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League of Wisconsin Municipalities
Ph: (608) 267-2380
(800) 991-5502
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Senate to Vote on 85 items Tomorrow, Including Recycling and Charge-Back Bills
The Senate's last floor day of the session is tomorrow, March 15. We are happy to report that the list of 85 bills the Senate will take up tomorrow includes AB 515, restoring $3 million to the recycling grant program in 2016, and AB 843, ensuring that counties, school districts, and other taxing jurisdictions contribute their fair share towards any property tax refunds municipalities are required to pay.
A special thank you to the many municipal officials who contacted their legislators in support of these two bills. Without your engagement these League supported bills would not be on the verge of enactment. Thanks for your advocacy.
Other Bills Affecting Municipalities on tomorrow's Senate Calendar
AB 575, Requiring DOR to determine equalized values by August 1. The League supports this bill.
AB 576, Making changes to the process by which DOR supervises municipal property tax assessments. The League supports this bill.
AB 624, Repealing the ability of citizens to petition for a referendum on whether a community should issue liquor licenses. The League is neutral on this bill.
AB 714, Changing the definition of "tourism entity" under the room tax law. The League supports this bill.
AB 730, Prohibiting municipalities from banning the use of plastic bags. The League opposes this bill.
AB 820, Imposing additional duties on the PSC related to the expansion of broadband access in Wisconsin. The bill also creates a process by which political subdivisions may become certified as Broadband Forward! communities by the PSC. The League negotiated a few changes to this bill and in the end took a neutral position on it.
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Right to Rent Legislation not on Senate's Final Floor Calendar
Absent from the list of bills the Senate plans to take up tomorrow is AB 583, legislation sought by the Wisconsin Realtors Association prohibiting local governments from prohibiting persons from renting their homes for 7 days or longer. The League initially strongly opposed this bill, but then switched to neutral after negotiating for changes to the bill that were made on the Assembly floor last month. The Assembly passed the bill by a voice vote. We thought the bill would likely sail through both houses and therefore negotiated what we thought at the time was the best deal we could get. However, Senator Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and a couple of other GOP senators expressed concerns within their caucus about the bill interfering with local control. We are pleased to see that as a result, leadership has decided against scheduling the bill for a vote.
While the right to rent bill appears dead for this session, the Realtors will undoubtedly seek to pass similar legislation again next session.
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Legislature and Bulletin Schedule
The Senate is meeting for its final floor period of the session tomorrow. The Assembly met for the last time this session on February 18. Any bills not passed by both houses by tomorrow are dead for this session and will need to be reintroduced next session.
The 2017-2018 legislative session will commence in early January 2017.
This is the last Legislative Bulletin of the 2015-2016 session. The Bulletin will resume publication in January 2017. For the remainder of 2016 we will use the Capitol Buzz to keep you informed of any legislative activity relevant to municipalities.
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