The amounts appropriated for tuition grants and for Wisconsin higher education grants for University of Wisconsin system students, technical college students, and tribal college students; grants to technical college districts to reduce unemployment; grants to businesses to make capital expenditures; increasing the total amount of angel investment credits; creating a new individual income tax upper bracket; providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures; granting rule-making authority; and making appropriations

Under current law, there is appropriated to HEAB, as a biennial appropriation, $893,000 in the 2009-11 state fiscal biennium for Wisconsin higher education grants for tribal college students (WHEG-tribal grants). This bill increases the amount appropriated for WHEG-tribal grants in the 2009-11 state fiscal biennium by $372,000 over the total amount appropriated for that purpose under current law.

Under current law, there is appropriated to HEAB, as a biennial appropriation, $53,208,600 in the 2009-11 state fiscal biennium for tuition grants for students attending accredited, nonprofit, post-high school educational institutions in this state. This bill increases the amount appropriated for tuition grants in the 2009-11 state fiscal biennium by $5,046,700 over the total amount appropriated for that purpose under current law.

This bill directs the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) Board to award grants to technical college districts for programs that assist in reducing unemployment. To be eligible for a grant, a technical college district must meet certain eligibility criteria relating to the unemployment rate of areas within the district or recent increases in the unemployment rate of areas within the district.

Grants are available for three specified purposes:

1. To recruit, enroll, instruct, provide support services to, and pay the tuition and fees of dislocated workers who enroll in the district. A dislocated worker is a person who has been laid off or terminated from employment and meets certain additional criteria; a person who was self-employed but is currently unemployed as a result of economic conditions or natural disasters; or a displaced homemaker.

2. To recruit, enroll, instruct, and provide services to adults who enroll in the district in a program leading to a certificate of general educational development (commonly referred to as a GED) or a high school equivalency diploma.

3. To expand existing capacity or create capacity in district programs for which there are student waiting lists or that address projected workforce needs in the district.

The bill authorizes the WTCS Board to modify the grant eligibility criteria and the purposes for which grants may be awarded in order to ensure the eligibility of district boards for grants awarded by the federal government for programs that improve completion rates and train workers for skilled occupations.

The bill directs the WTCS Board to give preference in awarding grants to programs that serve persons who reside in areas with the highest unemployment rates. The board must also submit annual reports to the governor and to the legislature regarding the programs that have been awarded grants.

This bill creates a new grant program in the Department of Commerce (department). Under the program, the department may award a grant to a business with operations, equipment, or facilities in an economically distressed area of the state for the purpose of making capital investments to upgrade or modernize the operations, facilities, or equipment of the business if the capital investments will result in the retention or creation of jobs. The bill defines an "economically distressed area" as any of the following:

1. A county, city, or micropolitan statistical area with an unemployment rate of at least 6 percent in two or more months during the 12 months preceding the date of the grant application.

2. A county, city, or micropolitan statistical area with an average unemployment rate equal to at least 120 percent of the statewide average unemployment rate during the 12 months preceding the date of the grant application.

3. A county, city, or micropolitan statistical area with an unemployment rate that has increased by at least 2 percent during the 12 months preceding the date of the grant application.

The department is to award grants on a competitive basis, and to give priority to businesses that have established or propose to establish a partnership with a technical college district board for the purpose of providing skill training or retraining to meet the specific workforce needs of that business.

Under current law, the total amount of angel investment tax credits that taxpayers may claim is $5,500,000 in 2010 and $18,000,000 in each year thereafter.

Under the bill, the total amount of angel investment tax credits that taxpayers may claim is $7,500,000 in 2010 and $20,000,000 in each year thereafter.

Under current law, there are five income tax brackets for single individuals, certain fiduciaries, heads of households, and married persons. The brackets are indexed for inflation. The rate of taxation under current law for the lowest bracket for single individuals, certain fiduciaries, heads of households, and married persons is 4.6 percent of taxable income; the rate for the second bracket is 6.15 percent; the rate for the third bracket is 6.5 percent; the rate for the fourth bracket is 6.75 percent;

and the rate for the highest bracket, which was created in the budget bill, 2009 Wisconsin Act 28 , is 7.75 percent.

Currently, the highest bracket applies to taxable income exceeding $225,000 for single individuals, certain fiduciaries, and heads of households. For married persons, the highest current bracket applies to taxable income exceeding $300,000 for joint filers and $150,000 for separate filers.

This bill creates a sixth bracket with a taxation rate of 8.75 percent. For single individuals, certain fiduciaries, and heads of households, this bracket applies to taxable income exceeding $750,000. For married persons, this bracket applies to taxable income exceeding $1,000,000 for joint filers and $500,000 for separate filers.

This bracket is indexed for inflation starting with taxable year 2010, and first applies to taxable years beginning on January 1, 2009.