In this update:

• ICYMI: MU Law School Poll Update
• Administration Updates
• Legislative Updates
• Election Updates

ICYMI: MU Law School Poll Update

Polling Update

On Wednesday, Marquette University Law School Poll released its second survey of Wisconsin voters in 2023. Please read the Michael Best Strategies’ polling update.

Administration Updates

Evers launches Non-State Grant Program

Governor Tony Evers (D) announced a $50 Million Non-State Grant Program to support community development and infrastructure improvement across Wisconsin. The program was established through the 2023-2025 biennial budget. “Investments through the Non-State Grant Program will help support local jobs and workers, bolster local tourism and economies, and improve the quality of life for folks in every corner of Wisconsin,” said Gov. Evers. The application is open now and will close on January 31, 2024. To be eligible, non-profit organizations need to secure funding for at least half of the project’s cost from non-state revenue sources and be ready for construction.

More information about the Non-State Grant Program, including guidelines and application procedures, is available here.

Evers and PSC announce Clean Energy Grant Programs

Governor Tony Evers (D) and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) announced PSC’s Office of Energy Innovation (OEI) will begin accepting applications for clean energy programs next week. The $20 million in program funding comes from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The programs are designed to strengthen clean energy infrastructure in the state and include the Wisconsin Grid Resilience Grant Program, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, and the Energy Innovation Grant Program (EIGP). “We are making progress on our clean energy goals, including having 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050, and these grant programs represent a historic investment in our state’s future that will help us reach these goals, boost our economy, strengthen local communities, and protect our environment,” said Gov. Evers. The application period begins Nov. 16, 2023, and will remain open until Feb. 16, 2024.

The latest updates and additional resources can be found on the PSC Office of Energy Innovation website.

Legislative Updates

Floor Session Calendar

The Assembly has been notified they will be holding floor session on:

• Tuesday, November 14

No notification has been released on the Senate yet, but it is expected they will meet on:

• Tuesday, November 14

Vos weighs in on several issues during news conferences

During news conferences on Tuesday and Thursday prior to the Assembly’s floor sessions, Speaker Robin Vos (R) took questions from media. Below are some of the notable comments he made.

UW System

• Asked whether the Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER) made a decision to withhold pay raises for UW employees until diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are eliminated from campuses, Speaker Vos said “We need to have a university system that represents the entire state… The Legislature is not going to stand behind the idea that we can have a system that focuses on division, indoctrination, and exclusion at the expense of the rest of the state.” Speaker Vos said he was optimistic a deal would eventually be reached between the UW System and the legislature regarding the pay raises, the $32 million in funding for workforce development, the engineering building, and DEI programs. “They’re all kind of part of one big package,” Speaker Vos said.

• Democratic Response: Although not specifically in response to Speaker Vos’s comments, Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D) released the following statement after Tuesday’s Assembly floor session: “We all know how important our universities are to our state. But the GOP-led legislature is failing them. The majority party is ignoring the pressing issues our universities face while attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and micromanaging our schools. Instead of building schools and a state where everyone, no matter their background, has great opportunities and a sense of belonging, we are sending the message that Wisconsin doesn’t welcome everyone. Because of the actions of the majority party, hundreds of people across the university system are furloughed and losing their jobs. We can’t keep our heads in the sand. It’s time to act and properly invest in campuses in every corner of the state.”

Brewers Stadium Funding

• Speaker Vos said he was sure the Assembly would support a ticket tax on non-Brewers events if that is what is needed to get the bill over the finish line. “If it’s a small ticket fee, I don’t think that’s unreasonable. I think if it’s allocated toward reducing the state’s share, that’s a win for everybody.”

Meagan Wolfe Impeachment

• Asked whether he is concerned about threats from conservative groups to recall him if he does not allow the impeachment of state elections administrator Meagan Wolfe to move forward, Speaker Vos said the “small, disgruntled group” pressuring him should redirect their attention to Gov. Evers. Speaker Vos said Gov. Evers is the reason election reform has been stymied in Wisconsin. He also said Republicans in his caucus were “nowhere near a consensus” on whether to move forward with impeaching Ms. Wolfe. “I can’t predict what’s going to happen in the future, but I think it is unlikely that it’s going to come up any time soon,” Speaker Vos said. A motion was made by Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R) during Thursday’s floor session to move the impeachment resolution forward, but Speaker Pro Tempore Kevin Petersen (R) ruled the motion was out of order.

Three constitutional amendments backed by GOP approved by legislature

The Wisconsin State Legislature approved along party lines three proposed amendments to the state constitution. All three measures were backed by the GOP and opposed by Democrats. Prior to going to voters for final approval, constitutional amendments must be passed by the legislature in two consecutive sessions. Two of the measures will be on the ballot for voters to approve in 2024 while the third proposal must be passed by the legislature for a second time during the 2025-26 session.

Assembly Minority leader Greta Neubauer (D) spoke in opposition to the proposals. “Not only are these amendments an attempt to limit access to the ballot box based on misinformation spread by some in this body about the security of our elections,” she said. “But they’re part of a broader effort by legislative Republicans to circumvent the traditional lawmaking process and enshrine their political agenda in our state’s most important document, the Wisconsin constitution.” Meanwhile, Rep. Mark Born (R) labeled the proposals “a series of practical reforms aimed at ensuring fairness, accuracy, and transparency in future elections.”

The amendments would do the following:

• SJR 73 – Enshrines existing voter photo ID requirements in the state constitution. Must pass a second legislative session before going to voters. Currently, only state statutes require a photo ID for voting purposes. The GOP is supporting this amendment to ensure the requirement is enshrined in the constitution and less vulnerable to being repealed because of a change in power in the legislature or overturned by the new liberal majority on the state Supreme Court.
• SJR 78 – Prohibits private funding for elections administration. Will be on ballot for the April 2024 election. The GOP is supporting this amendment in response to private money from a group largely funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg being used by municipalities to help conduct the 2020 fall election.
• SJR 71 – Prohibits non-citizens from voting in state and local elections. Will be on ballot for November 2024 election. The state constitution already says every U.S. citizen 18 or older and a resident of Wisconsin is a qualified elector eligible to vote. However, some cities across the country have allowed noncitizen voting in local elections, so supporters of the measure say it is needed to prevent such noncitizen voting in Wisconsin.

Amendment to Brewers stadium renovation bill introduced in Senate

Co-author to the Brewers stadium bill Senator Dan Feyen (R) introduced an amendment that would decrease the state’s contribution to the stadium renovations and increase the team’s contribution. The state contribution would be $375.5 million rather than the previous $411.15 million, and the Brewers would pay an additional $10 million to bring their total contribution to $150.7 million. The reduction of the state’s contribution would also be covered by a $2 (individual) or $8 (suites) ticket tax on non-Brewers events at the stadium, which would generate around $14.1 million over 27 years according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The amendment would also require the Legislative Audit Bureau to conduct a biennial review of the stadium district board, the cost of which would be funded by the district board. The overall cost of the bill would be $661.5 million with the new amendment, roughly $25.7 million less than the original proposal. According to Sen. Feyen, the amendments were introduced to gain enough support for the proposal to pass the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D) said her caucus is looking to reduce the state’s contribution even more than the amount proposed by the amendment. “We would like to see the amount that the state contributes to be lowered and to increase the amount that the team is putting in the pot, and ensuring that the city and the county of Milwaukee are not adversely impacted by this deal,” Sen. Agard said. Fellow Senate Democrat Kelda Roys said she continues to have concerns with the makeup of the stadium board that would oversee the stadium district. Currently, none of the nine seats on the proposed board are reserved for the city or county of Milwaukee, despite both entities contributing $135 million total to the stadium renovation package. “We cannot ask the city and the county to be ponying up a third of the contribution and get zero representation on the board,” Sen. Roys said.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) said he was unsure whether Republicans in his caucus would support the amended proposal. “We’re caucusing later on this week, and we’ll see where everyone is at,” Sen. LeMahieu said. “We need to give people a chance to read the amendment, comprehend it and see how close we are.” The majority leader said the Senate plans to meet at 8 a.m. on November 14 to take up the bill, with next week being the final period for a regular floor session before recessing until mid-January.

Any amendments made to the bill in the Senate would require Assembly approval. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) and Majority Leader Tyler August (R) indicated during a recent news conference that they believed the amendment as currently proposed by Sen. Feyen would pass the Assembly.

Rothman pitches $32 million workforce plan for UW System

Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman announced a $32 million workforce proposal that would “develop more engineers, nurses, data scientists, and business and finance leaders.” The proposal comes after $32 million was removed from the UW System budget in June by the Joint Finance Committee. GOP legislators on the JFC said $32 million was the amount of money UW System would spend over the biennium on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) has been opposed to. JFC decided to pull the funds from the UW-System budget and only add it back in if the UW System could provide a plan on how the money would be spent on workforce development.

JFC Co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein said he likes the proposal’s emphasis on “engineering, nursing, healthcare, business, finance, technology and other high-demand fields.” However, Speaker Vos indicated he would not support adding the $32 million back to the UW System budget until changes are made to DEI programming. “It looks like a good proposal. Once we work out an agreement on DEI, we’d be happy to move forward,” Speaker Vos said. Under the proposal, UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee would each receive just under $5 million during the biennium while the other 11 universities would receive $2 million each.

The Board of Regents plans to take up the proposal this week.

UW-Madison launches campaign for new engineering building

UW-Madison introduced an advocacy campaign aimed at convincing lawmakers to fund the construction of a new engineering building on its campus. The moves comes nearly five months after GOP legislators on the JFC rejected including funding for the building in the FY 2023-2025 state budget. The campaign will utilize digital ads in online publications, websites and other social media platforms, newspaper placements, and videos to demonstrate Wisconsin business’s support for constructing the building. UW-Madison Director of Strategic Partnerships Communications and Marketing Rodee Schneider said the ads were paid for with Wisconsin Alumni Association funds and the total amount spent has yet to be determined. The building is estimated to cost $347 million with $150 million from private donations. In an open letter ad to the legislature, 42 CEOs from Wisconsin businesses warned delaying the proposal could put private donations at risk. The letter from the CEOs also states they are “deeply disappointed” by the decision of the JFC not to fund the building and that the UW-Madison College of Engineering “has a significant impact on the state and its workforce.”

During Thursday’s pre-session news conference, Speaker Vos said only three people had contacted his office since the start of the advocacy campaign. He also said he didn’t think an ad campaign was necessary for people to know “that we want more highly educated students in Wisconsin to stay here.” Speaker Vos noted the UW System engineering programs at Milwaukee, Platteville and Green Bay do not have full enrollment and Madison is not the only location to train engineers. He indicated the engineering building would be a point of discussion within a broader negotiation concerning DEI programs on UW System campuses.

• The newspaper insert can be found by clicking here.
• The website that was launched for the campaign can be accessed by clicking here.
• Other ads can be found by clicking here and here.

Election Updates

New polls show tight race between Trump and Biden in Wisconsin

Four new polls released this week show a tight race between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden in Wisconsin.

New York Times/Siena College

• The poll found 47% of registered voters backed President Biden, while 45% backed former President Trump.
• The poll interviewed 603 registered Wisconsin voters between October 22 – November 2, 2023. The interviews were conducted online in English and Spanish on cellular and landline telephones and weighted according to several factors including the probability that a registrant would vote based on the 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error is +/- 4.8 percentage points.
• FiveThirtyEight rates Siena College an A pollster.

Marquette Law School Poll

• The poll found 50% of registered voters backed President Biden, while 48% backed former President Trump.
• The poll interviewed 908 registered Wisconsin voters between October 26 – November 2, 2023. The interviews were conducted online with 693 respondents and with 215 by telephone using live interviewers. The margin of error is +/- 4.5 percentage points.
• FiveThirtyEight rates Marquette Law School an A/B pollster.
• For an in-depth analysis of the poll from Michael Best Strategies click here.

Emerson College

• The poll found 44% of registered voters backed former President Trump, while 43% backed President Biden.
• The poll interviewed 819 registered Wisconsin voters between October 30 – November 4, 2023. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points. The survey was administered by contacting respondents through an online panel and landline via Interactive Voice Response.
• FiveThirtyEight rates Morning Consult a A- pollster.

Bloomberg News/Morning Consult

• The poll found 47% of registered voters backed former President Trump, while 46% backed President Biden.
• The poll interviewed 675 registered Wisconsin voters between October 30 – November 7, 2023. The margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points. The surveys were conducted online and weighted to approximate a target sample of registered voters in the state based on gender, age, race/ethnicity, marital status, home ownership, and 2020 presidential vote.
• FiveThirtyEight rates Morning Consult a B- pollster.