MADISON, WI (Wisconsin Radio Network) - The Wisconsin Senate will make an attempt next month to pass a $100 million tax incentive package for Kimberly-Clark. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) has called an extraordinary session of the Senate, scheduled for November 12th, to discuss and vote on a package of deals for the paper making company.
It’s not clear at this time if Senate Republicans have enough votes to pass the package. Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) called the move a ploy, and said that if Fitzgerald were serious, the Senate would be holding the vote now, rather than after the election.
Governor Scott Walker is supportive “My message to Kimberly-Clark employees is simple: we are fighting for you,” Walker said in a tweet.
Kimberly-Clark announced in January that it intended to close two Fox Valley area plants, the Cold Spring manufacturing plant in Fox Crossing, with around 500 jobs, and the Neenah Nonwovens facility, with about 110 workers.
In February, the state Assembly passed an incentive package that would offer the company benefits similar to those used to attract Foxconn to the state in 2017. Proponents said that would help protect those 600 jobs and the others that depend on Kimberly-Clark’s presence in the region.
The plan passed the Assembly with a bipartisan vote of 56-37, but backers in the Senate have thus far been unable to muster needed support among majority Republicans.
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