Foxconn, Racine Co. move forward

Officials described as having ‘handshake agreement’ on site of flat screen plant expected to employ thousands

Foxconn Technology Group is in final negotiations with officials in Racine County about locating a flat screen plant there that could bring with it thousands of jobs.

The two sides are seeking to finalize an agreement, suggesting that there would be at least a chance that it could break up, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“I’d call it a handshake agreement,” the source said.

Both Racine and Kenosha counties have been competing for months to land Foxconn’s up to $10 billion plant, which the Taiwanese company has said could one day employ up to 13,000 workers.

A second source familiar with the negotiations, however, stressed Friday that both counties could still affect the outcome.

“There hasn’t been a final decision,” this source said. “Both counties are still in play.”

But Racine County has long been seen by insiders as having an edge.

M.T. Boyle, chief of staff to Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, declined to confirm or deny the report, which was first made public by conservative talk radio host Mark Belling. Boyle would say only that the county has worked hard to bring economic opportunity to its residents

“While we would welcome this type of development in Racine County, it is our policy not to comment on speculation around potential development opportunities,” Boyle said.

The Journal Sentinel reached out Friday to more than two dozen homeowners in the Racine County area where Foxconn has been looking. Some have al-

ready signed options to sell their properties to representatives of Foxconn. Although they acknowledged rumors are rampant, none of the homeowners reported any additional recent contact with the company.

The state Senate is supposed to vote Tuesday on a subsidy bill that would provide up to $2.85 billion in cash to the company if the full amount of jobs and investment in the plant materialized. The plan would be the largest public subsidies ever offered to a private group in Wisconsin by a factor of more than 10.

If approved in the Senate, the Assembly would take up the bill on Thursday.

Under the legislation, the state could pay up to $1.5 billion to Foxconn in cash incentives for job creation over 15 years if the company brings on enough workers.

Foxconn could also receive up to $1.35 billion in separate cash payments if the company invested in the plant and equipment in Wisconsin, even if the plant turned out to be highly automated and employed fewer workers than expected. The deal doesn’t currently contain a minimum number of jobs for Foxconn to receive those payments.

On a party line 12-4 vote on Tuesday, Republicans on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee amended the Foxconn bill to allow the state Supreme Court to jump ahead of appellate courts and in hearing potential legal appeals related to the plant.

The unusual legal provision would allow parties in environmental and other Foxconn lawsuits to appeal trial court orders related to the plant directly to the state Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservatives. All lower court orders would be automatically suspended until the Supreme Court weighed in.

Democrats have criticized this provision as an unconstitutional intrusion on the authority of the state’s judicial branch. Rick Esenberg, president of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, has said he also sees potential constitutional concerns, calling the issue a “close question.”

Environmental groups have said in recent weeks that they would consider suing over the Foxconn legislation, which already exempts the company from certain state rules to protect wetlands and the environment.