TUE AM News: Republicans propose community solar reg system with local approval; Gov. Evers orders Department of Health Services to ensure vaccine availability

September 16, 2025

— Republicans are circulating legislation to establish a system for regulating community solar programs while requiring local approval of the projects.

Sen. Patrick Testin, of Stevens Point, and Scott Krug, of Rome, authored the bill, which would give communities oversight of solar facilities by making them subject to local zoning ordinances.

Under the proposal, building permits for structures that are part of a community solar facility would have to be approved via a two-thirds vote of the municipality’s local governing body. The bill would also limit the capacity for solar facilities in the state to 1,750 megawatts and subject them to property taxes, among other provisions.

Some in the state have opposed solar projects over concerns that they take workable farmland out of commission and could disrupt local ecosystems and wildlife.

In a cosponsorship memo, Testin and Krug said the bill will ensure municipalities can decide whether and where solar projects are built in their communities, while attracting investment to the state, creating jobs, driving innovation and competition, and saving consumers and small businesses money on their energy bills.

“Community Solar also empowers anyone with an electric bill to choose affordable, locally generated electricity, encourages new competition in the tightly controlled energy market, and strengthens the grid for years to come,” they said. “By combining local decision-making with consumer choice, this legislation keeps land and resources in family farms across the state while putting communities – not Madison [or] the utilities – in charge of their energy future.”

Gov. Tony Evers’ office and environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin did not immediately return requests for comment on the bill.

— Gov. Tony Evers is directing the Department of Health Services to take any steps available to ensure Wisconsinites have access to vaccines.

Among other things, the guv’s order directs the Wisconsin DHS to “ensure vaccine access for Wisconsinites to the fullest extent of the law and available funding.”

It’s the latest step by a Dem guv related to vaccines since the Trump administration under the direction of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has curtailed access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Spreading fear, distrust, and disinformation about safe and effective vaccines isn’t just reckless, it’s dangerous,” Evers said. “RFK and the Trump Administration are inserting partisan politics into healthcare and the science-based decisions of medical professionals and are putting the health and lives of kids, families, and folks across our state at risk in the process.”

Since the move by the Trump administration, California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii have joined together to issue immunization guidance, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a disaster through Oct. 5 to allow pharmacists to prescribe and administer the latest COVID-19 vaccine.

See more in the PM update.

— WisPolitics and the Wisconsin Technology Council today are hosting a panel discussion on how President Donald Trump’s tariffs are affecting Wisconsin’s economy.

The luncheon event at the Madison Club is set to start at 11:30 a.m., featuring UW-Madison La Follette School economics professor Menzie Chinn, Midwest Farm Report Director Pam Jahnke, Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity Executive Director and CEO Buckley Binkman and Findorff construction Director of Business Development for Science and Tech Roberta Oldenburg.

The moderated program is set to go from noon to 1 p.m.

— The Latino Academy of Workforce Development received $300,000 from Ascendium Education Group to help address Wisconsin’s workforce shortage.

The academy intends to use the funding to seek state certification for its construction pre-apprenticeship program, upgrade workforce training tools and expand existing programs to take on up to 300 more students.

“Our certified pre-apprenticeship construction program will strengthen Madison’s workforce by equipping Latino and other workers with the skills, credentials, and connections they need to thrive,” Nydia Martinez, the academy’s executive director, said. “Latino workers are already essential to the region’s growth in construction, hospitality, and beyond. This program ensures they not only fill jobs but also build careers and futures for themselves, their families, and our community.”

The Latino Academy primarily serves Dane County and the surrounding areas, offering English as a second language class, GED prep, computer literacy, trade skill classes and others.

One major reason Wisconsin has a workforce shortage is that worker skills often do not match available jobs, something the academy aims to help address with the new funding.

“With the ongoing labor and talent shortages in the Madison area, the need for the education and training the Latino Academy provides has never been greater,” Brett Lindquist, Ascendium’s vice president of communications and community engagement, said.

See the release.

— The Senate Financial Institutions and Sporting Heritage Committee meets today on the appointment of Wendy Baumann as secretary of the Department of Financial Institutions.

Before Gov. Tony Evers appointed her to serve as secretary in February, Baumann, starting in 1994, served as the president of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, and was the director of small business development at the Milwaukee Enterprise Center from 1989 through 1994.

She has also served as chair of the Governor’s Council on Financial Literacy and Capability, among other things, according to her profile on DFI’s website.

Also on the committee’s schedule are several appointments to the Snowmobile Recreational Council and four bills, including one that would make changes to the Uniform Commercial Code.

Another bill would expand LLC filing fee exemptions for student entrepreneurs.

The last bill on the calendar would eliminate the requirement that mortgage broker applicants must submit evidence of a minimum net worth of $100,000.

— The Senate Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development Committee also meets this morning to hear public comment on the appointments of three private-sector representatives to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Up for the three positions are former Madison Dem Rep. Samba Baldeh as well as Pamela Boivin, of Shawano, owner of Boivin Excavating and program manager at the Native Community Development Financial Institution Network, and Jon Gaines, vice president of business services and finance for the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation in Milwaukee.

The 10 a.m. hearing schedule also includes a bill that would exempt minor league baseball players who are paid through collective bargaining agreements from the state’s minimum wage law.

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CONSTRUCTION

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ECONOMY

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EDUCATION

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HEALTH CARE