{"id":4717,"date":"2023-08-04T20:35:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T20:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4717"},"modified":"2023-08-04T21:08:53","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T21:08:53","slug":"secrecy-evers-vetoes-bills-that-would-track-his-own-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4717","title":{"rendered":"SECRECY: Evers Vetoes Bills That Would Track His Own Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/evers-vetoes-wisconsin-state-licensing-backlog\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"evers<\/p>\n

Evers \u201cdoesn\u2019t want the public to see how inept his administration is\u201d \u2013 Scott Manley, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Gov. Tony Evers doubled down on secrecy when it comes to state government\u2019s effectiveness on Friday, vetoing bills that would have required more transparency, statistics, and disclosure around the state\u2019s messed-up licensing process, Milwaukee jobs programs, and Department of Corrections\u2019 programs to reintegrate criminals to society.<\/p>\n

In addition, Evers vetoed unemployment bills that \u201csought to allow employers to report benefits recipients who either turn down or don\u2019t show up to a job interview,\u201d the AP reported<\/a>. \u201d The measures also proposed requiring the Department of Workforce Development to audit more work-search activities and increase drug testing for certain occupations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, Evers\u2019 actions will make it harder for the public to analyze how well he \u2013 and the state agencies underneath his authority \u2013 are doing their jobs. In April 2023, Wisconsin Public Radio reported<\/a> that the state\u2019s Department of Safety and Professional Services had a backlog of 2,500 pending license applications for nurses and other professionals, who can not work in those professions without them.<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly pressed Evers on the licensing backlog, and it was an issue in the governor\u2019s race. In February, Republicans said the average wait time \u201cfor a license to be approved or denied was 45 days,\u201d WPR reported.<\/a> The MacIver Institute <\/a>and conservative journalist Matt Kittle have been raising the issue since at least 2017. \u201cGetting a license in this state has been a nightmare,\u201d a man trying to become a master plumber in Wisconsin told them.<\/p>\n

Evers\u2019 vetoes immediately met with criticism. \u201cToday Evers vetoed a government transparency bill that would\u2019ve required him to publish how many occupational licenses are backlogged, and the average time it takes to issue them. He doesn\u2019t want the public to see how inept his administration is,\u201d tweeted Scott Manley, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Evers announced that he had vetoed:<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 201 <\/a><\/p>\n

This bill would require the Department of Safety and Professional Services to \u201cpost and update specific information on its website for each license, permit or certificate that it issues every month.\u201d<\/p>\n

The metrics would have to be posted for:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe median number of days from the day that all required application fees for an initial, renewal or reciprocal credential application are submitted to the date a final determination is made.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of initial, renewal or reciprocal credential applications submitted over the prior month.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of final determinations made on initial, renewal and reciprocal credential applications over the prior month.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the number of initial renewal and credential applications for which more than 45 days have passed since the applicant submitted all required fees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evers said he believed the metrics were \u201carbitrary\u201d and would not offer \u201cmeaningful information to applicants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 200<\/a><\/p>\n

This bill, as Evers described, would \u201crequire the Department of Safety and Professional Services to report on various statistics related to the issuance of occupational credentials in its biennial report to the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n

The required statistics would have included:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of applications the department or any credentialing board receives for initial, renewal and reciprocal credentials, and the total number of those issued.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lowest, highest, and median number of days from the date a credential application is initiated to the date a determination is made.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe median number of contacts made to and received from an applicant for an initial, renewal or reciprocal credential before a final determination is issued.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of applications for initial, renewal and reciprocal credentials for which the department or a credentialing board requested more information.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of applications for initial, renewal and reciprocal credentials that required the department or a credentialiing board to review an arrest, conviction or other offense record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evers said he was vetoing the bill because he objected that the Legislature \u201crequiring the department to provide arbitratry metrics\u201d that would divert resources.<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 151<\/a><\/p>\n

As Evers noted, this bill would require that state agencies and authorities that \u201ccoordinate, oversee or operate workforce development programs\u201d track and report the performance of each program using performance indicators similar to those used in federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill specified that the following programs would fall under the definition of workforce development program:<\/p>\n

Transform Milwaukee Jobs and Transitional Jobs programs<\/p>\n

Initiatives offered by the Department of Corrections that reintegrate offenders<\/p>\n

Employment and training programs administered by the Department of Children and Families<\/p>\n

The Wisconsin Works program administrated by the Department of Children and Families<\/p>\n

Evers wrote that reforms to \u201cchange or restrict assistance programs\u201d are \u201cnot a silver-bullet solution to our state\u2019s workforce challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

See all of Evers\u2019 vetoes here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/evers-vetoes-wisconsin-state-licensing-backlog\/ Evers \u201cdoesn\u2019t want the public to see how inept…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":4719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-right-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4720,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717\/revisions\/4720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}