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Evers pick to lead DHS gets Senate committee approval

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Another appointee of Governor Tony Evers has gotten committee approval. Andrea Palm has headed the state the Department of Health Services since Evers appointed her in January. On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services voted to approve the appointment.

Palm has been criticized by some Republicans for hiring Nicole Safar, a former vice president at Planned Parenthood, as a deputy in DHS.

Earlier this month another Senate committee approved Evers’ appointment of Craig Thompson – who’s also been criticized by Republicans – to head the Department of Transportation. Both could be approved later this month by the full state Senate, although Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has not confirmed when that might happen.

Dental therapy license bill gets public hearing

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At the Capitol on Wednesday, a Senate Committee heard hours of testimony on a bill to create a dental therapist license in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Dental Association President Patrick Tepe is opposed. Authorizing dental therapy will not impact the cost of dental care. It will not bring the cost down for patients, it will not bring the cost down for the state. It will not bring the cost down for dental insurers, or for employers. The only one that’s going to save is the employer of the dental therapist” Tepe told members of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services.  “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but we have to be clear on it. This is not going to save the Medicaid program money. This is not going to save the state money, this is not going to save the patients money.”

Supporters said the bill is designed to be part of efforts to address a dentist shortage in rural areas and under served communities. Dental therapists are a step below a dentist, but can work in coordination with them.

Matt Crespin is with the Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin.”You know we talked about is the cost going to go down? Well it’s not going to go down, because you know what else isn’t going to go down, the quality of care that’s being provided to the patient. Because those dental therapists are trained at the same standards that dentists are trained to,” Crespin said.

T.R. Williams with the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association said that care provided by dental therapists is in no way “second class”

“So although it hasn’t been declared necessarily that dental therapy is somehow supporting second tier service for second class people, I want to be super explicit in my testimony to say that the legacy of community health centers, the pedigree of our providers at all levels in the oral health, primary health and behavioral health that we do, doesn’t sit well with second class service for second class citizens.”

In addition to the state Dental Association, the bill is opposed by Marquette University, home to Wisconsin’s only dental school.

Republicans unveil package of mental health bills

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Legislative Republicans unveiled a package of bills on Tuesday aimed at improving mental health in Wisconsin.

One of the bills will increase the funding available to non profits for youth mental health services. Boys and Girls Club of Wisconsin executive director Andy Gussert says helping kids as they go through childhood is a vital and needed task. 

“There are some people who may want to debate whether we should spend money on addressing youth mental health or trauma informed care. But it’s not really debate. We will spend money on these youths at one time or another.”

Another bill will overhaul how the state licenses psychologists, something that Dr. Bruce Erdmann says is sorely needed. 

“The current licensing law was drafted in the early 1990s, when the internet was in its infancy, email was only used by a select few and nerds, cell phones were unheard of, and no one knew anything about texting.”

Other bills will encourage psychiatrists to move to Wisconsin though the use of tax deductions, and also provide funding for the Clubhouse organization to improve mental heath facilities. 

Vos and Anderson continue dispute over accommodation

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A dispute between Speaker Robin Vos and a paralyzed Assembly Democrat remains unresolved. Vos sent a letter to Representative Jimmy Anderson on Thursday, in which he noted accommodations that have been made for Anderson, who uses a wheelchair, and said a videographer could be made available for committee meetings that Anderson may be unable to attend.

But Vos said he would not allow Anderson to phone in to committee meetings, and accused him of “political grandstanding.” Vos said Anderson had yet to make a formal request for the phone accommodation.

Anderson, in a series of tweets, called Vos’ accusation “offensive.” He said the Speaker has been aware of his accommodation requests since January and has ignored them.

Joint Finance Committee delays funding for farmer mental health program

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The co-chairs of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee have held up the funding for a program to provide low cost mental health assessments for farmers.

In statements on Tuesday, Senator Alberta Darling and Representative John Nygren told the ag department that they need to meet with a Republican led study group on suicide prevention first.

State Ag Secretary-Designee Brad Pfaff says that’s disappointing because those funds should already be going to farmers. “Funds that have already been approved. Approved by the legislature, and signed into law by the Governor.”

Pfaff says there is now only enough funding in the program to help five farmers total.

“Quite frankly we’re down to just a handful of vouchers that we can provide at this time for our farmers who are seeking mental health counselling assistance.”

“Really difficult weather conditions, market prices that don’t make ends meet, and then we’ve got this trade war that’s taking place. And it’s impacting our farmers. There’s a lot of stress in the countryside.”

Funding for that program was set aside to the Finance Committee’s own discretionary fund, and the JFC required DATCP to come back to the committee to get the funding.

Wisconsin GOP congressmen push for faster denials for asylum claims

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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson says he may have a solution for some of the problems at the border.

Johnson is one of nine senators who sent a letter to President Donald Trump — pushing for a new program. “Operation Safe Return” would rapidly speed up the asylum-seeking process to find the families that don’t have a valid legal claim, and return them to their home countries.

Johnson spoke about the plan on CNN Sunday morning.

“We have to start, from my standpoint, reduce that flow of people coming to this country and exploiting our broken asylum system.”

Republican congressman Glenn Grothman tells FOX6 in Milwaukee that he thinks speeding up the process is a good idea.

“The idea that we can go ahead and wait three or four years to decide if someone can be here is preposterous.”

Primitivo Torres with Voces de la Frontera tells FOX6 that he fears “Operation Safe Return” speeds the process up too quickly.

“They wouldn’t have time to gather evidence around their case.This is denying due process for these families, that is all this is. Instead of examining the cases, they’re trying to deport these people back.”

Torres advocates for an alternative to detention called “The Family Case Management Program.” 

Republicans may attempt to override Evers veto

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Governor Tony Evers WRN image

Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature may attempt an override of a partial veto by Governor Tony Evers. The Republican-controlled legislature passed a budget which included $90 million in local roads grants.

The Democratic governor vetoed that down to $75 million, in order to free up money for education. Transportation Secretary-designee Craig Thompson said some of that grant money could go to Milwaukee’s streetcar.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald tweeted that Evers is taking money from local roads “to fund Milwaukee’s trolley to nowhere” and called for a veto override. That would require a two thirds vote in the Senate and the Assembly. Any attempt would likely take place in the fall. Thompson said that the money will go out across the entire state.
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Democrats make renewed push for non-partisan legislative mapping

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As the time to draft up new legislative boundaries approaches, Democrats are making another push to have a non-partisan board handle the maps.

Dave Hansen from Green Bay says Republicans had control of the legislature at the time the current maps were created in 2011. “The new boundaries they drew are so beyond the pale that Wisconsin is considered to be one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation.”

At a press conference on Tuesday, Hansen also called out the US Supreme Court for declining to hear a lawsuit challenging those boundaries. “Saying instead that this is an issue that should be decided by the states. Justice Roberts, you were wrong on this. You should have made a decision that would have been for the whole country. But he didn’t.”

While it’s unlikely that the bill will make any headway in the Legislature, Hansen says they’ve got three Republican sponsors of the bill this time, making it a bipartisan measure. “So I want to take a moment and applaud their courage for taking a stand that I know is not popular with their leadership in Madison.”

That disapproval already surfaced later in the day on Tuesday when Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said that Democrats were trying to circumvent the state Constitution and hand over districting to ‘unaccountable bureaucrats’. 

State Rep. Stuck calls for civility in Congress as she announces run for 8th District

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A Fox Valley Democrat has announced her run for Congress.

Representative Amanda Stuck is the first Democrat to announce for the 8th District covering northeast Wisconsin. Stuck says she wants to help recreate a Congress that can work together without partisan division.

“I actually helped found a bipartisan caucus, one of only a handful at the state level, of millennial state legislators to really figure out how we can do a better job of working together across the aisle.”

Stuck says her time working multiple jobs while raising a family has given her an outside perspective on both Madison and Washington.

“As somebody who was a single mom 16 years ago, I know that families like mine are just tired of the games. They don’t have time for it.”

She will be running against incumbent Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher from Green Bay in the Eighth District.  

Speaker Robin Vos wants to start work on lottery privacy bill

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Legislators want to get to work to allow privacy for lottery winners.

Republicans introduced a bill to that effect this spring after a Wisconsin man won 768 million dollars in the Powerball lottery.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says requiring the names of lottery winners to be public opens them up for fraud and abuse. Lottery officials say these rules ensure transparency and trust in the lottery.

The bill comes up for a hearing next Wednesday.