Month: April 2024

Two of Wisconsin’s largest utility companies are asking for about $800 million in rate increases over the next two years.

Last Friday, We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service — both owned by WEC Energy Group — filed applications with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to increase electric and gas rates in 2025 and 2026.

We Energies hopes to increase electric rates by 6.9 percent in 2025 and 4.6 percent in 2026, according to the utility’s application with the PSC. It also requested increases for both of the gas utilities it owns. We Energies’ gas utilities would increase rates by 15 percent and 11.8 percent by 2026. We Energies’ steam utility in downtown Milwaukee also asked for an 8.4 percent rate hike in 2025, but no increase in 2026.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Public Service is requesting an 8.5 percent electric rate increase in 2025 and a 4.9 percent increase in 2026, according to the utility’s application. WPS also requested gas rate increases of 6.8 percent next year and 3.9 percent in 2026.

WEC Energy Group spokesperson Brendan Conway said much of the proposed electric rate increases are tied to construction costs from renewable energy and natural gas projects that have already been approved by the Public Service Commission.

“They approve the project and then years later, once those projects go into service, then that’s when they go into rates,” he said.

Consumer groups like the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group are calling on the Public Service Commission to look for all possible savings as it works through the rate increase process.

Todd Stuart, executive director for the nonprofit Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, said the state’s largest manufacturers pay more for electricity than their peers in other Midwestern states. He said the average monthly electric bill for a large manufacturer in Wisconsin exceeds $1 million.

A 2023 survey of more than 400 Wisconsin manufacturing executives by the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity found 26 percent listed energy costs among their top concerns. “It’s tough for me when we’re competing in world markets, and energy is one of their top three costs of doing business,” Stuart said. “We think it acts like a tax. If you want to move the needle on jobs and economic development, then I think addressing those rates — getting them under control — should be a public policy priority.”

The Public Service Commission will hold public hearings on the rate cases later this year, and could make a decision by November or December.

Rising inflation in March didn’t deter consumers, who continued shopping at a more rapid pace than anticipated, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Retail sales increased 0.7% for the month, according to Census Bureau data that is adjusted for seasonality but not for inflation.

Excluding auto-related receipts, retail sales jumped 1.1%, also well ahead of the estimate for a 0.5% advance.

A rise in gas prices helped push the headline retail sales number higher, with sales up 2.1% on the month at service stations. However, the biggest growth area for the month was online sales, up 2.7%, while miscellaneous retailers saw an increase of 2.1%.

Multiple categories did report declines in sales for the month: Sporting goods, hobbies, musical instruments and books posted a 1.8% decrease, while clothing stores were off 1.6%, and electronics and appliances saw a 1.2% drop.

Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic output so it is critical to continued growth in gross domestic product.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley announced Thursday she won’t run for reelection in 2025.

Bradley, 73, has served on the state’s highest court since 1995 and has been reelected twice during that time. In a statement, Bradley said while her time as justice will end in July 2025, “my dedication to public service remains unwavering.”

“I know I can win re-election, should I run,” Bradley said. “But, it’s just time to pass the torch, bringing fresh perspectives to the court. Upon completion of my third term, I look forward to embarking upon a new chapter in my life, which will include public service that is guided by the same principles of justice, fairness and dedication that have defined my tenure on the court.”

Bradley’s announcement comes as a surprise. A year ago, she had indicated that she would run again after Justice Janet Protaziewicz, a fellow liberal, won an open seat on the court. That election gave liberals a majority on the court for the first time in 15 years.

While the next Supreme Court election won’t be for another year, former Republican Attorney General and Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel has been campaigning since November.

Shortly after Bradley’s announcement, Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor, a former Democratic state lawmaker and lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said she’s considering running for the seat. Last year, she was elected to an open seat on the District IV Court of Appeals.

The Biden administration is urging a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court order that would shut down an oil and gas pipeline crossing the Bad River tribe’s reservation within three years.

Attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice weighed in for the first time as the northern Wisconsin tribe and Canadian energy firm Enbridge have been locked in a years-long legal battle over the fate of the company’s Line 5 pipeline. In 2019, Bad River sued Enbridge in federal court to shut down and remove the pipeline from its reservation.

Last year, U.S. District Judge William Conley ordered the company to pay $5.1 million for trespassing where its pipeline easements expired and shut down Line 5 there by mid-2026. Both Enbridge and Bad River appealed the ruling to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a brief made public Wednesday, the federal government argued Conley was right to find that Enbridge has been trespassing on tribal lands for more than 10 years. Even so, U.S. attorneys said the case should be sent back for the lower court to reconsider both the tribe’s treaty rights and the consequences of shutting down the pipeline on relations between the U.S. and Canada.

“The operation of that pipeline has implications for the trade and diplomatic relationship between the two countries, as well as economic and energy-supply implications,” attorneys wrote in a court filing.

U.S. attorneys also argued a federal judge was wrong in awarding only $5 million to the tribe for Enbridge’s trespass. They note the company has made more than $1 billion in profits tied to Line 5 since its right-of-way easements expired in 2013 on a dozen parcels of the tribe’s land. They say the award does nothing to discourage trespassing and encourages delaying the pipeline’s relocation.

Juli Kellner, an Enbridge spokesperson, said in a statement the company has valid easements under a 1992 agreement to operate Line 5 on the vast majority of land where it crosses the reservation. She said shutting down Line 5 would violate a 1977 treaty between the U.S. and Canada, adding it would negatively impact businesses, communities and millions of people who rely on the pipeline.

Inflation ticked higher in March, according to new Labor Department data released Wednesday. The consumer price index (CPI), a popular measure of inflation, rose 0.4 percent last month and 3.5 percent annually.

The latest numbers come after two months of hotter than expected inflation data. Consumers prices were up 3.2 percent year-over-year in February and 3.1 percent in January.

More than half of the March increase in inflation came from gasoline and shelter prices, two areas with heavy influence on consumer sentiment.

Food prices, however, appear to be flatlining after years of steady increases. Food prices overall rose 0.1 percent in March after staying flat in February. While food bought away from home was 0.3 percent more expensive, groceries prices have been flat for two months and are up just 1.2 percent in the past year.

“This marks the third consecutive strong reading and means that the stalled disinflationary narrative can no longer be called a blip,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, in an analysis.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has rejected a bill that would have allowed 14- and 15-year-olds to work in Wisconsin without a permit.

Currently, workers younger than 16 need a permit from Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development to hold most types of jobs, with the exception of agriculture and domestic work. The application can be filled out online with the sign-off of a parent or guardian.

Republican backers say the bill would have sped up hiring by cutting red tape and making it easier for kids to work.

They noted the bill would not have repealed any workforce safety standards for children. Other regulations such as a limit on how many hours kids under 16 can work, a ban on minors working during school hours and a prohibition on children doing “hazardous” work would remain in place.

“This is a simple bill that takes away a bureaucratic step in our youth working,” Sponsor Rep. Amy Binsfeld, R-Sheboygan, said earlier this year, just before Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Assembly voted to approve the proposal.

But, Democrats and union leaders have argued the change would take away oversight. Evers cited concerns about safety when he vetoed the bill Monday morning during a conference in Madison for Machinists Union District 10.

The proposal had the backing of the National Federation of Independent Business and  Wisconsin Independent Businesses, Inc. The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO opposed it.

In 2017, then- Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill into law that repealed work permit requirements for 16- and 17-year-olds.

A child work permit is $10, and the cost must be covered by an employer. Over the past five years, permit fees have brought in approximately in $288,000 in annual revenue, according to a nonpartisan fiscal analysis. Part of that revenue has paid for one full-time equal rights officer, tasked with investigating labor law violations.

Two influential lawmakers from opposing parties have crafted a deal on legislation designed to strengthen privacy protections for Americans’ personal data.

The sweeping proposal announced Sunday evening would define privacy as a consumer right and create new rules for companies that collect and use personal information. It comes from the offices of Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, both of Washington state. Cantwell chairs the Senate Commerce Committee while McMorris Rodgers leads the House Energy and Commerce Committee. While the proposal has not been formally introduced and remains in draft form, the bipartisan support suggests the bill could get serious consideration.

According to a one-page outline released Sunday, the bill worked out by McMorris Rodgers and Cantwell would strengthen rules requiring consumer consent before a company can collect or transfer certain kinds of information. Companies would have to notify consumers about the details of data collection and retention policies and seek consumer permission for significant changes.

In addition, companies would have to ensure that any algorithms used to analyze personal data aren’t biased, and companies that buy and sell personal data would have to register with the Federal Trade Commission.

Consumers would also have greater control over how their data is used under the measure. One provision of the proposal would allow consumers to opt out of targeted ads — i.e., advertisements sent to them based on their personal data.

A new bureau focused on data privacy would be created within the FTC, which would have the authority to enact new rules as technology changes. Enforcement of the law would fall to the FTC as well as state attorneys general.

If passed, the new standard would preempt most state privacy laws — though it wouldn’t impact certain states’ laws already on the books that protect financial, health or employee data.

Last Friday, Governor Tony Evers Friday signed Assembly Bill 1073, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 213. The act makes several improvements to Wisconsin’s worker’s compensation system as recommended by the Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC).

“This legislation reflects good-faith negotiations between representatives of employers and employees in which both sides made substantial compromises,” said Rachel Ver Velde, WCAC caucus co-chair and associate vice president of government relations at Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. “The final product makes well-conceived and incremental changes to the system which has been the hallmark of Wisconsin’s approach to policymaking in the worker’s compensation system.”

2023 Wisconsin Act 213 includes language to:

• Increase the permanent partial disability weekly rate by $8 for injuries occurring in 2024, on and after the effective date from $430 to $438, and by an additional $8 to $446 for injuries occurring on and after Jan. 1, 2025.
• Allow lump sum payments for permanent partial disability for unaccrued compensation to be paid voluntarily in advance in undisputed claims with no 5% interest credit.
• Incorporate gender neutral language relating to marriage in Wis. Stats. 102.51(1)(a).
• Clarify duties between DWD’s Worker’s Compensation (WC) Division and the Department of Administration’s (DOA) Division of Hearings and Appeals (DHA) with respect to closing cases.
• Provide that the statute limitations begins to run on the date an order is issued by DHA that approves a compromise agreement, and that subsequent claims will not be time-barred except by the applicable statute of limitations.
• Correct citations to mirror federal rehabilitation law.
• Increase the amount of large Uninsured Employer Fund (UEF) claims that require reimbursement from worker’s compensation insurance carriers from $1 million to $2 million.

The Biden administration has abruptly canceled a plan announced last month to purchase up to three million barrels of oil as part of its effort to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The SPR — which Congress established for emergency situations — currently contains 363.6 million barrels of oil, a 43% decline from January 2021 when President Biden took office, federal data shows. Biden began depleting the reserve in late 2021 to combat high fuel prices.

The Department of Energy said that while it remains committed to refilling the SPR, it would pull back its most recent solicitation for oil amid increasing prices. On March 14, DOE’s Office of Petroleum Reserves announced the solicitation for three million barrels of oil to be delivered in August and September to its Bayou Choctaw site in Louisiana, one of four major SPR storage facilities.

When DOE first announced the Bayou Choctaw refill plan last month, it said it would aim to purchase oil priced at $79 per barrel or below. Since then, oil prices have increased, with the U.S. benchmark hitting $85.71 earlier on Wednesday.

Overall, the president ordered DOE to release a total of about 260 million barrels of oil from the SPR in 2021 and 2022. Although the administration has recently initiated the process of refilling the reserve, Republican lawmakers and energy experts have warned its actions make the U.S. vulnerable to short-term supply shocks.

The rules for running elections in Wisconsin have changed after voters approved two constitutional amendments Tuesday that will restrict the use of private money, and consultants, to support election administration.

Both amendments are responses to the use of private funds in the 2020 presidential election.

The prohibition on outside funding means that Wisconsin election workers will only be able to access public funds, and cannot apply for or receive private grant money to support their work.

The amendment that affects election officials states that only legally designated election officials can perform tasks “in the conduct of” election. The nature of those tasks, and the excluded workers — which may include people who work in municipal clerk offices but are not sworn officials — is likely to require court clarification, legal experts say. Lower courts have previously found that election officials may turn to outside experts for that work.