The state’s largest general farm organizations are tagging health care as a primary issue in this legislative session.
Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation is looking to have its own health care plan similar to several other state farm bureaus. And Wisconsin Farmers Union wants to expand BadgerCare by having Wisconsin join the more than 40 other states that have accepted federal Medicaid expansion funds.
Gov. Tony Evers shares his thoughts.
“We’re looking forward to having robust conversations about it,” Evers says. “There’s people across the state of Wisconsin, especially our farmers, that have inadequate health care. We’re talking about a $100 billion industry here in the state of Wisconsin, and we cannot afford to have the people that create that wealth to not have good health care.”
In other news, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin has seen leadership changes in the past month. Chairperson Rebecca Cameron Valcq will be leaving the Evers Administration effective Feb. 2. And the Wisconsin State Senate fired Commissioner Tyler Huebner.
Evers says the transition shouldn’t hurt the trajectory of getting Wisconsin connected to broadband.
“We have good people in replacement,” he says. “We’re going to continue on with broadband expansion. We have to. Rural Wisconsin is suffering without it… we have the money, we have the resources, it’s just a matter of getting it done. We can finish this off.”
Finally, the governor says he’s heard that labor continues to be a focal point among farmers. He’s pushing the Legislature to make it feasible for farm workers to get driver’s licenses.
“It’s a real simple fix… having undocumented folks that work on farms all across the state of Wisconsin can get to and from work without getting picked up because they don’t have a driver’s license,” he says.