MADISON– On Monday, Governor Evers signed Senate Bill 13 into law as 2023 Wisconsin Act 6. This legislation to eliminate the defunct Land Recycling Loan Program, which was authored by Senator Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) and Representative William Penterman (R-Columbus), was passed by the State Senate on a voice vote in March and the Assembly on a voice vote in April.
“It is a matter of good governance to clean up the statutes from time to time to remove outdated and inoperative language which helps to ease the understanding and administration of these laws,” said Senator Cowles and Representative Penterman. “Simply put, this new law is a simple step in eliminating unnecessary provisions from our state statutes to ensure available funds go somewhere they can be best utilized.”
2023 Act 6 eliminates the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Land Recycling Loan Program – a defunct program which last issued financing in 2008 and has not found an interested applicant since. The current program balance, just over $300,000, and several million dollars in outstanding loan payments will be credited to the DNR’s Clean Water Fund Program which provides low interest rate loans to wastewater utilities for infrastructure projects.