URGENT ALERT

State Budget & Bucks Arena Town Hall

July 23, 2015 from 6-7:30pm

Please spread the word

Find out how the $73 billion state budget and the $500 million proposed Milwaukee Bucks arena deal will impact you. I welcome you to join invited guests from the state, City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County for a briefing and question and answer session. Please, stop by my Town Hall Meeting tomorrow night, Thursday, July 23 from 6-7:30pm at Greater New Birth Church, 8237 West Silver Spring Drive, Milwaukee, WI. To RSVP, click here. To help spread the word, please forward this email or share the event on your Facebook wall. 

            WHO: All interested persons

          WHAT: Town Hall Meeting to discuss the state budget and Bucks arena deal

          WHERE: Greater New Birth Church, 8237 West Silver Spring Drive, Milwaukee, WI.

          WHEN: Thursday, July 23 from 6-7:30pm 

Here to serve,

      

Sen. Lena Taylor

4th District

From Healthwatch

WI Budget Signed Into Law

Last week, state Assembly passed Wisconsin’s proposed budget. The bill passed 52-46 with a GOP majority vote, each member of the Democratic minority, along with 11 Republican members voted against the proposal. The two year, $72.7 billion state budget passed after senators repealed salary minimums for employees on local government projects and discarded changes to the state’s open records law. Lastly, it made its way to the Governor's desk where Walker made 104 vetoes.

What's Next?

 
 Gov. Walker will now seek federal approval for the following changes:

• Imposing monthly premiums for childless adults, and increasing premiums for “behaviors that increase an individual’s health risk”
• Limiting eligibility for childless adults to 4 years
• Requiring health risk assessments and drug screening as a condition of eligibility for childless adults

The bill also makes changes to programs effecting individuals with disabilities and the elderly. These changes include:

• Include, Respect, I Self-direct (IRIS): Eliminating IRIS and instead requiring the managed care organizations of Family Care Reform to offer the option to self-direct their care.
  
• Governor Walker vetoed Family Care and IRIS' processes used to make sure rates paid to agencies are sound, specified the state has to have at least 5 regions for the programs, and put limits on enrollment periods.
  
• Mental Health and AODA Services: Expanding Medicaid coverage to include residential-based substance abuse treatments.
  
•  Personal Care Services: These services currently help beneficiaries in need of assistance with daily activities such as eating, drinking, bathing, dressing, and household chores. The proposed changes require beneficiaries to conduct an “independent assessment” for all fee-for-service prescriptions.
  
•  Aging & Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs): The Joint finance committee negated Gov. Walker’s proposal to eliminate county-run ADRCs, but included provisions which require DHS to conduct studies relating to the reliability of the ADRC processes. These include: an assessment of duplicative functions between ADRC boards and DHS procedures, and integrating income maintenance consortia and ADRCs.

From the Desk of Lena Taylor

Open Records Law change blows up in Republicans’ faces
 

As you may know, late last week, Republicans slipped several provisions into the Wisconsin state budget as part of the Joint Committee on Finance’s motion #999 that essentially wiped out the state’s open records law. Luckily, the Senate voted to pull the provisions completely out of the state budget. Wisconsin has such a rich history of open government. We've recently learned that the deal even included input from Governor Walker's office. Governor Walker and Republicans showed their true colors on this one, proving we need to keep our eyes out for something like this returning in the future.

 Senate passes Walker’s budget

 

Walker’s controversial budget drew major bipartisan votes in opposition due to its negative impact on public education, transportation, and jobs. This budget should have been better from day one, except Governor Walker has been more focused on his presidential campaign than his Wisconsin constituents. Walker failed on his job creation pledge and Wisconsin is poised to face more fiscal irresponsibility in the future because of this budget. To see my full statement on my disappointment with the budget, please look here.

State Senate key budget amendments

 

On July 7^th, the State Senate met for an extraordinary session, where we worked through many amendments. Sadly, the Democratic notion to help bolster the now-cut funds of our K-12 public education was voted down, as was our attempts to lessen the cuts to the UW System and lessen student debt.  Unfortunately, Republicans also killed a measures to increase funding for disabled students in our school system as well. Education is a right that every person is afforded; these cuts are just seeking to hurt our children and their future. Eighty-five percent of our Milwaukee students cannot read at their grade level and we must address education first and foremost.