Lawmakers Unsure if Kimberly-Clark Incentives have Enough Votes

The leader of the Wisconsin
state Senate does not believe there are enough votes to pass a tax incentives
package to keep the Kimberly-Clark Cold Spring plant open in Fox Crossing. 

This
comes after Republicans – who control the Senate – met in caucus on Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald thinks about ten or eleven Republicans
will vote in favor of the bill, but 17 votes are needed.

The bill would provide
Kimberly-Clark with about $100-million in job tax credits. Without that help,
the company plans to close the plant and shift the work to another facility in Arkansas. Some Democrats
have suggested a different approach – which would direct tens of millions of
dollars in taxpayer money exclusively to Kimberly-Clark. 

The Cold Spring plant
employs about 390 people.