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As data center projects have been springing up around Wisconsin, state lawmakers have also proposed different ways to regulate them.

The most recent proposal comes from state Sen. Romaine Quinn, R-Birchwood, and state Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls. Their bill, which is circulating for cosponsors, would require the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to ensure that residential and small business electrical customers don’t get stuck paying for electrical grid improvements that primarily serve data centers.

The GOP bill would also require data centers to recycle the water they use to cool computer equipment, report annual water usage to the state Department of Natural Resources and establish funds to pay for future reclamation of land data centers are built on. A potential sticking point for Democrats is another requirement that any renewable energy facility serving as a primary power source for data centers must be located on the data center property.

Democrats have introduced their regulatory vision for data centers. A bill introduced last month by state Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, would require that at least 70 percent of the electricity used by a data center come from renewable sources. In addition, any workers constructing or renovating large-scale data centers would be required to be paid union wages or the prevailing wage rate.

The debate comes as more communities are dealing with data center regulations at the local level.

President Donald Trump signed a New Year’s Eve proclamation delaying increased tariffs on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for a year, citing ongoing trade talks.

The President’s order keeps in place a 25% tariff he imposed in September on those goods, but delays for another year a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture and 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and vanities.

The increases, which were set to take effect January 1, 2026.

The president has said the tariffs on furniture are needed to “bolster American industry and protect national security.”

While Wisconsin receives less per resident from the federal government compared to other states, cuts to that funding could still have significant impacts.

That’s particularly true for seniors, veterans, students, the disabled, and low-income families, according to a new Wisconsin Policy Forum report.

WPF notes in 2022, Wisconsin ranked 41st in the country for federal funding spent on average per resident.

Still, federal funding in Wisconsin exceeds that of local and state governments combined. In federal fiscal year 2022, Wisconsin residents, businesses and local and state governments and nonprofits received $86.46 billion from the federal government, about $14,700 per person. That amounts to about a quarter of personal income in the state in 2022.

Considering the scope of federal funding in Wisconsin, the report notes, “even modest changes in that spending could have substantial effects here.”

The report says several federal programs have more than 1 million participants in Wisconsin, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Wisconsin residents received more than $56 billion in direct payments to individuals from federal programs in 2022, according to the report, about $9,545 per resident. That included $29 billion for Social Security, $13 billion for Medicare, and $7.6 billion for Medicaid.

These resources are organized by 4 categories:

• Federal and State Small Business Assistance Resources
• Federal and State Taxes
• Employment, Workforce, and Workplace
• Miscellaneous

Federal and State Small Business Assistance Resources (updated 10/9)

Federal

SBA Paycheck Protection Program
https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program-ppp

SBA COVID-19 Small Business Guidance & Loan Resources
https://www.sba.gov/page/coronavirus-covid-19-small-business-guidance-loan-resources

CDC Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to COVID-19
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fspecific-groups%2Fguidance-business-response.html

State

Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation – “We’re All In” Small Business Grant Program
https://wedc.org/programs-and-resources/wai-small-business-grant/

Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation – Small Business 20/20 Program
https://wedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Small-Business-2020.pdf

Wisconsin Small Business Center: COVID-19 How We Can Help Businesses
https://wisconsinsbdc.org/services/covid-19/

Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation – Strategies and Resources for Small Businesses to Navigate through COVID-19 in Wisconsin
https://wedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/WEDC_Response-to-COVID_19.pdf

Federal and State Taxes

Federal

Internal Revenue Service – COVID-19 Tax Relief for Businesses

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/coronavirus-tax-relief-for-businesses-and-tax-exempt-entities

State

Wisconsin Department of Revenue COVID-19 Information and Announcements

https://www.revenue.wi.gov/Pages/News/2020/wi-covid-19.aspx

Employment, Workforce and Workplace

Federal

Department of Labor: Families First Coronavirus Response Act Employer Paid Leave Requirements
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-employer-paid-leave

Department of Labor: Families First Coronavirus Response Act FAQ
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-questions

Department of Labor: Families First Coronavirus Response Act Workplace Poster
https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/posters/FFCRA_Poster_WH1422_Non-Federal.pdf

Department of Labor: Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Workplace Poster FAQ
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-poster-questions

Department of Labor: COVID-19 and the Fair Labor Standards Act
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/pandemic

Department of Labor: Field Assistance Bulletin Temporary Non-Enforcement Period Applicable to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/field-assistance-bulletins/2020-1

EEOC: What You Should Know About the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and COVID-19
https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-should-know-about-covid-19-and-ada-rehabilitation-act-and-other-eeo-laws

OSHA: Guidance on Preparing Workplace for COVID-19
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf

OSHA: Prevent Worker Exposure to COVID-19
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3989.pdf

State

Department of Workforce Development: COVID-19 and Unemployment Insurance Benefits
https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/covid19/public/ui.htm

Department of Workforce Development: COVID-19 and Worker’s Compensation
https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/covid19/public/wc.htm

Department of Workforce Development: COVID-19 and Equal Rights
https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/covid19/public/er.htm

Miscellaneous

Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance – Guidance for Delivery Drivers During COVID-19 Crisis

https://oci.wi.gov/Documents/Regulation/Bulletin20200323COVID-19-CoverageforDeliveryDriversforRestaurants.pdf

Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions – Emergency Guidance on Remote Notarization

https://www.wdfi.org/Apostilles_Notary_Public_and_Trademarks/pdf/Remote%20notarization%20-%20webpage%20announcement.pdf

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday that, at the direction of President Donald Trump, he has spoken with congressional leaders to secure an additional $250 billion for the small business loan program as the coronavirus outbreak hammers the economy.

Mnuchin said he spoke with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, to secure the funding.

McConnell said earlier Tuesday he hopes to approve further funding Thursday to buoy small businesses devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I will work with Secretary Mnuchin and Leader Schumer and hope to approve further funding for the Paycheck Protection Program by unanimous consent or voice vote during the next scheduled Senate session on Thursday,” he said in a statement.

Congress late last month approved a $350 billion small business loan program as part of a more than $2 trillion stimulus bill aimed at helping the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The program is aimed at helping small businesses that provide the engine of employment and entrepreneurship in the U.S. economy.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack has been re-elected to a third, two-year term leading the court.

The court announced her re-election by fellow justices Tuesday. The result was public, but the vote was done in secret and the breakdown was not announced.

Roggensack replaced Justice Shirley Abrahamson as chief justice in 2015 after voters approved a constitutional amendment giving justices the power to elect the chief justice. Prior to that it had automatically gone to the longest-serving member, who is Abrahamson.

Roggensack is one of the four majority conservative justices. Abrahamson is one of three minority liberal members.

Roggensack says in a statement that she is honored to continue serving as chief justice. She has been on the Supreme Court since 2003.

The chief justice also serves as the administrative head of Wisconsin’s judicial system.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, pledged to manufacturers that Congress and President Trump will “fix this nation’s tax code once and for all.”

Ryan, speaking at a National Association of Manufacturers event, laid out outlines of a “very ambitious plan” that House Republicans are working to put into legislation. And he said Republicans will “get this done in 2017” because the current tax code is hurting the U.S. economy and is too complex for families.

“This whole system is too confusing, and it’s just too darn expensive. We have got to stop this madness. Don’t you agree?” he said as the NAM 2017 Manufacturing Summit attendees applauded.

Ryan noted Trump introduced principles for tax reform that Congress is working off to develop a “transformational tax reform plan.” That work is already underway in the House GOP, Ryan said, sharing some elements of what Congress’ plan would look like.

Ryan said the plan would slim the number of tax brackets from seven into three and eliminate tax loopholes to cut the overall tax rates.

The plan would eliminate “harmful, burdensome taxes” for individuals, such as the alternative minimum tax and the estate tax, which Ryan called the “death tax.” It also would “clear out special interest carve-outs and excessive deductions,” Ryan said, though it would keep deductions for homeowners, charitable giving and retirement savings.

Ryan also said the plan would reform what’s become the “worst business tax system in the industrialized world.” Eight out of ten businesses, he said, file their taxes as individuals and pay a top marginal tax rate of 44.6 percent. The U.S. corporate tax rate of 35 percent, he added, is above the industrialized world average of 22.5 percent.

And the way the U.S. taxes corporations’ foreign income, he added, is pushing American companies to base their headquarters overseas.

“This is not the kind of exceptionalism we should aspire to,” he said.

Ryan called tax reform the “crown jewel” of the Republicans’ economic agenda, though he lauded the work Congress and Trump has done on reducing regulations. He also touted Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the Financial CHOICE Act passed by the House GOP that eliminates several Dodd-Frank provisions.

“Clean up the regulations, reform the tax code, there’s no stopping us,” Ryan said.

The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) recently released the 2017 Unemployment Insurance (U) Financial Outlook Report, which projects continued growth for the Wisconsin UI Trust Fund throughout the projection period. In addition to continued growth, the UI Trust Fund is predicted to have a balance of $1.2 billion or greater on June 30th, which would result in the third straight year that Wisconsin employers who participate in the UI program would experience a tax reduction. Due to the vastly improved Wisconsin economy and common-sense reforms made to the UI program, when combined with the reductions for the 2016 and 2017 tax years, tax schedule changes are estimated to reduce total UI taxes by over $150 million.

“Wisconsin’s UI Trust Fund has come a long way over the past six years, from a deficit of over $1 billion which brought over $360 million in additional costs to employers due to borrowing money from the federal government to a healthy UI Trust Fund balance of over $1 billion,” DWD Secretary Ray Allen said. “Wisconsin’s Trust Fund is continuing to grow, but we must ensure that we avoid the additional burden that borrowing money to pay benefits puts on the employers who fund UI benefit payments.”

The projections are included in the state’s 2017 UI Financial Outlook report, which DWD submitted on April 14 to the Governor and legislative leadership as required by statute.

Highlights of the report include:

• Wisconsin’s UI Trust Fund ended 2016 with a positive balance of roughly $1.2 billion
• UI benefits are expected to stay at historically low levels throughout the projection period, and the UI Trust Fund is expected to grow to over $1.5 billion by the end of 2019
• Wisconsin’s UI Trust Fund balance is projected to be greater than $1.2 billion on June 30, which will move UI taxes to the lowest tax schedule, schedule D. This would result in a tax reduction for the third straight tax year for most Wisconsin employers covered under the UI program.

Other indicators of the health of Wisconsin’s UI program and overall economy include:

• Initial UI claims ended 2016 at their lowest level since 1988. Year 2017 initial UI claims are running at their lowest levels in at least 30 years
• Continuing UI claims ended 2016 at their lowest levels since 1973. Year 2017 Continuing UI claims in Wisconsin are running at their lowest level in at least 30 years.