joint emergency medical services.
Levy limit exclusion for cross-municipality transit routes
Under the bill, amounts levied by a political subdivision for costs related to new or enhanced transit services that cross adjacent county or municipal borders do not apply to the local levy limits if the political subdivisions between which the routes operate have entered into an agreement to provide for the services and if the agreement is approved in a referendum.
Levy limit exception for regional planning commission contributions
The bill creates a local levy increase limit exception for the amount a political subdivision levies to pay for the political subdivision’s share of the budget of a regional planning commission (RPC). An RPC’s budget is determined annually by the RPC. The RPC then charges all political subdivisions within its jurisdiction a proportional amount to fund the budget based on the equalized value of property in the political subdivision and the total amount of equalized value of property within the RPC’s jurisdiction.
Tax incremental financing
Tax incremental financing under current law
Under current law, cities and villages may use tax incremental financing (TIF) to encourage development in the city or village. In general, under TIF, a city or village pays for improvements in a tax incremental district (TID) and then collects tax moneys attributable to all taxing jurisdictions on the increased property value in the TID for a certain period of time to pay for the improvements. Ideally, after the period of time, the city or village will have been repaid for its initial investment, and the property tax base in the TID will have permanently increased in value.
In general and in brief, a city or village makes use of TIF using the following procedure:
1. The city or village designates an area as a TID and creates a project plan laying out the expenditures that the city or village will make within the TID.
2. DOR establishes the “base value” of the TID. This value is the equalized value of all taxable property within the TID at the time of its creation.
3. Each year thereafter, the “value increment” of the property within the TID is determined by subtracting the base value from the current value of property within the TID. The portion of taxes collected on any positive value increment is collected by the city or village for use solely for the project costs of the TID. The taxes collected by the city or village on positive value increments include taxes that would have been collected by other taxing jurisdictions, such as counties or school districts, were the TID not created.
4. Tax increments are collected until the city or village has recovered all of its project costs or until the TID reaches its statutory termination date.
Workforce housing initiatives
The bill authorizes workforce housing initiatives and makes changes that affect TIDs and state housing grants. The bill creates a definition for “workforce housing,” changes the definition of a “mixed-use development” TID, requires a TID’s project plan to contain alternative economic projections, and changes the method of imposing certain impact fees.
Under the bill, a political subdivision may put into effect a workforce housing initiative by taking one of several specified actions and posting on its website an explanation of the initiative. Workforce housing initiatives include the following: reducing permit processing times or impact fees for workforce housing; increasing zoning density for a workforce housing development; rehabilitating existing uninhabitable housing stock into habitable workforce housing; or implementing any other initiative to address workforce housing needs. Once an initiative takes effect, it remains in effect for five years. After June 30, 2026, if a political subdivision has in effect at least three initiatives at the same time, DOA must give priority to housing grant applications from, or related to a project in, the political subdivision.
The bill defines “workforce housing” to mean both of the following, subject to the five-year average median costs as determined by the U.S. Bureau of the Census:
1. Housing that costs a household no more than 30 percent of the household’s gross median income.
2. Housing that is comprised of residential units for initial occupancy by individuals whose household median income is no more than 120 percent of the county’s gross median income.
Under current law, a mixed-use development TID contains a combination of industrial, commercial, or residential uses, although newly platted residential areas may not exceed more than 35 percent of the real property within the TID. Under the bill, newly platted residential areas may not exceed either the 35 percent limit or 60 percent of the real property within the TID if the newly platted residential use that exceeds 35 percent is used solely for workforce housing.
The bill also requires a TID’s project plan to include alternative projections of the TID’s finances and feasibility under different economic situations, including a slower pace of development and lower rate of property value growth than expected in the TID.
Currently, a city or village may extend the life of a TID for up to one year for housing stock improvement if all of the following occurs:
1. The city or village pays off all of the TID’s project costs.
2. The city or village adopts a resolution stating that it intends to extend the life of the TID, the number of months it intends to do so, and how it intends to improve housing stock.
3. The city or village notifies DOR.
Current law requires the city or village to use 75 percent of the tax increments received during the period specified in the resolution to benefit affordable housing in the city or village and 25 percent to improve the city’s or village’s housing stock.
Under the bill, a city or village may extend the life of a TID to improve its housing stock or to increase the number of affordable and workforce housing improvements, with at least 50 percent of the funds supporting units for families with incomes of up to 60 percent of the county’s median income. Also under the bill, this extension may be for up to three years. However, for any extension of more than one year, the other taxing jurisdictions must approve of the extension.
Under current law, if a city, village, or town imposes an impact fee on a developer to pay for certain capital costs to accommodate land development, the city, village, or town may provide in the ordinance an exemption from, or a reduction in the amount of, impact fees on land development that provides low-cost housing. Under the bill, the impact fee exemption or reduction provisions also apply to workforce housing. Current law prevents the shifting of an exemption from or reduction in impact fees to any other development in the land development in which the low-cost housing is located. The bill applies this provision to workforce housing as well.
Reclassification of TID to mixed-use TID
When a TID is created, the city or village must designate the TID as one of several sorts of TID: blighted area, rehabilitation or conservation, industrial, or mixed-use. The application of certain rules vary depending on the classification of the TID. For example, blighted area TIDs have a longer potential lifespan than industrial or mixed-use TIDs.
Under the bill, a city or village may change the classification of a TID to a mixed-use TID after the creation of the TID. The TID would retain the lifespan and tax collection features of the original classification but would gain the features of a mixed-use TID. The principal difference between mixed-use TIDs and other TIDs is the ability within certain limits to spend tax increments on newly platted residential development.
TIF 12 percent rule exception
Under current law, when creating a new TID or amending a TID, a city or village must make a finding that the equalized value of taxable property of the new or amended TID plus the value increment of all existing TIDs in the city or village does not exceed 12 percent of the total equalized value of taxable property in the city or village. Under the bill, in lieu of making the 12 percent finding, a city or village may certify to DOR that 1) TIDs with sufficient value increments will close within one year after certification so that the city or village will no longer exceed the 12 percent limit and 2) the city or village will not take any actions that would extend the life of any TID under item 1.
MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION AND REGULATION
Under the bill, a person who is at least 21 years old may legally possess marijuana. A person who is at least 18 may possess marijuana if the person has certain medical conditions. Under the bill, a person may produce, process, or sell marijuana if the person has a permit. The bill creates an excise tax for the privilege of producing, processing, distributing, or selling marijuana in this state. All of the revenue collected from the tax is deposited into the general fund. Under the bill, a person who may possess medical marijuana is not subject to sales or excise taxes on the purchase or use of the marijuana. The bill also regulates delta-8 THC and delta-10 THC as marijuana. The bill does not affect federal law, which generally prohibits persons from manufacturing, delivering, or possessing marijuana and applies to both intrastate and interstate violations.
Legalizing the possession of marijuana
Current law prohibits a person from manufacturing, distributing, or delivering marijuana; possessing marijuana with the intent to manufacture, distribute, or deliver it; possessing or attempting to possess marijuana; using drug paraphernalia; or possessing drug paraphernalia with the intent to produce, distribute, or use a controlled substance. The bill changes state law to allow a Wisconsin resident who is at least 21 to possess no more than two ounces of marijuana and to allow a nonresident of Wisconsin who is at least 21 to possess no more than one-quarter ounce of marijuana. The bill also allows a qualifying patient to possess marijuana for medical purposes. Under the bill, generally, a qualifying patient is an individual who has been diagnosed by a physician as having or undergoing a debilitating medical condition or treatment and who is at least 18 years old. The bill also eliminates the prohibition on possessing or using drug paraphernalia that relates to marijuana consumption.
Under the bill, a person who possesses more marijuana than the maximum amount the person is allowed is subject to a penalty, which varies depending on the amount of overage. A person who exceeds the amount by not more than one ounce is subject to a civil forfeiture not to exceed $1,000. A person who exceeds the maximum amount by more than one ounce is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 90 days or both. The person is guilty of a Class I felony if the person also takes action to hide the amount of marijuana they have and has in place a security system to alert them to the presence of law enforcement or a method to intimidate, or a system that could injure or kill, a person approaching the area containing the marijuana.
Regulating the production, processing, and selling marijuana
Under the bill, no person may sell, distribute, or transfer marijuana unless the person has a permit from DOR. A person that violates this prohibition is guilty of a Class I felony if the intended recipient is an adult and is guilty of a Class H felony if the intended recipient is a minor and the person is at least three years older than the minor.
The bill requires a person to obtain separate permits from DOR to produce, process, distribute, or sell marijuana, and requires marijuana producers and processors to obtain additional permits from DATCP. The requirements for obtaining these permits differ based on whether the permit is issued by DOR or DATCP but, in general, a person may not obtain such a permit if they are not a state resident, are under the age of 21, or have been convicted of certain crimes or committed certain offenses. In addition, a person may not operate under a DOR or DATCP permit within 500 feet of a school, playground, recreation facility, child care facility, public park, public transit facility, or library. A person that holds a permit from DOR must also comply with certain operational requirements.
Under the bill, a permit applicant with 20 or more employees may not receive a permit from DATCP or DOR unless the the applicant certifies that the applicant has entered into a labor peace agreement with a labor organization. The labor peace agreement must prohibit the labor organization and its members from engaging in any economic interference with persons doing business in this state, must prohibit the applicant from disrupting the efforts of the labor organization to communicate with and to organize and represent the applicant’s employees, and must provide the labor organization access to areas in which the employees work to discuss employment rights and the terms and conditions of employment. Current law prohibits the state and any local unit of government from requiring a labor peace agreement as a condition for any regulatory approval. The permit requirements under the bill are not subject to that prohibition.
The bill also requires DATCP and DOR to use a competitive scoring system to determine which applicants are eligible to receive permits. Each department must issue permits to the highest scoring applicants that it determines will best protect the environment; provide stable, family-supporting jobs to local residents; ensure worker and consumer safety; operate secure facilities; and uphold the laws of the jurisdictions in which they operate. Each department may deny a permit to an applicant with a low score.
The bill prohibits a DOR permittee from selling, distributing, or transferring marijuana to a person who is under the age of 21 (a minor) and from allowing a minor to be on premises for which a permit is issued. If a permittee violates one of those prohibitions, the permittee may be subject to a civil forfeiture of not more than $500 and the permit may be suspended for up to 30 days.
Under the bill, a minor who does any of the following is subject to a forfeiture of not less than $250 nor more than $500: procures or attempts to procure marijuana from a permittee; falsely represents their age to receive marijuana from a permittee; knowingly possesses marijuana; or knowingly enters any premises for which a permit has been issued without being accompanied by their parent, guardian, or spouse who is at least 21 years of age or at least 18 years of age if a qualifying patient.
Under the bill, an individual may cultivate as many as six marijuana plants. Only a person that has a permit from DATCP may produce or process more marijuana plants. A person without a permit who possesses more than six but not more than 12 marijuana plants that have reached the flowering stage is subject to a civil forfeiture not to exceed twice the permitting fee, which is $250 under the bill. If the person possesses more than 12 plants that have reached the flowering stage, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine not to exceed $1,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 90 days or both. The person is guilty of a Class I felony if the person also takes action to hide the number of plants they have and the person also has in place a security system to alert him or her to the presence of law enforcement or a method to intimidate, or a system that could injure or kill, a person approaching the area containing the plants.
The bill requires DOR to create and maintain a medical marijuana registry program whereby a person who is a qualifying patient may obtain a registry identification card and purchase marijuana from a retail establishment without having to pay the sales or excise taxes imposed on that sale. A “qualifying patient” is a person who is at least 18 and has been diagnosed by a physician as having a debilitating medical condition such as cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, or another specified condition or is undergoing a debilitating medical treatment.
