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Wisconsin farm groups await Governor’s decision on key bills

UPDATE: Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed Assembly Bill 131 addressing PFAS contamination shortly after this article was published Monday morning 4/6/26.

Wisconsin’s ag coalition remains hopeful that additional ag legislation will be signed into law by Governor Tony Evers.

Jason Mugnaini with Wisconsin Farm Bureau tells Brownfield there is currently no liability protection for farmers who spread PFAS-contaminated municipal biosolids, and Assembly Bill 131 covers that. “That includes that liability protection for farmers, but it also includes a lot of money, 132 million dollars for clean water access, so not only are the farmers getting some liability protection here, but there are opportunities now to access clean drinking water for themselves and for their livestock.”

Mugnaini says the other major ag bill awaiting the Governor’s action, AB956,  would provide an exemption for fire suppression sprinklers in fertilizer warehouses. “One of the things that people have had a problem with is if you’re building a fertilizer warehouse, we’re being asked to put sprinkler systems in there. Well, now you’re causing two problems if there’s a fire (because) you’ve got the runoff from wet fertilizer.”

Mugnaini was disappointed when Governor Evers vetoed legislation to freeze animal health fees but pleased to see that he signed the new law allowing 96-thousand-pound trucks for grain, feed, and fertilizer to run on six axles.