(The Center Square) – A group that lobbies for utility companies in Wisconsin claims that recent reports on the increase of transmission rate increases in the state were presented out of context and legislation to create right-of-first-refusal laws in the state would actually lower rates.
The Wisconsin Utilities Association is a registered lobbying group on behalf of gas and electric utilities.
“Rates vary based on generation mix, geography, and investment levels,” the group said. “Wisconsin’s rates reflect its commitment to reliability and a diverse generation mix, not just transmission costs.
“If this group was interested in the facts, they would note that average customer bills, what people actually pay, are significantly below the regional and national averages, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.”
The transmission rates for American Transmission Co. have gone up 43% since 2019 while the consumer price index has increased 27% over that time, according to the Ratepayer Protection Coalition.
The utility group said that comparison was improper because “transmission infrastructure is a capital-intensive investment with long-term benefits, unlike consumer goods tracked by CPI.”
The group also said that the ROFR legislation requires competitively bid engineering, labor and materials rather than creating a monopoly.
The legislation would allow companies doing business in Wisconsin the chance to bid on work on the electric grid before any out of state companies can offer a price.
But the utilities group said that ROFR would be a good thing to lower consumer costs.
“Its passage will enable Wisconsin’s existing transmission providers to spread out more of their costs associated with new transmission lines among the states that benefit from the construction of the transmission lines,” the group said. “Developers without existing Wisconsin customers cannot spread costs across the region at the same scale that Wisconsin utilities can. ROFR laws, far from being anti-competitive, reduce project risk, streamline execution, and ensure accountability by relying on experienced incumbents.”
The ROFR legislation has been introduced in multiple forms but has yet to gain enough footing to pass the Wisconsin Legislature.

(The Center Square) – One Wisconsin lawmaker is asking the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewas to reimburse the town of Lac du Flambeau more than $600,000 after what he calls an “illegal shakedown” related to payments for the use of roads on the reservation.
Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, 7th Congressional, sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking for the return of the payments, which he called “extortion,” as the tribe charged monthly installments in an attempt to regain access to four roadways that the tribe had roadblocked.
The tribe had asked for $20 million from the town for access.
A federal judge recently ruled that the roads be opened for public use and that the 50 non-tribal landowners could use the roads.
The roads were blocked Jan. 31, 2023, cutting off access until the town began monthly payments to the tribe.
“I am asking the Department of Justice to investigate this matter and seek compensation from the tribal government to reimburse the town,” Tiffany wrote. “Not only did the town hand over in excess of $600,000 as part of this illegal shakedown, it also incurred significant legal expenses and administrative costs associated with responding to the actions of tribal leaders and the Biden administration’s BIA.”
Lac du Flambeau has a population of 3,000 and was heavily impacted by the payments, Tiffany said, stating in the letter the town “saw its finances pushed to the absolute limit by the unlawful standoff created by the reckless and irresponsible actions of the tribal government.”
Tiffany said that he believes the tribe should be held accountable. Tiffany has been considering a run for Wisconsin governor but has not yet declared he is entering the race.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Democratic U.S. Senator says there is a difference between the move to redraw Texas’ congressional map and the move to do the same in Wisconsin.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin told reporters the request to redraw Wisconsin’s political map is not inherently political.
“While Wisconsin, I don’t think, is one that is going to be one that does partisan redistricting, I can’t criticize too harshly those governors in blue states that are saying ‘We should reconsider our maps,’” Baldwin said.
Democrats from Texas fled to the state earlier this month to try and stop Texas Republicans from redrawing their map to add five more Republican-heavy congressional districts. Baldwin blamed that move on President Trump.
But she also said Democrats cannot sit by and watch it happen.
“We can’t fight back with one hand tied behind our backs,” she added.
There is a push to redraw Wisconsin’s congressional map, as well.
A handful of law firms filed a lawsuit in June that asks the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court to correct the state’s “anti-competitive gerrymander.”
Specifically, the firms want to redraw western Wisconsin’s 3rd District where Republican Derrick Van Orden has won two close races in the past two elections.
The firms also want new boundaries for southern Wisconsin’s 1st District. Republican Congressman Bryan Steil has won that seat with slightly larger margins than Van Orden, but the firms say both should be more Democrat-friendly.
The Wisconsin Court has not said if it will take the case. The court has already rejected a separate request to redraw Wisconsin’s maps.
Baldwin continued to say that she would prefer to see politics taken completely out of the redistricting process.
“I’d like to see us move, nationally, in the direction of non-partisan redistricting,” Baldwin explained.

(The Center Square) – A pair of Wisconsin Democrats are proposing the state start a new back-to-school sales tax holiday.
The holiday would apply on closing items priced no more than $150 and school supplies priced at no more than $100. The sales tax holiday would be the Friday through Sunday of the first weekend in August.
The proposal was introduced by Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska, and Rep. Jenna Jacobson, D-Oregon.
“I have two grown children,” Pfaff said. “I know just how expensive it can be to get the family ready to return to the school year. A back-to-school tax-free holiday is just one way that we can help parents keep more of their hard-earned cash in their own pockets.”
The bill would require the Department of Revenue to give annual estimates on the total sales taxes that would have been paid to cities and municipalities and then would require the state to reimburse those local governments to hold them harmless.
There are 19 states that will have some form of sales tax holiday in 2025, according to the Tax Foundation.
The group cited studies showing that tax holidays do not increase purchase and instead lead people to transfer spending from other times to the tax-free weekend.
“Sales tax holidays are politically popular with elected officials because they offer direct discounts, whether real or perceived, to consumers in a highly visible way,” the Tax Foundation wrote. “Consumers often believe they’re getting a good deal. Thus, they remain popular despite their economic inefficiencies, unintended consequences, and frequent inability to achieve their stated goals.”

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin group wants the Wisconsin Election Commission to answer more questions on how it maintains voter rolls.
The WEC recently responded to a list of seven questions from the U.S. Department of Justice to see if the group is complying with federal law and now the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is asking follow-up questions to those responses.
WILL sent those questions to the DOJ, hoping it will lead to more questions from the authority.
The DOJ said in a June 15 letter that its inquiry came after several complaints that the election authority was not following the federal Help America Vote Act.
WILL questioned why the WEC uses a different process to match voter registrations with DMV information for online and mail-in or in-person registrations.
WEC said that the mail-in and in-person registrations have.a different process but did not describe the process.
“Even before WILL’s comprehensive review of the 2020 election, WILL has monitored WEC’s administration of our elections and taken action to correct problems,” WILL Deputy Counsel Lucas Vebber said in a statement. “Whether it’s WEC’s failure to properly maintain the statewide voter registration list, the use of drop boxes, the use of an unlawful voter registration form, the use of a mobile voting vans, we have seen a troubling pattern with how WEC administers elections – sometimes outside the scope of state and federal law.”
The group also asked why ineligible voters are not removed from the rolls and are instead changed to an “inactive” status.
“That raises concerns about when and how those ineligible voters can be moved back to active status and by whom,” WILL wrote. “WILL is calling on USDOJ to issue a follow-up inquiry to WEC to get to the bottom of that issue.”
WILL also noted that WEC appears to have not done anything to ensure non-citizens are not voting after a statewide referendum that requires someone to be a citizen to vote.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Democratic U.S. senator says she has little doubt that there is enough flood damage around the state to qualify for federal help.
But Tuesday she said she has less confidence in President Donald Trump.
“Confident and Trump Administration are not two phrases that I don’t necessarily always put in a sentence together,” Baldwin told reporters. “The president has said very disparaging things about FEMA, before the start of his term. He even talked about abolishing FEMA.”
Baldwin said the president has changed his tune. But she also said she wants to “hold his feet to the fire.”
Her comments came just hours after Wisconsin’s entire Congressional delegation signed off on a letter to FEMA asking for federal assistance after last week’s record flooding.
“On Aug. 9 and 10, historic rainfall caused severe flooding across the Milwaukee region, resulting in widespread damage to homes, businesses, and public infrastructure. The storm produced the second-highest 48-hour rainfall total on record in Milwaukee. Some areas saw more than 14 inches of rain in under 24 hours, overwhelming roads, basements, parking structures, and utility systems,” the letter states. “The Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Root rivers reached record levels, flooding thousands of properties and prompting emergency crews to respond to hundreds of rescues and infrastructure problems.”
Baldwin signed the letter.
The letter asks for a Joint Preliminary Damage Assessment to get a sense of the damage. The congressional delegation also said it expects to make a formal request for a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration. That would not only open a pipeline for money to flow to the government’s impacted by the floods but some of the 13,000 people who saw damage to their homes or businesses.
“Federal assistance will be critical to repairing the damage from these severe weather events and supporting the long-term recovery of our communities,” the letter states. “

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan group of former Wisconsin lawmakers has denounced President Donald Trump’s plans to eliminate mail-in voting and voting machines from elections.
The Democracy Defense Project – Wisconsin includes former Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, former Republican Attorney General JB Van Hollen, former Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Klug, and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate.
The group said that Wisconsin election laws and procedures must be decided in Wisconsin and not Washington, D.C.
“The Constitution is clear: the federal government does not administer elections at the state level,” the group said in a statement. “Just half a decade ago, Republicans in Congress vehemently opposed H.R. 1/S. 1 for many of the same reasons – that the federal government has no place in managing the individual elections of states.
“In fact, improved access to voting methods, including the electronic machines Wisconsin uses that produce paper ballots and are unable to be connected to the internet, have benefitted Republicans just as much as Democrats. Wisconsin has displayed time and time again that our elections are safe and secure, and while we can always make them more efficient, there is no tolerance for inaccuracy in our results.”
Under the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause, however, the president cannot change election laws or compel states to do so.
Meanwhile, Fond Du Lac District Attorney Eric Toney was named as the special prosecutor in the investigation of Wausau Mayor Doug Diny.
Diny reportedly wore a Department of Public Works jacket and hard hat and had his photo taken moving the city’s election drop box in September, before it was in use.
The drop box was later removed from Diny’s office and opened for use in front of Wausau City Hall.
Democrats have called Toney’s appointment a conflict of interest after Toney previously stated that he believed the drop boxes were illegal.
Toney has been a statewide advocate for election integrity, including pushing for the state to create a process to check its voter rolls so that noncitizens are not allowed to vote.

(The Center Square) – The taxable value of Wisconsin property went up 8% in 2025, according to new data from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
In all, there is now $982.8 billion worth of property in the state with $724.4 billion of that residential, $193.4 billion is commercial and $22.8 billion is manufacturing.
Residential property value increased 9% over the year before while commercial increased 7% and manufacturing property was up 6% with the overall average being an 8% increase in equalized value.
“Equalized values are calculated annually and used to ensure statewide fairness and equity in property tax distribution,” the report said. “The equalized value represents an estimate of a taxation district’s total taxable value and provides for the fair apportionment of school district and county levies to each municipality. Changes in equalized value do not necessarily translate into a change in property taxes.”
The total equalized value of property in the state has jumped from $654.8 billion in 2021 after it steadily rose from 1988 to 2008 before five years of lowered prices began.
The overall state property value was $126.6 billion in 1988, then $514.4 billion in 2008 before going to $467.5 billion in 2013.
Since then, values have increased each year with large jumps in the 2022 and 2023 numbers.
The median price for a home in Wisconsin was $337,125 in July after being $292,000 in January. That’s up from a median value of $322,500 in July 2024 and $300,000 in July 2023.

(The Center Square) – Dane County’s interim city clerk is mostly changing his tone regarding the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Michael Haas, who is both Dane County’s new clerk and the city attorney, was a guest on UpFront over the weekend.
He said he imagines Dane County will make the changes the Elections Commission wants after a WEC investigation found the county’s previous clerk likely broke the law when she didn’t count nearly 200 absentee ballots last fall.
“I don’t see any issue with the clerk’s office being able to comply. I think some of the specific or the specifics of logistically how to comply still need to be sorted out by the clerk’s office, but I anticipate that the city will be meeting what the commission requested,” Haas said.
That’s a change from last week when Haas asked for a legal opinion as to whether the Elections Commission had the constitutional authority to force Dane County to do more than is required by state law.
“My initial reaction was that this order was really out of the ordinary and how specific it was not to correct an ongoing issue, but to require additional processes in the future for a clerk who is no longer with the city, and that are not required by other municipalities and that go beyond what is actually required in the statute,” Haas added.
But he also said, “I don’t think that serves voters to continue a legal debate with the commission.”
Among the changes that Hass objected to was a requirement that Dane County provide the Elections Commission with a list of people in the clerk’s office who are responsible for counting ballots, and a list of backups in case those people are not available.
The ordered changes from the WEC come after former Dane County Clerk Marybeth Witzel-Behl didn’t count nearly 200 absentee ballots in the November election. The Election Commission investigation found that Witzel-Behl knew about the uncounted ballots but didn’t tell anyone for almost a month. Instead, investigators said, she went on vacation and baked cookies.
While the WEC investigation found that Witzell-Behl likely broke the law, commissioners did not ask for any charges to be filed in the case.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s new changes to its 1–5 star school ratings leave parents unclear on local school performance, according to a report by the Institute for Reforming Government.
The rating system assesses the performance of schools and districts for the public to see how schools are performing and where improvements may be needed.
However, even after the DPI invited educators to a 3-day meeting to set 2025 ratings benchmarks that could affect school board decisions and even property values, IRG said, just like last year, no district will receive a 1-star rating even if they are considered “underperforming.”
“Parents picking schools for their children deserve honesty, not spin. This new report card system rewards some low-performing schools and penalizes some of the best high-performing schools,” said IRG senior research director Quinton Klabon. “This is about transparency and trust. Wisconsin students and parents deserve report cards that tell the truth about every school so parents are empowered to make informed decisions for their students.”
According to IRG, Wisconsin sits at 34th nationally in early reading.
The IRG report includes that the DPI’s committee meeting will result in the following:
0 districts will be rated 1 star, with “underperformers” like Milwaukee or Monona Grove being rated 2 stars or more.Almost all of the state’s low-poverty schools (under 30%) will earn 4 or 5 stars, according to committee members. IRG said while some are Wisconsin’s highest performers, parents in the suburbs “need to know when their schools are not meeting the highest expectations.”The committee did not “significantly” raise expectations for schools. While the DPI was poised to raise standards, putting more schools into 1, 2, and 3-star ratings, IRG said a flurry of last-minute amendments, approved by a ⅔ majority, made the final benchmarks easier than their initial recommendations.In conclusion, the benchmarks sent to DPI are 49/100 for 2 stars, 60/100 for 3 stars, 71/100 for 4 stars and 84/100 for 5 stars.
However, DPI Superintendent Jill Underly praised the new performance benchmarks as keeping the DPI’s accountability system “reflective of what’s happening in classrooms today.”
“As I’ve said before, just as you wouldn’t rely on a decade-old GPS to find your way today, we can’t use outdated performance benchmarks to guide school improvement,” Underly said in a statement. “Students are learning in new, dynamic ways, and accountability systems must keep pace.”
The recommendations will soon go to Underly for final approval, with school report cards likely being released to the public in November.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Elections Commission ordered the city of Madison to undertake new administrative and procedural changes for future elections.
The Friday order follows the WEC’s investigation into 193 uncounted absentee ballots while former Madison city clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl was in charge during the November 2024 election.
The new order aims to prevent a repeat of Witzel-Behl’s actions, which the commission called a “profound failure” that undermined public confidence in Wisconsin elections.
According to the WEC, the specific order includes changes to the printing of poll books, absentee ballot handling, staff responsibilities and training.
“The order was issued under state law that permits the Commission to mandate changes to practices and procedures whenever an election official has taken actions contrary to law or abused their discretion,” the commission said in a statement shortly after the meeting.
Before approving the order, the commission reserved time for Madison City Attorney and Clerk Mike Haas to provide feedback on the proposed changes.
However, Haas pushed back on the new demands, questioning the commission’s authority to order changes and arguing its proposals don’t account for certain modifications Madison had already taken in response to the Witzel-Behl investigation.
“Regardless of whether there is still an opportunity to fix the error (and here there is not), the Commission’s authority does not extend to requiring the future implementation of specific procedures in excess of those required in the statutes,” Haas previously wrote.
If the Commission truly wishes to dictate the staffing, workflow, and procedures of municipal clerks at such a granular level, a regulatory guidance or rule-making that applies to all jurisdictions and that allows for thoughtful input by local election officials makes far more sense and is likely required.”
Among Haas’ objections were a new procedure requiring the city to print poll books no earlier than the Thursday before an election, which he said could “run the risk of poll books not being ready in time for Election Day.”
However, before the WEC approved the order, commission attorney Angela O’Brien Sharpe shot back at Haas’ claim that the agency couldn’t order Madison to patch its ballot issues, calling it “unreasonable and absurd,” WisPolitics reported.
“Under the City Clerk’s interpretation of the law, the Commission would tell clerks that they have done something wrong but then couldn’t provide a roadmap or instructions for the proper way to administer the legal duty,” Sharpe wrote in a letter.
“Without telling a clerk what the law actually means and how it should be applied, the Commission in some cases would not be doing its job to ensure that the law is followed and to explain to the clerk how to comply.”
During the meeting, the WEC accepted some of Haas’ comments and made modifications to the order, including moving the poll books’ earliest printing date from the Thursday before an election to the Tuesday before.
The order requires Haas to certify compliance with the order in writing to the Commission no later than Jan. 1.
The clerk must also provide a written explanation of the steps taken to comply with each aspect of the order ahead of the statewide election Feb. 17.

(The Center Square) – Data center projects across Wisconsin have been moving forward as the state’s energy demands are set to increase significantly in upcoming years and transmission rates in the state have already increased.
The rates for American Transmission Co. have gone up 43% since 2019 while the consumer price index has increased 27% over that time, according to the Ratepayer Protection Coalition.
“All the state’s investor-owned utilities have announced unprecedented levels of new capital expenditure plans. ATC’s latest 10-year expansion plan, triple its 2019 level, totals $10 billion, or approximately $1 billion per year,” the group said. “With ATC’s rate base set to double between 2025 and 2029, transmission costs will continue to apply upward pressure on customer bills.“
Five large data center projects are in the works in the state, according to a recent Badger Institute report, including the Vantage Data Center in Port Washington, set to be the largest energy user in Wisconsin history with Vantage asking for 1.3 gigawatts of energy to be available by 2027 and ultimately 3.5 gigawatts of power.
Data centers are becoming increasingly necessary as cloud-based memory and computing capabilities increase but tax incentives for those centers are questioned due to the lack of long-term jobs at the sites, the energy needs and the potential increase in consumer energy bills that accompany those data centers.
During energy discussions earlier this year, Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, said that a new Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant would use the same amount of energy as the city of Madison and the Port Washington data center would use the same amount of power as the entire city of Los Angeles.
That demand for power is leading to both a push for new and reliable energy sources for the future – including a nuclear siting plan – and projections that the average American’s energy bill could increase from 25% to 70% in the next 10 years without intervention from policymakers, according to Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Jack Kemp Foundation.
Badger Institute has pushed for Wisconsin to prioritize and become a national leader in nuclear energy to fulfill the impending energy demand.
Along with Port Washington, the group also highlighted the plans in Mount Pleasant, Beaver Dam, Caledonia and potential projects in Vienna and Janesville, where the city is looking for a data center company to take over the city-owned 240-acre former General Motors Assembly Plant, vacant since 2008.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers have exempted data center construction materials from taxes and are looking to make a statewide exception to its tax increment financing rules, which limit a municipality from having more than 12% of the entity’s property tax value in a TIF.
Voters across the U.S. have said they don’t want data centers built in their community and even more oppose the data centers if tax incentives are awarded to have them built, according to a recent poll by Libertas Network.
A least 10 states are currently losing $100 million or more in taxes from data centers, according to an April report from Good Jobs First.