Senate Democrats have proposed a plan, that might at least partly offset a raid from a fund set up to compensate victims of medical malpractice. The ink's barely dry on the budget, and new Majority Leader Russ Decker wants to make some revisions, in the form of a proposal from another Democrat, Senator Roger Breske, to drop the $200 million transfer from the Patients Compensation Fund, and replace that money with the proceeds from a tax on hospital profits. Decker concedes there could be a problem with Assembly Republicans, who are likely to have little enthusiasm for this idea.
The Wisconsin Hospitals Association does not oppose the hospital tax, while the Medical Society of Wisconsin has announced plans to sue the state over the patients comp fund raid, which it maintains is illegal. Decker, of Schofield, replaced Senator Judy Robson of Beloit as majority leader.