SB 121

Under current law, the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development

Corporation (WEDC) must develop and implement economic programs to provide

business support and expertise and financial assistance to companies that are

investing and creating jobs in Wisconsin and to support new business start-ups and

business expansion and growth in Wisconsin. Under this bill, WEDC must also

develop and implement a program to identify and respond to business retention

problems faced by companies doing business in Wisconsin. The business retention

program must:

1. Identify the top 300 companies in Wisconsin based on employment, capital

investment, and overall economic impact.

2. Develop a business retention strategy targeted at industries and industry

clusters that is based on data related to the economic viability of Wisconsin

companies.

3. Develop an early response and detection system that includes annual visits

to the top 300 companies identified by the program.

4. Create and maintain a database that includes business retention case

histories, best practices, and retention specialists.

Under current law, the Technical College System Board (board) makes grants

to technical college system boards for training in advanced manufacturing skills.

Beginning in the 2010-11 school year, the board is required to award at least

$2,000,000 annually for such grants. This bill requires that, beginning in the

2011-12 school year, the board must award at least $2,400,000 annually for such

grants. In addition, the bill prohibits a business from receiving training under such

a grant unless the business pays the individuals trained under the grant at least 150

percent of the federal minimum wage. The business must pay such a wage at the

time of the training or no later than six months after an individual completes the

training.

Under current law, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) provides

grants to community action agencies to provide a skills enhancement program to

individuals who work at least 20 hours per week and whose earned income is at or

below 150 percent of the poverty line. A skills enhancement program must include,

among other things, child care, career counseling, and financial support for

education and training. Under this bill, the appropriation to DCF for grants to

community action agencies to provide a skills enhancement program is increased by

$250,000 in each of fiscal years 2011-12 and 2012-13.