Michael Gough, CCP
Chairman, Legislative Task Force
As you may
recall, members of the WPS and the medical community provided testimony
before the Assembly Committee on Public Health at a public hearing on
the 4th of April concerning the licensing of perfusion in Wisconsin.
In typical fashion, the committee did not hold an executive on the bill
until their next meeting on April 18th. We were elated to see a unanimous
vote of 7 to 0 by the committee members. In legislative terms, this
means the bill has been voted out of the standing committee in the Assembly
(Public Health) and will now be introduced to the floor of the general
Assembly to be voted on by all of the Representatives. But before it
will reach the floor, it must first go to the Joint Finance Committee
for a vote of approval - due to it's fiscal impact (>$10,000).
The number of votes in support of our bill from the committee members
makes a strong statement. The standing committee is viewed as the "expert"
by the general Assembly in the area that the bill would impact the public.
So when the vote goes to the floor, quite often the Representatives
will look towards the committee vote for some degree of guidance. When
the bill does get to the floor of the Assembly for a vote this fall,
it will once again be imperative for the membership to reach out to
their Representative and garner their support for our licensing campaign.
Albeit anticipated, there is still a significant legislative backlog
due to the current status of the state's budget. It has been ratified
by both houses, but is currently in a "combined committee"
attempting to mesh together details from each house's version of the
budget. There is optimism that the Governor will have the budget on
his desk within the next week or two. Once it is signed by the Governor,
the government resumes a "more normal order of business".
A very appropriate question would be "How is the bill progressing
in the Senate?" It is typical to have the legislative progress
of a bill to be staggered when comparing the two houses. I have just
summarized the progress in the Assembly - that same path must now be
duplicated in the Senate. As of right now, we have had several meetings
with Senators who comprise the Senate Committee on Health, Utilities,
Veterans and Military Affairs. Their Chairman has notified us that they
will not be holding any public hearings until after the budget is passed.
At this point we do not have a date for a public hearing, but remain
very optimistic on the position and expedience of the committee to set
such a date (due primarily to the fact that our main author in the Senate
sits on this committee and we have received written support from many
of its key members).
As you can see, due to all of the legislative attention that the state's
budget gets, we find ourselves in a large holding pattern until it is
passed. But we have been busy in other areas of lobbying as well.
· On May 16th, we were given the opportunity to speak before
the Medical Examining Board (MEB) to correct various misinformations
that was provided to the MEB from one of their aids at a previous meeting
that was held on April 18th. Having the MEB support our legislative
campaign has no true procedural value, but certainly when the board
that would potential be granting us our license supports our campaign
- there is value and merit to our actions. The MEB passed a motion to
formally support the licensing efforts of the WPS with a vote of 7 to
4. Despite the vote being short of unanimous, this is still a very compelling
statement of support by the Department of Regulation & Licensing's
most influential board.
- On May 14, the WPS also received a formal letter of endorsement
from the Wisconsin Association of Nurse Anesthetists and their acting
president Ms. Sara Kenefick. A special thanks to needs to go out to
our President Kurt Driscoll, for his role in lobbying the WANA for
a their support.
- The Legislative Task Force is also awaiting word from the Wisconsin
Academy of Physician's Assistants and the Wisconsin Society of Anesthesiologists
for their potential support of our legislative efforts. We need to
thank Terry Barnes and Michael Cristoforo for their involvement in
communicating with these professional societies.
- On a related topic, the WPS did receive official notice from AmSECT
that we will be awarded a Proactive Legislative Grant in the amount
of $6,500.00. The receipt of the grant will help offset the cost of
the legislative campaign and help put our society in a more secure
financial position. For their monetary and resource support, we should
thank AmSECT for their efforts.
To summarize our progress, the end of the spring brought about a few
milestones in our legislative campaign. But with the onset of summer
came the expected backlog from the budget and decreased legislative
activity across the board. The beginning of fall should see the emergence
of a more frantic pace in our campaign and the need for us all to reach
out to our legislators. Enjoy your summer and I look forward to working
closely with you all this fall!
