MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Supporters of a planned $10 billion electronics factory that could bring 13,000 jobs in the largest economic development project in Wisconsin history called it a once-a-generation opportunity during a public hearing Thursday.
State lawmakers are moving quickly to approve a $3 billion tax incentive deal for Foxconn Technology Group, based in Taiwan. The company, the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, announced last week that it planned to construct the first liquid crystal display panel factory outside of Asia in southeast Wisconsin. The deal, which Wisconsin leaders and President Donald Trump have heralded as transformational for the state and national economy, requires the state to approve $3 billion in tax breaks tied to Foxconn hiring and spending as promised.
The proposal is moving quickly, with Thursday’s hearing coming just six days after the bill was introduced. Democratic critics, who don’t have the votes in the Republican-controlled Legislature to stop it, have cautioned that there shouldn’t be a vote without a detailed analysis from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Democratic Rep. Tod Ohnstad, who represents a part of the state where the factory could be located, said his enthusiasm for the project is “tempered by many outstanding questions.”
Critics have raised alarms about other provisions waiving environmental permits and regulations to speed construction of the plant. Foxconn has said it intends to build a campus with 20 million square feet of office space over 1.56 square miles. But critics question whether Foxconn will follow through, noting that it promised in 2013 to invest $30 million and hire 500 workers for a new, high-tech factory in Pennsylvania that was never built.