The Sconi

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today slammed Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature for continued delays releasing two critical investments, respectively, to fight PFAS statewide and stabilize healthcare access in Western Wisconsin in the wake of the recent announcement of HSHS and Prevea Health’s decision to close several locations. A $125 million investment to combat PFAS statewide, available through the 2023-25 biennial budget passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature and enacted by Gov. Evers last July, has languished unspent in Madison for months—250 days—as Republican legislators have ignored repeated requests from Gov. Evers to release the critical funding. Additionally, Gov. Evers nearly two weeks ago signed 2023 Wisconsin Act 97 to secure $15 million in crisis response resources to support healthcare access in Western Wisconsin in the wake of the recent announcement of HSHS and Prevea Health’s decision to close several locations. A total of $140 million in already-approved investments meant to address pressing issues facing Wisconsin are sitting in the Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Finance, which has declined to release the funds to date. Gov. Evers today again urged Republicans to release the funds without further delay.

The Evers Administration has pending requests before the Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Finance to approve the release of both investments—$125 million to fight PFAS statewide and $15 million in crisis response resources for Western Wisconsin. The Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Finance was set to meet yet again Monday—their second meeting in recent weeks—but declined once again to add these critical investments to their meeting agenda. To date, Republicans have given no apparent indication when or if they plan to release the critical investments.

“PFAS contaminants are affecting water across our state while Western Wisconsin faces serious challenges stabilizing healthcare access across the region, and the critical resources we can use to help are sitting in Madison because Republicans won’t release them—that’s breathtaking,” said Gov. Evers. “Wisconsinites should not have to wait any longer than they already have for these funds to be released. I’m once again urging Republican lawmakers to do the right thing and release these funds immediately so we can get to work addressing real and pressing challenges facing our state.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON GOV EVERS’ CALL TO RELEASE ALREADY-APPROVED FUNDS TO FIGHT PFAS STATEWIDE

The 2023-25 biennial budget that was passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature and signed by Gov. Evers in July of last year included the first real and substantive Republican effort to address PFAS after years of inaction with a $125 million investment to address and prevent PFAS contamination statewide. Now, more than 250 days later, Republican legislators have refused to release the funding and have ignored repeated requests from Gov. Evers over the past eight months to do so. Most recently, Gov. Evers urged Republican lawmakers to support a compromise proposal aimed at expeditiously releasing the $125 million investment to fight PFAS contaminants statewide, asking the Republican-controlled JFC to release funds to combat PFAS without controversial provisions to benefit polluters contained in a Republican-backed bill passed by the Legislature. The governor’s compromise proposal is functionally identical to the Republican bill passed by the Legislature, largely retaining most of the bill’s key provisions.

Gov. Evers’ compromise proposal comes as Republicans last month passed Senate Bill (SB) 312, which neither appropriates new funding to fight PFAS nor releases any portion of the $125 million previously secured through the biennial budget process. As passed by Republicans in the Legislature, SB 312 provides no actual or immediate financial assistance to communities impacted by PFAS and, further, provides no guarantee the $125 million investment available through the biennial budget will be distributed to communities affected by PFAS contaminants to help protect and clean up local water supplies.

Rather, SB 312 contains “poison pill” provisions designed to benefit polluters that could functionally give polluters a free pass from cleaning up their own spills and contamination. Under Wisconsin’s existing environmental protection laws, any party causing, possessing, or controlling a hazardous substance that has been released into the environment is required to clean it up. SB 312 specifically prohibits the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) from taking enforcement action against polluters and contaminators so long as the polluter allows the DNR to remediate the site at the DNR’s own expense. That is, under SB 312, as passed by Republicans, so long as a polluter allows the DNR to clean up the contamination using Wisconsin taxpayer dollars, the DNR may not take enforcement action against the polluter.

Residents of communities affected by PFAS, conservationists, clean water advocates, and Gov. Evers have repeatedly raised concerns about the provision designed to benefit polluters at taxpayers’ expense over the course of months of negotiations with Sens. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay) and Rob Cowles (R-Green Bay), co-authors of SB 312. The “poison pill” provision has drawn specific ire and criticism from Gov. Evers, who has spent years working to hold three Wisconsin manufacturers and 15 other defendants accountable for conduct leading directly to PFAS contamination of Wisconsin’s natural resources and trying to prevent Wisconsinites from having to foot the bill to clean up polluters’ contamination. 

Importantly, as noted above, SB 312 does not release or impact in any way the existing $125 million biennial budget investment to fight PFAS statewide. Thus, the governor vetoing SB 312 will have no effect whatsoever on whether the $125 million to combat PFAS remains available or will be released by the Republican-controlled JFC—that decision remains Republican committee members’ alone. For more than 250 days, Republican committee members have been able to release the $125 million to combat PFAS contaminants across Wisconsin at any time, and that remains the case today.

More information on the governor’s compromise proposal is available here.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON HSHS AND PREVEA HEALTH CLOSURES

Last month, Gov. Tony Evers approved SB 1015, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 97, securing $15 million in crisis response resources to support healthcare access in Western Wisconsin in the wake of the recent announcement of HSHS and Prevea Health’s decision to close several locations. Gov. Evers approved Act 97 with improvements through line-item vetoes that will provide additional flexibility for the $15 million crisis response investment, enabling the resources to be used to fund any hospital services meeting the area’s pressing healthcare needs, including urgent care services, OB-GYN services, inpatient psychiatry services, and mental health substance use services, among others. Without the governor’s vetoes, these services would not have been eligible under SB 1015.

SB 1015, as passed by the Legislature, included unnecessary restrictions on the $15 million crisis response funding, limiting the funds to be used only for hospital emergency department services exclusively. The governor’s partial vetoes improved the bill significantly, broadening the scope of the grants that will be available under the bill and allowing the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to make the crisis response funds available for any hospital services that meet the needs of the region.

In addition to severely impacting healthcare access in the area, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, the closures have been estimated to impact approximately 1,400 workers, among others, in the surrounding region. Gov. Evers directed DHS to submit an official request to the JFC to immediately release the $15 million provided for under Act 97. A copy of the request submitted by DHS to JFC is available here. The plan request submitted by DHS reflects the governor’s improvements made to the bill.

More information on the governor’s veto message and the Evers Administration’s ongoing rapid response efforts to the HSHS and Prevea health systems closures is available here.

 An online version of this release is available here.

Original source can be found here.