My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. I dig into Evers’ COVID bill a little. Here’s a part:
Gov. Tony Evers is urging the Republican leadership of the Legislature to pass his self-styled “compromise” bill addressing the ongoing health concern precipitated by COVID-19. Setting aside, for a moment, that Evers’ bill is not a compromise (hint: compromise bills are rarely announced by only one side) and that Evers has actually taken the Legislature to court over the legality of bills passed in a socalled “lame duck” session, let us examine the priorities of the governor during the ongoing health concern.
Evers’ bill consists of 17 provisions. Seven of the provisions are designed to expand government and/or reduce the government’s accountability to the people. Eight of them would make waste, corruption, and graft easier with taxpayer money. And two of them are regulatory overreaches that will wreak havoc on citizens and the economy.
One of your best posts. Thanks for the good work.
One thing that the column doesn’t mention (probably because there’s so much Bravo Sierra in Evers’ bill that there was no room in the column) is that, instead of liability protection for employers, certain classes deemed by Ev…er…Gau as “essential” will be on the financial hook for employees who get the Wuhan via the workers’ compensation program. As Wile E. Coyote once said, “Brilliance! That’s all I can say; sheer, unadulterated brilliance!”
Yeah, that one almost made the column, but it was a bit technical to explain without taking up too much column space. His bill would have the courts use a presumption of liability for “essential” workers who get COVID. So if a nurse, for example, gets COVID, her employer is assumed to be liable and the burden of proof that they are NOT liable falls on the employer.
I guarantee that Evers/Gau would make teachers “essential” and school districts/taxpayers would be paying out settlements for years. It’s a shakedown scheme for selected constituencies – including the trial lawyers.