Month: June 2021

Republican Lawmakers Approve $125 Million for Broadband Expansion Across Wisconsin

Republicans on the Legislature’s state budget committee voted Tuesday evening to approve $125 million to expand broadband internet access in Wisconsin, a bipartisan goal that has emerged as the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare technology disparities across the state.

According to a report released earlier this year based on Federal Communications Commission data, more than 430,000 people, who make up 25 percent of the state’s rural population, lacked access to high-speed internet in Wisconsin in 2019. The report ranked Wisconsin 36th nationwide for accessibility in rural areas.

Responding to those issues, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and GOP legislative leaders have agreed state funding for broadband expansion should be a priority for the next two-year state budget.

However, their exact funding plans have differed. In his plan, the governor called for roughly $152 million for broadband expansion grants statewide and $50 million on other related programs. The governor would have paid for the grants out of the state’s general fund.  The $125 million GOP plan would be dedicated solely to the grants and be funded by borrowing.

Broadband expansion grants, which were first offered in 2013, are aimed at expanding broadband internet service to homes and businesses that don’t have service or are only able to get lower-speed internet.

Producer Prices Rise at Fastest Recorded Yearly Rate

Prices charged by producers for goods and services rose 5.3 percent in the 12 months leading into May, according to data released Tuesday by the Labor Department.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand — not parts or components — rose at the fattest unadjusted annual rate since the Labor Department began calculating yearly data in 2010.

The record-breaking annual jump in the PPI also reflects a sharp rebound from a steep decline in prices last year. Since prices fell drastically during the onset of the pandemic, the subsequent recovery has also appeared sharp.

“The ongoing mismatch between supply and demand continues to fuel price pressures, while the influence of base effects after last spring’s collapse in prices likely peaked last month,” wrote Mahir Rasheed and Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics in a Tuesday analysis.

Even so, most economists expect the rate of price increases to settle down as the economy hits a more sustainable pace.

“Looking past the noise, producer price increases will slow as supply constraints relax and recalibrate to demand in the second half of 2021,” Rasheed and Daco wrote. “With inflation expectations cooling and fiscal stimulus fading, we continue to share the Fed’s view that we are not entering an environment of spiraling prices.”

Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Dane County Health Department Order to Close Schools

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday sided with private school parents and students in striking down a Dane County order from last August that sought to close all schools to most students to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The court found that because state statute does not specifically allow local health officers to close schools during a public health emergency, Public Health Madison and Dane County director Janel Heinrich overstepped her authority, and it deemed flawed her reliance on a part of state statute that says people in her position can take all “reasonable and necessary” actions to protect public health.

“The power to take measures ‘reasonable and necessary’ cannot be reasonably read as an open-ended grant of authority,” Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote for the majority. “Doing so would swallow the rest of the statute and render it mere surplusage.”

Rick Esenberg, president of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which represented some of the plaintiffs in the case, hailed the decision.

“The order from Public Health Madison and Dane County closing all county schools was illegal, unnecessary and unconstitutional,” he said in a statement. “Even as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, the court’s decision provides a critical correction that ought to prevent future abuses of power in an emergency.”

OSHA Issues a New COVID Safety Rule, But Only for the Health Care Industry

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced a rule on Thursday outlining steps that employers must take to protect workers from the risk of Covid-19, but it will apply only to the health care industry, not to other high-risk workplaces, as the Biden administration initially indicated.

“The science tells us that health care workers, particularly those who come into regular contact with the virus, are most at risk at this point in the pandemic,” Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh said on a call with reporters. “So following an extensive review of the science and data, OSHA determined that a health care specific safety requirement will make the biggest impact.”

The rule will require health care employers to provide protective equipment like masks, to screen and triage patients for the risk of Covid-19 and to ensure adequate ventilation and distancing, among other measures. It will also require those employers to provide adequate paid time off for workers to receive vaccinations and manage their side effects.

Mr. Walsh, whose department includes OSHA, said the administration was issuing optional guidance to employers outside health care that would focus on workplaces in the manufacturing, meat processing, grocery and retail industries.

 

Wisconsin Legislature Votes To End Federal Supplemental Unemployment Benefits

Republicans in the state Legislature have voted to discontinue federal unemployment insurance benefits that were added during the coronavirus pandemic.

The weekly $300 benefits, down from $600 earlier in the pandemic, were set to expire in September. Unless Wednesday’s move is vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers, they’ll end much sooner for Wisconsinites. His administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the vote.

The bill passed the Senate without debate. The vote was on party lines, with 20 Republicans in favor and 12 Democrats opposed.

In contrast, there were more than two hours of discussion in the Assembly, where Republicans focused on the challenges facing Wisconsin businesses. More businesses than not have “Help Wanted” signs in the window, Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, noted. Ending supplemental unemployment benefits won’t be a silver bullet to address the lack of workers, but unemployment is meant to serve as a short-term bridge, he said.

“Now, if we were in the middle of a recession or a pandemic where jobs are difficult to come by, I could understand, perhaps, those on the other side who advocate for keeping the bonus unemployment longer,” he said. “But we are now in the most critical season for many businesses in Wisconsin, and that’s the summer.”

Ultimately, the bill passed the Assembly with a vote of 60-37. More than two dozen states have already discontinued the supplemental benefits, which Congress passed three times during the pandemic.

The legislation passed Wednesday ends four types of federal unemployment aid: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation.

Wisconsin Set for ‘Unprecedented’ $4.4 Billion Windfall

As a new estimate puts $4.4 billion more than previously estimated into politicians’ hands for the next state budget, Wisconsin lawmakers face a standoff about how to spend the extra money.

The estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau comes after an initial January estimate, and projects more than $4.4 billion in state revenue than previously thought over the next three years–separate from another $2.5 billion from federal pandemic aid that is entirely up to the governor to spend.

This time, the new estimate includes record-setting state tax revenues from April and May that have shifted the picture of what the post-pandemic state revenue picture will look like. An LFB official called it “unprecedented,” and said the new projection was because of “vastly improved economic forecasts for the remainder of this year and the next two years.”

Gov. Evers responded Tuesday morning by immediately lifting agency budget requirements for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, meaning state departments–like the UW System which had to cut $45 million–no longer have to trim millions from their 20-21 budget. In total, the governor had directed the Department of Administration to find more than $250 million in cuts across 18 state agencies this year, a now-lifted requirement–and money that will have to be spent quickly by the end of the fiscal year.

“I think Democrats are open to a tax cut,” Assembly minority leader Gordon Hintz said in an interview. “I think we have the resources. But let’s maximize the resources that we have…this is a one-time opportunity to reinvest in broadband, reinvest in our infrastructure, get more money in the classroom to address opportunity, address mental health, and then look at ways to put money in more people’s pockets with a targeted income tax cut.”

Republican legislative leadership immediately pushed back on using the extra funds to expand government, calling the windfall temporary and saying the funds should instead find their way back directly to taxpayers.

“If we recklessly spend this new money and grow taxpayer obligations in an unsustainable way, we risk future fiscal stability – a stability Republicans have spent a decade cultivating,” Joint Finance Committee co-chair Howard Marklein said in a joint statement with budget leaders and Senate majority leader Devin LeMahieu.

LeMahieu also took the opportunity to call for ways to use the money to reduce tax burdens. “Hard-working taxpayers gave the state a massive surplus,” he noted.

“This is a temporary jump in tax revenue—sound financial planning would require this money is not spent on more government programs but returned to the taxpayer.” Senate president Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) said in a statement. “There is no magic money tree, folks.”

According to the Associated Press, Speaker Robin Vos after meeting with Sen. LeMahieu will target a $4 billion tax cut, but isn’t sure yet which taxes will be targeted.

National Average for Gas Enters Fourth Week Above $3

Experts were predicting that gas prices wouldn’t stay above $3 very long, estimating a fall around Memorial Day weekend. But, that isn’t happening; instead, the national average price for a gallon of gas is entering it’s fourth week above the $3 marker.

Wisconsin drivers are still below a $3 average, paying around $2.88/g. This is 3.1 cents higher than last month and 94.4 cents higher than this time last year. According to a Gasbuddy expert, part of the high price tag has to do with demand.

“According to GasBuddy data, gasoline demand last week eclipsed the prior week, when millions of Americans were gearing up for Memorial Day travel, not an easy feat, but highlights that economic conditions are ripe for continued growth in demand, contributing to prices holding at high levels,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “s OPEC has maintained a slow but steady increase in oil production, that additional production is quickly being gobbled up by a global economy that continues to recover.”

Now, barring any future problems to supply and demand, De Haan says gas prices are likely to hover around the low $3 mark through July 4.

May Jobs Report: 559,000 Jobs Added, Unemployment Rate Falls to 5.8%

Employers added 559,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department said Friday, missing the addition of 650,000 jobs that analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting. April’s reading was revised higher by 12,000 to 278,000.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, declined 0.3 percentage points to 5.8%, its lowest since the pandemic caused businesses to shut their doors in March 2020.

Despite the gains, the U.S. economy has 7.6 million, or 5%, fewer workers from its February 2020 pre-pandemic level.

“Only a few months ago we had expected to see several months’ worth of gains north of one million as the economy reopened, but labor supply is bouncing back much more slowly than demand,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at research firm Capital Economics.

The labor force participation rate was little changed at 61.6% and has remained between 61.4% and 61.7% since last June. The reading was 1.7 percentage points below where it was in February 2020. Average hourly earnings rose 15 cents to $30.33 while the average workweek held at 34.9 hours for the third month in a row.

U.S. companies have had a difficult time finding workers as a supplemental unemployment benefit of an extra $300 per week has encouraged many to stay home. At least 25 states have announced plans to end the benefits earlier than their September expiration.

Economists say the labor market’s recovery could continue to run below its potential until the benefits are phased out.

“With unemployment benefits set to fade in the fall, we may be waiting until the end of summer before we see clear evidence of a fundamentally healing labor market,” said Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors.

Assembly Speaker Looks to Crack Down on Those who Skip Job Interviews

Wisconsin should get tougher on unemployed people who apply for jobs to meet work search requirements but then skip out on the interview, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Wednesday.

Vos, the owner of a food packaging business, said during the pandemic that he was fearful he would go bankrupt. Now Vos said he’s also battling worker shortage problems and is offering gift cards to employees who show up to work on time five days a week.

Vos, in a back and forth with a business owner who described job applicants skipping out on interviews, questioned whether Wisconsin should do more to combat that. “It seems like in Wisconsin we don’t do a very good job to report a no-show for an interview and doing something about it,” Vos said.

Republican legislative leaders, along with the state chamber of commerce, trade groups and local economic development groups, are advocating for the state Legislature to repeal a $300 unemployment supplement and other enhancement programs enacted during the coronavirus pandemic.

Wisconsin Republicans last month reinstated a work search requirement for the unemployed, a move designed to get more people back into the workforce. The Assembly was scheduled to vote next week on a bill ending the $300 payment and other federal enhancement programs.

Governor Evers Defends Additional $300 a week in Federal Unemployment

Governor Tony Evers defended the additional $300 a week in federal unemployment benefits being allocated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

His position comes despite business groups calling on him to immediately stop the payments.

Critics argue the additional money is a major factor in the state’s workforce shortage.

“First of all, I’d like to see proof that the people struggling on unemployment, that if they all came back to work suddenly this problem is solved,” Evers said outside the state Capitol. “It’s an issue I’ve seen no data on, none whatsoever.”

Republican lawmakers are moving legislation that would end the additional federal money.

The governor appears likely to veto it. “I’ll take a look at it,” Evers said when asked Tuesday.

The additional $300 a week in federal benefits is set to expire on Labor Day.