Welcome, everyone, to Midday magazine for this Friday, May 17, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here at 330.
We're going to welcome in Ben Abrilene, a community engagement director with
United Way of Southwood and Annas counties looking forward to catching up
with Ben and talking a little United Way. Looking forward to talking with
our good friend Senator Patrick Teston right now joining us on the phone
lines. Good afternoon, sir. How you doing? I'm doing great.
Change yourself doing well doing good. Great to hear from you and great to be
able to catch up with you. Been very busy. One of this start, if you don't mind,
talking about your the Senate's floor session this past week where they voted to
override the governor's veto of several bills, including your Advanced Practice
Register Nurse Modernization Act. Before we get into some of the other bills,
do you mind if we touch on that bill? Why it was so important to you? Why you pushed
for this so hard and where we are with it now? Yeah, I mean, so this past Tuesday,
the Senate came in and we did veto overrides on nine different pieces of
legislation at the governor of veto to a one recent or another. And I think it's
critically important because some of these bills directly impact our areas of
the state and impact every corner of the state for that matter. And one of those
bills was my legislation as it relates to allowing our Advanced Practice Register
nurses to operate at the highest level of their license. So one of the highlights
and there weren't very many highlights throughout the course of the pandemic was
that many of the restrictions that are currently placed in our APRNs were removed.
And as a result of that, the good news is that quality of care didn't diminish. In
fact, it actually improved, actually empowering our providers to take care of
patients. And the reason why this is so critical is that one million Wisconsinites
live in underserved areas where there aren't enough health care practitioners within
their respective communities. And this is legislation that has been implemented in
27 other states, including Minnesota and Iowa. So at a time when other
legislation has been enacted, for instance, the governor recently signed a new
legislation to create a new health care provider in the form of dental
therapists. And alongside that, the continuation of supporting things like
interstate medical licensure compacts that make it easier for providers to cross
state lines. So it was unfortunate that the governor vetoed this legislation, but I
think it's imperative that this legislation get enacted, which is why I was I
pushed as hard as I did to ensure that the APRN Modernization Act was on the
veto override calendar. Because as we've seen in other states, any other state
that has allowed these advanced practice nurses to operate at the highest level
of the license have never gone back to a more restrictive model. In fact,
there's even evidence to show that, you know, when these APRNs encounter a patient
or a situation that goes above and beyond their practice or their scope of
practice, that they refer to a physician, which is exactly what this
legislation aims to do. And so my hope is is that with our actions
taken on Tuesday that at some point, I hope the assembly comes back to follow suit.
And I really hope that we can find some folks from across the aisle to join with us
in the assembly to enact this much critical need of legislation.
You touched on a little bit of the history of this. And I know that there are
certain bills where you see something in society or see something in your
constituents or your community and you kind of had it. But this feels like one
that came, you know, came to you from your constituents. They came to you with
this concern. Is that how this got started?
Yeah, I mean, there's been plenty of folks within my Senate district that have
supported this. And I can't honestly take credit for this legislation. I mean,
this bill has been around for the better part of the decade now. And it's
taken many different forms and different approaches.
Last session was the first session that I was the author of it. And, you know,
it was the first time that it advanced out of both houses. Unfortunately,
got detailed last session. This go around. We sort of recalibrated and worked to
and tried to negotiate with with Governor Evers on this. And I thought we came
pretty close. There were a few provisions that quite frankly from my
perspective and the perspective of many of the stakeholders in support of this
bill weren't necessarily germane to this bill. And because really this
this legislation is basically about empowering our health care professionals
and our workforce. And as I told the governor prior to his veto,
and this was a couple of months ago, and I met with him in his office by said,
governor, some of the other issues that you would like to see in this bill
that aren't included, I'd be more than happy and willing to work with you next
session on this if I have the privilege to come back. But for my standpoint,
this is so needed right now that we really need to focus on
the crux of this bill, which is workforce development and
power in our providers to do the jobs they're trained to do.
To that point, it does look like in the amendments to ease stakeholders.
The governor, the original bill was amended to require that APR
RNs refer to physicians and other health care providers when it cases
outside of their expertise. That seems like something that was a
key part of the addition. And while veto might get a lot of people's
eyes when they see the headlines or something, to me, I'm seeing
both people working together to compromise, and oftentimes that means the best
for our communities. Well, now it's certainly the intent that we
put forward in trying to negotiate and acting good faith. In fact,
one of the other provisions, and it was a amendment that was added the
the same day that we voted for it on the Senate floor.
The governor was at four-year training experience before an
APR RN can practice independently, and the original legislation was at two.
And so I worked with one of my my Senate colleagues, Senator Keldor Royce
from the Madison area, who is a huge supporter of this bill.
And we broke and had a recess on the floor, and I went up to her and said,
Senator, if I can get your support along with the support of some other
Democrats, I am willing to go to three. I just I can't go to four years because
Wisconsin would be the only state in the nation that has done an APR
Modernization Act, and every other state is at either two years or three
or some are at none. So I don't know why we would make Wisconsin
an island on this front because all we all we would be doing is creating an
arbitrary barrier for these advanced practice nurses.
And to her credit, she stuck she stuck with us. I know she took a lot of
criticism and blacked him some of her colleagues for it, but
Senator Royce along with Senator Larson stuck with us when the bill was
brought up before the Senate floor earlier this year.
As sort of a sub question to this, and I do want to get back to the
bills that were vetoed, do you do you think that a little bit of we don't
encourage people necessarily to do this in our neighborhoods or anything, but
when it comes to state next to state and some of that,
is there a little bit of the keeping up with the Joneses that has to be
involved when it when it comes to looking at
keeping population or some of the other factors there?
Oh, absolutely. And you know, for my standpoint, especially as it relates to,
you know, what can we do to increase access of care, especially in our rural and
underserved areas? It's taken a look at what other states have done because
I often tell people you do not need to reinvent the wheel.
If there are things that work in other states, then there's no reason to
expect that it won't work here. Now, it doesn't mean necessarily taking a cookie
cutter approach, but, you know, identifying models that have worked in other
places. And that's what's so great about our country is Benjamin Franklin once
said, the states are the laboratories for democracy. And, you know, in this
instance, we've seen where this legislation has been enacted. It's been
truly a benefit for not just the providers but for patients. And so,
you know, this is where I think we have the opportunity to, you know, adopt
language that's been successful in other states and apply here to Wisconsin,
because at the end of the day, it's about doing what's best for the people we
represent and also, again, making sure that in areas where there is,
there is a shortage of providers that we can sort of help fill that void.
And as, as I said on the center floor on Tuesday,
this legislation is not meant to replace the role of positions.
It's to help supplement where we have deficiencies in the number of providers
in key areas of the state. And when it comes to the other
bills that were vetoed on in your notes, I see, what other bills were vetoed on?
Probably one of the big ones. I mean, they're all fairly important. Don't get me wrong,
but one of the big ones was dealing with PFAS contamination.
So, there has been a lot of discussion in the media. And, you know, I think this is one of
these areas where, unfortunately, being 2024, it's an election year politics has
given the way of good public policy. And so, in the state budget, where I remember the joint
finance committee, we set aside $125 million to deal with PFAS contamination that was contingent
of being released upon passage and signage of legislation being enacted in law.
So, two of my colleagues, Senator Eric Wimberg from the Green Bay Area and Ralph Colts from
the Alley Area, up in Northeast Wisconsin, where this has been a real issue.
Did there do diligence and worked on comprehensive legislation that would provide
an avenue for the $125 million to be released to give landowners the tools and resources
could test and then also deal with remediation and contamination? Because what has happened is that,
you know, farmers and landowners have been given permission to spread
biosludge oftentimes coming from leachate from landfills onto their properties.
Unbeknownst to them, not knowing that, you know, oftentimes this material, this biosludge
has PFAS in it. And the real unfortunate sad part about this is that they were given
permission by the DNR. And at the time, the DNR was not aware that they were PFAS contamination.
So, there was one provision spill that seemed to draw the largest amount of criticism from the
governor. And it was one of the reasons why city vetoed this legislation is that, you know, if an
individual may have spread some of these contaminants without knowing that there were PFAS in them,
that they shouldn't be held liable because it was due to no fault of their own that they were
given permission by our very own state government to do so. And so, unfortunately, the government
vetoed this legislation. And unfortunately, again, politics has taken a front row seat as opposed
to a back row seat on this. And, you know, the governor has been trying to say that the joint
finance committee can just come in and release these funds. And that's not how this works.
A one committee in the state legislature cannot override a governor's veto over. It requires a
two-thirds vote from both the state senate, as well as the state assembly. So, we don't have an avenue
currently for this money to be released, which is unfortunate, but it's why we felt so compelled to
come in and override the governor's veto. And again, our hope is that we can compel the assembly
to do the same. And hopefully, we can do the right thing here and correct the mistake in the
governor's veto and get these funds out to communities and people who need it most.
When it comes to some of what the political game that you're mentioning there,
we both are adults and we understand that both parties are guilty of this. Do you from your
constituents hear the same thing that I'm hearing from our communities? They're tired of that,
that they're tired of the game. Nobody's being fooled here.
Everybody understands the fact that a lot of people on both sides of the aisle are quite blunt
about it now and saying, we're not going to vote on this because it's an election year. We're
going to wait until our guy gets an office if he does and things like that. While the American
people sit in the middle of this game and there were the ones that suffer.
Yeah, no, you're 100% spot on James. In fact, I'm hearing it constantly. So, as we all know,
right now, everyone's favorite season in Wisconsin and I don't mean spring. It's a campaign season.
And I know that's a really bad joke, but I've been going out there just about five or six days
a week going door to door to hear what's on people's minds. And this issue got brought up recently
about a week and a half ago when I was going door to door in the city of Telma.
And I had a conversation and these are individuals who probably lean a little left the center.
But they've always admired the work and the approach that I've taken and they asked the question
pretty bluntly, they're like, what is going on with the money that's supposed to be going to
the old PFAS? And I said, look, if you've got a few minutes, I will peel back the curtain. I will
give you the ins and outs and everything that's going on. And after what I just explained to you,
they were scratching their head and they're like, we don't understand this. And I said, I know,
because you know, this has been turned into a political issue. And at the same time,
while it's trying to be used as a wedge to drive us apart, the average person doesn't care
because there are homeowners right now whose properties are rendered completely useless.
They're most important asset because they're well as highly contaminated with PFAS.
And so while we sort of, you know, bout and jowls down a Madison over who's the blame,
people don't care. They just want results. And I think that's one of the primary reasons why we
took the floor to do this because we're trying to get past the political brinksmanship and
try and provide results for the people who need this most. We're speaking with Wisconsin State
Senator Patrick Teston right now. And speaking of speaking to your constituents and new people,
you have some new districts, new legislative districts were announced in Wisconsin.
How is it going, meeting some different areas and talking to different people? Are you enjoying
that or how is that going? Yeah, it's one of those, it's sort of bittersweet. So when you take a
look at the new 24th Senate district, they used to have all of Portage County. I now have portions
of it. Portage County got split up three ways. I used to have the majority of Wood County with
the exception of Marshfield and a few townships in the Northwest corner. And now I just have
basically the city of Wisconsin, our app is in South. Got completely taken out of a share of county,
lost the city of Sparrow over Monroe County, but maintained the eastern half picked up most of
Juno County, which is all new to me. And I previously had the eastern half of Jackson County,
now have all of Jackson County. And when I say it's bittersweet, it's tough because after seven
years of doing this, you build up really strong relationships within the communities that
informally represented. But at the same time, I try and be optimistic and find the silver lining
in all of this. And, you know, the fun part for me is now I'm going into new communities. I
wasn't necessarily familiar with whether it's places like OCO or Black River Falls or in places
like Boston or New Lisbon Camp Douglas just yesterday. I was in the village of Wilson going
door to door. And, you know, it's fun because you get to introduce, introduce yourself the new
people and learn about new issues that are impacting that area. And it's just, it comes with a
territory. I mean, typically we do this once every 10 years under, you know, the new environment,
you know, we're doing this every two years, it seems like. But it doesn't change my approach. I'm
going out there and taking my message directly to the people. And more importantly, I'm
hearing directly from them what's on their minds and, you know, what their ideas and concerns
are moving forward and how we can work together to address those. Sometimes the people come to you
and come down to Madison and recently you sat down with some local members of the Wisconsin
Aging Advocacy Network for their Aging Advocacy Day. How did that go? What were some of the things
you discussed? Well, it was great. It's a great organization. They do tremendous work and
advocate them for our older population here in the state, which, by the way, is not getting any
younger by the day. The silver tsunami, as they call it, is becoming a real reality here in the
state. And so that presents some challenges. It also presents some opportunities and some of
things that they really try to focus on is, you know, how can we be more preventative as it relates
to our senior population and trying to invest on the front end rather than having it become an
issue where we're spending more on the back end, whether it's things like providing grant
dollars for agencies like our ADRCs who do tremendous job and great programming and things like,
for instance, fall prevention grants. You know, we, there is legislation that came up towards
a tail under this session. Now, that would have provided grant dollars for our ADRCs and other
organizations around the state to help with fall prevention. Unfortunately, when we heard
testimony, there have been instances where, you know, senior citizens fall in their homes or in
a nursing home. And oftentimes, because there's concerns that they don't want to increase their injury
that they may have incurred that oftentimes, they have to wait until a fire department or an
ambulance shows up where they can be lifted and evaluated, which in some instances, this can take
hours, if not several hours, which is just horrifying. And you think about the lack of dignity,
that sense of that individual who has worked their entire life and now find themselves laying
on the floor waiting for an ambulance or a firefighter to show up to give the medical treatment.
I mean, that's really, it's heartbreaking. Now, unfortunately, that legislation didn't pass
because it was fairly late in the session. However, already, one of the things that they're
preparing for is what, how can we work with them going into the next state budget to hopefully
provide some, some more resources and grant dollars to ensure that our ADRC and other organizations
can utilize those funds and help out our most vulnerable here. Recently, you know, one of the
fun things we have to talk about with you is you're on the job series. You were recently at
our Southwood County Main Society a little while ago and a shout out to you for that. I know they
really enjoyed themselves. We had Tim in with our pet of the week last Thursday and he was raving
about your work and how all that and we got to talk to you a little bit about it. Now, just
recently, you were at the Food Plus Farm Exploration Center in Clover, which a lot of us have been
enjoying and checking out. How did you enjoy yourself? It was a blast and this one was really kind
of unique for me. It was sort of a double header. So when it was being constructed, I actually got
to spend one of my days on the job with human construction and help install the HVAC system
at that facility. And you know, since it's been completed, I am just blown away. I've
I've said numerous times that I have learned that when individuals like Dick Kowalski have a vision
and the dream it is best to get out of the way and hop on the boss or get run over by because
he will see it through to the end and they are doing a tremendous job and he writes who's the
executive director over there. It's put together a phenomenal team where they're really trying
to connect people to where their food comes from because even I've heard it from adults who say,
you know, their food comes from a grocery store. Well, to a certain extent, that's true, but there's
a lot of other steps that go into that process before that that food ever shows up to the shelves
of a supermarket. And you know, it was great because I got to spend some time. There were some
school groups that came through and I got to, you know, explain to them what my role is in state
government and, you know, how I work with farmers in our area to promote our strong egg industry in
and even got to see some of the test plots and research that they're doing. And also
the partnership that they created with farm shed who was on site that day because they received
a, I believe it was a $12,000 or $15,000 grant from the community foundation because what they
found out last year from their test fields is that at the end of the year, they had oldest produce
and they couldn't take it anywhere. And, you know, organically, they got connected with farm shed and
now they're going to be taking all the food that has grown off of their test fields at the
food and farm exploration center and going to be donated directly to our food panchers in the area
and other organizations that help individuals who might be struggling to get adequate food. And so
it really, it just drives home why I love central Wisconsin so much is that when we identify a
problem, organizations roll up their sleeves and they get to work and find solutions.
I think you're one of these on the job series. We're going to have to get you into the radio station
here. We're going to have to get you in here. Have you learned a little bit of what we do? I think
it'll be fun. I love it. Yeah, it'll be great. I did want to wrap up, sir, with the last minute
or we had complementing you and mentioning to the audience, just in case they did not know,
that you were recognized the other day by the Legislative Champion Award from our Wisconsin
Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. Congratulations on that. What did that mean to you?
It meant a lot. And again, you know, in my time since I entered the state senate, some of the
areas that I've really tried to dial in on is how can we increase access to care and underserved
areas and especially for our most vulnerable populations and our free and charitable clinics do
an incredible job all throughout the state. In fact, it was a couple of sessions ago now that I had
worked with state representative Todd Novak and for the first time ever, we actually created a
state statute where we are going to continue to provide state resources for our free and charitable
clinics because of the work that they do, whether it's delivering on oral health care,
help them prevent individuals from utilizing our emergency departments as their primary
access to health care, which is the worst place to get primary care because it's the most expensive.
And so really, it's a win-win. These clinics oftentimes are run by volunteers and the one that
I visited most recently was over in Sparta where they have a free and charitable clinic, how it's
rate within the male clinic. And you know, hearing the work from, you know, whether it's their
pharmacist, their nurses, their doctors, their director, and it's just remarkable work.
And so, you know, it meant a lot, you know, it's always great to be recognized for, you know,
the work that we do, but ultimately it's they deserve the credit because they are the ones who
are, you know, donating their time to take care of those who who need it most and who might not
have health insurance or who might not have the ability to see a primary care physician. And
this is another prime example where organizations like our free and charitable clinics
help fill that gap and help fill that void in our communities all throughout the state.
Always appreciate the time, sir. If people want to reach you, how can they do that?
Yeah, if anyone needs to get a hold of me, feel free to reach out to my, my legislative office,
our number 608-266-3123. Shoot us an email at sen.my last name,
testin at legs.wi.gov, follow us on social media. And of course, as I mentioned before,
it is campaign season. So I will be out in the balcony door to door. And if you see me out on
street, feel free to stop and chat and look forward to taking our message to a door and community
near you. Thanks for the time, Senator. We'll talk soon. Appreciate you, James.
