The year 2011 began with a bang as Governor Scott  Walker was successful in passing his Budget Repair Bill, allowing the state to eliminate its $3.6 billion budget deficit but angering public employee unions by requiring increased employee contributions to health care and retirement. More importantly, in the eyes of unions, it removed their right to bargain wages, eliminated automatic state collection of union dues and made union membership optional. The changes reduced payments to local governments and school districts but provided them with tools to reduce their costs.

The budget battle was followed by the contentiously fought reelection of Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, a group of legislative recall elections and a series of controversial legislative enactments. These included a redistricting plan, tort reform bills, approval of concealed carry and stricter voter identification requirements. The Governor and lawmakers ended 2011 with another special session on job creation, once again enacting economic development legislation, including further civil litigation reforms.

2012 begins with the possibility of more recall elections, including those of the Governor and legislators. While it appears organizers will gather sufficient signatures by the January 17th deadline, they will need to be certified by the Government Accountability Board. The signatures and how they were collected will receive great scrutiny and could be challenged legally. The process contains enough ambiguity that estimates on when elections could be held range from late March until June. It is also unknown if the Senate legislative recall elections  will occur on the same day as the gubernatorial election. A further unknown is who would be challenging Governor Walker. Democrats mentioned include Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, Congressman Ron Kind, State Senator Tim Cullen, former congressman David Obey and Secretary of State Douglas La Follette. In the legislative recalls, those being challenged are Republican Senators Van Wanggaard of Racine, Pam Galloway from the Wausau area and Terry Moulton from the Chippewa Falls area.

Overall, 2011 has been a very productive year for utility shareholders. With WUI member’s help, investors can look forward to an even better year during 2012.

Thank You!

WUI and its coalition partners have defeated legislation that would have forced investors to absorb the cost of electricity for customers who were under-billed because of a malfunctioning electric meter. Electric meters are accurate over 99.5% of the time. This extreme accuracy is the result of large investments in equipment and regular checkups as well as oversight by the Public Service Commission. In the rare instance when the meter is wrong and the customer was over-charged, the utility immediately pays the customer back for up to 6 years of error with interest. When the customer is under-billed, they can only be billed for up to two years with no interest. They are also given up to 20 years to pay for the energy they have received but haven’t paid for. The bill in question, Senate Bill 58, would have continued to make the utility pay with interest if they owe the customer but would have banned collecting for under-billing. This would have shifted costs from the customer who used the energy to investors. Thanks to Senators Wanggaard (R) Racine, Wirch (D) Pleasant Prairie and Hansen (D) Green Bay, WUI was successful in killing the bill in committee.

The Wisconsin Legislature is acting on measures included in Governor Scott Walker’s second special session focusing primarily on job creation. The Governor has proposed a number of legislative initiatives including business and agricultural loan guarantees and investments and tax credits. Of particular interest to utilities and others in the business sector are additional tort reform bills. Following civil liability reforms enacted in an earlier session, the Governor has included four bills in this special session. These affect interest on judgments, immunity for manufacturers and sellers of FDA-approved drugs and devices, determining reasonable attorney fees and trespasser liability. Following the special session, politicians will immediately begin preparing for the second round of recalls expected to include Governor Walker and Republican legislators who were elected in 2010. Under current law, an elected official can only be recalled after their first year in office. Public employee union groups unhappy with Governor Walker’s collective bargaining changes have begun planning for collecting signatures allowing the recalls to move ahead.

Record Number WUI Members Attend 2011 Annual Meeting

A record crowd of Wisconsin Utility Investors members joined together at the Olympia Resort in Oconomowoc on September 15th to hear important state and national speakers discuss current utility issues affecting investors.