Recently Introduced Legislation of Municipal Importance

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

• Senate Bill (SB) 711: Health Insurance Reimbursement of EMS - Sen. Testin (R-Stevens Point) and Rep. Kurtz (R-Wonewoc) - This legislation creates requirements for a health insurance plan’s reimbursement of ambulance service providers by creating a tiered system regulating the rate provided. Specifically, the rate provided must be, in order: 1) the rate agreed to by the plan and provider; 2) a rate set by the local unit of government; and 3) a rate that is 350% of the Medicare published rate for that geographic area. The bill also sets a 30-day deadline for responding to claims with either payment or notifying of a defect in the claim.

• SB 702: Battery Stewardship Program - Sen. Tomczyk (R-Mosinee) and Rep. Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) - In response to an increase in the number of lithium ion battery fires in the waste and recycling streams, this legislation creates a battery stewardship program in Wisconsin where certain covered batteries would be banned from landfill disposal beginning in 2028 and instead must be properly disposed of safe containers at collection facilities established by statewide collection organizations. The collection sites could be local government facilities which may receive grants from the statewide collection organization to facilitate these sites.

• SB 696: Changes to Tax Incremental Financing Law - Sen. Spreitzer (D-Beloit) and Rep. Anderson (D-Beloit) - As part of a larger Democratic local government package (explained in detail in the League's Summary of Bills Introduced below), this legislation makes several notable revisions to tax incremental financing (TIF) law. First, it increases the equalized value cap to establish a TIF from 12% to 18%. Second, it reverses recent changes to the local levy limit adjustments during a TIF’s lifespan and at closure. Third, it eliminates the 35% threshold, with exceptions, on the use of TIF for newly platted residential development. 

Agency Actions

2025 Levy Limit Worksheets Due Next Monday

The 2025 Municipal Levy Limit Worksheet is due next Monday, December 15th. While many of your municipalities may have already completed this important worksheet that assists in setting your allowable levy limit, if it’s not already submitted, please be certain to use the MyDORGov platform in the next week to complete your 2025 submission. As described and linked in the September 8th edition of the Wheeler Report Bulletin, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) has a number of resources to assist municipalities in filing their worksheet. 

Reminder on Transition of State-Assessed Towers

On December 1st, DOR shared a number of links to resources on the transition of hundreds of state-assessed towers that are moving back to local assessment after their purchase by a tower company. This is the second communication by DOR on this transition following a November 12th email that was shared in a previous edition of the Legislative Bulletin. More information on determining whether your municipality has one of these towers and whether that tower is exempt from taxation may be found in DOR’s email which was posted on their website.