Wisconsin Senate Bill SB867

Wisconsin 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/23/26
• Refer: 1/23/26
• Failed: 3/23/26

Caption

An Act to renumber and amend 23.097 (1); to amend 23.097 (1g) and 23.097 (1r); to create 23.097 (1) (b) and 23.097 (1m) of the statutes; Relating to: grants for planting trees to address urban heat islands, eligible recipients for urban forestry grants, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, and making an appropriation. (FE)

Summary

SB867 would expand Wisconsin’s urban forestry grant program administered by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to support tree planting and related projects aimed at reducing urban heat islands. The bill defines an “urban heat island” as an urban or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than surrounding natural land cover, and it creates a new grant category for planting, maintaining, removing, and replacing trees in urban and metropolitan areas to reduce those effects. These new grants could cover up to $100,000 per project and, unlike some existing grant programs, may pay the full cost of an eligible project. The bill also broadens eligibility for existing urban forestry grants to include federally recognized American Indian tribes or bands located in Wisconsin, alongside counties, cities, villages, towns, and nonprofit organizations. It further preserves and clarifies DNR authority to award grants for tree management plans, inventories, ordinances, disease evaluations, public education, and storm-damage recovery projects, while allowing emergency rulemaking to implement the new urban heat island grant program more quickly. The bill includes a $500,000 increase in the 2025-26 appropriation from the conservation fund to finance the new grants.

Impact

SB867 would amend Wisconsin Statutes section 23.097 governing urban forestry grants by adding a new statutory definition and a new grant program focused on urban heat island mitigation. It would also modify existing grant eligibility language to expressly include federally recognized American Indian tribes or bands located in the state for both existing and new grant categories. In addition, it would increase the DNR’s 2025-26 funding by $500,000 and exempt the agency from normal emergency rule procedures for implementing the new grant subsection, giving DNR more flexibility to launch the program quickly.

Sentiment

The bill appears generally favorable in concept, as it targets tree planting, urban cooling, and broader access to forestry grants for local governments, nonprofits, and tribes. The available record does not include committee testimony or recorded votes, so there is no detailed public debate in the provided materials. However, the bill’s introduction by a bipartisan group of senators and representatives suggests at least some cross-party support for the policy goals.

Contention

The main policy issues likely to draw scrutiny are the new state spending commitment, the use of emergency rule authority, and the scope of grant eligibility and cost coverage. The bill allows grants of up to $100,000 and, for the new urban heat island grants, permits full project funding, which may raise questions about fiscal exposure and program design. Another possible point of discussion is the expedited rulemaking provision, which waives several normal procedural requirements for DNR implementation. No specific opposition or amendments are documented in the provided record, and the bill ultimately failed to pass under Senate Joint Resolution 1.