GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Governor Scott Walker is remaining hopeful that a tax incentives bill to save a Kimberly-Clark facility can be struck prior to him leaving office, while Republican leaders are saying they’re focused on making that happen.
The outgoing Governor has voiced his disappointment in the recent past and reiterated that he’s not giving up and would love for an agreement to be the last thing he does prior to leaving office in January.
State Senator Roger Roth reciprocated Walker’s sense of urgency and the idea that any available avenue should be explored. He says there are some important questions to be asked if an agreement becomes unrealistic.
“Is there something that can be done?” he asks. “Is there some common ground, some commonality, that we can get to with the company and with the union?”
Senator Roth points out that it’s not just a select group of Republican leaders that want the bill to be passed in order to ensure that jobs stay in place.
“The union wants the company to stay here, I think the company genuinely wants to stay here,” he says. “The leaders of northeast Wisconsin want it to stay here, it’s just seeing if there’s something out there that can make this work.”
The bill was never voted on in last week’s extraordinary session with Republican leaders saying they didn’t have the necessary support for its passage.
While Governor Walker and Senator Roth voiced their displeasure with that outcome, it still is encouraging for them that such a session can take place if needed in the future.
“That extraordinary session called still looms out there, so we have the ability and the mechanism to come and do that if we can get a consensus behind the bill,” explains Senator Roth.
For Senator Roth, the timeline of the Kimberly-Clark discussion also proves to be a positive sign moving forward.
“If you would have told me on January 31, when the company said they were leaving, that we would be at a point right now where we’re still talking about the possibility of saving these jobs, a lot of people wouldn’t have believed that,” he explains.
Without the proposed tax incentives package, which could reach as high as $100 million, company officials have said that they will close their doors.
That announcement sparked Republican leaders to act decisively in crafting a possible bill that would keep the company in place and open.
“That’s why the Governor and I came out with the bill as we have in the legislature right now,” he says. “It’s changed the conversation, it went from the company wanting to leave to considering staying.”
