Wisconsin Senate passes abortion limits for public workers

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Abortions for public workers would not be covered by insurance in most cases under a bill the state Senate approved Tuesday without debate.

As senators worked into the night, they also approved bills loosening regulations for building on wetlands, allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental drugs and providing more aid to schools in rural areas and ones that have been cash-strapped.

The measures are among those being taken up as lawmakers try to complete their work for the year. Republicans who control the Senate have said they will meet this week and once in March.

Under Assembly Bill 128, public workers could not use their government-provided health insurance plans for abortions except in cases of rape or incest or to preserve the life of the mother. The restriction would apply to state workers and thousands of local government employees who get their coverage through the state Group Insurance Board.

With all Republicans for it and all Democrats against it, senators on an 18-14 vote sent the bill to GOP Gov. Scott Walker, who has long opposed abortion.

GOP legislators tried to pass a similar measure in 2013, but Senate leaders declined to take it up, in part because Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) warned it would trigger "all out hell" on the floor of the Senate.

But this time, there was no debate on the bill at all and it was quickly approved.

Wetlands. Also on a party-line, 18-14 vote, the Senate approved Assembly Bill 547, which would limit regulations designed to avoid or minimize construction on wetlands.

The Assembly approved the bill 58-39 last week. The Senate vote sends it to Walker.

Backers say the legislation would speed up projects that have faced costly delays in the past because of state rules, while detractors say it would hurt water quality and lead to more flooding.

Wisconsin is one of only a few states that regulate isolated wetlands, which are estimated to cover about 1 million acres and are regulated by the state Department of Natural Resources. These are wetlands that are not connected to other waterways.

Under the bill, wetlands in broadly defined urban areas that are an acre or less would be exempted in most cases from the state permitting process (though if more than 10,000 square feet of wetlands were filled, the owner would have to create wetlands elsewhere).

Also exempted would be wetlands outside urban areas of 3 acres or less, but the property owners would have to re-create wetlands if they filled 1.5 or more acres.

Schools. On a 31-1 vote, the Senate sent to the governor Assembly Bill 835, which would provide $6.5 million more for schools in sparsely populated rural areas and an estimated $15.6 million more for districts with the tightest budgets.

Sen. David Craig (R-Town of Vernon) cast the lone vote against the bill, which cleared the Assembly 91-2 last week.

Under the legislation, state aid for thinly populated districts would increase to $400 per pupil from the current $300.

The package would also provide more money for school districts that spend the least on their students.

Starting in 1993, state law limited how much districts could raise in property taxes and state aid per student, but districts were locked in at different rates depending on what they were spending at the time. Leaders of the most frugal districts have said they have been punished for years with lower revenue limits because they were spending less a quarter-century ago.

Currently, the minimum that school districts can raise through state aid and local property taxes is $9,100 a year per student.

The bill would allow school boards in low-revenue districts to raise at least $9,400 per student in the 2018-'19 school year.

The proposal could lead to higher property taxes in those school districts, so the plan includes a provision to placate conservatives concerned about rising taxes. If voters in a district have rejected tax increases in a referendum within the past three years, that district would not be able to raise taxes under the plan without a new referendum.

Right to try. On a voice vote, senators backed Senate Bill 84, which would give terminally ill patients in certain situations the ability to able to try treatments that have not received full approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration.

The Assembly passed a similar measure last year, but the Senate version of the legislation differs. The two houses would need to iron out their differences to get the bill to Walker’s desk.