Additional community projects aimed at improving wastewater and stormwater infrastructure will now be eligible for state funding under a bill Gov. Tony Evers signed into law Thursday.
The Democratic governor signed 15 bills in total, including a measure to allow the use of airguns for big game hunting in Wisconsin and another providing more flexibility for anglers looking to transport their catch.
Wisconsin’s Clean Water Fund Program provides funding to municipalities for wastewater and stormwater infrastructure projects that protect and improve public health and water quality. The fund is supplemented by state tax dollars and federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021.
Senate Bill 99, now Act 106, expands what types of projects can receive funding to now include connecting laterals and sewer lines. Such lines, which transport wastewater from structures to municipal or private wastewater systems, were previously ineligible for funds through the program.
Evers said in a statement the expansion will help “ensure communities across the state have the resources they need to bolster their infrastructure and replace and modernize aging systems.”
The governor, along with the state Department of Natural Resources, announced late last year the allocation of more than $400 million in funding to 84 municipalities through the Clean Water Fund Program.
Other bills signed
Senate Bill 586, now Act 115, allows the use of airguns in any hunting season now open to firearms. Under the law, an airgun is defined as “a weapon originally manufactured to expel one or more metal projectiles by the expansion of compressed air.”
Airguns were previously allowed for hunting small game, like rabbits and gray squirrels. The law allows them to be used on larger game like deer and black bear. More than 20 states allow for airgun hunting of big game.
Senate Bill 411, now Act 112, allows anglers to transport a dressed or filleted game fish as long as they provide a physical or digital photo that proves the time and date of the photograph, and evidence of the fish’s length before the head and tail were removed.
The transportation of a fish with the head or tail removed was previously restricted if the fish was subject to a minimum size limit and taken by hook and line from inland or outlying waters. A dressed or filleted fish could only be transported if it continued to meet the minimum size limit with the head or tail removed.
Proof that the fish had originally met the minimum size limit could include a photo of it next to a ruler.