Uppity Wisconsin

Senator Vinehout Announces Compromise on Raw Milk Dilemma

 

(MADISON) Limited sale of raw or unpasteurized milk would be legal in the state under a compromise passed unanimously by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Higher Education. The bill creates temporary sale and safety standards while Legislators work through the final rules over the next year.

“It is clear consumers will continue to buy raw milk regardless of whether or not the sale is legal,” said Agriculture Committee Chair Senator Kathleen Vinehout. “Our common sense approach allows limited on-farm sales of fluid milk while increasing protections for the public’s health.”

“We heard an out-pouring of support for the sale of raw milk,” said Vinehout.

Vinehout chaired a ten and a half hour hearing in Eau Claire attended by over 600 people from all over the state.

Every year about this time, citizens from all across the state come to the Capitol to inform and educate their Legislators. These citizen lobbyists are so critical to our democratic process. They provide insight necessary to make wise public policy decisions. As Marcia Avner puts it, “Public policy is the set of decisions that we make as a society about how we will care for one another, our communities and the land.”

 

A couple weeks ago, farmers filled the Capitol halls. Last Wednesday was Nursing Home Advocacy Day. If ever we need to make wise policy decisions about the way we care for one another, it is how we care for our elderly and disabled.

 

I had the opportunity to meet with Nursing Home Administrators from around the state including our Senate District. They talked about being paid well below their costs by the state’s Medicaid program and, as a result, about wanting to improve buildings and upgrade facilities and not being able; about wanting to pay their workers more and not being able.

 

Health care is back on the state’s agenda. The Governor announced a new public insurance program called Badger Basic. This new program is targeted to those individuals who are on a waiting list for the most recent expansion of the state’s health program for low-income families – BadgerCare.

 

Last year, the existing BadgerCare program was expanded to cover low-income individuals with no dependent children. Within months, the expansion of BadgerCare went over budget and was closed to new applicants. The state Department of Health Services (DHS) reported last week they were adding hundreds of names a week to the waiting list of about 25,000 people without insurance.

 

A few weeks ago the Governor announced his solution to the problem. He created another new program - Badger Basic - a public insurance program for people on the waiting list for $130 a month premium.

 

Lest you think this is too good to be true - it probably is

 

 

As Congress moves toward a final vote on health care reform, people worry whatever happens in Washington will make things worse in Western Wisconsin. Not much of what folks hear makes them feel Washington might actually help solve problems.

 

So much focus has been on deal-making and compromise. Little attention is given to what really happens after the bill passes. While not perfect, Congress may provide the building blocks on which the solution to high priced health insurance can be built.

 

One significant block of health care reform centers on the idea of a health insurance ‘exchange’. To help understand this concept, think about the Progressive Insurance commercial. You enter the ‘insurance store’ and depending on your circumstances, you can choose from several affordable options. Young, single? Choose a catastrophic plan. Not quite sixty and looking to retire? Here are plans to fit your needs. No one will deny you, not cover your diabetes or charge you more because of asthma.

 

When you buy insurance through the ‘exchange’, you choose among plans offering different levels of benefits, deductibles and co-pays. The plans are rated on cost and quality and fall into a few easily understandable categories.

 

Santa wandered into a yard yelling ‘Have you seen my reindeer?’ But a nine year old girl knew right away it wasn’t really Santa.

 

“He smelled like alcohol. But I knew it wasn’t the real Santa because the real Santa doesn’t drink alcohol,” said the nine year old told WEAU TV. Her little sister had one word for Santa, “drunk.”

 

That story captures two issues the Wisconsin State Legislature focused on last week. Lawmakers convened an extraordinary Session and passed the most significant drunk driving legislation since .08 blood alcohol became the legal limit for drinking and driving.

 

And the very next day, hundreds of hunters streamed into the Capitol to ask lawmakers “where are my deer?”

 

The hunters pounded the Department of Natural Resources about deer management practices. Many agreed the state’s rules on “Earn a Buck” should have been overturned long before this year. Others were critical of management practices and hunting goals that should have been changed earlier to reflect several years of a declining deer population.

 

Last week the Governor brought together concerned Legislators to discuss the struggling Milwaukee Public Schools. Invited to the meeting were officials with experience turning around failing school districts in Boston and Chicago. The discussion centered on proposals to significantly overhaul the Milwaukee Public Schools system.

 

Many of our schools are struggling to provide a quality education, but the problems Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) face make our troubles pale in comparison. Milwaukee’s public schools have failed. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, in the last three years, MPS students have not met Adequate Yearly Progress in math and reading. And a review of statistics for the last five years clearly demonstrates this is not an uncommon result.

 

Just last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that more than 6 out of 10 MSP eighth graders scored at or below the most basic level of math proficiency in a national study comparing achievement levels of public school students in the nation’s largest cities. Only students in Detroit scored worse than Milwaukee students.

A citizen call to the state’s Fraud, Waste and Mismanagement hotline led to an audit of quality of road construction in Wisconsin. The caller’s complaint specifically mentioned the thickness of concrete pavement used in state highway projects.

 

 

But as the Legislative Audit Bureau uncovered problems with monitoring of road construction quality, they expanded the scope of the audit to look at the role of contract engineering consultants in inspecting and assuring the quality of road construction, the tests of materials and the tracking system used for monitoring quality inspections and materials tests.

 

The audit provided evidence the Department of Transportation (DOT) failed to provide adequate oversight. Documentation on tests of materials was missing which suggested required testing was never done. The audit findings raised questions about the accuracy and completeness of tests measuring the thickness and roughness of concrete and the adequacy of materials used in road construction.

 

Last Saturday I was honored to participate in the Annual Vietnam Veteran Appreciation Gathering in Altoona. Veterans from around northern and western Wisconsin gathered to share camaraderie and memories. The day, sponsored by Thuy Smith and her husband Steve, was particularly special as we celebrated the creation of a new law to honor and remember Vietnam Veterans.

 

All who attended were invited to speak about their experiences. Listening to each other was an opportunity to share and to heal. As I listened, I learned the internet and DNA samples have become useful tools in finding fellow veterans, locating Amerasian children and finding those still missing or killed in action.

 

But mostly I learned making connections and telling stories can heal.

 

One veteran described how, upon his return home, his family was instructed to always change the subject when he brought up Vietnam. “They treated me like I was on a fishing trip,” he said. Years later, the man finally had the opportunity to share his experiences.

 

In the August heat, lawmakers are back home talking with constituents about health care reform.
At Town Hall Meetings, the heat is turned up by individuals who sole focus is preventing that
civil discourse. News reports of lawmakers shouted down at town hall meetings capture more
airtime than reports on the details of the health care reform proposals. And we hear the
incredible myths about reform plans - Obama wants to kill your grandparents, Obama will ban
private insurance, Obama will ration care…and so on.

Groups such as Freedom Works, Patients First, Recess Rally, Tea Party Patriots and Operation
Embarrass Your Congressman are behind the organized protests. They are conducting what is
known as Astroturf Lobbying. Just as astroturf resembles real grass, astroturf lobbying may look
like genuine grass-roots lobbying but is created and funded by corporations, industry trade
associations, and public relations firms.

“We don’t have the money to do school funding reform,” goes conventional wisdom around the Capitol. It costs money to fix the funding formula and money is in very short supply.

 

Given the state’s fiscal condition, many considered any reform of school funding impossible. But in our Senate District schools simply can’t wait.

 

Last spring Representative Chris Danou and I introduced the Rural Schools Initiative. Our initiative bit off a piece of the School Finance Network’s school funding reforms. Our plan focused on addressing needs of rural school districts and those with declining enrollment.

 

We laid out three steps the Legislature could take: soften the loss of state aid resulting from enrollment decreases by spreading the impact over two years; provide targeted assistance to small but necessary schools through Sparsity Aid and provide additional support for districts transporting students 12 miles or more.

 

 

“I am 24 years old and my job doesn’t provide health insurance,” the young man told me. “What do I need to do to qualify for my parents plan?”

 

Recently the Governor signed into law my proposal to require insurance companies to cover adult children up to age 27 on their parents plan. The new law, which goes into effect next February, is part of my five point plan for health insurance reform.

 

Under the new law parents will be able to add or continue to cover adult children on their policies. Adult children must be unmarried and must not be offered a less expensive plan through their employer. Insurance companies can charge no more than what they charge for under-age children. Parents must file paperwork each year verifying their child qualifies.

 

College students, whose education is interrupted for active duty in the National Guard or the Reserves, upon their return home and to school can be covered on their parents insurance regardless of age. This is a small way we can say ‘Thank you” to our returning heroes who interrupted their education plans to answer the call to duty.

Highway officials say roads will be snow-covered longer than typical this winter and layoffs in the summer are imminent if a provision in the state Senate's version of the budget is adopted,” reported the Wausau Daily Herald.

The article continued, “The provision requires that local governments allow outside contractors to do all road projects that cost more than $25,000, rather than having municipal public works crews do the work.”

I spent most of the morning phoning highway commissioners and workers. How does this provision affect what you do? I asked. Their answers gave me important insight.

Putting together the state budget is always a difficult process. But it is made more so by the deep budget deficit. A few weeks ago, legislative leaders and the Governor hammered out a deal. Later the deal was pushed through the legislature’s budget committee.

 

This week members of the Assembly are scheduled to vote on the budget. Behind the scenes members are told, “This budget is bad. We need to pass it as quick as possible and get out of town.”

 

In the Capitol, the culture is one of a few making the decisions and the many having their arms twisted to go along with the deal.

 

The culture of the Capitol has to change. Our job as elected officials is to take what’s happening in our districts to Madison. Once in Madison, we all have to be involved in making decisions. If we agree to deals we are not party to making, we not only give up our own power, we give up the power of the voters in our district.

 

Last night I counted 77 deer in about a 20 acre field. They were munching on the baby barley
and tender alfalfa shoots. My neighbor at church said there are so many deer they are scaring
away the turkeys. I thought turkeys and deer could live together.
Most folks around me are thinking about turkeys. But today I am thinking about deer.
In my neighborhood there are way too many deer.
This is not true up north. Hard winters and over hunting on public lands have decreased the deer
population.
But in our part of the state those babies are multiplying.
The DNR has a challenge counting deer and figuring out how best to manage the state’s herd.
The Conservation Congress is working hard and voting on possible ideas. At a public hearing in
Madison, scores of citizens offered suggestions.
Last week bus loads of people dressed in camouflage and blaze orange came to Madison to talk
about hunting. The Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry and Natural
Resources and the Assembly Fish and Wildlife Committee held a joint hearing on deer
management.
More than 700 people attended the hearing which filled the committee’s hearing room to
overflowing. Many had to monitor the proceedings over loud speakers set up in two other

Wait Lady,” said the Jackson County man. “I am paying MORE in taxes and you just said the state has reduced taxes. Are you nuts?”

“And right you are!” I told the man. “You ARE paying more in taxes. But some are paying a LOT less.”

Another man wrote me. “It is a slap in the face that us taxpayers be thought so gullible as to believe that propaganda.” The man went on…

The last property I purchased was about 12 years ago. The property tax {then} was about $900. Last year it was about $2,400. When I complained about it, they always told me ‘state mandate.’”