Brian Dake

Wisconsin banks are going into 2025 with a “mixture of hope and hesitation,” as optimism about the policies of the incoming Trump administration meet uncertainty and economic headwinds.

That’s according to Rose Oswald Poels, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Bankers Association. The group yesterday released its annual Wisconsin Economic Report, which compiles a series of sector outlooks from leaders of key industries within the state.

In her overview, Oswald Poels said bankers in Wisconsin will be “closely watching” how Donald Trump in his second term may bring “much-needed regulatory relief” to the financial sector. They’re looking for a pause on new federal regulations being introduced, she said, along with hoping that “overly burdensome” regulations will be pared back.

As an example, she points to new Section 1071 requirements from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which are meant to collect more data on small business loans. Oswald Poels says they’re being criticized by banks for creating an “excessive” administrative burden for them and their small business customers.

“The requirements go far beyond the original intent of the Dodd-Frank Act and could negatively impact small businesses by making access to credit more complicated and costly,” she said in the report.

At the same time, bankers are feeling cautious about the economic landscape writ large, Oswald Poels said. She wrote the “path to economic recovery is still uncertain and a significant rebound may take longer than expected.”

The effects of inflation were a central topic in several of the sector overviews in the report.

Effective Thursday, January 16, 2025, at 12:01 a.m., the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) declares highways are officially frozen statewide and the frozen road law will expand to include the entire state.

The frozen road law allows heavier loads for trucks carrying logs cut crosswise (not including woodchips), and salt and sand for winter maintenance while cold weather allows. The seasonal weight restriction program is one way to protect Wisconsin’s investments in roads.

The department maintains an interactive map for seasonal weight restrictions, which shows the frozen roads boundaries, Class II roads and posted roads.

More information on overweight permits can be found on the WisDOT oversize/overweight permits webpage. Haulers with specific questions can contact WisDOT’s Oversize/Overweight Permits Unit at (608) 266-7320.

The Labor Department on Wednesday said that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – increased 0.4% in December while ticking up to 2.9% on an annual basis.

So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of gasoline and food to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.2% on a monthly basis in December, in line with expectations and down from 0.3% the prior month. Core prices were up 3.2% in December compared with a year ago, slightly cooler than expected and down from 3.3% in November.

Energy costs accounted for over 40% of the monthly CPI increase, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ energy index rising 2.6% in December after energy prices showed little change in recent months. Gasoline prices were up 4.4% for the month of December.

Food prices also rose in December by 0.3% on a monthly basis. Both food at home and food away from home increased by 0.3% last month.

Housing costs rose by 0.3% in December, the same as the increase observed in November. The shelter index is up 4.6% over the past year, which is the smallest 12-month increase since January 2022.

This week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a pair of cases that present two questions at the core of an ongoing struggle between some of the most powerful forces in the state.

​In the first, the seven justices will hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that could hamper the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ ability to enforce the state’s “Spills Law.” Enacted in 1978, the law requires people or companies discharging a hazardous substance “to restore the environment to the extent practicable and minimize the harmful effects from the discharge to the air, lands or waters of this state.”

The lawsuit, which the court will hear on Tuesday morning, was filed by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce in 2021. It argued that the DNR could not require people to test for so-called “forever chemicals” contamination — and require remediation if they’re present — because the agency hadn’t gone through the formal process of designating the chemicals, known as PFAS, as “hazardous substances.” A circuit court judge and the District 2 Court of Appeals agreed, so the state appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The agency maintains that a court loss would strip its authority to compel polluters to clean up chemicals and provide emergency water under the Spills Law, cutting off residents on PFAS-contaminated French Island who have been receiving water since 2021.

In a last-ditch effort to revive beneficial ownership information reporting requirements for small businesses, the federal government is asking the Supreme Court to reverse an injunction on the Corporate Transparency Act ordered just days before the reporting deadline.

On December 31, 2024, the U.S. Attorney General and the Department of Treasury petitioned the Supreme Court to lift a December 26 Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals injunction that takes small-business owners off the hook to file a beneficial ownership information report.

In its Supreme Court application, the federal government argues that the injunction will inflict irreparable harm. Conversely, reversing the injunction will have a minimal impact on small businesses, as beneficial ownership information reporting is fairly quick, simple and does not include any fees.

“(The injunction) prevents the government from executing a duly enacted act of Congress, impedes efforts to prevent financial crime and protect national security, undermines the United States’ ability to press other countries to improve their own anti-money laundering regimes and severely disrupts the ongoing implementation of the act,” the government said. “By contrast, the act imposes only minimal burdens on respondents.”

Several outcomes are possible. If the Supreme Court punts on the case or rules in favor of the plaintiffs, the beneficial ownership information report injunction remains in place. The high court could either lift the injunction in its entirety or apply it to only the plaintiffs, in which case new deadlines for reporting will likely be established.

In the Fifth Circuit, the merits panel faces a similar task. It could either reverse the district court’s finding and lift the injunction or affirm the decision and keep the injunction in place as the case plays out. The appellate court could also choose to narrow the injunction. That decision is not expected until spring.

Wisconsin state lawmakers were inaugurated Monday to commence a new session — the first after legislative districts were redrawn, shifting the political parties’ share of power in both chambers.

Republicans still hold majorities in both chambers, as they have since 2011, but by their narrowest margins in that same timeframe. On Monday, 54 Republicans and 45 Democrats were sworn into the Assembly, while about half of the Senate was sworn into new four-year terms, leaving an 18-15 Republican majority in that chamber.

In speeches in both chambers, Republicans pledged to use their majorities to push for tax cuts paid for by the state’s surplus, and to push back on Democratic attempts to spend that surplus instead.

In the Assembly on Monday, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley administered the oath of office to representatives. All 99 ran for election or reelection under the new maps in November. And in the Senate at the same time, Waukesha County Judge Maria Lazar swore in 16 senators, those who represent the even-numbered districts that were up for election or reelection in November.

The labor union representing some 45,000 U.S. dockworkers reached a tentative agreement with port employers on Wednesday, averting a strike at East and Gulf Coast ports later this month.

In a joint statement, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) announced they reached an agreement on a six-year Master Contract, which gives the latter the ability to ratify the terms of the final contract.

“We are pleased to announce that ILA and USMX have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year ILA-USMX Master Contract, subject to ratification, thus averting any work stoppage on January 15, 2025,” the two sides said in a joint statement. “This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coast ports – making them safer and more efficient and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.”

The details of the tentative agreement will not be released in order to allow ILA rank-and-file members to review and approve the final document.

Both parties signed a tentative deal in October — which gave workers a 62% wage hike over six years — to end a three-day strike, but left issues related to automation unresolved.

But the two sides were still at an impasse over automation leading into the most recent round of negotiations. If a deal had not been reached and a second strike were to happen, the wage agreement agreed to in principle that ended the first strike would be taken off the table, and both sides would be back at square one.

Two candidates have emerged as the contenders for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court after a filing deadline Tuesday evening.

Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who formerly represented Democrats and Planned Parenthood as an attorney, and Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge and former Republican attorney general, are running to fill a seat that will be vacated after liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley retires.

While Wisconsin’s highest court and the elections to fill its seats are officially nonpartisan, the 2023 election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz gave the court a 4-3 liberal majority for the first time in 15 years.

Now Crawford seeks to maintain that balance, while Schimel seeks to swing the court back to conservatives..

The election will take place April 1 and Bradley’s term expires July 31. Whoever wins in April will likely decide the shape of the court until 2026, when conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley will be up for reelection.

A new projection from the state found Wisconsin’s population is expected to decline by nearly 200,000 residents by 2050.

That’s largely due to declining birth rates and the aging of baby boomers, according to a Wisconsin Department of Administration report.

In 2020, the state’s population was 5,893,718. By 2050, that number is expected to decrease to 5,710,120 — a decline of 183,598 residents. The report found the decline is largely due to the “changing age distribution” in Wisconsin.

The projection expects the state’s population to remain stable from 2020 to 2030. It’s then expected to decrease around 1 percent from 2030 to 2040, and just over 2 percent from 2040 to 2050.

If the state were to maintain its population, it would “require a large unforeseen shift,” according to the report. That could be a “large decrease in mortality; a large increase in fertility,” or an increase in new migration to the state.

John Johnson, a researcher at Marquette University Law School, called the projection “sobering.”

“Anyone who’s looked at birth statistics knows that people in Wisconsin are having fewer and fewer babies, and we’re not a hot spot for migration,” Johnson told WPR.

Wisconsin’s population growth has stalled in recent years. A 2021 report from Forward Analytics found that from 2010 to 2020, Wisconsin’s population increased by 3.6 percent. That’s the smallest increase in any 10-year period in the state’s history, according to the Forward Analytics report.

Governor Tony Evers is once again asking for changes that would give citizens a direct say in whether to amend state law or Wisconsin’s Constitution. Currently, only Wisconsin’s Legislature can place proposed constitutional amendments on statewide ballots.

“Republican lawmakers have repeatedly worked to put constitutional amendments on the ballot that Republicans drafted, Republicans passed, all while Republicans refused to give that same power to the people that we serve,” Evers said. “Republican lawmakers shouldn’t be able to ignore the will of the people and then prevent the people from having a voice when their legislators fail to listen.”

Evers is asking the GOP-led Legislature to pave the way for an expansion of that process, starting with language that could be included in Wisconsin’s biennial budget.

Under the changes proposed by Evers, citizens in Wisconsin could gather signatures to bring proposals to the ballot. That would allow Wisconsinites to change state law or Wisconsin’s constitution with a statewide majority vote.

Changing Wisconsin’s referendum process would likely be a lengthy endeavor that would require a constitutional change. That means both chambers of the state Legislature would have to vote in two consecutive legislative sessions to place the measure on Wisconsin ballots in an upcoming election. The measure would then take effect if it’s approved by a majority of voters statewide.