AB 228

This bill makes a number of changes to the laws governing the Wisconsin

Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), including the following:

1. WEDC administers, develops, and implements economic development

programs that have the purpose of encouraging the establishment and growth of

businesses in this state. Each year, WEDC submits a report by October l to the Joint

Legislative Audit Committee and each house of the legislature that provides

information about the progress of WEDC's economic development programs during

the previous fiscal year. That report must contain a description of each program, a

comparison of expected and actual program outcomes, the number of grants or loans

made under each program, the amount of each grant or loan, the recipient of each

grant or loan, the sum total of all grants and loans awarded by WEDC under an

economic development program, and any recommended changes to each program.

The bill requires WEDC to include all of the following additional information

in its annual report:

a. Quantifiable performance measures directly related to the purpose of each

economic development program, including an accounting of the location and

industry classification, by municipality, of each job created or retained in the state

in the previous fiscal year as a result of the program.

b. The amount of tax benefits that WEDC allocated, or verified to the

Department of Revenue (DOR), under each program in the previous fiscal year.

c. An identification of each recipient of a tax benefit that WEDC allocated, or

verified to DOR, during the previous fiscal year.

d. The total number of recipients of a grant, loan, or tax benefit that satisfied

the certain reporting obligations to WEDC and a list identifying each recipient of a

grant, loan, or tax benefit that failed to satisfy those obligations.

2. Currently, the board of directors of WEDC includes six members who are

nominated by the governor and appointed with the advice and consent of the senate

and who serve at the pleasure of the governor; three members appointed by the

speaker of the assembly, consisting of one majority and one minority party

representative to the assembly and one person employed in the private sector; and

three members appointed by the senate majority leader, consisting of one majority

and one minority party senator and one person employed in the private sector.

Under the bill, the members of the board nominated by the governor no longer

serve at the pleasure of the governor but serve six-year, staggered terms. In

addition, the members of the board employed in the private sector and appointed by

the speaker of the assembly and senate majority leader no longer serve at the

pleasure of the speaker or majority leader but serve six-year terms.

3. Under current law, the governor serves as the chairperson of WEDC's board.

Under the bill, the board must also elect one of its public members to serve as the

board's lead director for a two-year term. The lead director must have significant