From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— The Assembly and Senate have approved a bill to create portable benefit accounts for contract employees of companies like DoorDash and Uber, despite some Dems’ concerns it wouldn’t do enough to protect those workers’ rights.
AB 269 passed 56-36 in the Assembly yesterday, with four Democrats joining Republicans in support. It then passed 17-15 in the Senate with Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, as the only Republican dissenter.
The bill, now headed to the governor’s office, aims to give gig industry workers, including delivery and personal transportation drivers, access to benefits including health insurance, retirement savings, dental and vision insurance, replacement of lost income, and occupational accident insurance.
Wisconsin AFL-CIO opposes the bill, noting it stipulates app-based workers would not be considered employees.
Co-author Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Markesan, said “no matter what you hear from some members across the aisle, this is a totally pro-worker bill.”
“It allows workers to make their voluntary choices on what they feel is best for them, with their work, with their benefits. Again, a voluntary choice from the worker to participate in … a benefit portal program,” Dallman said.
He said if businesses don’t want to provide a benefit portal, independent contractors don’t have to work for them. He said most drivers want to be able to have independent contractor status.
Rep. Angelina Cruz, D-Racine, argued corporate stakeholders are behind the bill, not workers. She called the proposal “a corporate giveaway dressed up as reform.”
“It’s a repackaging of old tricks from companies that have built million-dollar empires on the backs of workers and now want to cement into law the right to misclassify those workers to avoid paying them, providing basic protections or offering the security every working person deserves,” Cruz said.
Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, D-Milwaukee, was one of the Democrats who voted to pass the bill. She said she heard “countless testimonies” from drivers who wanted the flexibility to work as independent contractors and the legislation would make that happen.
“I want to say that this bill offers portable benefits that right now don’t exist, and won’t exist if we don’t pass this bill,” she said.
The other Dems who voted in favor were Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, Rep. Russell Goodwin, D-Milwaukee, and Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison.
— The chambers also approved by voice votes a new certification for advanced practice registered nurses, sending it to the Senate for action. Lawmakers from both parties praised the legislation, noting struggles in past sessions to get it over the finish line.
Rep. Lisa Subeck said there are real challenges with staffing in the medical system.
“And this bill that would allow our … advanced practice nurses to practice to the top of their scope is one piece of that solution,” the Madison Dem said.
Under AB 257, APRNs, with the exception of certified nurse-midwives, would be required to work in collaboration with a physician or dentist.
The requirement would be waived for those who have completed 3,840 hours of professional nursing in a clinical setting and 3,840 clinical hours of APRN practice in their recognized role while working with a physician or dentist. The bill also allows APRNs to issue prescriptions.
Dem Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed similar versions of the bill the last two sessions. But the latest version has concessions that moved the Wisconsin Medical Society to being neutral on the legislation.
See more in the WisPolitics Quorum Call.
— UW-Madison has had 78 federal grants cut under the Trump administration, according to a university official who says cuts so far are “significant but not dramatic yet.”
Craig Thompson, vice chancellor of university relations for UW-Madison, spoke during this week’s UW Now livestream hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Association. He emphasized the pervasive uncertainty facing universities like UW-Madison that depend heavily on federal support for their research enterprises, including for health studies.
Thompson notes the 78 cut grants, totaling more than $50 million, are just part of the university’s 2,100 total federal grants. The unspent amount on those grants that were cut was around $20 million, he said Tuesday.
“What we’re seeing is just the rapidity with which the new terms are coming in, the things that they’re asking higher education to agree to, to be able to get new grants … there’s still a lot that are in jeopardy,” he said.
A proposal to slash National Institutes of Health support for indirect research costs to 15% would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost funding for UW-Madison, Thompson said. He noted attempts to cut this funding have been held up in court, but added the federal reconciliation bill moving through Congress provides an avenue for cutting the funding that would be difficult to challenge.
“If they would decide to do that at that level, they could,” he said. “I think there’s not really many legal arguments that they would not have the ability to do that, which would have a significant impact on research institutions like UW-Madison. So that’s hanging in the balance.”
Watch the video and see more in the state Department of Justice release below.
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