Governor Jim Doyle is urging the state legislature to pass a pair of bills by year's end. Doyle wants action next week, on bills requiring insurance companies to cover treatments for autistic kids , and implementing a statewide workplace smoking ban . “Every lawmaker must be forced to make a choice,” Doyle said during a Capitol press conference Monday morning. “Do they side with the big insurance companies and the big tobacco companies who want us to turn our backs on our kids, and become the ashtray of the Midwest? Or will they do what's right, for the hard working families of the state?”
Doyle said thousands of families with autistic children deserve help from their insurance companies, and thousands of employees deserve a smoke free workplace, like those in Illinois and Minnesota. “These are not complicated bills,” he said. “These aren't things that take a whole lot of trying to find where the middle ground is.” Doyle, who last week called lawmakers into special session to pass campaign finance reform, wants action on smoking and autism next week, before lawmakers adjourn until next year.
