On Thursday, February 25, Governor Tony Evers signed 2021 Act 4, legislation including both COVID liability protections and reforms to the state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) system. The bill cleared the Legislature with widespread support, passing the Senate by 27-3 on February 18 and the Assembly by 89-0 on February 23. Senate President Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg), Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), and Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam), in particular, championed the liability protections in the Legislature.

Read more about the new law here.

On Tuesday, February 16, Governor Tony Evers gave his second biennial budget address and released his 2021-23 executive budget. On the civil justice front, the governor’s budget includes several proposals of concern to the WCJC and its members. The WCJC is working to ensure that these harmful, non-fiscal policy provisions creating new private causes of action and recreating qui tam actions for false claims are removed from the budget by the Legislature.

Read more about the governor's budget proposal here.