CNOW for Jan. 5, 2026

Today's conservation notices:

• Support LRB 5262: Long term transportation planning that centers community
• Support LRB 5272: Evaluating the social cost of carbon emissions in Wisconsin
• Support LRB 5732 & 5792: Creating more green jobs
• Support LRB 5714 & LRB 5751: Creating the Wisconsin Climate Corps
• Support LRB 5819: Funding research on agriculture and climate change
• Support LRB 5723: Creating local plans that factor in climate change
• Support LRB 5635 & LRB 5687: Providing new tools to county conservationists
• Support LRB 0447: Bolstering the Energy Innovation Grant program
• Support LRB 5814 & LRB 5829: Allowing communities to enact additional energy standards
• Support LRB 4525 & LRB 5836: Supporting farmers who help tackle climate change
• Support LRB 2608: Expanding access to energy efficiency improvements
• Support LRB 0780: Building the next generation of climate leaders
• Support LRB 5740: Creating green spaces in urban areas
• Support LRB 4309 & LRB 5713: Developing new facilities with transparency and accountability

• Support LRB 3300 & LRB 5832:  Expanding the Focus on Energy program

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Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5262.

To effectively manage the potential consequences of climate change, our long-term planning needs to consider ways to reduce carbon emissions, expand public transit and electric vehicle charging options, and center historically marginalized communities. LRB 5262 is an important layer of this need, as it would require these considerations in any long-term planning developed by the Department of Transportation.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5272, which is circulating for co-sponsorship.

Climate change is having an impact on all areas of our economy, our health, and the landscape of our communities. Currently, Wisconsinites are left to deal with these negative impacts on their own. LRB 5272 would require the Public Service Commission (PSC) to consider the social cost of carbon in its analysis as it decides whether to approve the construction of new utility-scale energy generation facilities, high voltage transmission lines, and certain other public utility projects.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5732 & LRB 5792, which are circulating for co-sponsorship.

To quickly transition to clean energy, we need to offer more job training programs for jobs that expand Wisconsin’s use of clean energy and conserve our natural resources. To accomplish this goal, LRB 5732 & LRB 5792 would allow the Department of Workforce Development to offer grants to public and private organizations to create and/or scale up their green jobs training programs.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5714 & LRB 5751, which are circulating for co-sponsorship.

To effectively mitigate the impacts of climate change, we need more Wisconsinites engaged in work related to climate resiliency, land restoration, and the transition to clean energy. LRB 5714 & LRB 5751 would establish the Wisconsin Climate Corps, which would also provide job training and professional development opportunities to young Wisconsinites. These opportunities would offer a living wage, and be targeted toward projects in underserved communities.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5819, which is circulating for co-sponsorship.

Across Wisconsin, climate change is fueling uncertainty around agricultural practices and food security. LRB 5819 requires the UW Board of Regents of to fund two agriculture and climate change research positions assigned to the Division of Extension at UW-Madison. These research positions are critical to better understanding climate change’s potential impact on Wisconsin agriculture.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5723, which is circulating for co-sponsorship.

Wisconsin communities need to prepare for the growing unpredictability of climate change-related extreme weather events. Wisconsin law already requires or permits counties and municipalities to prepare a variety of plants that guide responses to future events. These include plans for physical development, community health challenges, and hazard mitigation. Under LRB 5723, if a local governmental unit prepares a new plan, it must also factor in considerations related to the impact of climate change. This will ensure that communities aren’t blindsided by the growing unpredictability of climate change-related events.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5635 & LRB 5687, which are circulating for co-sponsorship.

Our counties are on the front lines of tackling climate change. They need the resources to be able to prepare for and address climate change-related challenges. LRB 5635 & LRB 5687 would help with this by expanding the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection’s widely popular funding for county conservation staff, to include opportunities for funding county conservation staff focused on climate change and climate change resiliency.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 0447, which is circulating for co-sponsorship.

The Public Service Commission’s Energy Innovation Grant Program provides important support for a range of energy-related projects that reduce energy consumption, support renewables, and increase energy efficiency. LRB 0447 provides more support to this program by increasing the number of grants awarded. This is critical to ensuring that Wisconsin can more quickly transition to clean, renewable energy.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5814 & LRB 5829, which are circulating for co-sponsorship.
Under Wisconsin law, the Department of Safety and Professional Services’ (DSPS) energy conservation code sets certain design requirements for energy conservation in public buildings and places of employment. To promote energy efficiency, limit pollution, and reduce energy costs, local communities should have the ability to enact additional standards that go beyond this code. LRB 5814 & LRB 5829 would allow local communities to enact additional standards through a “stretch energy code.” This code would be built by a DSPS working group created under the bill.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 4525 & LRB 5836, which are circulating for co-sponsorship.

Wisconsin agricultural practices are central to our ability to limit carbon emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change. LRB 4525 & 5836 create a sustainable agriculture grant program that would be administered under the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Under this program, the Department would award grants to certain farmers to implement on-site fossil fuel input efficiency measures, plant vegetation that helps sequester carbon, and develop a conservation management plan.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 2608, which is circulating for co-sponsorship.

For Wisconsinites hoping to install solar panels, upgrade their HVAC, or weatherize their home, the upfront costs are often prohibitive. LRB 2608 would help expand access to these types of energy efficiency upgrades by permitting on-bill financing. On-bill financing would allow a public utility to cover the upfront cost of a homeowner’s energy improvement, and then periodically add a surcharge to the customer’s utility bill. This would be an important step toward expanding access to energy efficiency improvements.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 0780, which is circulating for co-sponsorship.

To protect our state from the detrimental effects of climate change, we need to deliver sufficient tools to the next generation of leaders hoping to tackle the crisis. LRB 0708 would create a climate change scholarship program for students enrolled in an institution of higher education, or who are engaged in studies related to addressing climate change. This would ensure that higher education is attainable for the next generation of climate scientists and environmental justice advocates.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5740, which is circulating for co-sponsorship.

People living in urban heat islands would benefit from increased tree plantings and the creation of more green spaces within our cities. Trees provide important cooling effects that benefit public health and help reduce energy costs. At the moment, tree coverage tends to be particularly limited in predominantly Black and Latino communities. LRB 5740 helps address this inequity by increasing funding for the Department of Natural Resource’s urban forestry program.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 4309 & LRB 5713, which are circulating for co-sponsorship.

Low-income households, and particularly low-income households of color, are disproportionately more likely to live in spaces where they are drinking poisoned water, breathing toxic air, and more immediately exposed to the potential impacts of climate change. LRB 4309 & LRB 5713 are an important step toward ensuring that Wisconsin doesn’t develop new facilities that make this problem even worse by prohibiting the Department of Natural Resources from issuing certain permits for the operation of a facility that is located in a vulnerable community, unless the permit applicant complies with certain reporting requirements. This will help expose potential environmental injustices, and ensure impacted communities have an opportunity to have a say in the process.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 3300 & LRB 5832, which are circulating for co-sponsorship.

Under Wisconsin law, investor-owned electric and natural gas utilities are required to help fund Focus on Energy, a popular program that helps Wisconsinites improve energy efficiency in their homes and businesses, and access renewable energy. LRB 3300 & LRB 5832 direct the Public Service Commission to require participating investor-owned electric and natural gas utilities to increase their annual contribution to the Focus on Energy program. This will ensure that we can expand the program, and deliver energy efficiency and renewable resource tools to more households across Wisconsin.

Conservation Notices of the Week (CNOW) announces the pro-conservation positions on issues before the Senate, Assembly and/or Governor in the week ahead to state legislators. Others wishing to follow activities in the state legislature also receive CNOW, including legislative staff, conservation voters, and media. All of these issues are tracked on the Vote Tracker. Issues in the CNOW may appear in the Conservation Scorecard, to be released in the summer of 2026.