WRA - Legislative Action

Legislative Action

Current Issues

Read briefs on some of the vital issues on which WRA is actively working.

Health insurance

A significant contributor to the rising cost of healthcare insurance is the addition of new coverage mandates.

WRA opposes coverage mandates. Instead, we believe that insurance companies should be required to offer individual employers options to increase the coverage in policies provided to employees.

While there is no single solution to the rising healthcare cost crisis, WRA continues to work at both the state and federal level to find solutions that lower costs and increase accessibility.

There are currently two options that hold promise for addressing high health insurance costs.

At the federal level, Medicare reform law signed by President Bush includes a provision on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs are an option for individuals who currently have high deductible health insurance coverage. This law allows qualifying individuals to save tax-free dollars, earn tax-free interest, and withdraw these dollars tax free to pay for qualifying medical expenses.

In Wisconsin, approval was given for a Health Benefit Purchasing Pool Pilot Project which is currently in development by the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives (WFC) in conjunction with the State Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. The project will allow groups of individuals to form cooperatives for the sole purpose of accessing competitive health care coverage in five geographic regions around the state.

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Personal property tax exemptions

Repeal of the personal property tax on restaurant kitchen equipment remains a top priority for WRA.

Not long ago, WRA helped convince the Wisconsin Legislature to repeal the personal property tax on computers, including POS systems and peripheral equipment, such as printers and fax machines. This has been a benefit to all small businesses, including restaurants and our supplier partners within the foodservice industry.

It is time to bring fairness to this issue and remove the tax from restaurant equipment as well.

In most industries, production equipment is exempt from the personal property tax. Manufacturers receive personal property tax exemptions for their machinery and equipment (M&E); farm items such as livestock and equipment are also exempt. Yet the restaurant industry is currently taxed on ovens, coffeemakers, fryers, refrigerators - - all items we use to produce our product: food and service.

In the 2003-2004 legislative session, WRA successfully introduced legislation that would have repealed the personal property tax on restaurant kitchen equipment (Assembly Bill 469 and Senate Bill 216). Unfortunately, due to the poor condition of the state budget, the proposals did not advance.

WRA members can help by communicating with their state legislators. Tell them how much you pay in personal property tax and how much you would save if kitchen equipment were exempt from the tax. Share these stories with WRA's government relations team we can convey the message to all Legislators.

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Tourism Promotion

WRA is committed to protecting funding for tourism promotion, and has been successful in convincing Governor Doyle to restore funding that had been cut in the previous biennial budget.

Tourism is one of Wisconsin's top two industries and tourism marketing by the state is an investment that has a quantifiable return.

Everyone understands the state's fiscal resources will always be very tight. However, it does not make sense to cut an expenditure that is proven to return more money to Wisconsin in state and local taxes and fees than is spent.

Potential cuts to the Department of Tourism would cause further harm to the state and the thousands of restaurants and other small businesses whose very survival depends on tourism-related travel expenditures.

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Smoking

When it comes to regulation of smoking, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association’s goal has always been to achieve a business climate that is fair to all foodservice operators.

“There are only two paths to a level playing field on smoking,” said Ed Lump, President and CEO of WRA. “One is no regulation, and the other is a complete ban. Anything in between unfairly creates winners and losers, with government regulations determining which businesses survive and which flounder.”

We know that smoking bans are a top issue for many of our members. In our ongoing fight to maintain an operating environment that is free from unfair regulation, we have taken many approaches:

For many years, our strategy was to fight every local smoking ban. For a time we were successful, but that tide has turned and more local ordinances banning smoking in restaurants are passed each year.

More recently, in 2005, we supported a statewide ban with exemptions for some types of restaurants. Importantly, this ban would also have preempted all local ordinances. However, Wisconsin’s current political climate has made this type of preemptive ban an impossibility.

With each local ban that is passed – and there are 30 currently – we hear from desperate restaurant members who feel the only way they can fairly compete is with a statewide ban.

WRA has fought long and hard for the right of businesses to set their own smoking policies. But the tide of public and political opinion has made it clear that those days are behind us. There will never again be a level playing field that includes smoking in restaurants.

It was a difficult decision, but WRA’s board of directors has decided to support a workplace smoking ban that covers every indoor public place in the state. By supporting a ban that treats all operators the same (with no unfair exceptions by operation type or city), WRA’s goal is to protect fairness for all foodservice operators.

Let us know what you think.

Click here to visit the WRA on-line smoking survey.

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National Issues

WRA works with the National Restaurant Association (NRA) to create and pass a pro-restaurant and pro-business agenda in Washington, D.C. The following issues have been identified by the NRA as priorities: