(The Center Square) – In the day after the Wisconsin Energy Reform Act was introduced, several Republican lawmakers spoke out against the energy bill they believe is the failed right of first refusal legislation with a different name.
The new bill would include bidding controls and restrictions for interstate and intrastate electrical transmission lines rather than simply allowing those companies already operating in Wisconsin to exclusively bid first before other companies can bid on the work.
Republicans like Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, say the bill adds small policy provisions while the meat of the proposal remains the same.
“The ability of politicians to rationalize deception and deceit to fool the public is on full display this week in the Wisconsin State Capitol,” Nass said. “ROFR, as embodied in AB 25, was declared dead by some of my colleagues even though they knew such a statement to be false, since the ROFR language was being transferred to a new piece of legislation.”
The right of first refusal legislation was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and State Rep. Kevin Petersen, R-Waupaca, and backed by business groups and businesses including Kwik Trip, Wisconsin Counties Association, the Wisconsin Economic Development Association, the Wisconsin Electrical Cooperative Association, the Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin, public power company WPPI Energy, the state’s three major electricity transmission companies and all of the state’s investor-owned power generating companies.
The new version added supporters such as Rep. Travis Tranel, R-Cuba City, who is the chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee and Energy and Utilities chairman Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard.
The bill will first head to the Energy and Utilities Committee before Speaker Robin Vos hopes to have it heard on the Assembly floor later this month.
Rep. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, said that Gov. Tony Evers should speak out with his thoughts on the bill, especially since it involves the American Transmission Co., which Knodl said hires only union labor for multi-billion-dollar projects, meaning 70% of Wisconsin’s construction workforce cannot participate in the work.
“Even more baffling? This bill doesn’t even have a Senate author,” Knodl said. “That’s like trying to fly a commercial jet without a copilot. Do you want to be aboard that plane? Yet, somehow, it’s still cruising along.
“And while all this is happening, Gov. Evers has gone into stealth mode on a key part of the bill: the right of first refusal. It’s a mouthful, sure – but it could reshape Wisconsin’s energy market and squeeze out competition. That’s a pretty big deal to stay quiet about.”
Evers, meanwhile, has been on a trip in Germany with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. which included being at DMEA, a digital health trade show from Tuesday through Thursday in Berlin.
Rep. Joy Goeben, R-Hobart, said that she co-authored a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division to review the updated legislation.
“ROFR 2.0 is moving through the process at an accelerated pace to create a false sense of urgency, when ROFR in other states is being reviewed by the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division in other states and has raised concerns regarding their effect on competition and, most importantly, the costs to ratepayers,” Goeben said.
