2025-2026 Legislative Bulletin | |
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Innovation Planning Grants' Deadline Extended
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) has announced that the application period for the Innovation Planning Grants will now be extended until April 30! Innovation Planning Grants are available to any municipality with a population under 5,000 to explore the transfer of one or more allowable services to another entity. Grants of up to $100,000 are available for applicants, with a total of $3 million available.
To date, 70 applications have been received by DOR. Additionally, 14 awards have been provided for a total of $569,059. To learn more about the Innovation Planning Grants, including the application process, eligible expenses, and allowable services, please visit DORâs website and watch this webinar hosted by the League.
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Comprehensive Planning Explored in Hearing
On Thursday, January 27, the League was invited to speak at the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estateâs Informational Hearing on Comprehensive Planning. Toni Herkert, the Leagueâs Government Affairs Director, delivered testimony and shared survey results from the League. Toni was joined by Steve Schaer, Director of City Planning and Patrick Schloss, Executive Director of Economic Development from the City of West Allis. While exploring the issue more broadly, the hearing was primarily focused on Wisconsinâs housing shortage and how comprehensive planning, particularly the housing section, may be a valuable tool to encourage more housing development. ï»ż
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Some thank yous are due. First, thank you to Chair Representative Rob Brooks (R-Saukville), Vice-Chair Representative Dave Murphy (R-Greenville), Ranking Member Representative Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee), and members of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estate for listening to the successes and challenges of comprehensive planning from a municipal perspective and asking some important questions. | |
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Second, thank you to Steve and Patrick for spending most of the day at the Capitol to discuss planning and economic development in West Allis and how their recently updated comprehensive plan has been applied to attract additional businesses and residents to the city. They are doing some great redevelopment work in this landlocked community! Last, but certainly not least, thank you to the 154 municipal officials who took the time to respond to our comprehensive planning survey. The information provided was immensely valuable to the League and the committee members. | |
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Recently Introduced Bills of Municipal Importance
The following bills were 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.
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Senate Bill (SB) 65: Impoundment of Vehicles Used in Reckless Driving Offenses â Sen. Wanggaard (R-Racine) and Rep. Donovan (R-Greenfield) â 2023 Wisconsin Act 1 allowed local governments, by ordinance, to impound vehicles used in certain reckless driving offenses if the vehicle is owned by the driver who committed the offense and if that driver has previously committed similar offenses and did not pay in full any fines associated with that offense. This legislation allows the impounding of any vehicle, regardless of ownership, until all fines are paid. Law enforcement must attempt to determine if a vehicle was stolen, and if it was, must release the vehicle to its owner without any impoundment fees or charges.
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SB 64: Penalties for Harm to Police and Fire Dogs â Sen. Wanggaard (R-Racine) and Rep. Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) â This legislation increases the criminal penalties associated with injuring or killing any animal used by a law enforcement department or fire department to perform official duties. Penalties for actions taken resulting in injury to the animal are raised from a Class I to a Class H Felony, and actions taken resulting in the death of the animal are raised from a Class H to a Class G Felony.
For additional proposals introduced in the past two weeks, see the full League Summary here.
ï»żâIf you would like to contact your legislators on any bills mentioned in the 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.
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Watch for Legislator Listening Sessions
As the biennial budget process kicks off and the legislative session ramps up in the Wisconsin State Capitol, legislators often use this time to hold in-district listening sessions to hear directly from constituents. These listening sessions are a valuable opportunity to have one-on-one engagement with your state legislators and discuss issues important to municipalities statewide or localized issues important to your municipality.
Each legislator organizes and announces their own listening sessions. If youâre interested in attending, you should monitor their e-newsletters, website, and social media pages for these announcements. To find your legislator and their different forms of communication, visit the Legislatureâs website. You may also choose to contact their office by phone or email and ask if theyâre hosting any upcoming listening sessions. If you have a local newspaper or other local press, these listening sessions may be promoted in print or on their websites as well.
Many listening sessions are hosted in local government buildings such as city or village halls or other municipal buildings, and some of you may have helped to facilitate these events in the past. If youâre interested in hosting a legislative listening session, email or call your legislatorsâ offices and tell them youâd be happy to host a listening session. Even if your municipal building is not chosen as an event location, this offer will help to further strengthen the partnership between municipal officials and state legislators.
Finally, if you want to attend a listening session but are unsure what to discuss, please reference the Leagueâs 2025-2026 Legislative Agenda. Each of our five pillars has information and insights that may help to spark ideas of local municipal concerns. For additional details on any information in the five pillars or for any other questions, please contact the Leagueâs Government Affairs team at the email addresses listed at the bottom of this Bulletin.
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Agency Anecdotes
Comments on the Multi-Discharger Variance
Readers of the Bulletin may recall a section of the December 4, 2024 edition discussing comments submitted by the League to the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) on the phosphorus multi-discharger variance (MDV). This unique and important tool allows eligible wastewater utilities up to 20 years to comply with their ratcheted phosphorus discharge standards in exchange for payments that allow nonpoint source dischargers to implement measures to lessen phosphorus runoff.
As part of the 10-year reauthorization of this immensely successful program utilized by 130 municipal wastewater treatment facilities and various other private factories and processors, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is now accepting comments on the final draft package for submission to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Preliminarily, the DNR believes that reauthorization is justified. They reference the $900 million in immediate capital costs and the $210 million reduction in gross state product without reauthorization. Also highlighted is the programâs success at removing more phosphorus from waterways through the MDV than if permittees did the facility upgrades necessary to comply with the 2010 phosphorus rules.
This morning, the League submitted comments to the DNR highlighting the programâs success and the necessity for reauthorization of Wisconsinâs MDV. Municipalities utilizing the MDV may wish to submit comments to the DNR encouraging reauthorization and are free to use the Leagueâs comments as a template. Written comments are due by Friday, March 28, with a hybrid virtual and in-person hearing held on Zoom and in the Madison DNR office on Friday, March 21 at 9:30am. Additional details on the MDV, including reports by DNR and DOA and details on public input opportunities, may be found on the DNRâs website.
Questions Surrounding Federal Housing Funds
Municipalities with projects or residents relying on funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) may have questions regarding the status of the funding given recent Executive Orders by the President and other uncertainty surrounding some federal funds. The League, relying partly on information gathered from our federal partners at the National League of Cities (NLC), has prepared this summary of recent developments at HUD.
The League and NLC will continue to monitor the status of federal funding at HUD and other agencies. Local governments encountering challenges accessing any anticipated federal funds, from HUD or any other federal agency, are encouraged to report that information to the Leagueâs Government Affairs team at the email addresses listed at the end of the Bulletin and to NLC through the Federal Grants Exchange Form.
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Tomahawk Regional Roundtable this Thursday
The second of six 2025 Regional Roundtables is quickly approaching! This Thursday, League staff will join local officials in Tomahawk for a program on Robertâs Rules, dinner, networking, League updates including a legislative update, and a member roundtable. ï»ż
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If youâre near Tomahawk, we hope to see you on Thursday, and if youâre elsewhere in the state, we hope to see you at one of our other Regional Roundtables including March 27 in Menomonie, April 10 in Whitewater, May 22 in Platteville, or June 25 in Neenah. | |
Also, please Save the Date for our biennial Capitol Connections: Wisconsin Municipalities Day on Wednesday, May 7. This event will start at 10am at Monona Terrace with breakfast and morning programming, followed by a quick walk to the Wisconsin State Capitol for meetings with legislators and a trip back to Monona Terrace for lunch, afternoon programming, and a networking reception. More details on this event including registration information will be available soon. | |
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đReading Room
In even-numbered years, the Legislature typically adjourns their biennial legislative session in Spring. While activity in the Wisconsin State Capitol slows following adjournment, it doesnât stop. In this Reading Room, weâre highlighting the work of the Legislative Council Study Committees, a process wherein legislators propose topics for exploration on joint legislator-citizen committees managed by nonpartisan Legislative Council attorneys.
In 2024, five proposals from legislatorâs requests were selected as the topics for this deep dive process, with an additional committee on State-Tribal Relations being convened every two years per statutes. Recently, the Joint Legislative Council committee voted to approve the following study committee reports and recommendations, some of which result in the introduction of legislative proposals. If you have an interest in any of these topics, you may read the committee reports here:
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