For the second time, Governor Tony Evers has released a new piece of legislation to further give assistance to people in the state of Wisconsin.
In a news release, the governor said the legislation focuses on these areas:
- Increasing funding for Medicaid providers via supplemental payments and rate increases to support the healthcare system’s response to the public health emergency;
- Establishing a fund to reduce providers’ uncompensated care costs targeting reimbursement for treatment-related costs for uninsured individuals;
- Establishing a COVID-19 reinsurance program to reduce health insurance premiums;
- Providing grant funding to provide food assistance and meal delivery;
- Prohibiting utility cooperatives from disconnecting customers and prohibiting land-lord directed disconnections from rental units during a public health emergency;
- Ensuring workers receive back payment for any lost unemployment insurance benefits as a result of the delay in suspending the one-week waiting period;
- Providing supplemental payments to child care providers, if that provider needed to shut down during the public health emergency;
- Allowing households to apply for heating assistance under the low-income energy assistance program anytime during the 2020 calendar year;
- Increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families;
- Providing municipalities the flexibility to implement multiple installments of three or more payments for 2020 property taxes;
- Waiving interest and penalties on delinquent property taxes included in the 2019 payable 2020 tax roll, on and after April 1, 2020;
- Creating a fund through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Association to provide 6 months of support for prevention of single-family foreclosures and providing refinancing opportunities to current borrowers; and
- Providing grant funding for small businesses and workers through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.