Housing Wins

Along with our members, we work to improve housing in Wisconsin. In the past five years, we have succeeded in:

• Reducing the exposure period for a claim resulting from a building or remodeling project from 10 years to 7

• Streamlining process for housing development in areas that contain wetlands

• Raising the bar for passing automatic sprinkler requirements in homes, ensuring that all sides of the issue must be explored before adding additional regulations

• Eliminating the acre conversion fee on former agricultural land

• Addressing park fees in state statutes as an impact fee only and not in multiple places

And that's just the start. With the help of thousands of industry professionals throughout the state, we work to shape policies at the state level, ensuring safe, affordable, and accessible housing is available to all Wisconsinites.

Latest wins

Wins from the 2021-2022 legislative session:

• 2021 Wisconsin Act 1: exempts PPP loans from state income and franchise tax and allows deduction of expenses paid from such income

• 2021 Wisconsin Act 4: provides immunity for entities from civil liability for a COVID-19-related injury or death, except in the case of reckless or wanton conduct or intentional misconduct

• 2021 Wisconsin Act 67: funds two additional positions at the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) for review and approval of private onsite wastewater treatment systems (POWTS) applications

• 2021 Wisconsin Act 80: allows a 3-year extension for DOT and DNR permits and plat or certified survey maps

• 2021 Wisconsin Act 221: creates a workforce housing rehabilitation loan program at the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA)

• 2021 Wisconsin Act 237: reforms the categories for the initial 12-hour credits and requires 4 hours of credits for the continuing education credits consist of “construction laws and codes and contracts, liability, and risk management”

• Defeated legislation that would have allowed for local municipalities to create “stretch codes” to exceed Uniform Dwelling Code and the Commercial Building Code

• State Budget Wins:

  • 125 million for rural broadband

  • Income tax reduction: 6.27 to 5.3

  • No changes to prevailing wage or additional contractor registration

    
    

Legislative session recaps

Summaries of the past two legislative sessions.

2019-2020:

• Construction and those companies supplying construction materials were deemed “essential businesses” when Wisconsin was under the “Safer at Home” Executive Order

• Legal interpretation and follow up FAQs on the “Safer at Home” Executive Order and statewide mask mandate

• Mandating that local units of government cannot require both a written and electronic building permit for a single family home. 2019 WI Act 38 and 2019 WI Act 38 summary memo.

• The authorization of $16.7 million of surplus funds from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) for housing and economic development initiatives including $10 million for rural workforce housing initiatives

• Flexibility for repairs to nonconforming buildings that reside in a floodplain. 2019 WI Act 175 and 2019 WI Act 175 summary memo.

• Codifying the wetland “in-lieu fee” program in state statutes (was previously only mentioned as an administrative rule/DNR guidance) and a more timely schedule for the release of wetland credits. 2019 WI Act 169 and 2019 WI Act 169 summary memo.

• Additional funding for technology upgrades at the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) to speed up contractor permitting timeframes

• No changes to the reforms that we were able to achieve during the previous four legislative sessions

• Defeated detrimental changes to tax incremental financing (TIF) laws

• Defeated a rule requiring unnecessary inspections in commercial buildings

• Defeated a provision to allow municipalities to exceed revenue caps

2017-2018:

• Reduction of the exposure period for a claim resulting from a building or remodeling project from 10 years to 7

• Streamlined process for housing development in areas that contain wetlands

• More clarification and flexibility for developers using bonds for infrastructure that is paid for by the developer and dedicated to a municipality

• Prohibition of a developer's agreement mandating building codes that exceed the statewide uniform standards of the Uniform Dwelling Code

• One- and two-family electrical code moved to 6 year review

• Application and approval process for conditional use permits streamlined

• Greater housing affordability for multifamily residents by following state law on sprinkler requirements

• Elimination of forestry mill tax resulting in a property tax cut for homeowners

• Elimination of personal property tax

• State statutes to create a "Wisconsin REScheck" software for one- and two-family dwelling code compliance

• Administrative rules dealing with building codes can now be stopped by the legislature for any reason; it was previously difficult to stop a rule once introduced

2015-2016:

• Prohibition of automatic fire sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings by administrative rule change

• An additional property tax cut for Wisconsin homeowners

• Statewide uniform standards for shoreland zoning

• Timelines for the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission (CARPC)

• Waiver to building code for certain religious sects

• Federalizing the lead paint standard

• Current historic tax credit retained

• Prohibition on local builder requirements that are above what state law currently requires

• Electronic process reform for submitting one and two family building permits

• Additional property rights for landowners (wetland reforms, new definition of "ASNRI", statewide uniformity), giving them greater flexibility to build and remodel on land they own

Historic Advocacy

The Wisconsin Builders Association has been advocating on behalf of builders and homeowners since 1947. Learn more about our successes through the years.