MADISON, Wis. — After seven months with no new legislative action Assembly Republicans came to the table with a list of ideas.
“We did not draft a bill,” said Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester. “We do not have specific drafted proposals because our intention was to sit down with the governor and actually talk about our ideas, putting a bill together as a whole.”
The concepts he laid out included doubling contact tracing, extending the National Guard’s help with testing and creating a pilot program for rapid, at-home testing.
He also said he wants more resources for hospitals and aid for businesses, hoping to use federal money before state dollars.
Though the unused CARES Act money allocated to the state expires at the end of the year, he’s confident Congress will pass more relief that includes resources the state could use.
“It’s not necessarily just an open checkbook but certainly the access to resources to guarantee that we’re going to have contact tracing, testing and hopefully help for small businesses,” Vos said.
The bill Gov. Tony Evers sent to Vos and reporters tackles issues covered in legislation passed earlier this year, extending provisions through the end of 2021. It includes waiving the one-week waiting period for unemployment, ensuring COVID-19 testing and treatment and telehealth are all covered by insurance and waiving student testing requirements for this school year.
Vos said he hopes to meet this week to start negotiations.
“We want to find ways to work with Gov. Evers,” he said. “We think some of his ideas are certainly workable, some are not. But I think that’s the point of negotiations.”
Vos wouldn’t give many specifics on what he likes and what he doesn’t in Evers’ plan.
He said he’s willing to talk and pass something as soon as possible, as early as December.
COPYRIGHT 2020 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
