The Latest News on the State's COVID Bill, Mask Mandate and More!

Both houses of the Legislature were in session again this week. Here's a high-level overview of what happened. More detailed updates are provided below, including an in-depth run-down of what was included in the COVID-19 bill that was vetoed by the Governor today. 

• The Assembly passed the Senate's Joint Resolution ending Governor Evers' Public Health Emergency and Mask Mandate.

• Assembly Republicans asked Governor Evers to work with them on an administrative rule creating a targeted mask mandate. Senate Co-Chair of the Rules Committee Senator Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) said he did not support that effort.

• Governor Evers issued a new Public Health Emergency and Mask Mandate shortly after the Assembly voted to terminate the existing order. 

• Senator Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) said he would introduce a new Joint Resolution to terminate the Governor's latest public health emergency order. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) called on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule on a case before them related to the Governor's ability to issue multiple emergency orders for the same emergency. 

• The Assembly passed one last amendment to the COVID-19 relief bill, limiting the Governor's ability to issue public health emergencies related to COVID-19 only if it is required to receive federal funds and prohibiting him from taking other actions during the emergency. 

• The Senate voted 19-11 to sign off on the COVID-19 Bill as tweaked by the Assembly, sending it to the Governor's desk.

• Governor Evers vetoed the COVID bill shortly after it was passed by the Senate. 

State Assembly Repeals COVID-19 Emergency, Mask Order; Governor Issues New One 

The State Assembly on Thursday voted 52-42 to pass Senate Joint Resolution 3, which terminates the Governor's Public Health Emergency related to COVID-19 and has the effect of ending the state's mask mandate.

Governor Evers promptly issued a new Public Health Emergency and Mask Order after the Assembly vote. The Public Health Emergency will be in effect until April 5, 2021 and the Mask Order will be in effect until March 20, 2021. 

In a statement released by his office, the Governor said that his "statewide mitigation strategies to contain and respond to COVID-19 have been met with repeated lawsuits, political rhetoric, and obstruction from Republicans since last April." 

State Senator Steve Nass (R-Whitewater), one of the authors of Senate Joint Resolution 3, said that he would immediately draft a new joint resolution to end the Governor's latest order. Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) described the Governor's actions as pushing "away an olive branch to reach common goals." While Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) called on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule on the Governor's ability to declare multiple public health emergencies. 

Assembly Republicans Say They're Open to a Limited Administrative Rule Related to Masks; Senate Rules Co-Chair Says No

 

Prior to voting to terminate the mask order, Assembly Republicans sent a letter to Governor Evers asking him to stop issuing executive orders and to instead use the administrative rules process to enact masking requirements in places that could lead to virus transmission to vulnerable people, including health care facilities, nursing homes,  mass transit, state government buildings, public schools and universities and prisons. 

Senator Steve Nass (R-Whitewater), who co-chairs the Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules, said he is not open to developing a mask mandate through the administrative rules process. 

Legislative Democrats said they will introduce stand-alone legislation creating a statewide mask requirement. 

COVID Relief Bill Vetoed by Governor 

The Assembly also voted on Thursday to once again amend Assembly Bill 1, the Legislature's COVID response bill, sending it back to the Senate. The Assembly's amendment further restricted language added by the State Senate last week limiting Governor Evers' ability to issue public health emergency orders related to COVID only for the purposes of receiving federal funds that require an active state-declared emergency or disaster. The Assembly amendment also clarifies that the Governor may not exercise any other emergency powers during the public health emergency. 

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu released a statement on Thursday, saying that the Legislature's COVID-19 bill must be signed into law by February 7 in order to receive enhanced federal unemployment benefits. The State Senate voted 19-11 on Friday to pass the bill. 

Governor Evers vetoed the bill shortly after it was passed. 

"Unfortunately, Republicans once again chose to put politics before people, abandoned that compromise, and passed a bill they knew I wouldn’t sign," said Evers in a statement. "I am calling on Republicans in the Legislature to stop playing politics and get to work sending me the compromise bill we worked on together.”

Items of interest included in the version of AB 1 that was vetoed by the Governor include: 

General COVID-19 Response

Coverage of COVID-19 Testing and Vaccination without Cost-Sharing: Requires health plans to cover COVID-19 testing and vaccinations without cost-sharing until June 30, 2021. 

State Funding:  Authorizes the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to transfer up to $100 million between state appropriation accounts. 

Legislative Oversight of Federal Funds: Requires the Governor to submit any plans for the use of federal COVID-19 relief funds to the Joint Finance Committee.

Public Health Emergencies Declared by Governor: Limits Governor Evers' ability to issue public health emergency orders related to COVID only for the purposes of receiving federal funds that require an active state-declared emergency or disaster. Clarifies that the Governor may not exercise any other emergency powers during the public health emergency. 

Bans State Vaccination Requirement: Bans the state and local health departments from requiring residents to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

At-Home COVID Tests: Allows DHS to operate a COVID-19 at-home testing program until September 30,2021 

Dentists Providing Vaccinations: Allows dentists to provide COVID-19 and flu shots.  

Prescription Extension: Allows a pharmacist to refill a prescription for a 30-day supply without contacting the prescribing physician through June 30, 2021. 

Other Prescription Drug Protections: Prohibits insurers through June 30, 2021 from requiring prior authorization for early refills or placing other restrictions on refills, such as limiting refill supplies to less than 90-days. 

Nursing Home and Assisted Living Visitors: Allows a nursing home or assisted living resident, their guardian or health care agent to designate an essential visitor to visit and provide support to the resident in compassionate care situations. The resident's guardian or health care agent under a power of attorney is also considered an essential visitor.  A nursing home or assisted living facility may refuse to allow access for visitation to any essential visitor who refuses to comply with public health policies of the nursing home or assisted living facility

Employers

Bans Employers from Requiring COVID-19 Vaccination: Bans employers from requiring their employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Civil Liability: Creates a civil liability exemption for entities such as businesses, nonprofits, associations, schools, tribes, governmental entities and others related to COVID-19 exposure, death or damages. The exemption also covers employees, independent contractors or volunteers of an entity. The Senate ultimately removed language that would have allowed businesses to be exempt even if they ignored government guidance related to closures or capacity limits. 

Education 

College Credit for Helping with COVID-19 Response: Requires the UW System and technical colleges to offer students an opportunity to satisfy course requirements using time spent volunteering or working to assist Wisconsin in responding to COVID-19. 

Reports on Virtual Instruction: Requires school boards to submit reports on virtual learning to the Department of Public Instruction following each semester in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. One of the required elements of the report is a description of any challenges or barriers the school board faced related to implementing virtual instruction. DPI must then compile this information into a report for the Legislature. 

BCPL Loans: Allows the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands to loan money to cities, villages, and towns to ensure that a municipal utility under the control of the city, village, or town is able to maintain liquidity. This authorization would end on April 15, 2021. 

Rehiring WRS Retirees: Allows a Wisconsin Retirement System Retiree to return to work without suspending their annuity if they return to work in a critical position during the COVID-19 pandemic. Retirees must wait at least 15 days after leaving their job before they return to work at a WRS-covered position. 

Waiver of Rules for the School Choice Program: Extends DPI’s authority to waive certain rules related to the school choice or special needs scholarship programs through October 31, 2021. DPI's waiver authority does not apply to requirements to administer pupil assessments.

Virtual Charter Students Playing School Sports: Allows virtual charter school students to play sports for their resident school district  

Short-term Subs: Allows individuals to serve as short-term substitutes without a license or permit so long as they pass a background check and submit an application to DPI

Open Enrollment Changes: Prohibits a student's resident school district from blocking their open enrollment application if they are using the alternative application process during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. Allows a student to apply to an unlimited number of nonresident school districts under the open enrollment program in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.

Unemployment Insurance

UI Backlog: Requires the Department of Workforce Development to publish a plan on addressing the unemployment insurance claims backlog within 30 days of the bill becoming law. 

UI Call Centers: Requires the Department of Workforce Development to extend unemployment insurance call center hours to 12 hours per day, 7 days per week. 

UI Waiting Period: Extends the waiver of the state’s one week waiting period for unemployment insurance to March 14, 2021. 

Extended Benefit Periods: Allows the Secretary of the Department of Workforce Development to waive certain current law restrictions related to extended unemployment benefit timeframes.