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GOP COVID-19 Package Would Allow JFC to Cut Spending
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 8, 2020
From WisPolitics.com …
GOP lawmakers want to give the Legislature’s budget committee sweeping powers to cut state spending and nix planned pay raíses for state employees as part of their counteroffer to Gov. Tony Evers in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Evers has advanced two bills that would spend some $1.1 billion in general purpose revenue combined, an overview of the Republican bill includes no new GPR.
It also doesn’t include a provision Evers sought in his legislation to indefinitely extend the public health emergency until revoked by executive order or a joint resolution of the Legislature.
Evers called on GOP lawmakers “to take politics out of this proposal so we can move forward on addressing the needs of our state.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, fired back Evers was suggesting publicly that he would veto the bill while privately still negotiating on the legislation, calling that “irresponsible.”
The Joint Finance Committee provisions would allow the GOP-controlled body to reduce GPR appropriations, suspend law changes that decrease state tax revenues and rescind pay increases if the Legislative Fiscal Bureau projects a deficit for the 2020-21 fiscal year. That provision calls for LFB to prepare a revised general fund condition statement no later than June 15 to the committee, which would then convene no later than June 24 if there were a projected deficit.
The committee’s cuts wouldn’t be subject to the guv’s approval, unlike current law.
JFC also would be allowed to transfer up to $25 million from sum sufficient appropriations during a state of emergency and for up to 90 days after it ends. The transferred money could be used to cover costs related to the state of emergency.
“We have work to do folks–we don’t have time to play politics, and this provision won’t do anything to help our state respond to COVID-19 or to help our families who are struggling during this crisis,” Evers said. “It’s time to get serious.”
The bill also would address a series of issues that Evers has raised in recent weeks, including new flexibilities for the Department of Health Services to qualify for additional federal funding the state would otherwise not receive due to current eligibility standards.
An overview of the GOP bill also includes a provision that would suspend a one-week waiting period for those who lose their jobs before they can begin to collect unemployment. Evers has called for an outright repeal of the provision Republicans approved in 2011. Instead, the suspension would cover a period going from March 12, when the public health emergency was declared, through Jan. 2, 2021. The provision would also require the Department of Workforce Development to seek the maximum reimbursement from the federal government for benefits payable during the first week as a result of the provision.
Fitzgerald said Republicans for a month have been working on legislation addressing “essential provisions” on “everything from Medicaid to the first week of unemployment.”
“Millions of relief dollars are at stake for Wisconsin. Suggesting he’ll veto the full bill publicly, while privately we’re still negotiating, is irresponsible,” Fitzgerald said, adding Republicans will keep working with Dems to work out a bill with bipartisan support.
Other provisions of the GOP bill would:
*reduce to 75 from 120 the required hours of instructional programming for certified nursing assistants. Evers this session vetoed a bill seeking to make that change.
*prohibit retail establishments from accepting the return of fresh or packaged food, cleaning supplies, personal care products or paper products purchased during a declared public health emergency or within 30 days after it ends. There would be an exception for products that were contaminated due to improper production or packaging.
*exempt manufacturers, distributors and retailers of PPE from civil liability for death or injury caused by their donations of personal protection equipment during the current health emergency.
*exempt those elected to state or local office who are candidates for national, state or local office from the ban on using public funds to pay for 50 or more pieces of substantially identical material during campaign season if the communications are related to the current public health emergency.
The bill also would require hospitals and other facilities treating COVID-19 patients to provide daily and weekly updates on the number of patients, beds and ventilators. Various GOP lawmakers have expressed frustration that information hasn’t been readily available, and the bill would allow DHS to withhold federal funding from those that don’t comply.
See the outline of the GOP proposal here.
See a comparison of the GOP bill and the guv’s proposals here.
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