The $3 billion Foxconn incentive package is heading to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk after passing the state Assembly in a 64-31 vote Thursday.
The vote fell along party lines with majority of Democrats voting against and majority of Republicans voting for the plant. Four Democrats supported the bill and two Republicans opposed it.
Here's the list of demands from three of the Republican senators who are against the budget: pic.twitter.com/4FTdCAx3wj
— Theo Keith (@TheoKeith) September 14, 2017
The bill allows up to $2.85 billion in cash payments to the Taiwanese company and provides them with exemptions from environmental protections, discounted electricity rates and a special court process.
The Wisconsin plant will be the first in the U.S. It will produce LCD panels for a number of industries and have the potential to create 3,000 to 13,000 jobs in the state.
In a statement, Foxconn Technology Group thanked lawmakers for their “vote of confidence.”
“Their support will help us move forward with our plans to build the state-of-the-art advanced display manufacturing campus in southeastern Wisconsin,” Foxconn said. “We are eager to work with the people of Wisconsin to make it a center of worldwide high-tech manufacturing.”
But Democrats, like state Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, called the deal “rigged” and “unfair” to the people of Wisconsin.
State Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa, D-Milwaukee, said in a statement Republicans are “gambling” with the future of Wisconsin families, children and small businesses.
“The cost of this deal is just too high, and Wisconsinites are still sitting on the other side of the table waiting to hear what they get in return,” Zamarripa said. “I hope it’s not empty promises scribbled on a napkin.”
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau suggested it may take 25 years or more for the state to recover the revenue.
Subeck said the deal is “fundamentally unfair” for Wisconsinites.
“This deal is fundamentally unfair to the people of Wisconsin who will pay the price well into the future,” Subeck said in a statement. “It is hard working Wisconsin families who will be left paying the price.”
Republicans, however, have maintained their stance that Foxconn will be “transformational” to the state of Wisconsin.
State Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, said in a statement Foxconn will “transform and revitalize” Wisconsin’s economy.
“A vote for Foxconn is a vote for a brighter economic future in Wisconsin,” Tittl said.
Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, said in a statement he looks forward to the bill becoming a law.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Walker could sign the measure as early as next week.
