From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Legislation to place new regulations on pharmacy benefit managers just nipped “right of first refusal” for the most lobbied bill this session, according to a WisPolitics check of Ethics Commission records.
They were two of the four 10 most lobbied bills that failed to clear the Legislature this session, along with one that would require the DNR to notify local governments of groundwater and PFAS contamination and another that would allow community solar projects.
The work on those bills could carry over into the 2027-28 session, and their chances of passage could hinge on who’s in charge of the chambers and the governor’s office.
Right of first refusal, for example, failed partly due to deep divisions within the Senate GOP caucus over the bill, which was co-authored by Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg.
The legislation sought to give utilities with existing infrastructure in Wisconsin the first crack at building new transmission lines. The bill didn’t get a floor vote in either house this session after passing the Assembly the previous session.
While groups reported spending 2,320 hours on ROFR, they spent 2,360 hours lobbying on the pharmacy benefit managers bill.
PBMs serve as brokers between drugmakers, health insurance companies and pharmacies. SB 203 and AB 173 sought to require them to allow patients to use any pharmacy in Wisconsin without penalty. The legislation also sought to require companies to pay pharmacists a dispensing fee equal to at least what the state pays through the Medicaid program.
Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, also introduced the legislation in the 2023-24 session, when the bill didn’t advance out of committee. This session, the Senate version passed committee unanimously, while the Assembly bill received a hearing in that chamber but no committee vote.
Felzkowski told WisPolitics the legislation failed this session, in part, because of GOP opposition in both houses, including leadership. She said it lacked 17 votes in the Senate GOP caucus, creating a roadblock in that chamber.
Felzkowski also said the bill faced challenges because of the number of provisions it included. That included proposed changes that ranged from impacting employers that utilize mail-order prescription drugs to provisions that critics said could encourage people to use higher-cost drugs.
Those who lobbied against the bill included Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans and the Alliance of Health Insurers.
Felzkowski, who served as Senate president this session, said her preference is to keep the provisions as one bill, but she might consider breaking it up. She also told WisPolitics new leadership in both houses and changes in caucus composition would change the dynamic for the legislation.
“I will guarantee you no matter who’s in charge that it will be a top 10 topic next session,” Felzkowski said.
See more on the most-lobbied bills here.
— The Wisconsin Farmers Union is spotlighting the impact of healthcare funding cuts and hospital closures on rural communities in the state.
In a recent video published with progressive policy group A Better Wisconsin Together, the farming organization featured the perspective of Pam Guthman, a Chippewa County Farmers Union member and nurse.
“When the closures of the hospitals and clinics happened, I was still working as a school nurse here in our local community, local school district,” Guthman said. “People ended up with delayed care, delayed medications, caused huge disruptions in pharmacies, still haven’t recovered as well.”
Hospital Sisters Health System in 2024 shut down Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls along with Prevea Health clinics in the region, prompting concerns about healthcare access for local residents.
Guthman also warned of the ripple effects from federal cuts to Medicaid and the SNAP footstamps program among farming communities like the one she grew up in, calling them “devastating and disproportionate” to rural residents of Wisconsin.
She noted nearly 10% of county residents are impacted by SNAP benefits being reduced.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act cut funding for the federal program by $186 billion over a decade, according to a study in the National Library of Medicine.
“We’re caught in a system of policies that have been handed down by our current policymakers that are looking at this, in my opinion, from a lens of stigmatization, from you know, oppression,” Guthman said, arguing the administration is “not trusting us as hard-working Wisconsinites and American people.”
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