TUE AM News: Study finds union programs dominate construction apprenticeships; Lawmakers circulating talent attraction grant bill

May 13, 2025

— A recent study from the Midwest Economic Policy Institute shows union training programs enroll 77% of the state’s construction apprentices, despite just 22% of Wisconsin’s construction industry being unionized.

The Wisconsin Building Trades Council is touting the findings of this report, which also shows union journeyworkers in the state typically earn more than their non-union counterparts as well as Wisconsin workers with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Emily Pritzkow, the council’s executive director, says the report’s findings confirm the state’s building trades “are doing the heavy lifting” to address skilled labor shortages.

“We’re not just training workers — we’re building middle-class careers, creating ladders of opportunity, and ensuring Wisconsin employers have the skilled workforce they need to thrive,” she said in a statement.

The study found nearly 8,600 of the state’s 11,000 construction apprentices were enrolled in “joint labor-management” or union apprenticeship programs in 2022, while about 2,400 were in employer-only non-union programs.

It also found union programs have completion rates that are 9% higher than non-union programs. And union programs invested more than $7,500 per apprentice, compared to $1,200 per apprentice for employer-only programs.

MEPI Economist Frank Manzo IV, who co-authored the study, says the findings show the union apprenticeship model is “punching well above its weight to deliver the skilled workforce supply” needed by the state’s construction industry.

Meanwhile, study authors note union journeyworkers earned $40.52 in median hourly wages between 2015 and 2024, nearly double the hourly median of $26.80 for non-union workers.

Workers in the state with a bachelor’s degree earned $32.68 per hour during the study period, while those with a master’s degree earned $38.50 per hour. Only those with professional or doctorate degrees earned more, with $48.77 in hourly wages, the report shows.

See the study and release.

Listen to an earlier podcast with Pritzkow.

— Lawmakers are circulating a bill to create a WEDC grant program aimed at bringing more households to Wisconsin.

Sens. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, and Braf Pfaff, D-Onalaska, and Rep. Dave Armstrong, R-Rice Lake, recently sent a co-sponsorship memo on the talent recruitment legislation to other lawmakers.

Under the bill, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. would create a new grant program focused on bringing new residents to municipalities across the state. Qualifying cities, villages, towns and counties, Native tribes or bands and nonprofits would be able to submit plans to WEDC for talent recruitment programs, including targets for the number of households they aim to bring in from outside Wisconsin.

Applicants would need to provide at least 20% of the program cost in matching funds as well as semiannual reports on program outcomes.

The memo also notes households would only be eligible for incentives under these programs if they’re located outside of Wisconsin when applying and have a household income of at least $55,000.

Program funding for recipient municipalities would be limited to $500,000 per fiscal year, and WEDC would provide half of the grant award at the start. The other half would only be provided once the recipient can show the agency it has met at least 50% of its household recruitment goal. If that hurdle isn’t cleared, WEDC would not provide the other half of the grant, according to the memo.

Bill authors say each new household coming to Wisconsin can generate more than $90,000 in economic activity per year. The memo notes they plan to address funding for the proposal in the state budget.

“Incoming households will not only help employers fill positions, but they’ll buy houses, pay taxes, patronize businesses, attend schools, and contribute to the community – and the state – in many other ways,” they wrote in the memo.

The co-sponsorship deadline is 5 p.m. Friday.

— Legislation a U.S. House committee will mark up today could block Dem Gov. Tony Evers’ proposal to triple an industry-backed assessment on hospitals unless Wisconsin lawmakers pass the budget before the reconciliation bill becomes law.

The GOP-run House Energy and Commerce Committee on Sunday released an overview of its piece of the legislation that will be marked up today. That includes a provision that would freeze states’ provider assessments at current rates as of the date the reconciliation bill takes effect. It also would prohibit states from adding new taxes.

Eric Borgerding, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Hospital Association, said the outline would punish a state like Wisconsin that hasn’t expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and has had a “fairly moderate provider tax.” Increasing the assessment is one avenue the state could take under current law to generate more matching federal dollars that could then be used to increase hospital assessments.

“It’s almost like Wisconsin is a martyr state when it comes to this kind of stuff, and we’re once again getting shortchanged under this proposal,” Borgerding said.

The reconciliation bill still has a series of hurdles to pass before it could become law. Still, national media report Capitol Hill Republicans want the legislation on President Donald Trump’s desk by July 4.

That’s just after the 2023-25 state budget concludes June 30, and GOP legislative leaders have said their goal is to wrap up work on the spending plan before the fiscal year ends.

Under federal law, states can receive reimbursement for assessments that go up to 6% of net patient revenue.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state is currently at 1.8% of net patient revenue, while Evers’ budget would take that to 5.7%.

In 2024-25, most hospitals were scheduled to pay $414.5 million to the Hospital Assessment Trust Fund. The state then put $265.5 million of that back into payments to the hospitals, while pulling in $426 million in federal money.

In all, while the hospitals paid $414.5 million, and they received $672 million — for a net gain of $257 million.

Under Evers’ budget, that assessment would jump to more than $1.3 billion. Hospitals would net $808.9 million under his plan.

Spokespeople for the guv and the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dem members of the Energy and Commerce Committee knocked the overall proposal that will be marked up. They cited a Congressional Budget Office review of the Republican reconciliation recommendations before the committee that found they would reduce the number of people on health insurance by at least 8.6 million by 2034. The proposals targeting Medicaid would reduce the deficit by $715 billion through 2034.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— Racine will get its first community health center this summer when Pillar Health opens in the “historically underserved” Lincoln-King neighborhood, the company announced.

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.

— The state Department of Transportation says manipulation of vehicle odometers resulted in $37 million in fraud loss in 2024, more than tripling the amount from the prior year.

The agency yesterday announced state officials found 5,961 vehicles last year that showed signs of odometer rollback, which can include disconnecting, resetting or otherwise changing the number of miles shown. Among those vehicles, a total of nearly 614 million miles were “rolled off,” DOT says.

In 2023, state investigators found 1,736 vehicles that had altered odometers, with nearly 182 million miles rolled off in total.

DMV Dealer and Agent Section Chief Maura Schifalacqua says fraudsters have been doing this for decades, but new technology allows them to “essentially hack the vehicle’s computer” to change the mileage displayed.

The agency last year revoked 20 wholesale dealer licenses in the state due to odometer fraud and title fraud — double the annual figure from 2023 and 2022.

DOT is urging consumers to compare the mileage listed on a vehicle title with the odometer, check for discrepancies in vehicle history reports as well as maintenance and inspection records, and look out for the overall condition of the vehicle not matching the listed mileage.

See the release.

— The Wisconsin chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business has announced Luke Bacher as its new state director.

Bacher has worked for more than 20 years in the state Assembly and was previously the chief of staff and communications director in the office of the majority leader, the NFIB release shows.

“In my previous role at the State Capitol I have witnessed day in and day out the integral role of small and independent businesses in our communities,” Bacher said in a statement. “I am looking forward to working for an organization that represents these businesses by highlighting the critical role that they play in our state.”

He also founded a short-term rental real estate company last year called Golden Maple Properties, according to his Linkedin page.

See the release.

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