Wisconsin Senate to take up Foxconn next week

The Wisconsin Senate plans to vote next week on a $3 billion incentive bill for electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group.

The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee passed a new version of the bill on Tuesday. The Senate plans to vote on it Sept. 12.

Under the latest version of the bill, any lawsuit related to the Foxconn plant would skip the state appeals court and head straight to the conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Critics have complained about the easing of environmental regulations under the proposal and up to $2.85 billion in cash payments Foxconn could receive if it creates 13,000 jobs and invests $10 billion.

Foxconn says it will build a flat-screen manufacturing plant in southeast Wisconsin, its first outside of Asia.

Statement of Senator Jon Erpenbach on the partisan passage of the FOXCONN deal out of the Joint Committee on Finance

“I would love to support a proposal to help create 13,000 new jobs in Wisconsin but I cannot give away our water, wetlands and environment to get there. The FOXCONN deal is the biggest taxpayer give away to a foreign company in the history of the United States. It is our responsibility to make sure we take care of Wisconsin taxpayers and our future as a state. Being responsible is to protect our environment, making sure our taxpayers have protection for their investment and making our workers and companies a priority; the current deal does none of these in law.”

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State Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette) released the following statement immediately following action by the Joint Committee on Finance regarding Foxconn:

“Today was a momentous day in Wisconsin as we voted to pass an amended Foxconn bill in the Joint Committee on Finance. The amendments brought forward by Senate Republicans make a good bill even better. Reforms that have been advocated for and put into action by the Governor and the GOP led legislature throughout the past few years have put us in a position to attract, welcome, and retain companies like Foxconn to our great state. I am confident that without our reforms, we would not be having these votes on Foxconn today.

“Foxconn is a once in a generation opportunity for our state, and this is an opportunity we should be proud of and excited about. It is important that we do our due diligence to craft the best deal possible for the taxpayers and I believe we have done that."

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