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Legislative Update - June 2022

June 23, 2022 12:52 PM | Anonymous

WACEP Board Report

Hubbard Wilson & Zelenkova

June 2, 2022

Policy Issues

APRN Bill/Nurse Independent Practice:  Although the legislature is out until next January, work continues on policy issues and initiatives.  Nurse groups have gone on the attack concerning the veto of their APRN bill (SB 394) and turned an early resignation by the BON chair into a cause for media attention.  This effort has been bolstered by conservative Americans For Prosperity.   Since an initial burst of media, however, there has no new attention to the issue. 

Medicaid Reimbursement:  WACEP intends to again prioritize an increase of Medicaid reimbursement rates associated with emergency codes.  While the increase obtained in the last budget has taken effect and improved reimbursement for emergency codes for the first time in three decades, there is still more work to be done to get on par with other states.  Outreach to the Administration will begin this summer in hopes of including another boost in agency budget request, the Governor’s executive budget, and ultimately through the legislative Joint Finance Committee.

Political Landscape

The US Supreme Court overruled the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s approval of the Evers drawn state legislative maps in March based on Voting Rights Act violations.   This action required the Wisconsin Supreme Court to approve a new set of maps, under a very tight timeline, because districts needed to be established by April 15—the date nomination papers begin to be circulated.   After a couple weeks of silence from the Court, they ended up approving the maps passed by the legislature and drawn by Republicans.  As we reported before, while the Evers map could have been considered a “win” for democrats compared to the alternative of the Court selecting the legislative republican-drawn maps, both maps still reflected clear majorities for republicans in the state based on historical electoral results.

On June 1, all candidates for state and federal office were required to have their nomination papers turned in.   We will now know definitively who is on the ballot for the November election and which races we expect to be competitive.  

Below is a list of what may be competitive races in the legislature.   At bottom is a list of all retirements.

ASSEMBLY

AD 1 (Kitchens)--Held by GOP.  Door County and Kewaunee County.  Always a seat that is identified as competitive.   Kitchens has won by double digits in the past 4 elections.

AD 4 (Steffen)—Held by GOP.   Green Bay, Ashwaubenon, Allouez.   GOP numbers have reduced in 2018 and 2020 making it a seat to watch

AB 21 (Rodriguez)—Held by GOP.  South Milwaukee and Oak Creek.  Highly competitive (51%) GOP district.   Rodriguez tends to outperform the top of the ticket.

AD 29 (Moses)—Held by GOP.  NW WI—Menomonie, Colfax, Baldwin.   This is a Lean GOP District (53%), but it changed significantly in redistricting reducing the benefit of incumbency.

AD 33 (Vruwink)—Held by DEM.  SC WI—Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Palymyra.   Redistricting moved Vruwink out of his old seat (AD 43) into AD 33, which is much more competitive.  Top of the ticket it is a 51% GOP, but Vruwink has been on the ballot in over half the new district.

AD 49 (Tranel)—Held by GOP.  SW WI—Grant County.   Highly competitive as the top of the ticket slightly lean Dem (51%).  However, Tranel greatly outperforms the top of the GOP ticket since 2014

AD 51 (Novak)—Held by GOP.   SC WI—Monroe, Lafayette Co, Iowa Co.  This is the seat the Dems target every election.   54% Dem top of the ticket, but Novak wins. 

AD 85 (Snyder)—Held by GOP.  Wausau, Schofield.   Highly competitive GOP seat (51%).  Snyder usually outperforms by 2-3 points.

AD 94 (Doyle)—Held by DEM.  Onalaska, West Salem, Holmen.  Highly competitive Dem seat (51%).  Doyle has held the seat since 2012 and performs much better in gubernatorial years.

AD 96 (Oldenburg)—Held by GOP.  Monroe Co, Vernon Co and Crawford Co.  Highly competitive Dem (51%).  Assembly Republicans have continually outperformed the top of the ticket for decades.

SENATE

SD 5 (OPEN)—Held by GOP.  Brookfield, Wauwatosa, New Berlin.  Senator Kooyega held the seat but decided not to run.  It was highly competitive in the last election but picked up 4 GOP points after redistricting.  It will still be competitive as an open seat.

SD 17 (Marklein) –-Held by GOP.   SW Wisconsin.   Highly competitive Dem seat (51%).   Marklein won 54% in 2018 and 55% in 2014.

SD 19 (Open)—Held by GOP.  Appleton, Neenah, Menasha.   Highly competitive GOP seat (52%).   Formerly held by Sen Roth, who decided to run for Lt. Governor.   It will be competitive as an open seat.

SD 25 (OPEN)—Held by Dem.  NW WI.   Held by Sen Bewley, who decided not to run.   This once strong Dem area has changed over the last decade to a true 50-50 seat.    As an open seat, it will be highly competitive.

LEGISLATORS NOT SEEKING RE-ELECTION

Congress

  • District 3 - Ron Kind (D) - Not Seeking Re-election

State Senate:

  • District 15 – Janis Ringhand (D) – Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 25 – Janet Bewley (D) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 27 – Jon Erpenbach (D) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 23 – Kathy Bernier (R) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 19 – Roger Roth (R) - Running for Lt. Governor
  • District 29 – Jerry Petrowski (R) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 5 –  Dale Kooyenga (R)

State Assembly:

  • District 5 –  Jim Steineke (R) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 6 –  Gary Tauchen (R)  - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 10 – David Bowen (D) – Not seeking Re-election
  • District 13 – Sara Rodriguez (D) – Running for Lt. Governor
  • District 15 – Joe Sanfelippo (R)  - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 19 – Jonathan Brostoff (D) – Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 27 – Tyler Vorpagel (R) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 31 – Amy Loudenbeck (R)  - Running for Sec. of State
  • District 33 – Cody Horlacher (R) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 45 – Mark Spreitzer (D) – Running for Senate
  • District 46 – Gary Hebl (D) – Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 52 – Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R)  - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 54 – Gordon Hintz (D) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 55 – Rachel Cabral-Guevara (R)  – Running for Senate
  • District 59 – Tim Ramthun (R) - Running for Governor
  • District 61 – Samantha Kerkman (R) – Won Kenosha County Executive Race
  • District 68 - Jesse James (R)  – Running for Senate
  • District 73 – Nick Milroy (D) – Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 74 – Beth Meyers (D) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 79 – Dianne Hesselbein (D) - Running for Senate
  • District 80 – Sondy Pope (D) – Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 82 – Ken Skowronski (R) - Not Seeking Re-election
  • District 84 – Mike Kuglitsch (R) - Not Seeking Re-election

Notes: 

Sen. Brad Pfaff (D)– free shot at CD 3

Sen. Patrick Testin (R) – free shot at Lt. Gov.