MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Tony Evers sent two bills to Republican lawmakers Monday asking to take action and address the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Evers showed disappointment due to a bill not being passed yet. He seeks to reach “a timely agreement on these pressing issues” by the end of the year.
“Wisconsinites are demanding and deserve the legislature to reconvene and pass legislation that addresses the continuing needs of our response to COVID-19,” Evers wrote in the letter. “I agree, and I hope at the very least this first compromise bill will be sent to my desk quickly and without delay, even if it means meeting during the next two weeks, and remain hopeful it will only be the first of several bills passed by the Legislature to support our state’s continued response to this pandemic.”
Evers said one of the bills is a “compromise” which consists of provisions that were already agreed upon by both parties.
Under the first bill, the state Department of Workforce Development would need to publish a plan within 30 days in response to the unemployment claim backlog. The bill would also extend the unemployment call center to offer service 12 hours a day for seven days a week.
The compromise package would also include items such as allowing the Joint Finance Committee to transfer as much as $100 million for public health expenses.
The second bill features provisions like the $466 million Evers proposed to help cover testing and contact tracing costs.
“With the importance of these issues only increasing and the new year approaching, compromise by all parties is necessary, which is why not everything we each brought to the table, respectively, is included in the list below,” Evers said. “Moving forward on these provisions results in a piece of legislation that responds to some of the needs of Wisconsinites. Therefore, I believe we must forward with a bill based on the items we can agree on, and it is imperative that the Legislature do so expeditiously.”
Other provisions would include the following:
• Employee transfer authority;
• Authorize trust fund loans to municipal utilities;
• Rehired annuitants in critical positions;
• Health services providers from other states;
• MA payments to hospitals for nursing facility level of care;
• MA payments for outpatient hospital services;
• MA coverage of COVID-19 testing and vaccinations administered by pharmacists;
• Coverage of vaccinations under SeniorCare;
• No cost sharing for COVID-19 testing;
• Third-party logistics providers;
• Prescription drug limits;
• Out-of-network charges and payments during COVID-19 pandemic;
• Liability insurance for physicians and nurse anesthetists;
• Lease of broadband infrastructure;
• Extension of prescriptions by pharmacists;
• Authorize pharmacy students to administer SARS-COV-2 vaccines;
• Eligible volunteer or work activity for UWS and WTCS;
• UI – Plan to reduce processing backlog;
• UI – Call center hours[Additional dollars would be needed in order to fund the expanded hours];
• UI – Work-share;
• Waive the annual hour limit for LTEs;
• Extend Act 185 provisions related to cremation of bodies of persons who died of COVID-19;
• Allow JFC to Transfer up to $100 million from sum sufficient appropriations.
Vos and LeMahieu have not responded to Evers’ letter as of Monday evening.
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