League of Wisconsin Municipalities
  Capitol Buzz 
December 14, 2016
  
  
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Share your TIF Success Stories with Us
 
The League wants to hear about your community's tax incremental financing (TIF) success story. TIF is the most effective tool Wisconsin cities and villages have to spur economic development and job creation. Yet, some legislators are critical of the use of TIF. These legislators may seek to place limits on TIF and require communities to comply with additional procedures when creating TIF districts.

The League has established a TIF Success Stories page on our web site to counter the negative perception some legislators have about TIF.  Please send us your TIF success story for us to post on our web site.  

Our first success story is from the City of Wauwatosa. Check it out: http://www.lwm-info.org/DocumentCenter/View/981

ETF Board Postpones Decision on Self Insurance
 
At its meeting yesterday, the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds' Group Insurance Board (GIB) postponed making a decision on whether and how to restructure the state health insurance program. It will continue discuss options at its next meeting in January. 

A broad range of restructuring options were presented to the GIB, ranging from maintaining a version of the current program with improvements to contracting with one or two statewide vendors on a self-insured basis, as well as various regionalization options.
Lisa Ellinger, director of ETF's Office of Strategic Health Policy, provided seven scenario options to the Board. The scenarios were based on the priorities communicated by the Board at its November 30 meeting. 

January 2018 is the earliest any program structural changes would take effect. Benefit or plan design changes are not being discussed in this process.

The State Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) must approve even a partial move to self-insurance. On Monday of this week, the JFC co-chairs sent a letter to the GIB expressing concerns that even a move to regionalization for insurers could impact the state's health care system without saving the state any money. The JFC co-chairs requested a meeting with the GIB chairs to further discuss the issue.

The League is watching this issue because the state's local government health plan might also be impacted by the GIB decision. ETF's consultant, Segal Consulting, has recommended streamlining the local government plan to mirror the state plan options.  If the state moves to a regionalized, self-insured structure, the local program could shift to that structure as well.  

Assembly Speaker Names Assembly Committees, Chairs for 2017-18 Session  
 
Last week, Assembly speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) announced the Assembly's standing committees and committee chairs for the upcoming legislative session. Vos created five new committees, including Urban Revitalization, which will be chaired by Rep. Bob Gannon (R-West Bend).  Interestingly, the vice chair for that committee is a Democrat, Rep. Jason Fields (D-Milwaukee).  

The Urban and Local Affairs Committee has been re-named the Committee on Local Government.  The chair remains the same as last session, Rep. Ed Brook (R-Reedsburg).  

The Ways and Means Committee, to which all TIF bills are usually referred, has a new chair. The chair for the 2017-18 session is Rep. John Macco (R-De Pere). Rep. Macco has a strong interest in reviewing the tax structure in this state and in particular how local governments fund their operations. We have had positive discussions with him about the ideal way to fund local governments.  We have invited Rep. Macco to speak at our Feb. 15 League Lobby Day.
The 2017-2018 Legislative Session Floor Calendar  
 
The tentative 2017-2018 Legislative Session floor calendar has been announced.   The calendar will be officially adopted as a joint resolution when the new session begins on January 3. 

View the proposed calendar here.  

Under the proposed calendar, the Legislature is on the floor 27 days between January and May, which is a significant reduction from 2015.