MADISON, Wis. — Democrats, including the state’s attorney general and members of the powerful budget-writing committee, pushed Republican lawmakers to quickly release funds the state planned to use to combat the opioid crisis.
A Wednesday news conference came a week after an anonymous Republican member of the Joint Committee on Finance blocked the state’s plans to use the funds. Under a law passed last year, the state Department of Health Services is required to submit a plan for the settlement funds to the committee which can approve or block the plan.
“The Republicans who object to this — they’re at a different level of stupid right now,” said Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-West Point, who is a member of the committee.
Republicans on the committee said they want to improve the plan submitted by the state, but Erpenbach said he does not know how soon they plan to debate any changes.
“It’s very dangerous [to delay],” he said. “As a parent, you’re going to go to bed tonight — if you have a child dealing with addiction, and you’re going to wonder if you’re going to get that phone call.”
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“We are working quickly to come to a consensus on a plan and make sure this money goes to programs that will have meaningful outcomes for those with opioid use disorders and their families,” the Republican co-chairs of the committee wrote in a statement.
“The Joint Committee on Finance has a responsibility to ensure these funds are utilized in a way that makes the strongest impact for Wisconsinites—not just rubber stamp whatever incomplete plan Attorney General Kaul and Governor Evers’ administration gives us,” they added.
The co-chairs said they are working with stakeholders, including DHS, to develop the plan. DHS Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake said, however, that her office has not heard from Republicans on the committee.
Wisconsin is expected to get $400 million in all over the next 16 years. Most of that will go to local governments on a 70-30 split, with the rest going to DHS. The agency is expected to get $31 million by the end of the calendar year.
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Timberlake said the department wants to put the money toward bolstering the state’s infrastructure — that could mean helping expand or renovate existing treatment facilities — and distribute treatments like Narcan.
Officials working on the ground hope the funds come soon.
“We as law enforcement stand downstream (of) the fast-flowing river we call addiction,” said Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett. “What we need… are the resources needed to go upstream and address why people are falling into that fast-flowing river.”
He said that a vast majority, 86%, of the overdose deaths the county sees are due to opioid abuse.
“I’m here to say that we will not arrest our way out of this opioid pandemic and we need help,” Barrett said. “We need a proactive approach and not a continuous reactive approach.”
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