Evers signs COVID-19 response bill, qualifying state for additional Medicaid dollars

Photo credit: Gov. Tony Evers’ office

Gov. Tony Evers signed a bipartisan bill Wednesday that responds to the COVID-19 pandemic by qualifying the state for at least $300 million in federal Medicaid money and temporarily lifting a one-week waiting period for unemployment benefits.

Evers said the overall legislation “falls short of what is needed to address the magnitude and gravity of what our state is facing.”

“This bill is finally a step in the right direction, but there is much more work to be done,” he said in a statement.

He noted the measure doesn’t provide hazard pay or workers’ compensation for all front-line and essential workers like first responders, child care providers and healthcare workers. And he said it lacks meaningful support for small businesses and farmers struggling with the crisis.

Evers signed the bill hours after the Senate passed the measure Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the bill gives state agencies tools to help with the health crisis, gives relief to those out of work and provides $75 million to the Joint Finance Committee to react to “unforeseen challenges” that may not be addressed by federal aid.

The bill also loosens restrictions on healthcare workers to ensure an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to the crisis, he said.

And he said the plan protects the state’s budget and ensures it remains solvent so that education, infrastructure and essential operations are funded in the face of a decline in tax revenue.

“This bill isn’t perfect,” Fitzgerald said. “And it might be the first bill of a number that we are going to have to pass in the Legislature. But it is timely. And I think it’s been well thought out, and I think it will help.”

Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, said the long-term needs won’t go away. She said there’s a need for more testing for the disease, personal protective equipment and loans for businesses.

“It is the first step to COVID recovery in this state,” Shilling said of the bill. “It is the first step to trying to return to some economic security. But this is not a one and done.”

Democrats offered amendments that would have included more of Evers’ plans to address the COVID-19 crisis, allow

elections clerks to send absentee ballots to all voters at least a week before holding an election during a declared emergency and make it so the bill’s temporary provisions applied to the extension of the public health emergency declared by Evers.

All the amendments were rejected by the Republican majority.

The new law also cuts the number of required hours to become a certified nursing assistant in Wisconsin from 120 to 75 hours, the federally mandated minimum. Evers previously vetoed

a bill aiming to do that.

The Wisconsin Health Care Association and the Wisconsin Center for Assisted Living called the provision necessary to help address the state’s ongoing long-term care workforce crisis. Executive Director John Vander Meer said the bill “includes critical regulatory flexibilities and protections for caregivers and providers who are dedicated to preventing the spread of COVID-19.”

Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale said she was “shocked at the bald-faced hutzpah” of Republicans inserting the measure, given their failure to override Evers’ veto. “Including this provision in our coronavirus relief package is brazenly opportunistic,” she said, adding that adequate training is “needed more than ever” given the COVID-19 crisis.

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