RHINELANDER – Hoping for bipartisan support and action by next April, a group of northern Wisconsin Republican lawmakers outlined plans on Monday (Nov. 16)  to make or save jobs in the state, and promote the growth of biofuels as an alternative energy source.

            Rep. Dan Meyer (R-Eagle River), Rep. Don Friske (R-Merrill) and Rep. Jeff Mursau (R-Crivitz) were joined by business and education officials at an hour-long news conference Monday afternoon held at Ponsse North America headquarters in Rhinelander.

            Aimed mainly to help agribusiness and the forest products industry – “the two largest engines of the state’s economy” in  Friske’s words – Meyer and his colleagues said they would sponsor nine bills and a resolution over the coming months to provide tax breaks and other incentives to spur economic growth.

            The lawmakers said the tax relief would be modeled after $1.3 million in dairy modernization tax credits passed earlier this year.

            “We’re looking to do the same thing for loggers and sawmills, for example, to help them upgrade their equipment and expand their facilities to create new jobs,” Meyer said.

            Mursau said, “The same great idea for agriculture will work for our aging sawmills around Wisconsin by providing tax incentives.”

            Friske conceded that the job creation plan faces an uphill fight in the Democratically-controlled legislature, but said he’s optimistic that the effort will garner support from both sides of the aisle.

            “We have a common enemy, which is the slumping economy,” Friske said.

            In addition to tax exemptions for businesses, the proposals are aimed at streamlining government permitting, helping educators spread the word about bio-energy, and easing worker compensation costs, which officials said put Wisconsin at a competitive disadvantage in luring new industry compared to neighboring states such as Michigan, Minnesota and many others where the business climate is friendlier.

            Meyer said that in some ways Milwaukee and Madison politicians “forgot about the rest of state so we decided to come up with a package of our own to help rural areas and northern Wisconsin in particular to help bring some dollars to these industries. With unemployment hitting 10% it’s time we did something to help.”

            He said the measures are being drafted and would be “rolled out over the next few weeks. We go back into session in January and hopefully the Democratic legislators from the north will join in supporting these bills.”

            The planned legislation would require the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Department of Transportation to issue permits to county economic development corporations and municipal governments that outline the maximum allowable emission and transportation levels.

            “An important key to this is to ensure the state has a rapid response team available to meet with relocating businesses at a moment’s notice,” Meyer added.

            The so-called “Fuels for Schools” program would be expanded from current districts including Park Falls, Barron, Rib Lake, Rice Lake and Antigo High Schools, all of which have increased use of renewable and locally available biomass such as wood chips to cut their heating and cooling costs.

             Interim Chancellor Mark Nook of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point said the plan would help create a biofuels major at the university to aid in research and development of biofuels in the Midwest and throughout the nation. Although biofuels represents only a tiny part of overall energy production, their potential is considered tremendous as research and development into a second generation of fuels continues.

            Meanwhile, the state’s logging industry is hurting, officials said. Rick Wilson of Pukall Lumber in Arbor Vitae, which employs about 75 people, has seen lumber prices plummet by as much as 40% during the economic slump, and profit margins are razor thin. Making things worse are high workers comp rates, which in Wisconsin average around 27 cents per dollar, compared to around 6 cents in Michigan and Minnesota, which are essentially self-insured.

            “The next step,” said Rep. Mursau, is to create a group self-insurance pool similar to Michigan. “Its system has existed for decades and loggers in the pool enjoy lower workers compensation rates,” lowering the bottom line for employers. “Self-insurance pools are currently illegal in Wisconsin, but this bill will legalize them.”

            On the transportation front, the lawmakers called for more federal stimulus money to rebuild roads and bridges vital to agriculture and the forestry industries, and to authorize Wisconsin to enter into a compact with Michigan covering weight limits to raise and equalize the flow of raw materials and finished goods between the two states.

            “Our economies are in part tied together,” Friske said. “Woods and goods pass over the border every day, but current weight limits and exemptions inhibit economic and job expansions in both our states.”

            The lawmakers had no estimate as to the eventual economic impact in terms of dollars or jobs created or saved, and Friske was quick to add that government’s role was limited and it was up to the industries, education and communities working together to turn things around.

            “Government isn’t going to rebound the economy or provide a panacea. It’s the people here with us who can create the environment for growth over the next decade … Wisconsin will come out of this better, stronger, more efficient, with more jobs and a better quality of life based on what we can do with this package,” he said.