Under current law, the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands manages the
common school fund, the normal school fund, the university fund, and the
agricultural college fund (trust funds). Current law authorizes the BCPL to manage
and invest moneys belonging to the trust funds in good faith and with the care an
ordinary prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar
circumstances.
On March, 11, 2020, the governor issued emergency order 11 in connection with
the COVID-19 public health emergency. EO 11 suspended certain rules of the Public
Service Commission to ensure that customers of public utilities do not experience a
loss of service during the public health emergency. EO 11 also required that deferred
payment agreements be made available not only to residential customers but also
commercial, farm, and industrial customers of public utilities.
This bill authorizes the BCPL to loan moneys belonging to the trust funds to
municipal utilities to ensure that municipal utilities are able to maintain liquidity
during the COVID-19 public health emergency. A municipal utility is a public utility
that is a city, village, or town, or that is wholly owned or operated by a city, village,
or town.
16.
retirement and group insurance
WRS annuities for certain annuitants returning to work during public
health emergency
This bill allows an annuitant who is hired during the public health emergency
declared on March 12, 2020, by executive order 72, by a public employer as an
employee or to provide employee services to elect to not suspend his or her annuity
for the duration of the declared public health emergency if the position for which the

annuitant is hired is a critical position. Under current law, if a Wisconsin Retirement
System annuitant, or a disability annuitant who has attained his or her normal
retirement date, is appointed to a position with a WRS-participating employer, or
provides employee services to a WRS-participating employer in which he or she is
expected to work at least two-thirds of what is considered full-time employment by
the Department of Employee Trust Funds, the annuity must be suspended and no
annuity payment is payable until after the participant again terminates covered
employment.
Also under current law, a WRS participant who has applied to receive a
retirement annuity must wait at least 75 days between terminating covered
employment with a WRS employer and returning to covered employment again as
a participating employee. This bill reduces that period to 15 days for individuals who
are hired to a critical position during the public health emergency declared on March
12, 2020, by executive order 72.
Employees returning from a leave of absence
Under the bill, for the purposes of group health insurance offered by the group
insurance board, an employee who returns from a leave of absence and who has not
resumed active duty for at least 30 consecutive calendar days on March 12, 2020, is
deemed to have ended or interrupted the leave of absence on that date.
17.
state government
Refunding certain general obligation debt
This bill increases the amount of state public debt that may be contracted to
refund any unpaid indebtedness used to finance tax-supported or self-amortizing
facilities from $6,785,000,000 to $7,510,000,000.
Suspension of deadlines and training requirements
This bill authorizes state agencies, authorities, local governments, the
legislature, and the courts to suspend, during the public health emergency declared
on March 12, 2020, by executive order 72, deadlines and training requirements that
they administer or enforce. The bill excludes deadlines relating to the filing or
payment of taxes and deadlines relating to an election.
18.
taxation
Internal Revenue Code updates; federal tax law changes, coronavirus
This bill makes a number of changes to conform Wisconsin's tax law to federal
tax law changes enacted in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The
bill includes the following changes:
1. Exempts from otherwise applicable penalties certain taxable year 2020
distributions from a retirement account qualified under the Internal Revenue Code,
and exempts from income taxation these distributions subject to a number of
conditions.
2. Creates additional deductions, for taxable year 2020, for certain individual
charitable contributions, and suspends the limitations on certain individual and

corporate charitable deductions. The suspension of limitations applies to
contributions made in calendar year 2020 only, although certain amounts donated
in 2020 may be carried forward to future years.
3. Clarifies that an individual's health insurance plan is still treated as a high
deductible plan even if it fails to provide a deductible for telehealth and other remote
care services.
4. Conforms state law to federal law regarding the treatment of paycheck
protection loans to businesses and employees under the small business
administration's loan guarantee program for the period of time from February 15,
2020, through June 30, 2020. A portion of the loans may be forgiven on a tax-free
basis under certain conditions.
5. Provides an exclusion from income for certain student loan principal and
interest payments made by an employer on behalf of an employee, subject to the same
current law cap of $5,250 in payments for qualified educational expenses made on
behalf of an employee by an employer. This provision applies to payments made from
March 28, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
6. Corrects a drafting error in the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to
provide a 15-year recovery period for qualified improvement property.
Authority to waive interest and penalties for general fund and
transportation fund taxes
This bill authorizes the secretary of revenue to waive, for any person who fails
to remit general fund taxes or transportation fund taxes and fees by their due date,
the interest and penalties that accrue during the period covered by the COVID-19
public health emergency if the due date falls within that period and the secretary
determines that the person's failure is due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interest on late property tax payments