| |
| |
| |
Dear WH&LA Lodging Member:
There is a lot to update you on, so we will start with two top issues in this edition: new developments on the School Start Date and Governor Walker's Executive State Budget Proposal.
September 1 School Start Date
While we had previously reported on the requested Milwaukee Public Schools exemption from the School Start Date, as predicted, it has expanded well beyond this.
First, Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and State Representative Jim Ott (R-Mequon) are routing a bill to completely eliminate the School Start Date requirement to legislators with a deadline of tomorrow Feb. 10 to advise if they will sign on in support. Until the bill is officially introduced, it will be referred to as "LRB-1378/1".
The tourism industry, including WH&LA, WRA, AWTA, WACVB and others under the umbrella of the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin, has come out strongly opposed to the elimination in LRB-1378/1, and as a group we have been meeting with key legislative leaders and had updated the Department of Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett before it became public. We are fortunate that Sec. Klett has come out publicly on multiple occasions noting the negative impact of the elimination on Wisconsin's tourism industry. At the same time we understand that the School Boards association (WASB) and the School Administrators have been everywhere in the Capitol meeting with their legislators touting their support of the proposal, which has presented a major obstacle. We also have heard that some Chambers of Commerce in the Northwoods have come out on both sides of the issue, which likely reflects the composition of the individuals on their Board.
We also have learned that another Assembly legislator has drafted a bill that may not be in final form yet, that would carve out an exemption for approximately 40 school districts in the state, however would also state that these districts could not have school on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. Another legislator verbally suggested that maybe all should start when they want, but they must take a certain amount of Fridays off in September and October. Some of our members will be strongly impacted negatively by any exemptions or elimination of the start date - from both the perspective of a potential reduction in the travelers to their property and from a loss of high school workers to help service their guests. Others may not face as strong of an impact.
If legislators only hear from school administrators and school board presidents, there is a good chance that the School Start Date law could be rescinded. We are working with our tourism partners to oppose the proposals, but we definitely need reinforcement from lodging properties who would face a negative impact. If that is you, please take a moment to look over our updated
Issue Brief on the September 1 School Start Date,
borrow the points you agree with (or use your own), and send them in a brief email within the next few days to both your state Senator and State Representative, asking them to
"Oppose LRB-1378/1 Eliminating the School Start Date"!
To get easy links to your Senator and Representative, go to
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/
, and simply type in your home address in the upper right part of the page.
Governor's Proposed State Budget
Late yesterday afternoon, Governor Scott Walker introduced his proposed Executive State Budget, which was then introduced by the state Senate as SB 30 with the identical version by the state Assembly as AB 64 (http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2017/related/proposals/ab64) . The summary alone was 632 pages, with the actual bill language an easy 989 pages. In order to provide you with most of the key points, the following is a highlight based on the summary, with the disclaimer that only topics that appear to impact our industry, not individuals personally, are included.
Tourism Budget
- A reduction of $260,000 in the first year and $212,000 in the second year for the state tourism budget is included
- Reasoning is that over $500,000 in previous statutory earmarks from the Tourism budget expire July 1st
- The Arts budget, a separate part of the Tourism budget, was reduced slightly
Workforce
- A growing pathway for UW System students to be able to graduate in 3 years, to enable them to get into the workforce faster
- A proposed requirement that UW students must either have work experience or an internship before they can receive a bachelor's degree
- A technical correction to mitigate the "Child care cliff" so that employees who would otherwise work more hours are no longer incented to work less.
- Programs assisting inmates in preparing for workforce re-entry are expanded
- Requirements for childless adults receiving Medicaid to take job training or employment assistance were added
- An increase of $11.5 million for expanding Wisconsin Fast Forward grants for registered apprenticeships and internships
State Historical Society
- Ten positions and $1.675 million the first year and $1.875 million the second year were added to this budget to assume operations of Circus World Museum in Baraboo.
State Parks
- Included was the authority for high demand State Parks to increase fees for park admissions and for camping fees
- A new "Recreation Passport" providing access to state parks will be available for an added cost when people pay their vehicle registration fees, to make it convenient and hopefully grow attendance
- Not included was a proposal previously floated by others to allow State Parks to lease property for commercial camper cabins and/or lodging facilities in the parks.
Education
- Relevant to the requests by School Administrators and School Boards to have more local control/flexibility (used in their School Start Date arguments), a special section entitled "School District Flexibilities" was provided with the removal of 5 different current requirements, including one that had required a minimum number of instruction hours. This should be helpful with our School Start Date position.
- Milwaukee Public Schools will receive a $1.4 million grant for Summer School, while no mention was found for an exemption to the School Start Date.
Taxes
- Elimination of the state portion of property taxes
- A new $10 million cap on Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits, plus removal of any non-repayable loan options
- A sunset of 7 years for any new income or sales tax or any new tax exemptions that go into effect after Dec. 31, 2016
- An increase in the "Occasional Sales Tax Exemption" from the current $1,000 threshold to $2,000. This would include occasional lodging rentals.
- Sales tax would now apply also to Off Road Motorcycles
Transportation
- An increase in state funding for local roads and bridges
- Highway projects already "active", such as the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee, the north/south 94 improvements, US Hwy 10/441, I-39/90, US Hwy 18/151-Verona Road, State Hwy 15, will remain funded and on schedule.
- $500 million in new bonding is part of the funding - this is less than the last budget, but still higher than hoped
- $200,000 for a state owned locomotive on the Amtrak Hiawatha line
Other
- $26 million from the VW settlement will go to providing new Milwaukee County buses with reduced emissions
- A reduction in the Election Commissioners daily per diem rate from $454 (they used to require retired judges, so this was a pay concept too) to $50 per meeting, more in line with other Boards/Commissions
- $12.2 million more in the first year to support Broadband Expansion
- A new 4-year Local Government Dashboard Project that will enhance the accessibility of local government financial data posted on the DOR site (this may help with the new room tax reporting starting this May)
- DSPS, the state department assuming the former Dept of Commerce responsibilities with oversight over pool and building construction and renovations, will no longer be mandated to call meetings of their advisory boards/commissions/councils.
- Local Governments will be allowed to consolidate agencies or commissions with 2 or more other municipalities to carry out a certain function that will enable them to still fulfill their obligations (uncertain yet if this applies to room tax commissions that could band together without being considered a zone, with those obligations)
- Inclusion of "Wisconsin REINS Act" which puts a $10 million cap on new rules from state agencies, meaning that if a new regulation requires an industry to invest as a whole $10 million or more to comply, then the full legislature must approve it (not just the agency)
There are many more components we will be watch for, and further updates will come out as needed.
Thank you for your continued support.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|