TUE AM News: Bill aims to ban local ‘rights of nature’ ordinances; Talking Trade with Laura Baughman, Trade Partnership Worldwide

August 19, 2025

— Legislation being circulated by Republican authors would prevent local municipalities from enacting “rights of nature” ordinances that provide certain legal rights to natural resources.

That includes the right to exist, to be protected against pollution or to maintain a healthy ecosystem, according to analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Rep. Joy Goeben, R-Hobart, recently sent out a cosponsorship memo on the bill, seeking support from other lawmakers. They reference a growing national trend of local governments moving to grant legal standing to rivers, forests and ecosystems.

At least 30 local governments across 10 states have adopted such measures or attempted “to pass something that would allow the movement to gain ground” there, the bill authors wrote.

Milwaukee County passed one such resolution in 2023 focused on waterways and other bodies of water, with a goal of “ensuring human activities do not interfere with nature and its ability to be healthy, robust, and resilient.” The resolution referenced the county’s plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and improve climate resiliency across its operations.

But the bill authors say similar efforts elsewhere have “been met with sound criticism, legal challenge, and ultimately a state law” banning the idea.

“Four states including Florida, Ohio, Utah, and Idaho have already passed prohibitions against this concept; if we act, Wisconsin would become the fifth state to stand for constitutional integrity,” they wrote.

The lawmakers point to a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that holds that only persons or recognized legal entities have standing. They argue allowing and promoting the rights of nature ideology constitutes a “dangerous shift” in legal precedent.

“It would allow nonhuman entities to sue in court, threatening property rights, stalling development, and burdening the judicial system,” they wrote. “Such measures have already been used, as in Minnesota where wild rice was granted specific legal rights.”

The lawmakers also reference the “founding principles” of the United States, arguing the Constitution and founding documents affirm that rights are “inherent to people ‘endowed by their Creator’” and not to plants, rivers or landscapes.

“This legislation is necessary to preserve the integrity of our legal system, protect property rights, and affirm that rights belong to people, not to nature,” they wrote.

The cosponsorship deadline is Aug. 29 at 4 p.m.

See the memo.

— The latest episode of “Talking Trade” features Laura Baughman, senior fellow with Trade Partnership Worldwide, on evolving U.S. trade policy.

Baughman, who has worked with a variety of American businesses spanning multiple sectors, says tariffs are creating major uncertainty and confusion for companies. She’s a senior staff member for the Washington, DC-based international trade and economic research firm.

“Nobody knows what to do, nobody knows who’s going to get hit and with how much and when,” she said. “And so consequently, all of this uncertainty is pushing a lot of costs onto companies, even though there was earlier this year and until really recently, no extra tariffs had been imposed yet.”

Still, she said many businesses were driven by uncertainty to stock up on imported supplies, taking a financial hit to store them in warehouses in anticipation of higher costs to come. Others are putting off investment decisions, even domestically.

“Economic research has shown that this uncertainty is equivalent to a tariff in and of itself, sometimes on the order of 8% to 10%, depending on the product,” Baughman said, adding “the ability of companies to bear these costs, of course, depends enormously on whether they’re big companies or little companies.”

She shares details on how larger companies are addressing these challenges, while smaller ones are “taking it on the chin.”

Baughman said she expects much more tariff-related price increases on consumer prices as amassed inventories are diminished over time, likely in the fall or winter.

“We’re also hearing tariff impacts on sectors you wouldn’t think, like car insurance,” she said. “Some car insurance companies, we’ve been told, are raising their premiums because it costs more to get a car repaired, because brake parts … have tariffs on them now, if they’re imported.”

Meanwhile, spending on entertainment and food is “starting to slow” as consumers pull back amid the uncertain environment, she said.

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel.

Watch the full episode here.

“Talking Trade” is now available in audio form on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Subscribe and find more episodes here.

— In the latest episode of “WisBusiness: the Show,” Sea Change Silicides founder Steven Girard discusses the path ahead for the biomedical technology business.

The Whitewater-based company won the “Bright New Idea” award at this year’s Governor’s Business Plan Contest with its technology to improve titanium implants often used in surgical and dental procedures. Its coating material is meant to address issues with these widely used products.

Titanium implants are used in about 60% of orthopedic implants and 90% of all dental implants, representing a $20 billion market per year. That’s according to Girard, who’s an associate professor of chemistry at UW-Whitewater.

“When you look at the issues around titanium implants, about 5% to 10% of all of these implants will have complications, or maybe will just fail,” he said. “The way they fail primarily comes from two sources, either bacterial infections or from implant loosening.”

The patented coating that Sea Change Silicides has created uses “bioactive glass,” a material made up partly of silica glass, Girard explained. It’s designed to be biodegradable within the body, serving to inhibit bacterial growth while also stimulating the growth of new bone tissue.

“We think that our coating could be revolutionary broadly within titanium implants, and reduce the failure rates that are associated with those problems,” he said, adding “we think our coatings out-compete everything else currently on the market. We also have a fairly low cost.”

The episode also previews upcoming events hosted by the Wisconsin Technology Council, which produces the show.

Watch the show here and find more episodes here.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

Sign up here.

— A total of $8.7 million has been distributed to more than 3,100 child care providers in Wisconsin through the first payment of the Child Care Bridge Payments Program, state officials announced.

Gov. Tony Evers and the state Department of Children and Families yesterday announced the payment from the program, which provides $110 million in direct monthly payments to providers through June 2026. The guv’s office says “there will not be any gaps in direct funding” for child care providers due to the Child Care Counts program winding down.

Under the program, the first round of payments is equal to 87% of what providers were getting under the last round of Child Care Counts, which ended earlier this summer.

The funding announced yesterday supports the retention of more than 25,000 staff and caring for about 126,000 kids, according to the release.

“This is a big deal for Wisconsin and one of the reasons I was proud to sign a bipartisan, pro-kid budget last month,” Evers said in a statement on the impact of the funding.

The next application window is Aug. 23-31, and providers will be able to apply each month through June 2026.

See more in the release.

— Schütz Container Systems held a grand opening for its new $166 million production facility in Kenosha, which is getting up to $1 million in state support through performance-based tax credits.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. yesterday announced the opening of the 370,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to create about 185 jobs over the next five years. The packaging company has 13 other locations in its national network, anchored by its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey.

President and CEO Frederik Wenzel says the project “marks a significant step” in boosting its presence in North America and the Midwest region.

“With this state-of-the-art production site, we can provide our customers with our renowned quality products and services while continuing to focus on sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint,” Wenzel said in a statement.

WEDC says the company plans to expand the Kenosha site in the fall to include space for restoring used industrial packaging.

See more in the release.

— Tyler Byrnes, a researcher at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, says last weekend’s flooding in southeastern Wisconsin will likely result in the largest spike in flood damage claims in decades.

“Milwaukee County and Waukesha County together have the most insured property through flood insurance,” Byrnes said on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “This was a thousand-year rain event, and so it seems like this is going to be a really big spike, if not the biggest one, of all time.”

A new Wisconsin Policy Forum report outlines a spike in flood-related claims and payouts in Wisconsin in the past 45 years.

“We’re seeing big clusters of claims about once a decade,” Byrnes said. “These sorts of rain events are becoming more likely as the climate warms and we get more rain in bigger chunks. So we’re more likely to have an eight-inch rain event than we were 40 years ago, and in the future, we’re going to be even more likely to see. The other major factor in why we’re seeing so much more flood damage is that as the population is urbanized, we live closer together, and we change how land is used.”

Byrnes said it’s unclear if this is sustainable for state and local governments.

“Both governments are having a hard time paying for core services,” Byrnes said. “The cost of everything is going up. The cost of labor is going up, while revenues aren’t climbing quite as fast. That’s the case with dealing with stormwater, those sorts of things. A lot of stormwater management is funded, again, through fees on homeowners. That raises the cost of housing, raises the cost of living for residents, and so, it can be difficult to make sure that there’s enough money to pay for all these expanding needs.”

See more from the show.

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