My 9-year-old and I went to the Capitol for an hour last night. We stood with our signs as the crowd demanded to be let in and speak the outrage over the bill that passed the Wisconsin Senate last night. In a nutshell, the Republicans in the Senate replaced the so-called "budget repair bill" with just the supposedly non-fiscal items from the bill, so they didn't need a budget-level quorum to go ahead and have the vote. That's right folks, the "budget-repair" bill that passed last night is the non-budgetary stuff. (Shame on them. Shame.)
The Assembly leadership intends to ram the bill through today. They have the votes. Then the governor will sign it, and collective bargaining as we know it for public employees in the state of Wisconsin will be gone. But that's not all.
A version of the provisions surrounding rule-making on Medicaid was in the bill. However, it is not quite the full outrage that was in the original budget-repair bill. It appears they have blinked at least so far as to leave the standard administrative-rule making process intact. They did not give themselves the power to do it behind closed doors -- though the outlines of what they're now going to do in broad daylight are ugly enough.
Here's a quote from the Save BadgerCare Coalition Facebook page, from Jon Peacock of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families:
[T]he new version doesn’t give DHS any new rulemaking authority, yet they can still use rules to supersede nearly all of the portions of MA law, and they could probably use the existing emergency rule authority, but they would have to follow up by using the regular rulemaking authority, which improves opportunity for public input and more legislative oversight.
Very important note in there about using the rules to supersede Medicaid-related statute (laws). This part is not the way things normally work in Wisconsin, and is actually quite a sweeping new authority. Ordinarily the Constitution is the top authority, statutes cannot conflict with the Constitution, and rules cannot conflict with statutes or the Constitution. This bill -- soon to be law -- makes an exception for new emergency rules about Medicaid, allowing them to trump statute. This is still undemocratic, it's still huge, and it's not well understood.
Peacock is also quoted in an excellent article from this morning's Capital Times online by reporter Shawn Doherty: Medicaid programs also a casualty of last night's surprise vote, angry advocates say. The article does a good job of capturing both the information and the mood.
For anyone policy-wonky enough to be wondering "other than the bit about superseding law, why do they need to do the rest of this? Don't departments usually have broad rule-making authority anyway?" The answer lies in another measure that was passed by the Walker administration earlier in this "special session." In that measure, the governor increased his own power over administrative rule-making, decreasing the power of the departments. These provisions on Medicaid -- if I am reading correctly -- are now giving back that power to the Department of Health Services in particular.
Oh, and the bill also includes some tricky maneuvering that will repeal the powers given to the DHS regarding Medicaid, as of 1/1/2015. Which marks the end of the Walker administration. If he lasts that long.
I will continue to add reference links (text of the bills, advocacy materials, more) on my WI Budget 2011: Medicaid page. Meanwhile, here are a couple:
-- Legislative Fiscal Bureau Analysis of "Conference Substitute Amendment 1," as passed by the WI Senate on 3/9/2011 (.pdf, 2.58Mb)
-- The Full Text of the Substitute Amendment to the Budget-Repair Bill, as passed by the WI Senate on 3/9/2011 (.pdf, 138 pages)
A few more things to point out.
If Walker is recalled, and a Democratic governor is elected, that new governor will be able to make appointments to head all the agencies. Which would mean a Democratic-friendly replacement for DHS's Dennis Smith.
Pledge to Recall Scott Walker -- complete with donation form!
The first opportunity to stem this rising tide of damage will be to recall the 8 eligible Republican Wisconsin State Senators.
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On April 5, Wisconsin will have the opportunity at the ballot box to reverse the conservative majority in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. This will be immensely important as court challenges to various actions of the Walker administration wend their way to the high court. The conservatives are well-aware of this, and the corporate money spigot will be turning on full-force. Vote JoAnne Kloppenburg! (And if you can't do that, donate. Or do both if you can!)
Shame on the Walker administration. Shame.
Republished with some modifications from my blog Elvis Sightings: Medicaid and What Passed the WI Senate Last Night.