The Latest on Wisconsin Legislature’s plans to return for vote on Kimberly-Clark tax break bill (all times local):
1:35 p.m.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says he’d be open to considering other bills during a post-election extraordinary legislative session to pass tax incentives for paper-maker Kimberly-Clark.
Gov. Scott Walker and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald on Tuesday announced the session for Nov. 12, a week after the Nov. 6 election.
Fitzgerald says the session will be limited to the Kimberly-Clark incentives. The Assembly already approved the incentives in February, putting the onus on the Senate to act.
Vos said during a Madison luncheon Tuesday that he’d be open to considering other legislation during the session, particularly a bill that would guarantee health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions.
Democratic Minority Leader Gordon Hintz said he expects a lame-duck session where Republicans will do everything they can to undermine Tony Evers if he defeats Walker and limit any incoming Democratic legislative majorities’ power.
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12:20 p.m.
Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz says he’s worried extending tax incentives to persuade papermaker Kimberly-Clark from closing a plant with 500 workers.
Republicans who control the Legislature on Tuesday called an extraordinary session the week after the November election to address a bill that would give Kimberly-Clark $100 million in tax incentives. The papermaker wanted the Legislature to pass the bill by the end of September.
The Assembly approved the bill earlier this year but Senate Republicans didn’t have the votes to pass it.
Hintz said during a Madison luncheon that calling the session after the election shows how unpopular the incentives are.
He says the tax breaks aren’t about creating new jobs but preserving existing jobs and that’s a slippery slope.
9:50 a.m.
Paper-maker Kimberly-Clark says it will delay any decision about closing a Wisconsin plant that employs about 500 people until after the Legislature meets in November to discuss a tax break bill.
Gov. Scott Walker and legislative leaders announced the previously unplanned session Tuesday. It is set to begin on Nov. 12, a week after the Nov. 6 election.
Kimberly-Clark had imposed a Sept. 30 deadline for the Legislature to take action. But company spokeswoman Brook Smith says in a statement Tuesday that productive discussions with Walker and members of the Legislature continue.
Smith says “we will not make any final decisions” about the plant in Fox Crossing until after the Legislature meets in November.
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9:09 a.m.
The Wisconsin Legislature plans to return the week after the November election to vote on a bill that would provide tax breaks designed to keep open a Kimberly-Clark plant in Fox Crossing.
Gov. Scott Walker and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald announced the extraordinary session Tuesday. It comes after lawmakers missed a Sept. 30 deadline imposed by Kimberly-Clark to reach a deal.
Walker wants lawmakers to approve a tax incentive package that could cost up to $100 million.
The Assembly passed the bill earlier this year but there aren’t votes in the Senate to pass it.
Walker says calling the extraordinary session to start on Nov. 12 to take up the bill is a “major step forward in achieving our goal.”
About 500 people work at the plant in Fox Crossing.
