Working hard in the capitol

Keith Reopelle

The 2007-08 State Legislative Session is in full swing as of the writing of this article. The first several months of the session have been dominated by the Governor's budget bill deliberations, which seem to be going relatively well for the environment. There are many individual bills that are high priorities for Clean Wisconsin that we are tracking and advocating for as well. Here is an update on where some of our important legislative initiatives stand as of a few weeks prior to this newsletter's printing:

Federal Legislative Update

GLCIA (Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act): A $20+ billion bill to establish a collaborative program to protect the Great Lakes. This bill was introduced in both houses of the U.S. Congress in March, and the following members of the Wisconsin Congressional Caucus are co-sponsors: Senator Herb Kohl, and Representatives Petri, Kagen, Sensenbrenner, Kind, Baldwin, Moore, and Ryan. Senator Feingold and Representative Obey have not signed on as co-sponsors. Senator Feingold has an outstanding record as an environmental leader, however, he has a standing principle that he does not co-sponsor any legislation with an appropriation unless he is offering an initiative that makes up the shortfall in the federal budget. Representative Obey is reluctant to co-sponsor legislation with an appropriation given that he is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He, like Senator Feingold, has a very strong record supporting environmental funding initiatives.

State Legislative Update

Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (Great Lakes Compact): An interstate compact to manage and regulate water in the Great Lakes basin. This bill needs to be passed by the Wisconsin Legislature, along with the other seven Great Lakes states' legislatures, and then consented to by the U.S. Congress to become binding law; it could become law in Wisconsin upon passage of a state bill. The Great Lakes Compact would prevent major diversions of Great Lakes water outside of the basin as well as set up water conservation standards for large water users within the basin. Minnesota and Illinois have passed it, and most other Great Lakes states have introduced it. Wisconsin has not yet introduced it; look for its introduction later this summer or early fall. Clean Wisconsin has been working on this issue since 2002 and since September has been part of a legislative council study committee drafting this legislation.

Invasive Species Legislation - Ballast Water Management, 07 AB 86: This bill requires ships to obtain a permit from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) showing that they will not discharge invasive species into the state's waters through ballast water. This bill has been introduced to the Assembly, and referred to the Natural Resources Committee. It was introduced by Representatives Molepske, Bies, Cullen, Hahn, Hilgenberg, Hintz, Kreuser, Pocan, Sheridan, Sinicki, Soletski, Townsend, Turner, Wasserman, Zepnick, Richards, Vos, M. Williams, Mason, Steinbrink, Black, Schneider, Hraychuck, Hebl and J. Ott; and cosponsored by Senators Wirch, Schultz, Hansen, Roessler, Lassa, Plale, Risser and Coggs.

Invasive Species Legislation - Ballast Water Management, 07 SB 119: This is the mirror bill to AB 86, above. It has been introduced and referred to the committee on Environment and Natural Resources. It was introduced by Senators Cowles, Wirch, Hansen, A. Lasee, Harsdorf, Breske, Plale, Risser, Roessler, Schultz, Lassa, Coggs, Lehman and Sullivan; and cosponsored by Representatives Nygren, A. Ott, Molepske, Hahn, Pocan, Cullen, Black, Berceau, Sheridan and Hilgenberg.

Mercury Products Ban: Senator Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) is having legislation drafted that will phase out the use of products with toxic mercury where there are readily available and reasonably priced alternatives to the mercury. Examples of such products are thermostats, numerous switches and relays (e.g. tilt switches in the refrigerator and freezer doors), and measuring devices. This legislation should be introduced later this summer.

Appliance Efficiency Standards: Senator Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha) is drafting legislation to place minimum efficiency standards on a wide variety of home and business appliances and equipment that the Federal Department of Energy has failed to set a reasonable minimum efficiency standard for. Items covered by the bill include residential furnaces, swimming pool pumps and heaters, DVD players and a variety of light fixtures. A preliminary draft of this legislation has been prepared and it should be available soon.

The 2007-08 State Budget, SB 40: Most other legislation is on hold until the legislature passes the state budget bill. Several of our highest priority environmental initiatives are contained in the state budget bill, for example: $30 million in funding for renewable energy grants and loans, $37 million in funding for reducing polluted runoff, and $17 million for clean up of PCB contaminated sediments in the Milwaukee and Kinnicnick Rivers.

The PCB clean up funding passed the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) unanimously so that should definitely stay intact through the final budget deliberations. The Polluted runoff money was decreased slightly by the JFC but overall is in pretty good shape. The $30 million in renewable energy funding failed to pass the committee on an 8 to 8 vote, but hopefully has been inserted in the budget by the Senate at the time of this printing.

There was also a bad amendment attached to the budget in the JFC which would have removed a cap on the size of hydroelectric dam projects that would qualify to meet the utility's obligation under the state renewable energy standard (10% by 2015). That amendment was adopted by the JFC on a vote of 11 to 5, but has hopefully been removed from the budget by now.

Clean Wisconsin continues to be your environmental voice in the legislature. If you want to get involved in attending meetings with your representatives, contact us at (608) 251-7020.