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A bipartisan group of legislators has proposed a bill to require the state Department of Natural Resources to warn county and tribal health departments when an exceedance of state groundwater standards is discovered. 

The proposed bill, which was circulated for co-sponsorship Monday by Rep. Jill Billings (D-La Crosse), Rep. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville) and Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp), would include warnings about the presence of PFAS — even though the state has been unable to finalize a PFAS limit for groundwater. 

That provision would allow private well owners to be warned about the presence of PFAS despite the yearslong political quicksand that has mired the effort to enact a contaminant limit for the class of chemicals. The lack of a PFAS standard has been a regular sticking point in negotiations over legislation to spend $125 million already set aside for PFAS clean up. 

While the state doesn’t have a PFAS groundwater standard, it does have standards for nearly 150 other chemicals such as aluminum, nitrates and lead. 

About one-third of Wisconsinites get their drinking water from private wells, which don’t come with the same warnings that are often required of municipal water systems. 

“The public should be able to know if there is any threat to the safety of the water they and their children drink every day,” the co-sponsorship memo states. “This bill would provide Wisconsinites with more knowledge so they can protect themselves and their children from pollutants and allow them to take advantage of local and county-level testing initiatives and state-level assistance opportunities like the Well Compensation Grant Program.” 

After the legislation’s announcement, environmental groups celebrated it as a potential win for clean water. 

“Wisconsinites have a right to know about pollution that may be impacting the health of their families,” said Peter Burress, government affairs manager for Wisconsin Conservation Voters. “This legislation is a common sense solution that will protect Wisconsin families. It’s unacceptable that so many Wisconsin families could be drinking water contaminated with PFAS, lead, and nitrates — chemicals tied to cancer and birth defects  — without ever being told.”

Taylor Swift performs at Soldier Field in Chicago on The Eras Tour on June 5, 2023 (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Ahead of Taylor Swift’s latest album being released Friday, Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) is proposing that Wisconsin exile practices in the ticket selling industry that disadvantage fans trying to attend shows and events.

The bill “Stop Wildly Inflated Fees and Ticketing Industry Exploitation” — yes, that really is SWIFTIE for short — would require sellers to disclose the total cost of ticket prices to potential buyers, put a cap on how much resellers can charge for tickets and prohibit ticket-buying bots that resellers use. Sen. Jamie Wall (D-Green Bay) and Rep. Jill Billings (D-La Crosse) are also coauthors on the bill.

The bill comes ahead of Swift releasing her 12th studio album — titled “The Life of a Showgirl” — on Friday.

Many states and lawmakers, including some of Wisconsin’s neighbors, started taking an interest in new laws to help regulate the live event ticket marketplace after Ticketmaster crashed during the initial sale of tickets to Swift’s The Eras Tour. Many of the mega pop star’s huge and dedicated fan base were down bad as secondary ticket prices for her tour soared, with some individual ticket prices rising to even more than $4,000.

The Michigan House passed a proposal in June that would curb bots for hoarding concert and event tickets. The Minnesota state government enacted legislation to help protect online ticket buyers in 2024.

“My daughters and I are Swifties. I would’ve loved to have taken them to see Taylor Swift live on the Eras Tour, but instead we saw the movie,” Roys said in a video with Style (Taylor’s Version) playing in the background and clips from the tour flashing on screen. “I didn’t even try to get tickets because I had heard the horror stories from so many friends of mine. This is not how it’s supposed to be. Live events should be for fans, not for profiteers.”

Roys is also seeking the Democratic nomination in the 2026 election for Wisconsin governor.

Several provisions in the bill seek to prevent fans from encountering a ticket hoax by barring resellers from listing tickets for resale before tickets have been put on sale, from putting tickets on sale if they don’t already own them and by capping secondary ticket sales, prohibiting a fee from exceeding 10% of the ticket’s initial price.

The bill also includes a provision to ensure ticket buyers can feel fearless when they make a purchase on the secondary market. Under it, resellers would be required to issue a full refund within 10 days of a request to a purchaser if a ticket is counterfeit, the event is canceled, the ticket doesn’t fit the description provided or the date or time of the event is moved. 

Bots — devices or software that get around security measures or access control systems on a ticket selling platform to bypass purchasing limits — would also be prohibited under the bill from purchasing more than eight tickets for one event and circumventing the ticket queue, presale codes or waiting periods when a sale is going on. 

“If you’re a fan, you deserve the chance to go see your favorite artist without being exploited by unscrupulous scalpers, by third-party bot farms that drive up prices and other practices that exploit fans and venues and artists,” Roys said. “All of us deserve to come together and share these wonderful live events without these kinds of consumer protection violations.” 

Under the bill, violators would be subject to civil forfeitures of at least $15,000 for each day the violation occurs; $1,000 per ticket listed, advertised, sold or resold in violation of the provisions;  and an amount equal to five times the total price of each ticket. 

A person could also be subject to a civil forfeiture of at least $10,000 per ticket listed, advertised, sold or resold in violation of the provisions.