2025-2026 Legislative Bulletin

May 28, 2025

In this edition of the League's Legislative Bulletin, you'll find:

1. Five Weeks Remain Until the MOE Reporting Deadline
2. Recently Introduced Legislation of Municipal Importance
3. Hearing this Morning on Rehiring Annuitants
4. Agency Anecdotes on Insurance Premium Rates and Webinar Recordings
5. Local Resolutions Calling for Legislative Action 

Five Weeks Remain Until the MOE Reporting Deadline

Act 12, the historic investment in state aid to local governments, required that all city, village, town, and county governments meet annual Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirements in order to maintain their full shared revenue payments. Failure to comply could lead to a 15% reduction in payments. 2025 marks the first report where these new MOE requirements are in effect, with the 2024 MOE report establishing a baseline which local governments must meet in their 2025 report.

The MOE requires that local governments certify to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) that they have maintained a level of service in law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services that is at least equivalent to that provided in the previous year. Details on how to demonstrate the level of service and what criteria must be met are available on the League’s website.

Those persons in charge of providing law enforcement, fire, and EMS must complete the appropriate certification form and provide it to the municipal clerk by June 16. The municipal clerk then has until July 1 to submit their complete report online to DOR. Certification forms, form instructions, and a frequently asked questions page are available on DOR’s website. Additionally, page five of DOR’s Spring/Summer 2025 State & Local Finance Newsletter covers the basics of MOE reporting.

In 2024, the League co-hosted a webinar with DOR on the MOE requirements. The recording may be found on YouTube and the webinar presentation is available on the League’s website. Today at noon, DOR will be hosting another webinar on MOE reporting requirements which will include step-by-step instructions on how to complete the MOE forms. A link to join this webinar on Zoom is available here. The recording of this webinar will later be posted on DOR’s website.

With less than three weeks until fire and police chiefs or other relevant parties must provide their certification forms to municipal clerks and less than five weeks until municipal clerks must submit their complete MOE report to DOR, be certain your municipality isn’t waiting until the last minute to finish this annual reporting. 

Recently Introduced Legislation of Municipal Importance

The following bill was recently introduced in the Wisconsin State Legislature and has been added to the list of those being monitored by the League. Unless otherwise indicated, no formal position has been taken on this proposal to date. 

• Senate Bill (SB) 278: Community-Oriented Policing Grant Program - Sens. Wanggaard (R-Racine) and Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) and Reps. Spiros (R-Marshfield) and Stubbs (D-Madison) - The Community-Oriented Policing (COP) House Programs allows municipalities with a population of over 30,000 to qualify for planning and acquisition grants to purchase homes that will serve as gathering and interaction spaces between law enforcement and the public. This program was created in the 2021-2022 Legislative Session and initially was set to sunset in the next biennium. 2023 Wisconsin Act 19, the 2023-2025 State Budget, delayed that sunset until July 1, 2025. This legislation further delays the COP House Programs sunset until July 1, 2027, allowing grants to continue for two more years if funding is provided in the 2025-2027 Budget. 

⭐If you would like to contact your legislators on any bills mentioned in the Legislative Bulletin, you can find contact information for all legislators here. To find out which legislators represent your community, use the "Find Your Legislator" function on the right side of the page. 

Hearing this Morning on Rehiring Annuitants

Starting this morning at 10:00am, the Assembly Committee on Local Government will be holding an executive session and public hearing. For those interested in watching, the hearings will be livestreamed on WisconsinEye.

In the executive session, the committee will vote on two bills the League supports. This includes Assembly Bill (AB) 187 which provides awards of $500 to prospective volunteer firefighters that complete their initial training requirements and AB 217 which doubles the bidding thresholds for public construction projects, except road construction projects, from $25,000 to $50,000 and indexes all thresholds to inflation.

In the public hearing, the committee will hear three bills, including one supported by the League. AB 196 would allow Wisconsin Retirement System-participating employers (i.e., local and state government) to rehire annuitants (i.e., retirees) without the requirement to suspend their annuity payments. Certain conditions must be met to rehire the annuitant, including a maximum term of employment of five years. 

Agency Anecdotes

Group Insurance Board Premium Rates

The Group Insurance Board of the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) set the premium rates for the 2026 plan year for the State of Wisconsin Group Health Insurance Program (GHIP) during a meeting last week. These rates include medical, pharmacy, and dental as well as the stabilization charge and administrative costs.

For the local program covering employers and employees of local governments, the average non-Medicare premium increase will be 11.5%. Preliminary estimates showed a 13.4% premium increase that was able to be negotiated lower. More information on the 2026 GHIP premium rate increases is available on ETF’s website. 

Recent Webinar Recordings and Materials

Last week, two webinars relevant to local officials were held by two state agencies. If you were unable to attend, recordings and materials are or will soon be available on the agencies’ websites.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) held an hour-long MyDORGov Refresher on Wednesday, May 21. This webinar covered the basics of this filing portal used by municipal clerks, treasurers, and assessors and also discussed recent enhancements to this online system. The webinar recording will be posted soon on DOR’s website.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) held a four-hour Statewide Local Program Symposium on Wednesday, May 22. This webinar covered the basics of transportation funding and a myriad of updates relevant to these programs. The webinar recording is available on YouTube and presentation materials will be posted soon on WisDOT’s website. 

Local Resolutions Calling for Legislative Action

On occasion, municipal governing bodies will pass resolutions calling on the State Legislature or Congress at the federal level to address an issue of local importance. State or federal law may be impeding progress, a change may be needed to realize community potential, or a funding allocation may be required to benefit your municipality. Often, these issues originate locally but have a broader regional or statewide significance.

If your municipality is contemplating passing a resolution calling on action from the state or federal government, please consider having the municipal clerk distribute that resolution to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. This can be done formally by directing the clerk in the resolution language to distribute to the League or informally by asking the clerk to send it to league@lwm-info.org.

Ensuring the League hears what state and federal issues are at the forefront of governing bodies’ minds will help us best respond to legislative inquiries and direct our lobbying resources. 

Email questions or comments to:

Toni Herkert, Government Affairs Director, therkert@lwm-info.org

Evan Miller, Government Affairs Specialist, emiller@lwm-info.org