Wisconsin Senate Passes Koch-Backed REINS Bill That Would Benefit Koch, Other Polluters

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In Wisconsin, a Koch Industriesโ€“backed group recently moved closer toward a major legislative victory, with an anti-regulations bill it has pushed for years passing in the Wisconsinย Senate.

That bill, the REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act, passed 19-14 as SB 15. It mandates that if a proposed rule causes โ€œ$10 million or more in implementation and compliance costsโ€ over a two year period, that regulation must either be rewritten or discarded.ย Before taking effect, it still has to passย an Assembly vote and get theย signature of Republican Governor Scott Walker.ย 

Theย Wisconsin version of REINS has moved in parallel to aย federal version moving through Congress, also called the REINS Act. It too has beenย pushed for years by the Koch-funded network, which passed in January in the U.S. House of Representatives and now awaits aย Senate vote. The federal version has the backing of President Donald Trump.

A major force behind both versions of REINSย is the Koch-founded and funded group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP). In Wisconsin, AFP ran an advertising campaign in support of the bill, started a petition, testified for it at a hearing, andย deployed lobbyists to advocate on its behalf. After the bill passed in the Wisconsin Senate, AFP praised the legislative body’sย efforts.

โ€œThe Wisconsin REINS Act would require that new regulations with an economic impact on the taxpayer greater than $10 million be voted on by the peopleโ€™s representatives in the legislature,โ€ reads the petition. โ€œThis one change would tie the hands of big government activists for generations to come, restore Democracy to regulations, and provide businesses with the certainty they need to invest in jobs and wages inย Wisconsin.โ€

Unmentioned in the petition: Wisconsin-based Koch businesses could also benefitย financially from the bill if it becomes law, as its business assets in the states are highly polluting. Koch Industries owns subsidiaries including Georgia-Pacific, Flint Hills Resources, and Koch Minerals, whichย in turn own assets such as paper production mills, pipelines, and oil and gas storageย facilities.

Koch Industries in Wisconsin
Credit: Center for Americanย Progress

In May, for example, Flint Hills Resources announced an expansion project for its Wisconsin-based oil and gas terminalย network.

The expansion โ€œwill give us the ability to supply our customers with more of the gasoline and diesel fuel they need when they need it,โ€ย Brian Leigh, general manager of marketing for Flint Hills Resources in Wisconsin, told the industry publication Bulk Transporter at the time. โ€œWe expect these projects will help us keep up with demand and improve our ability to serve ourย customers.โ€ย 

Rep. Adam Neylon, the sponsor of the Assembly bill which will begin moving in Juneย on the full floor, received a $1,000 campaign contribution from AFP for his successful 2016 electoral run, in which he raised $18,000. Sen. Devin LeMahieu, the sponsor of the Senate bill, is a dues-paying member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), according to financial disclosure forms. ALECย has a model resolution promoting the federal version of REINS.

Others joining AFP in lobbying efforts for REINS in Wisconsin have included business trade groups such as the American Petroleum Institute,ย Wisconsin Paper Council,ย Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, and Wisconsin Utilities Association. Georgia-Pacific is a member of the Paperย Council.

AFP‘s Wisconsin lobbying team includes Eric Bott, former Policy Director for Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Fonfara, former Policy Adviser for Republican Governor Tommy Thompson. Governor Walker has also included language similar to that found in REINS in his proposedย budget.

โ€œShut Downย Governmentโ€

Beyond the $10 million figure, an amendment inserted into the bill also gives the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) the abilityย โ€œto indefinitely object to any proposed rule, for the same reasons a temporary objection may be made under current law,โ€ explains the Wisconsin Legislative Council, a nonpartisan legal and policy research arm of the Wisconsin Legislature. โ€œUnder this provision, an agency would not be able to promulgate a rule following indefinite objection unless a bill authorizing such promulgation was enacted intoย law.โ€

JCRAR is a joint committee of the state Senate and Assembly which has oversight ofย rules and regulations proposed by the executive branch. For AFP, the billย serves as a way to check the power of what it describes as โ€œfaceless, namelessย bureaucrats.โ€

โ€œBy requiring the legislative approval of the most expensive rules,โ€ Eric Bott, AFP Wisconsin’s state director, said in his March 30 testimony in front of the Senate Committee on Operations, Technology, and Consumer Protection. โ€œSB 15 would restore democracy to our regulatory process, add accountability, and improve the responsiveness of state agencies to the needs of citizens andย employers.โ€ย 

Democratic members of the Legislature, such as Sen.ย Kathleen Vinehout, have decried theย bill.ย 

โ€œThis is the broadest, most dangerous bill youโ€™ve never heard of,โ€ she told Wisconsin Public Radio. โ€œIt’s an obscure way to shut down government from doing something that the Legislature intended it toย do.โ€

The Wisconsin Sierra Club echoed Vinehout in its concerns about the bill’s ability to potentially โ€œgrind the regulatory process to aย halt.โ€

โ€œPassage of the bill would place a great burden upon the legislature to review and approve agency regulations on time and in a politically charged climate, and in many cases without the necessary technical expertise that state agencies possess,โ€ remarked the Club, which has also lobbied against the bill. โ€œUltimately, this will result in far fewer regulations, many of which may be sorely missed as environmental, safety, and health standards correspondinglyย fall.โ€

Main image credit:ย Richard Hurd |ย Flickr

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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