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Evers Will Not Seek a Third Term
Governor Evers released “A Love Letter from Me to Kathy and My Family – and to You, Wisconsin” where he announced “I will not be running for a third term.”
Proposal to Change Reporting for WEDC Grants and Loans
Rep. Dave Armstrong (R-Rice Lake) and Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point) are circulating a proposal (LRB-3099) which would change reporting requirements for recipients of economic development grants and loans. The Legislative Reference Bureau analysis says:
Under current law, a recipient of a grant or loan of at least $100,000 from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) must provide WEDC an audited schedule of expenditures within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year in which grant or loan funds were expended. This bill makes the following changes to the reporting requirement:
- Increases from $100,000 to $500,000 the grant or loan threshold for which the recipient must submit a schedule of expenditures.
- Changes the deadline for submission from 120 days after the end of the fiscal year in which grant or loan funds were expended to 120 days after the end of the fiscal year in which the program expenditures are completed.
- Exempts a recipient that is a local governmental unit or a university in the University of Wisconsin System from the schedule of expenditures requirement if the recipient a) includes the grant or loan funds in its current audit practices and, b) no later than 120 days after the end of the program period, submits documentation of the recipient’s standard annual audit for every fiscal year in which grant or loan funds were expended. The bill defines “local governmental unit” to mean a city, village, town, county, special purpose district, or federally recognized American Indian tribe or band in this state.
According to the cosponsorship memo, a recipient of a WEDC loan or grant of at least $100,000, including public-sector recipients, must submit an audited schedule of expenditures (SOE) to WEDC within 120 days of the end of each fiscal year in which the funds were spent. The memo claims “WEDC has found that the current requirements create inefficiencies and disincentives to participation. For example, 25% of SOEs due each year are submitted late, and 56% of late SOEs belonged to public recipients. Furthermore, the costs to recipients of annual audits by CPAs discourage some potential recipients for applying for loans and grants in the first place, particularly for smaller loans and grants.”
The proposal would make the following changes:
- It raises the SOE threshold from $100,000 to $500,000
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It changes the SOE deadline to 120 days after the end of the fiscal year in which the expenditures were completed (as opposed to after each fiscal year in which expenditures are made).
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It exempts local government units and UW schools from the SOE requirement if the grant and loan funds are included in the recipient’s current audit practices and the recipient provides documentation of its standard annual audits to WEDC within 120 days of the end of the program period.
LRB-3099 Reporting Requirements (Rep. David Armstrong) Reporting requirements for recipients of economic development grants and loans. Deadline: Friday, August 1, 2025 4:30pm
Artificial Intelligence - The Next Big Thing
President Trump signed and released a new Action Plan to address AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the United States. His proposal has three pillars: Accelerating AI Innovation, Building American AI Infrastructure, and Leading in International AI Diplomacy and Security. Some of the policy actions which could impact state and local governments could include:
Accelerate AI Adopting in Government
- Formalize the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Council (CAIOC) as the primary venue for interagency coordination and collaboration on AI adoption
- Create an AI procurement toolbox managed by the General Services Administration (GSA), in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) , that facilitates uniformity across the Federal enterprise to the greatest extent practicable. This system would allow any Federal agency to easily choose among multiple models in a manner compliant with relevant privacy, data governance, and transparency laws.
- Mandate that all Federal agencies ensure—to the maximum extent practicable—that all employees whose work could benefit from access to frontier language models have access to, and appropriate training for, such tools.
- Convene, under the auspices of OMB, a cohort of agencies with High Impact Service Providers to pilot and increase the use of AI to improve the delivery of services to the public.
Create Streamlined Permitting for Data Centers, Semiconductor Manufacturing Facilities, and Energy Infrastructure while Guaranteeing Security
- Establish new Categorical Exclusions under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to cover data center-related actions that normally do not have a significant effect on the environment.
- Expand the use of the FAST-41 process to cover all data center and data center energy projects eligible under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015.
- Explore the need for a nationwide Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for data centers, and, if adopted, ensure that this permit does not require a Pre-Construction Notification and covers development sites consistent with the size of a modern AI data center.
- Expedite environmental permitting by streamlining or reducing regulations promulgated under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and other relevant related laws.
- Make Federal lands available for data center construction and the construction of power generation infrastructure for those data centers by directing agencies with significant land portfolios to identify sites suited to large-scale development.
- Maintain security guardrails to prohibit adversaries from inserting sensitive inputs to this infrastructure.
- Expand efforts to apply AI to accelerate and improve environmental reviews, such as through expanding the number of agencies participating in DOE’s PermitAI project.
Develop a Grid to Match the Pace of AI Innovation
- Stabilize the grid of today as much as possible.
- Optimize existing grid resources as much as possible.
- Prioritize the interconnection of reliable, dispatchable power sources as quickly as possible and embrace new energy generation sources at the technological frontier (e.g., enhanced geothermal, nuclear fission, and nuclear fusion).
- Create a strategic blueprint for navigating the complex energy landscape of the 21st century.
Train a Skilled Workforce for AI Infrastructure
- Partner with state and local governments and workforce system stakeholders to support the creation of industry-driven training programs that address workforce needs tied to priority AI infrastructure occupations.
(The entire proposal has 29 action points total over the three pillars.)
Last year, the Wisconsin Legislative Council Study Committee on the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence in Wisconsin met six times to learn more about AI in Wisconsin, and discuss what should, or should not, be done to regulate AI in Wisconsin. The Committee’s final recommendations were published in February 2025. Those recommendations included:
Instead of Regulating AI, Focus on Data
- The study committee recommends that instead of focusing on regulating the emerging technology that is AI, the Legislature should focus on ensuring that data, the raw material that powers AI, remains private and the consumer protected.
Avoid Comprehensive AI Legislation and Prioritize High-Risk Areas
- The study committee recommends that the Legislature should learn from the experiences of other states and avoid the potential overreach of comprehensive AI legislation and should instead prioritize high-risk areas susceptible to exploitation or abuse.
Ensure that Existing Laws Apply to AI Models
- The study committee recommends that the Legislature should ensure that existing laws apply to AI models in the same way that those laws apply to individuals but should avoid creating duplicative statutes that unnecessarily single out AI.
Ensure that Existing Programs Include AI and Work to Address and Rural-Urban Disparity
- The study committee recommends that the Legislature should ensure that programs related to education and workforce development, such as Fast Forward, have a scope that is broad enough to include AI upskilling, training, and education; are funded accordingly; and work to address any disparity in access between rural and urban communities.
Consider Permanent Body to Review Emerging Technologies
- The study committee recommends that the Legislature should consider establishing a permanent study committee, new legislative standing committee, or inter-branch commission to review emerging technologies, including AI, and make legislative recommendations regarding the same.
Examine and Invest in Technology that Will Assist with Public Safety
- The study committee recommends that the Legislature should, as AI technology advances, examine and invest in technology powered by AI that will assist with public safety, such as gun detection software.
Direct Executive Branch to Promulgate Rules and Provide Legislative Oversight
- The study committee recommends that the Legislature should direct the Executive Branch to promulgate administrative rules to establish clear, consistent guiding principles for state-level AI governance and to provide the Legislature with oversight regarding the state’s procurement, development, and use of AI.
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