CNOW for Nov. 13 2023

Today's conservation notices:

• Oppose SB 312: Poison Pill Tied to Establishing PFAS Community Grant Programs
• Support AB 133 & SB 134: Improving the Farmland Preservation Tax Credit
• Oppose AB 137: Setting an Arbitrary Wolf Population Goal in Statute
• Support AB 270: Best Practices for Hunter Safety
• Oppose SB 541: Selling Our Shoreline
• Support LRB 3878: Providing Healthy School Meals for All
• Oppose LRB 2233: Shutting Down Clean Energy

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 312, which is before the Senate on Tuesday.

Every person in Wisconsin deserves safe drinking water. SB 312 aims to create PFAS Community Grant Programs intended for municipal drinking water systems and private well owners. However, it also includes a poison pill that would limit the Department of Natural Resource’s ability to test for PFAS, and take enforcement action against those responsible for contamination. This would degrade Wisconsin’s spills law, a tool that has protected Wisconsinites from pollution for decades.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support AB 133 & SB 134, which are before the Assembly on Tuesday.

Wisconsin’s farmland preservation program provides eligible farmers with a refundable per-acre tax credit. In order to be eligible for farmland preservation tax credits, landowners must also certify compliance with state soil and water conservation standards and practices. AB 133 & SB 134 would address Wisconsin farmers’ reluctance to participate in the farmland preservation program by updating the program to increase the credit amount for eligible farmers and would decrease the length of farmland preservation agreements signed with DATCP from 15 to 10 years.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose AB 137, which is before the Assembly Committee on Sporting Heritage on Wednesday.

The main goal of wolf management in Wisconsin should be to move towards an outcome-based management plan where there is a healthy wolf population, while minimizing depredations. The DNR has engaged in a multi-year, diverse stakeholder process that brought together hunters, farmers, conservationists, and tribal governments to develop such a plan. AB 137 works against this goal by requiring the Department of Natural Resources to establish a numeric statewide wolf population goal in statute. This undermines the ability of the DNR to balance multiple goals and respond to the changing populations.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support AB 270, which is before the Assembly Committee on Sporting Heritage on Wednesday.

Comprehensive hunter education programs ensure that every Wisconsinite has access to the same information about hunter safety and ethics-related responsibilities. SB 265 would require the DNR to offer in-person field training for Wisconsinites under 18 who wish to receive their hunter education certification. This is an important addition to current requirements, and will help ensure every hunter is proficient in safety and ethics practices critical to maintaining our sporting heritage.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 541, which is before the Senate Committee on Natural Resources on Wednesday.

Under the Wisconsin Constitution, our waters belong to all of us. Public access to our shoreline is a right that must be protected into the future, for all people. SB 541 would violate our Public Trust Doctrine by permanently turning over our shoreline to private developers and allowing them to restrict access.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 3878, which is circulating for co-sponsorship.

Expanding access to healthy school meals is central to improving health and educational outcomes, and supporting Wisconsin farmers and local food economies. LRB 3878 would make school breakfast and lunch available to all Wisconsin K-12 students at no charge.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose LRB 2233, which is being circulated for co-sponsorship.

Wisconsin needs to develop more instate sources of clean energy to reduce the impacts of climate change, which have resulted in more extreme weather such as flooding. Renewable energy systems can coexist on the landscape with agriculture and provide much needed financial incentives for landowners. LRB 2233 would prohibit the PSC from allowing wind and solar installations from moving forward if 35 percent of the land on which they would be sited was considered prime agricultural land. This bill unnecessarily and arbitrarily decides how land can be used and slows Wisconsin's ability to transition to clean energy.

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.