Brian Dake

With one challenge pending to some of Gov. Tony Evers’ partial vetoes in the most recent budget, the state Supreme Court has agreed to hear a separate suit seeking to overturn two vetoes issued by former Gov. Scott Walker.

Those partial vetoes Walker issued in the 2017-19 budget include one that’s been dubbed the “thousand-year veto.” That’s because Walker used his partial veto authority to turn a legislative deadline of Dec. 31, 2018, into December 3018.

The lawsuit, filed by Wisconsin Small Businesses United Inc. and five citizens, asked the state Supreme Court to directly take its suit and weigh in on the constitutionality of Walker’s moves. The court agreed earlier this month to hear the case and announced its decision yesterday afternoon.

The plaintiffs argue the Supreme Court has found that governors can strike individual digits in monetary figures included in appropriation bills. But it hasn’t said they may strike digits in dates, creating new ones beyond what the Legislature had intended, the suit argues.

One of the vetoes deals with an exemption to school district levy limits for energy efficiency projects. The Legislature intended a one-year moratorium on the exemption that would’ve made it unavailable for 2018. Instead, Walker pushed it back to 3018.

The second dealt with a 2013 law to allow retailers to claim a deduction or earn a refund of sales taxes on some bad debts. It was originally to take effect in 2015, but was pushed back in the 2015-17 budget. The 2017-19 budget then included another delay, this time until July 1, 2018. Walker’s veto pushed it back an additional 60 years.

In October, the court agreed to take original jurisdiction in a challenge the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty filed over four of Evers’ budget vetoes. That includes one that changed registration fees for heavy trucks and eliminated a grant program for school buses, instead directing the money to electric vehicle charging stations.

Recent Wisconsin Policy Forum research has shown the state’s working age population is shrinking while many growing occupations require higher levels of education. In a new analysis of recently released data from the state, we now find areas of concern with regard to Wisconsin’s performance on an important education metric related to this challenge.

According to data from the state Department of Public Instruction, the share of high school students statewide whose ACT subject test scores indicate they are prepared for college courses in English, math, and science declined between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Wisconsin’s state average composite score was 19.6 for 2018-19, which is a slight decline from the state average of 19.8 the year before. This modest decrease, however, is masking potentially significant declines within each subject area that are relevant to students’ “college readiness.”

The ACT establishes college readiness benchmarks in each of four subject areas, which indicate that a student has a “50% chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher” in the corresponding first-year college course.

Those benchmarks are a score of 18 (out of a possible 36) on the English section; 22 on the math section; 22 on the reading section; and 23 on the science section. There is no benchmark for the composite score.

Yesterday, Governor Tony Evers,  joined by Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld, signed Executive Order #67 creating the Governor’s Task Force on Student Debt.

This task force will be chaired by Secretary Blumenfeld and will be tasked with assessing student debt in Wisconsin and providing long-term strategies to reduce education-related debt, prevent abusive practices by loan companies, and improve financial literacy education.

“For too many Wisconsinites additional education or job training is out of reach. We need to address college affordability and ensure that a great education doesn’t come at the cost of decades of crippling debt,” said Gov. Evers.

“Student debt is preventing folks from buying a car, starting a business, saving for retirement, and starting a family, and that is ultimately holding back our state and our economy. Student debt isn’t going away any time soon, but this task force will be a meaningful first step in addressing this issue in our state.”

Wisconsin’s tax season, like the federal tax season, officially began on January 27. Filing activity will be brisk, particularly the first few weeks and the last few weeks of the season.

This year’s individual income tax filing deadline is Wednesday, April 15. DOR reminds taxpayers not to file until they have all their tax documents. Having to file an amended return later will significantly delay a refund.

“Of the more than three million individual income tax returns the department received last year, just under 88 percent were filed electronically,” says Wisconsin Department of Revenue Secretary Peter Barca. “We would love to see that number at 100 percent because electronic filing is more secure, accurate and almost always results in a faster refund.”

People may use the free and accurate Wisconsin e-file online tool to file their state income taxes, or they may choose to use third-party software from an approved vendor. Like other online tools, Wisconsin e-file does the required math to prevent errors and allows direct deposit or withdrawal from a bank account.

Taxpayers will find helpful resources available on DOR’s website at www.revenue.wi.gov including:

• a list of free tax help sites across Wisconsin
• an online application that checks your refund status
• a free mobile app available through Apple and Android app stores
• DOR’s video center, with information on e-filing, free tax help and tax credits

As in previous years, DOR cannot issue refunds until March 1, if it cannot verify wage and withholding information from employers.

Several state officials toured rural businesses across Wisconsin on Friday.

This comes after Governor Tony Evers announced he was making a push to support and enhance rural communities and the rural workforce.

“Wisconsin only does well only when all of Wisconsin does well,” said Joel Brennan, Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary. “Our competition isn’t amongst one part of the state versus another or necessarily amongst our region, we’re competing globally. We need to do what we can as a state to ensure that they can be as successful as possible.”

The state secretaries gained valuable insight and perspective from rural businesses to come up with possible solutions in the future to address issues faced.

“Some are having trouble finding growth because of a lack of workforce, we’re finding challenges because we need new housing and better healthcare, so all around the state we’re seeing a repetition of issues,” said Missy Hughes, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Secretary.

To help support and expand the rural workforce, the Office of Rural Propsperity will be created under the WEDC.

“The idea is to have a one stop shop for communities to come to us and say we’re looking at this project, or we’ve got this idea,” Hughes said. “Then we can bring in the force of the rest of the departments of the whole state government and figure out how to make that idea come to fruition.”

Listening sessions will take place throughout the spring and summer, with hopes of having a plan of action set in stone by the fall.

Wisconsin tax collections are expected to come in more than $818 million above projections made last summer, an increase reported Thursday that will fuel the push to make an election year tax cut.

Farming and nonpartisan redistricting initiatives took center stage at Democrat Governor Tony Ever’s second annual State of the State address on Wednesday night, a speech that also touched on climate change, criminal justice reform, education, and the launch of a task force tackling student debt.

After about 800 dairy farms closed their doors in Wisconsin in 2019, and one-third of the state’s farms closed between 2011 and 2018, Evers announced a three-pronged approach to address the state’s most notable industry and help struggling small and mid-sized family farms.

Calling a special session of the legislature next week to take up farming legislation, Evers noted, “We’ve heard people who’ve said there’s no place for small farms anymore—they ought to go big or bust.”

“Well, they’re wrong. They don’t know Wisconsin,” Evers said, to cheers from lawmakers.

The plan includes legislation to create the Wisconsin Initiative for Dairy Exports to increase the total exports of dairy products to the United States to 20% of the milk supply by 2024. Evers also announced expansion of the Farm Center, added staffing to UW-Extension, and creating the Blue Ribbon Commission on Rural Prosperity that would include industry experts from around the state to plan long-term solutions for the state’s Dairyland.

The Wisconsin state Senate has passed a bill dealing with – but not closing – the dark store loophole. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) says the measure – making the tax assessment appeal process easier – was one of three bills to come out of a study committee.

“This is a complicated, tedious issue,” Fitzgerald said.

The loophole allows big-box retailers to have their property assessments based on those of vacant competitors. Democrats like Dave Hansen of Green Bay are impatient.

“How many sessions is it going to take to get this passed, before we start looking out for the residential taxpayers of this state?”

Senator Janis Ringhand, (D-Evansville) who served on that study committee, said none of the bills that came out of it, including the one passed on Tuesday, actually close the loophole.

Both the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly plan to meet in floor sessions on Tuesday — one of only a handful of days the state Legislature is expected to be in session in 2020.

Several bills before the Senate and Assembly could lead to work for contractors. Among them are proposals to encourage the construction of affordable housing in Wisconsin, rid child-care centers of lead and let architects keep their professional credentials after retirement.

One proposal before the state Assembly would set aside $10 million to encourage the construction of affordable housing in rural areas.

So-called workforce housing is one source of construction demand that’s still struggling to recover from the recession more than a decade ago. The lack of these sorts of developments has caused frustration for employers in rural places and been blamed for the fact that rent prices have risen at a faster pace than wages in recent years.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 544, would direct the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority to establish a $10 million fund to support affordable housing projects in rural Wisconsin.

The state Senate will separately take up legislation passed out of committee earlier this month to require child-care centers to rid themselves of water sources tainted with lead.

It’s part of a pair of bills called the SCHOOL Acts — an acronym standing for  Supporting Children’s Health Ousting Outdated Lead. The proposals would require school districts and private child-care centers to identify and remove lead pipes and similar infrastructure. The bills come after lawmakers have been grappling for months with how to deal with widespread lead contamination.