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State lawmakers brief Winnebago County committee on PFAS funds, housing programs and new battery-collection rules
Summary
State Senator Chris Bielenoff and Assembly member Laurie Palmerian updated the Winnebago County committee on PFAS remediation funding, housing-program changes and a statewide battery-collection program paid by producers.
State Senator Chris Bielenoff, who represents the 18th Senate District, told the Winnebago County committee that state lawmakers recently cleared a major PFAS appropriation and made several housing-policy changes.
"The 125,000,000 for PFAS water contamination has finally been cleared," Bielenoff said, adding the funding will support testing and mitigation. He also cited updates to housing programs, including larger allocations intended to unlock affordable-housing projects and references to the workforce home-loan program and changes to low-income housing tax credit allocations.
Assembly member Laurie Palmerian, representing Assembly District 54, said the Legislature also passed bipartisan measures that expand postpartum Medicaid coverage and broaden access to some cancer-screening services. Palmerian highlighted a producer-funded battery-collection program that will require battery collection sites and noted the expansion to cover alkaline as well as lithium-ion batteries: "Battery collection sites are gonna start operating in Wisconsin. It's paid for by the battery producers."
Committee members asked whether federal or state SNAP changes and the PFAS appropriation will help Winnebago County directly. Bielenoff said the state set aside $70,000,000 to support program needs during the transition and that local effects will depend on how state implementation and any county litigation align with the new appropriation.
Why it matters: the funding and program changes discussed could affect local remediation capacity, housing availability and municipal costs. County officials asked for written materials and for the county to document local impacts so lawmakers can incorporate them into further discussions.
The committee did not take a formal action on legislation during the meeting. Lawmakers said they expected some issues to return in a new session and advised counties to continue submitting impact information to state staff and legislators.
