WED AM News: Dairy group, Van Orden call for immigration law change to help farms; Lawmakers spar over PFAS contamination bills

October 8, 2025

— The American Dairy Coalition, American Business Immigration Coalition and U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden at the World Dairy Expo advocated for immigration law changes to bolster the agriculture workforce.

Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, said he wants to create a program attached to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s app that allows anyone who participates in the department’s self-deportation program to also participate in a program that grants them legal protected status for a year.

“It’s about an 80% solution,” he said during a press conference. “Right now, any one of your workers can get on the CBP One app and push a button that’ll give them a plane ticket and 1,000 bucks to go home. I just want another button, add it on there, where you push the button and you go into a legal protected status for a year.”

Without immigrant agriculture labor, the U.S. will become “inherently dependent” on foreign nations to feed its own people, he said.

“I’m saying out loud what no Republican wants to say, that if we don’t retain our current agriculture labor workforce, our farms are going to close,” Van Orden said.

The fact that people who entered the U.S. illegally would have to first exit the country and then return through a legal port of entry is a crucial part of the bill, he added.

“This is why this is not amnesty, and it is not a pathway to citizenship other than one that exists already,” he said, noting those who come into the country under a protected legal status could still apply for citizenship, just like anyone else.

ADC Founder and CEO Laurie Fischer said the fact that it’s not about amnesty is key for helping lawmakers and President Donald Trump get the legislation across the finish line.

“We’ve been told for 20 years that reform couldn’t happen until the border was secure,” she said. “Well, the border is secure. Now is the time to move something. Let me make it clear: None of us are asking for amnesty — we’re asking for legal, year-round status so our workers and our farms can thrive.”

Anyone who committed a crime other than entering the country illegally would not be eligible for the program, Van Orden added.

He also stressed how unpopular the idea is with some of his colleagues, but underscored the need for change.

“And I’ve gotten a lot of flack for this, but I’ve also gotten massive amounts of support,” he said. “Ninety-four percent of all total land in the United States is represented by Republicans. And so if Republicans are not supporting this, they are not doing what they should be doing, which is representing their districts.”

See the release.

— GOP lawmakers today rejected criticism from the Evers administration and environmental groups that a pair of bills aiming to tackle PFAS contamination would leave polluters unaccountable.

Also at the Senate Natural Resources, Veteran and Military Affairs Committee hearing, DNR staff said the agency is open to expanding protections for farmers with PFAS contamination on their property beyond what Gov. Tony Evers previously proposed.

Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, and Rep. Jeff Mursau, R-Crivitz, said the bill aims to ensure those who didn’t cause contamination aren’t held liable. They argued it would not let those who knowingly cause contamination off the hook.

“The PFAS testing will make pollution victims comfortable testing and letting the DNR investigate. There is a path forward where people don’t fear a draconian bureaucratic response to finally address their problems,” Wimberger said.

Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee have declined to release the $125 million set aside to combat PFAS in the state budget over two years ago as they work on legislation laying out how to spend the money. Evers’ vetoed last session’s version of the bill over concerns taxpayers would end up footing the bill for polluters.

The latest GOP proposal, SB 128, mirrors last session’s bill. The legislation would create a grant program to help municipalities respond to contamination. It also includes provisions that would limit the DNR’s authority to respond to contamination and exempt certain people and entities from requirements intended to protect water quality under the state’s Spills Law.

Mursau has been working on an amendment with clean water group S.O.H2O, though one has yet to be introduced. Wimberger at today’s hearing said he didn’t recognize the name of the group, though he added that “whoever wanted to walk in the door and give their two cents over the last few years, I’ve heard them.”

Wimberger and Mursau have also introduced the Spills Law exemptions as a standalone bill, SB 127.

Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, raised concerns about the exemptions, noting the bills do not include funding. She questioned what would be done if DNR was on the hook for remediation costs for one of the parties exempted from the Spills Law but didn’t have the money to pay for it.

She said if DNR doesn’t have the necessary funds, “that creates a public safety concern that I really am hoping that attention will be given to.”

Christine Sieger, who heads DNR’s remediation and redevelopment program, said Wisconsinites “want our government to hold accountable the non-innocent.” She said DNR supports expanding a Spills Law exemption for farmers and residential properties beyond what Evers previously proposed.

DNR has said it will not pursue farmers who have spread PFAS-contaminated waste on their land in compliance with a permit. Still, the guv’s latest state budget included a proposal to codify protections exclusively for agricultural or residential properties polluted with PFAS-contaminated sludge, as long as that sludge was spread on the land in compliance with a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued by DNR.

Sieger said DNR recommends lawmakers ensure farmers aren’t held responsible for others’ pollution regardless of whether the sludge, also known as biosolids, was spread in accordance with a permit.

According to Sieger, DNR also:

*Is open to exempting PFAS in leachate from municipally owned solid waste facilities in cases where pre-treatment to remove the chemicals has been installed;

*Encourages additional funding specifically directed at municipally owned airports, because funding for airports alone could eat up the $125 million; and

*Wants the bill’s exemption for solid waste facilities that accepted PFAS clarified to ensure the Spills Law still applies to commercially owned facilities.

— Delta-8 THC and similar intoxicants would be banned for anyone under 21 under a new proposal.

A group of Democratic lawmakers proposed that anyone under 21 would be banned from possessing intoxicating hemp products and anyone able to sell such products would be banned from selling them to anyone under 21. The measure would place the same bans on intoxicating cannabinoids, meaning Delta-8, Delta-9, Delta-10 and similar products would be banned.

Police would also be allowed to seize any hemp product from those under 21 under LRB-4384.

Punishment for violating the measure ranges from a fine of up to $500 for the first offense to $10,000 and 9 months in prison.

— Hartland-based Batteries Plus announced it will now have locations in all 50 states after deals to expand into Delaware.

The new deals come in addition to Batteries Plus’ more than 800 locations nationwide, which includes 16 new franchises and seven new store openings this year. Batteries Plus’ Delaware locations will be in Dover and Millsboro.

“This achievement is a testament to the incredible demand for our services. It demonstrates that from coast to coast, communities rely on Batteries Plus to power their everyday lives and critical operations,” Chief Development Officer Joe Malmuth said.

See the release.

— Registration for Insight Publications’ 15th annual Manufacturing First Expo and Conference is now open.

Admission is $175 per person online and includes a full day of networking as well as breakfast, lunch, a keynote speech by Destination Workplace’s Betsy Allen-Manning and more.

The event also features 11 breakout sessions covering AI for sales, digital tools and automation, information systems for the plant floor, marketing alignment, workers’ compensation and more.

— Biotech seed fund Midwest BioCapital launched today with its headquarters located in Madison.

Founder Just Byers, who also started Axio BioPharma, created the company to help innovators find pre-seed and seed stage funding to get their ideas off the ground, he said in a LinkedIn post.

The new fund will focus on companies developing new therapies, tools and technologies that move health care forward.

See the company’s website.

— The Madison International Trade Association is hosting a luncheon event on logistics and trade partnerships next week.

A pair of speakers from C.H. Robinson, Kevin Doucette, director of trade policy and security trade policy, and Ryan Hammett, director of market intelligence and insights, are set to speak at the Oct. 14 event at Madison’s Goodman Community Center.

See more details here.

— Insurance companies would be required to cover IVF and other infertility treatments under a bill proposed today by a pair of Democratic lawmakers.

Sen. Kelda Roys and Rep. Jodi Emerson proposed requiring health insurance policies and government health plans to cover medical or hospital expenses for diagnosis and treatment of infertility and standard fertility services. That would include coverage of at least four egg retrievals and unlimited embryo transfers.

Roys, D-Madison, argued everyone deserves to build a family if they want one, but added only a quarter of the families who struggle with infertility can afford to get treatment.

“This is not how we should be rationing our health care, based on your ability to pay,” she said. “Everyone should be able to access treatment for health conditions and diseases like infertility without regard for the type of insurance you have.”

Covering infertility care would amount to about 1% of total premium costs, she argued.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said the Dem co-authors didn’t consult with majority Republicans before introducing the bill, which he hadn’t seen. He questioned whether the motivation was political; Roys is running for guv.

“If you really want to get something signed into law, you would probably talk to the people in the majority,” Vos said.

Watch the press conference.

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