News of the Day

In a last-ditch effort to revive beneficial ownership information reporting requirements for small businesses, the federal government is asking the Supreme Court to reverse an injunction on the Corporate Transparency Act ordered just days before the reporting deadline.

On December 31, 2024, the U.S. Attorney General and the Department of Treasury petitioned the Supreme Court to lift a December 26 Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals injunction that takes small-business owners off the hook to file a beneficial ownership information report.

In its Supreme Court application, the federal government argues that the injunction will inflict irreparable harm. Conversely, reversing the injunction will have a minimal impact on small businesses, as beneficial ownership information reporting is fairly quick, simple and does not include any fees.

“(The injunction) prevents the government from executing a duly enacted act of Congress, impedes efforts to prevent financial crime and protect national security, undermines the United States’ ability to press other countries to improve their own anti-money laundering regimes and severely disrupts the ongoing implementation of the act,” the government said. “By contrast, the act imposes only minimal burdens on respondents.”

Several outcomes are possible. If the Supreme Court punts on the case or rules in favor of the plaintiffs, the beneficial ownership information report injunction remains in place. The high court could either lift the injunction in its entirety or apply it to only the plaintiffs, in which case new deadlines for reporting will likely be established.

In the Fifth Circuit, the merits panel faces a similar task. It could either reverse the district court’s finding and lift the injunction or affirm the decision and keep the injunction in place as the case plays out. The appellate court could also choose to narrow the injunction. That decision is not expected until spring.

Wisconsin state lawmakers were inaugurated Monday to commence a new session — the first after legislative districts were redrawn, shifting the political parties’ share of power in both chambers.

Republicans still hold majorities in both chambers, as they have since 2011, but by their narrowest margins in that same timeframe. On Monday, 54 Republicans and 45 Democrats were sworn into the Assembly, while about half of the Senate was sworn into new four-year terms, leaving an 18-15 Republican majority in that chamber.

In speeches in both chambers, Republicans pledged to use their majorities to push for tax cuts paid for by the state’s surplus, and to push back on Democratic attempts to spend that surplus instead.

In the Assembly on Monday, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley administered the oath of office to representatives. All 99 ran for election or reelection under the new maps in November. And in the Senate at the same time, Waukesha County Judge Maria Lazar swore in 16 senators, those who represent the even-numbered districts that were up for election or reelection in November.

The labor union representing some 45,000 U.S. dockworkers reached a tentative agreement with port employers on Wednesday, averting a strike at East and Gulf Coast ports later this month.

In a joint statement, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) announced they reached an agreement on a six-year Master Contract, which gives the latter the ability to ratify the terms of the final contract.

“We are pleased to announce that ILA and USMX have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year ILA-USMX Master Contract, subject to ratification, thus averting any work stoppage on January 15, 2025,” the two sides said in a joint statement. “This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coast ports – making them safer and more efficient and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.”

The details of the tentative agreement will not be released in order to allow ILA rank-and-file members to review and approve the final document.

Both parties signed a tentative deal in October — which gave workers a 62% wage hike over six years — to end a three-day strike, but left issues related to automation unresolved.

But the two sides were still at an impasse over automation leading into the most recent round of negotiations. If a deal had not been reached and a second strike were to happen, the wage agreement agreed to in principle that ended the first strike would be taken off the table, and both sides would be back at square one.

Two candidates have emerged as the contenders for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court after a filing deadline Tuesday evening.

Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who formerly represented Democrats and Planned Parenthood as an attorney, and Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge and former Republican attorney general, are running to fill a seat that will be vacated after liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley retires.

While Wisconsin’s highest court and the elections to fill its seats are officially nonpartisan, the 2023 election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz gave the court a 4-3 liberal majority for the first time in 15 years.

Now Crawford seeks to maintain that balance, while Schimel seeks to swing the court back to conservatives..

The election will take place April 1 and Bradley’s term expires July 31. Whoever wins in April will likely decide the shape of the court until 2026, when conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley will be up for reelection.

A new projection from the state found Wisconsin’s population is expected to decline by nearly 200,000 residents by 2050.

That’s largely due to declining birth rates and the aging of baby boomers, according to a Wisconsin Department of Administration report.

In 2020, the state’s population was 5,893,718. By 2050, that number is expected to decrease to 5,710,120 — a decline of 183,598 residents. The report found the decline is largely due to the “changing age distribution” in Wisconsin.

The projection expects the state’s population to remain stable from 2020 to 2030. It’s then expected to decrease around 1 percent from 2030 to 2040, and just over 2 percent from 2040 to 2050.

If the state were to maintain its population, it would “require a large unforeseen shift,” according to the report. That could be a “large decrease in mortality; a large increase in fertility,” or an increase in new migration to the state.

John Johnson, a researcher at Marquette University Law School, called the projection “sobering.”

“Anyone who’s looked at birth statistics knows that people in Wisconsin are having fewer and fewer babies, and we’re not a hot spot for migration,” Johnson told WPR.

Wisconsin’s population growth has stalled in recent years. A 2021 report from Forward Analytics found that from 2010 to 2020, Wisconsin’s population increased by 3.6 percent. That’s the smallest increase in any 10-year period in the state’s history, according to the Forward Analytics report.

Governor Tony Evers is once again asking for changes that would give citizens a direct say in whether to amend state law or Wisconsin’s Constitution. Currently, only Wisconsin’s Legislature can place proposed constitutional amendments on statewide ballots.

“Republican lawmakers have repeatedly worked to put constitutional amendments on the ballot that Republicans drafted, Republicans passed, all while Republicans refused to give that same power to the people that we serve,” Evers said. “Republican lawmakers shouldn’t be able to ignore the will of the people and then prevent the people from having a voice when their legislators fail to listen.”

Evers is asking the GOP-led Legislature to pave the way for an expansion of that process, starting with language that could be included in Wisconsin’s biennial budget.

Under the changes proposed by Evers, citizens in Wisconsin could gather signatures to bring proposals to the ballot. That would allow Wisconsinites to change state law or Wisconsin’s constitution with a statewide majority vote.

Changing Wisconsin’s referendum process would likely be a lengthy endeavor that would require a constitutional change. That means both chambers of the state Legislature would have to vote in two consecutive legislative sessions to place the measure on Wisconsin ballots in an upcoming election. The measure would then take effect if it’s approved by a majority of voters statewide.

Marshfield Clinic Health System has joined the largest rural health system in the United States.

The central Wisconsin-based health clinic announced the completed merger with Sanford Health on Thursday, nearly six months after it was first reported. Marshfield Clinic will become a region of Sanford Health, according to a press release, and the Marshfield brand “will continue to be predominant” at locations in the region. Sanford is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and has locations across the Dakotas, as well as in Iowa, Minnesota and other states.

According to the press release, Marshfield Clinic patients will continue to receive care from the same providers with no immediate changes.

Marshfield Clinic had previously attempted to merge with Duluth-based Essentia Health before the partnership fell through a year ago.

Wisconsin has seen a number of health care system mergers in recent years, following a national trend of rapid consolidation over the last decade. Researchers have found hospital mergers tend to increase health care prices, while having a negligible effect on patient care.

During the first nine months of 2024, lenders wrote off more than $46 billion in seriously delinquent credit card loans, according to a report from the Financial Times citing data analyzed by BankRegData. That’s an increase of 50% from the first three quarters of 2023, and the highest since 2010.

The New York Federal Reserve reported last month that Americans’ credit card debt hit another record high in September, climbing to $1.17 trillion during the third quarter and marking the highest level on record in Fed data dating back to 2003.

The report showed total household debt also climbed to a new high of $17.94 trillion, along with balances on mortgages ($12.59 trillion), auto loans ($1.64 trillion) and student loan balances ($1.61 trillion).

In a call discussing the report following its release, New York Fed researchers discussed the growth in debt balances across the board, the persistent and “concerning” growth in auto loan and credit card delinquencies, and how stresses and high delinquency rates are concentrated among younger borrowers.

“We’ve seen notably elevated flows into delinquency, particularly for credit cards as well as auto loans during the past few years,” one researcher said. “This is something that we have been pointing to as a reason for concern — something to keep an eye on.”

Holiday spending surged in 2024, blowing past expectations and outpacing customer purchases over the gift-buying season last year, according to data released on Thursday by Mastercard SpendingPulse, which gauges in-store and online retail sales.

Retail sales climbed 3.8% from November 1 to December 24 compared with the same period last year, Mastercard SpendingPulse data showed. The boost in spending exceeded a Mastercard SpendingPulse estimate of 3.2%, while outperforming last year’s growth of 3.1%. The retail sales data excludes automotive purchases.

Jewelry sales grew more than any other product category, climbing 4% compared to last year, the data showed. Spending on apparel and electronics also climbed at a solid pace.

The shopping surge was most pronounced online, where spending grew 6.7% compared to the same period last year, the data showed.