One-Hundred and Sixth Regular Session
8:08 A.M. TUESDAY, November 14, 2023
The Senate met.
The Senate was called to order by Senate President Kapenga.
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Call of Roll
The roll was called, disclosing the presence of a quorum.
Pursuant to Senate Rule 15, the official attendance for session was: Senators Agard, Ballweg, Bradley, Cabral-Guevara, Carpenter, Cowles, Felzkowski, Feyen, Hesselbein, Hutton, Jacque, Jagler, James, L. Johnson, Kapenga, Knodl, Larson, LeMahieu, Marklein, Nass, Pfaff, Quinn, Roys, Smith, Spreitzer, Stafsholt, Stroebel, Taylor, Testin, Tomczyk, Wanggaard, Wimberger and Wirch - 33.
Absent with leave - None - 0.
The Senate stood for the prayer which was offered by Senator Wanggaard.
The Senate remained standing and Senator Smith led the Senate in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
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Senator LeMahieu, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess.
8:13 A.M.
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Recess
9:23 A.M.
The Senate reconvened.
Senate President Kapenga in the chair.
Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (6), the Chief Clerk made the following entries under the above date. _____________
Chief Clerk's Entries
Amendments Offered
hist178925Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 268 offered by Senators Hutton and Spreitzer. hist178926Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 268 offered by Senators Hutton and Spreitzer. hist178910Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 268 offered by Senator LeMahieu. hist178930Senate Amendment 3 to Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 268 offered by Senators Hutton and Spreitzer. hist178941Senate Amendment 4 to Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 268 offered by Senator Spreitzer. hist178942Senate Amendment 5 to Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 268 offered by Senator Spreitzer. hist178943Senate Amendment 6 to Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 268 offered by Senator Spreitzer. hist178874Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Substitute Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 312 offered by Senators Pfaff, Wirch, Hesselbein, Agard, Carpenter, L. Johnson, Larson, Smith, Spreitzer and Taylor. hist178824Senate Substitute Amendment 3 to Senate Bill 312 offered by Senators Pfaff, Wirch, Hesselbein, Agard, Carpenter, L. Johnson, Larson, Smith, Spreitzer and Taylor. hist178802Senate Amendment 2 to Assembly Bill 438 offered by Senator Nass. hist178816Senate Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 438 offered by Senator Feyen. hist178870Senate Amendment 2 to Assembly Bill 439 offered by Senator Feyen. hist178878Senate Amendment 3 to Assembly Bill 439 offered by Senators Larson, Carpenter and Taylor. hist178877Senate Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 439 offered by Senators Larson, Carpenter and Taylor. _____________
Petitions and Communications
hist179052Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representatives Cabrera and O'Connor added as cosponsors of Senate Bill 133. hist179502Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative O'Connor added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 253. hist179505Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative O'Connor added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 267. hist179519Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative C. Anderson withdrawn as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 268. hist179049Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Cowles withdrawn as a coauthor of Senate Bill 268. hist178867Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Carpenter added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 271. hist178868Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senators Carpenter and Hesselbein added as coauthors of Senate Bill 462. hist179508Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative O'Connor added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 491. hist179509Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative O'Connor added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 524. hist178869Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Carpenter added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 527. hist179495Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Gustafson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 527. hist179498Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Madison added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 528. hist179522Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Subeck added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 539. hist179510Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representatives O'Connor, Cabrera and Subeck added as cosponsors of Senate Bill 610. hist179059Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representatives Palmeri, McGuire, Rettinger, Schutt, Cabrera and Subeck added as cosponsors of Senate Bill 621. hist179511Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative O'Connor added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 635. hist179518Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representatives Cabrera and Drake added as cosponsors of Senate Bill 642. hist179513Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Ballweg added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 676. hist179496Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Gustafson added as a cosponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 79. hist179497Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Gustafson added as a cosponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 87. hist179520Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Larson added as a coauthor of Senate Joint Resolution 87. _____________
State of Wisconsin
Offices of Senator Carpenter and Senator Larson
November 14, 2023
The Honorable, the Senate:
The Brewers stadium funding deal was negotiated behind closed doors, including only a small group of people. Senators were given mere minutes to evaluate the proposed substitute amendment and have our ideas drafted as amendments to it.
By moving the bill beyond the amendable stage, the Majority Leader purposefully acted to prohibit us and other Senators from introducing additional amendments to Assembly Bill 438. Senators from both sides of the aisle came prepared with ideas to make this deal more fair to the people, but had that opportunity taken from them through procedural tricks which prevented the Senate from doing its job: debating legislation and taking input from across the state into consideration before voting on a deal that will cost state and local taxpayers over half a billion dollars.
Assembly Bill 438 required significant changes to meet the needs of the people of the state of Wisconsin, and particularly the residents of the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. The proposal that was ultimately approved by the Senate only minimally reduces the burden on taxpayers, and doesn’t require an audit and program evaluation before hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are spent. This was not enough to earn our votes. At the very least, the Senate should have considered the ideas of its members to make improvements to the deal.
After seeking the input of the people of the 3rd and 7th Senate Districts, we prepared the following amendments to Assembly Bill 438 to right-size this deal and make it fair to the taxpayers of Wisconsin. Because our opportunity to bring these ideas forward for consideration was cut short, we provide them here in an effort to illustrate a few of the ways that this deal could have been improved.
To reduce the public contributions and ensure adequate oversight of the lease negotiations, we brought the following amendments:
LRBa0745 would require that the Legislative Audit Bureau perform a program evaluation and financial audit of the Stadium District and a financial audit of the Brewers organization prior to the ratification of a new lease.
LRBa0737 would require the lease negotiated between the public stadium district authority and the team to come back to the legislature for ratification, ensuring public oversight of successive negotiations.
LRBa0739 would have instituted a 10% ticket surcharge on admission to all events at the stadium, including Brewers games and other Brewers events. This would have brought in an estimated $10.84 million in annual revenue, reducing the overall deal by nearly $300 million over the 27 year timeframe, while only adding $3.28 to the average ticket price, and adding only $0.60 to the most affordable tickets.
LRBa0744 would retain revenue from non-Brewers events at the stadium such as conventions, concerts, corporate outings, motorcycle classes that take place in the parking lots, to name a few. These revenues would be used to offset the taxpayer contribution.
LRBa0770 would require that revenue generated from advertising on infrastructure financed with public money would be split equally between the Brewers and the state.
LRBa0736 would require the Brewers organization to cover any difference between income tax collections and state payments for maintenance of the stadium. Currently, the state’s portion of the public contribution is set to match estimated income taxes from player salaries. If the state income tax is adjusted to reduce the higher brackets, the Brewers would be responsible to make up the difference.
LRBa0767 would require that funds generated by the sale of naming rights of the stadium be used to reduce the taxpayer contribution.
LRBa0738 would require a 5% sales tax on all non-ticket purchases made within the stadium and associated property, funds would be used to offset the taxpayer contribution.
LRBa0747 would protect against relocation of the team by requiring the return of all public funds paid for stadium maintenance as of the date of relocation.
LRBa0771 would require a study of potential voluntary contribution opportunities such as the sale of commemorative installations or artifacts like used equipment to offset the public contribution.
LRBa0773 would require a study of the cost to winterize the facility and estimated revenue generated by winterization. No money could be spent on winterization before completion of the study.
To ensure that a deal to publicly fund the baseball park is at least as beneficial as the deal to fund the construction of the professional basketball arena, we brought the following amendments:
LRBa0741 and LRBa0752 would require that public funds for maintenance of the stadium be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Brewers organization.
LRBa0746 would require a $20 wage floor for all team and contract workers, with annual cost of living raises, a labor neutrality agreement from the team, and a commitment to a Community Benefits Agreement. These provisions are similar to the arrangement negotiated between the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers and the Milwaukee Bucks.
LRBa0742 would add 4 seats to the stadium district board, one would be chosen by the Mayor of Milwaukee, one by the Milwaukee Common Council President, one by the Milwaukee County Executive, and one by the Milwaukee County Board Chair.
LRBa0748 would require the team to return at least 20% of the parking lot acreage to the City of Milwaukee for a taxable use request for proposal process. This would create the opportunity for a district similar to the Deer District with Fiserv Forum or Titletown near Lambeau Field
In order to give back to the fans who make the team so successful, we offered the following amendments:
LRBa0753 would require the Brewers to fund the operation of public transit routes terminating at the stadium to provide greater access to the facility.
