Thank you for taking the time to read this week's e-update. I always strive to include information you find interesting and informative as it relates to my work in Madison and the 60th Assembly District.
My most important goal remains serving you, my constituents. Helping you find solutions to difficult problems when it seems like the state is unresponsive is the single greatest reward for my staff and me. I take constituents' input seriously and continually work hard on your behalf.
I always have your thoughts and concerns in mind when deciding whether or not to support legislation. Furthermore, I appreciate when you take time out of your schedules to contact me.
Have a great week,
This week's survey
As your representative, I make it my top priority to represent you to the best of my ability. I believe that elected officials at all levels of government try and do their best to represent your needs and interests.
This week's survey asks you to rank the performances of your federal and state elected officials. In the wake of the impeachment inquiry, Wisconsin's current divided government, and the feeling of disenfranchisement, it is more important than ever to work diligently on your behalf.
My office prides itself on responding to all constituent letters and casework issues in a timely fashion. I appreciate your lengthy, thoughtful emails and letters. If you ever have trouble with a state agency, do not hesitate to contact my office, we are happy to assist you.
Please, take a minute to answer my brief survey rating your state and federal officials.
Thank you to everyone who answered this week's survey questions regarding expansion of FMLA coverage. In total 126 individuals responded to this week's survey, with 68 percent of respondents opposing FMLA expansion. What is more, 24 percent of respondents believed that government should require private businesses to expand FMLA coverage to provide care for grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, or for the active duty of a family member. Additionally, ten percent of respondents answered "other."
Responses from those who responded "other," include:
"Coverage should be limited to parents, grandparents, and children."
"I believe only active-duty members should be included."
"Not grandparents or siblings, but perhaps grandchildren in some cases. With the opioid epidemic, there has been a huge rise in grandparents caring for grandchildren informally."
"The federal government should pay the cost of family leave, not private businesses."
If you were unable to take the survey, but would like to weigh in on this topic, please do not hesitate to email me.
Floor Session
This week, the Wisconsin State Assembly was in session and voted on a package of bills relating to suicide prevention. Additionally, the legislature voted on legislation relating to wetland mitigation and telehealth expansion. The following is a summary of several bills approved by the Assembly during this week's floor session:
Assembly Bill 190
Assembly Bill 190 relates to wetland mitigation and incentivizes the creation of mitigation banks in areas where the cost to develop banks is high. Furthermore, the bill requires mitigation to occur in the same area impacted by a disruption or in increasingly larger geographic areas that comply with DNR and Army Corps of Engineers specifications.
Assembly Bill 190 also requires that the DNR establish financial assurance requirements. These requirements will allow for the completion of a mitigation project if the developer decides not to complete the mitigation project.
Assembly Bill 410
Wisconsin health care providers are utilizing telehealth to improve access to essential care. Unfortunately, state laws and policies are not keeping pace with advances in technology and care delivery innovations and are preventing telehealth from reaching its true potential.
Assembly Bill 410 defines "telehealth" as a practice of health care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, or transfer of medically relevant data by means of audio, video, or data communications that are used either during a patient visit or a consultation or are used to transfer medically relevant data about a patient.
This bill has four main goals to improve Medicaid coverage of telehealth:
Require Medicaid to treat telehealth the same as in-person services in terms of coverage for patients and reimbursement for providers.
Help Medicaid catch up to Medicare in the number of telehealth services it covers. There are currently more than 50 separate telehealth services Medicare covers that Medicaid does not.
Allow Medicaid patients to receive telehealth directly in their homes or other non-clinical settings.
Repeal the added layer of telehealth certification that has been a barrier to expanding access to behavioral health, mental health substance and use disorder counseling services Medicaid patients.
I was proud to work closely with Representative Amy Loudenbeck and key stakeholders on this important and much-needed piece of legislation.
Assembly Bill 525
Assembly Bill 525 came out of the Speaker's Task Force on Suicide Prevention and creates a centralized point of contact within the Department of Health Services to work on suicide prevention efforts across state agencies and the state of Wisconsin.
The duties vested in this program would include administering grants, building community networks, conducting suicide prevention trainings, working with existing advocacy groups, developing and maintaining a website, and reviewing current research on data collection related to suicide in Wisconsin among other tasks.
Assembly Bill 526
Assembly Bill 526 also came out of the Speaker's Task Force on Suicide Prevention. This bill requires two hours of continuing education on suicide prevention for certain professionals: physicians, psychologists, social workers, substance abuse counselors, professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists.
Assembly Bill 527
This bill requires the Department of Health Services to award grants for training staff at a firearm retailer or range to recognize the signs of suicide, to provide suicide prevention material for distribution at a firearm retailer or range, and to provide voluntary firearm storage for individuals in a crisis.
Assembly Bill 528
Peer-to-peer suicide prevention programs like HOPE Squad and Source of Strength have a huge impact on adolescents. Trained peer leaders that come out of these programs are much more likely to refer suicidal friends to an adult.
This bill provides a mechanism for school districts to apply for financial resources necessary to start these peer-to-peer programs, we can have a direct impact in reducing suicides in our adolescent population.
Assembly Bill 529
This bill increases grants to the Wisconsin Safe and Health Schools Center program to add 2 staff positions to expand suicide prevention training to educational staff, $700,000 for the remainder of fiscal year 2019-2020 and $200,000 for fiscal year 2020-21.
Assembly Bill 530
Assembly Bill 530 is one of the recommendations from the Speaker's Task Force on Suicide Prevention. The bill requires DHS to award grants up to $250,000 over the biennium. Furthermore, a grant recipient must provide a 20 percent match in order to receive this grant.
These organizations provide resources to individuals who are struggling, hold suicide prevention trainings, help reduce mental health stigma, raise suicide prevention awareness and perform many other related services.
Assembly Bill 531
This bill requires all future student IDs distributed by schools across the state to include the telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, or, if the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline ceases operations, another national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to individuals in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day and 7 days per week.
Legislation
This week, Senator Kathy Bernier and I introduced LRB-2682/4 relating to the regulation of home inspectors and granting rulemaking authority.
In Wisconsin, the home-buying process is well-regulated from beginning to end. However, one of the most important parts of this process has been devoid of oversight. A 2018 survey found that "inspection" results were the second leading cause for failure to close. This bill, by strengthening the training requirements for home inspectors provides prospective buyers with peace of mind and comfort knowing that one of the biggest purchases of their lives, has been adequately inspected.
Currently, 36 states have already enacted laws governing home inspectors and/or home inspections. However, in Wisconsin, so long as an individual does not have a disqualifying criminal record, he or she can become a home inspector simply by passing an open-book test and registering with the Department of Safety and Professional Services.
LRB 2862 makes important and much-needed changes to the home inspector licensure process. First, the bill requires home inspectors to be licensed rather than registered--existing licensees will be grandfathered.
Second, the bill strengthens the educational requirements for becoming a home inspector by requiring the completion of at least 120 hours of instruction and 40 hours of field training that would be approved by DSPS.
Third, LRB 2862 provides reciprocal licensure for individuals licensed in other states that possess comparable or more stringent training and/or licensure requirements.
Fourth, this legislation requires home inspectors to describe any defect that is detected during a home inspection. Home inspectors shall use the term "defect" in written reports.
Lastly, LRB 2862 requires the inclusion of a summary page listing conditions observed as defects, safety concerns, components needing repairs, components needing further evaluation, items to monitor, and maintenance items.
I have worked closely with stakeholders on all sides of the issue and look forward to the public hearing and ongoing conversations.
State of Wisconsin Blue Book
As noted last week, the 2019-2020 State of Wisconsin Blue Book is now available. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of everyone's favorite almanac of Wisconsin politics, please click the following link. My staff and I will work to ensure your copy arrives in a timely fashion.
60th District Events
The following are events that will be held this week in the 60th Assembly District. If you have any upcoming events that you would like included, do not hesitate to contact my office.
One of the best ways to date with what is happening in Madison is to sign up for the legislature's notification tracking system. This service affords you with the opportunity to track legislative activities in Madison. Upon creation of a free account, you can sign up to receive notification about specific bills of committees as well as legislative activity pertaining to a subject (i.e., health care, education, etc.).
If you have any comments regarding the subject of this E-Update, please feel free to contact me.
Rep. Rob Brooks State Capitol, Room 216 North P.O. Box 8952 Madison, WI 53708 Toll-Free (888) 534-0060 or (608) 267-2369 Rep.Rob.Brooks@legis.wi.gov| |
