Gov. Walker signs $3 billion Foxconn incentives bill
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on Wisconsin legislators' efforts to bring a Foxconn Technology Group plant to southeastern
Updated 2:55 p.m.on September 18, 2017
Gov. Scott Walker has signed a $3 billion incentive package designed to lure a Foxconn Technology Group flat-screen plant to southeastern Wisconsin.
Walker signed the bill Monday afternoon during a packed ceremony at a technical college in Sturtevant in Racine County, the most likely location for the plant.
The bill provides nearly $3 billion in cash to Foxconn if it invests $10 billion in a new flat-screen factory in southeastern Wisconsin and employs 13,000 people. It extends $150 million in sales tax exemptions on construction equipment and allows the company to build in wetlands and waterways.
The package also gives the conservative-leaning state Supreme Court the option to take appeals of circuit court decisions related to the Foxconn project directly rather than having them heard by an intermediate appellate court.
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Updated 9:40 a.m. on September 18, 2017
Gov. Scott Walker is laying out a vague timeline for Foxconn Technology Group's plans to open a flat-screen plant in southeastern Wisconsin.
Walker is scheduled to sign a $3 billion incentives package for the Taiwanese manufacturer Monday afternoon at Gateway Technical College near Racine. He told WTMJ-AM radio Monday that the company could announce the location of the plant in the coming weeks.
He says Foxconn and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation expect to agree on a contract to execute the incentives package by the beginning of October, with groundbreaking for the plant expected this spring. He says the plant should be open by 2020.
He says he's not worried about opposition to the incentives package. Critics have ripped a provision in the bill that would send appeals of any legal challenge straight to the state Supreme Court, which leans conservative. Walker insisted the package is constitutional.
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Updated: 8:25 a.m. on September 18, 2017
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is about to sign the $3 billion Foxconn Technology Group bill into law, just days after it passed the state Legislature.
Walker planned to sign the measure Monday afternoon at Gateway Technical College near Racine.
The bill provides nearly $3 billion in cash to Taiwan-based Foxconn if it invests $10 billion in a new flat-screen factory in southeast Wisconsin and employs 13,000 people. Opponents say there are not enough guarantees in the deal to protect taxpayers in case workers are laid off or Foxconn leaves the state.
Walker and supporters are heralding the deal as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make the state a hub for the high-tech electronics industry. Foxconn is the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics, best known for making iPhones.
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Posted: September 17, 2017
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker plans to sign into law a $3 billion incentive package for electronics giant Foxconn Technology Group.
Walker announced Sunday that he will sign the bill on Monday at Gateway Technical College near Racine. That southeast part of Wisconsin is where the Taiwan-based company plans to build a massive display-screen manufacturing plant that could thousands of people.
The incentive package is the largest in U.S. history offered by a state to a foreign corporation. It's 10 times larger than any previous state incentive in Wisconsin.
Foxconn could only get the full $3 billion if it invests $10 billion on the project and employs 13,000 workers.
The package won bipartisan legislative approval, but critics say Wisconsin is offering too much without enough guarantees if Foxconn doesn't follow through.