We have been monitoring two bills over the past few months that were formally introduced in June. The bills relate to AB 386 (Dark Store) and AB 387 (Reversing the Walgreens v. City of Madison decision). Our CARW policy committee has discussed this, and the WRA policy committee is officially ‘neutral’ on the two bills, but have been working through our State lobbyist to help ensure that the bills don’t have unintended consequences for our industry. Most of our member concerns relate to the bill (AB 387) or Walgreens bill that would in essence, have a negative effect on the investment real estate market. It cites large retailers including Walgreens, at the core of the problem. Earlier this week, past chairman, Jeff Hoffman, had a letter published in the BizTimes HERE outlining the negative impact the legislation would have on business in Wisconsin. Many other members have reached out expressing their concerns over the language in the bills.
At this time, the Assembly Ways and Means committee has heard testimony and will likely plan to vote on it. While there is no timetable for the companion Senate bills, there will be activity surrounding them into late summer/early fall. We hope you will reach out if you have an interest in learning more.
Full testimony is available here from Wisconsin Eye: http://www.wiseye.org/Video-Archive/Event-Detail/evhdid/11685#
All other written testimony submitted to the committee on both bills can be viewed on the Legislature’s website here.
If you would like to become more involved, email or call Tracy Johnson at tracy@carw.com or
414-253-7939.