TUE AM News: GOP bill would direct PSC to conduct nuclear power siting study; Baldwin touting bill to allow ‘personal importation’ of prescription drugs from Canada

February 25, 2025

— GOP lawmakers are circulating a bill that would direct the state Public Service Commission to conduct a nuclear power siting study and create a “streamlined” approval process for certain facilities.

Reps. Shae Sortwell of Two Rivers, David Steffen of Howard and Robert Wittke of Caledonia, along with Sen. Julian Bradley of New Berlin, recently sent a co-sponsorship memo to other lawmakers seeking support for the legislation.

They say the state needs to be prepared for “soaring energy demands” driven by new data centers and other “energy-intensive” economic development.

“Nuclear power, especially next-generation reactors, will be a viable, carbon-free, domestically sourced option to meet those demands,” they wrote in the memo. “Laying the groundwork for nuclear energy investments and options today will bolster the safe, reliable, and affordable energy of tomorrow.”

Under the bill, the PSC would conduct or contract for a nuclear power siting study, aimed in part at identifying nuclear power generation opportunities at existing nuclear facilities and other power generation sites.

The agency would also be directed to identify new nuclear power and fusion energy sites that aren’t currently used for generating energy, as well as locations for developing nuclear fusion and fusion technology. And the PSC would create guidance for “advanced” nuclear reactors, pointing specifically to fusion technology and small modular reactors, or SMRs.

These installations have about one-third the generating capacity of a traditional nuclear reactor, according to an overview from the International Atomic Energy Agency, while being just “a fraction” of the size. Components of SMRs can be built elsewhere in a factory and transported to the installation site, helping with affordability.

Along with the siting study, the PSC would need to adopt an expedited approval process for facilities with an “advanced” nuclear reactor, with a 150-day application period for the relevant documentation rather than the standard 180-day period.

“A nuclear siting study coupled with a streamlined state-level approval process will strengthen Wisconsin’s ability to meet the inevitable growth in energy demands,” the lawmakers wrote. “Please join us in taking this exciting next step in Wisconsin’s nuclear energy journey.”

The state used to have two nuclear power plants until 2013, when the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant was decommissioned, leaving the Point Beach plant as Wisconsin’s sole operating nuclear facility. Since then, the plant’s two nuclear reactors have supplied about 15% of the state’s net generation per year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The co-sponsorship deadline is Thursday at 4 p.m.

See the memo and get more details on the state’s energy landscape.

— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is touting a federal bill that would allow prescription drugs to be imported from Canada as a way to lower costs and drive competition.

The Madison Dem says the bipartisan bill would also improve access to drugs for consumers as major drugmakers are “ripping off Americans.” She also said too many Wisconsin families are struggling to afford needed prescription medications.

“I am proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to help lower costs for Wisconsinites and ensure they can get the medications they need at a price they can afford,” she said in a statement.

The bill text says it would allow for the “personal importation of safe and affordable drugs” from approved Canadian pharmacies. The legislation would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to create new regulations around such imports, with restrictions that the drugs be for personal use, not resale, and limited to a 90-day supply.

Under the bill, the drugs would still need to be prescribed by a licensed U.S. doctor and have the same “active ingredient or ingredients, route of administration, dosage form, and strength” as already approved drugs. The bill also would restrict the type of drug being imported to exclude controlled substances, drugs inhaled during surgery and intravenously injected drugs, among others.

If signed into law, the FDA website would post a list of approved Canadian pharmacies from which prescription drugs could be imported. Eligible pharmacies would need to have existed for at least five years and couldn’t exist only to participate in this drug imports program, the bill text shows.

See more details here and see the release.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— GOP state Rep. Amanda Nedweski knocked Dem Gov. Tony Evers for proposing in his budget using language such as “parent who gave birth” and “inseminated person” instead of “mother.”

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— Madison-based software firm DeliverHealth is rolling out a new AI health care documentation tool for clinical use.

The company yesterday announced it will introduce the eSOne InstaNote application in early March at the HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas. The tool helps surgeons simplify documentation with “near-verbatim” notetaking of dictated remarks or conversations with patients.

The company says this capacity is supported by the “broadest medical vocabulary” of any comparable large language model available on the market. It can create the notes “within seconds” with a goal of freeing up doctors to spend more time caring for patients.

Sasanka Yella Manchali, CEO of DeliverHealth, says the program “transforms medical documentation” through the use of generative AI.

“It can be leveraged for dictation, ambient scribing or for self-documentation, each bringing significant value to the provider,” he said in a statement.

The company says its existing documentation system is already used by more than 800 health systems and 60,000 providers across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Users create more than 1 million medical notes per month.

In a recent blog post, Yalla Manchali highlighted the challenge of physician burnout in the U.S. medical system and described a “golden moment” for improving care by lessening the burden of documentation on doctors.

“Overworked humans are still our biggest source of medical errors,” he wrote, noting advances in AI that support greater speed and accuracy for its applications are making a difference.

See the release and see more at Madison Startups.

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