The enduring saga of the ping pong ball that is the state’s second COVID response legislation, Assembly Bill 1, continued today and the end may finally be in sight. For a summary of the back and forth between the Assembly and Senate on AB 1, see this post, this post, and this post.
The latest amendment from the state Assembly (Assembly Amendment 2, to Senate Amendment 1, to Assembly Amendment 1, to Senate Substitute Amendment 1, to Assembly Bill 1 for those keeping track at home) aims to keep Wisconsin eligible for federal food stamp dollars by allowing the governor to declare a public health emergency only for the purpose of being eligible for those dollars and not for other purposes (like a statewide mask mandate). The Assembly approved the amended bill on a party-line vote and sent it back to the Senate.
The state Senate announced it will convene in tomorrow (2/5) in extraordinary session to concur with the latest Assembly amendment after which the bill goes to Gov. Evers. Since the state Senate first amended AB 1 to reach a bipartisan agreement with Gov. Evers, the Assembly added, and the Senate agreed to, amendments that increased the likelihood of a veto. Those added provisions include a number of K-12 provisions the WASB is concerned about including opening up full-time open enrollment and barring public schools from being members of the WIAA unless the WIAA allows open enrollment transfer students to be eligible for varsity sports. It is unknown if the governor will sign or veto the legislation.
The Assembly also concurred in the joint resolution passed by the Senate last week (SJR3) repealing the current public health emergency and statewide mask mandate. The vote to approve the resolution was 52-42 with GOP Reps. Kitchens, Mursau, Novak, Oldenburg, Rodriguez, Steffen and Tusler joining all Democrats in voting no. According to GOP leaders (via Scott Bauer, AP), the mask mandate repeal will take effect Friday (2/5) after it is signed by Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester).
