Hamilton Political Tidbits – March 12, 2021

As of Tuesday, March 9, Wisconsin had been allocated nearly 1.9 million COVID vaccine doses from the federal government. About 1.74 million vaccine doses have been administered, and more than 600,000 Wisconsin residents or 10.5 percent of the state’s population have completed the two-dose series. Over 60 percent of Wisconsinites aged 65 and older have received at least one dose.

Continue reading about the state's progress distributing vaccines

On March 10, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) announced the dates and locations of a series of public hearings on the 2021-23 state budget. Also this week, Governor Tony Evers announced a series of virtual public hearings seeking feedback on and discussion of his proposed budget. Each hearing will cover a different set of topics.

On Thursday, March 4, the City of La Crosse filed a lawsuit against 23 companies that manufactured, marketed, or sold firefighting foam containing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of chemicals commonly known as PFAS. On Tuesday, February 23, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) and Oconomowoc-based dry cleaner Leather Rich, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the DNR involving PFAS.

On February 22, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two regulatory actions related to PFAS in drinking water. This comes after the agency’s announcement in February of last year that it planned to regulate PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. Meanwhile, effective March 1, DNR announced that is no longer expects regulated entities and laboratories to sample for or report three PFAS compounds previously included on its default PFAS reporting list. 

Check out the Hamilton Consulting Group's Issue Update pages for summaries, resources, and analysis of major policy issues in Wisconsin: