The state Senate approved an amendment that would tweak language in the Foxconn bill to state WEDC “shall establish job creation thresholds” and claiming capital expenditure tax benefits shall be tied to those benchmarks.
Dems questioned the impact of the amendment, saying it did not include any mechanisms to ensure those thresholds are met before Foxconn received the tax benefits.
Republicans shot down a change Dems proposed to the amendment that would have specified the threshold as 5,000 jobs within seven years.
“We can create all the thresholds we want to create. But if they’re not enforced and they still get the capital expenditure, what’s the point?” asked state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton.
But Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said there are limits on what the Legislature can do via legislation in the negotiations. Instead, the bill sets a framework for the Walker administration to finalize details of the contract.
“The fact of the matter is what we’re putting in place clearly delineates a path for that to happen,” he said.
