Brian Dake

A Republican-backed stay-at-home order in Wisconsin would include a shift to regional restrictions and a move away from a state list of so-called “essential businesses,” the leader of the state Assembly said Wednesday.

Speaking at an online Wisconsin Health News event Wednesday morning, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he hopes Republicans will never have to debut their own proposal. He would prefer to have a “seat at the table” while the executive branch drafts changes to its current order.

During the event, the Speaker reiterated his party’s support for a more regional approach to restrictions on businesses and people.

“Let’s start to turn the dial, as opposed to treating every part of the state like it is Milwaukee,” he said. “Because if we wait for Milwaukee and Brown County to be the indicator, it’s going to be a long time potentially before Wisconsin can open up.”

Vos also said he supports including more specific phases for restaurants reopening, including possible guidelines for when they could offer outdoor seating and benchmarks for reaching different percentages of indoor capacity.

He also urged a move away from a list of so-called “essential businesses” that are allowed to be open, while others are not.

“I don’t understand how you can go and get a key made at Walmart or buy flowers for Mother’s Day, but somehow if you would go to the flower shop or the key shop, that would be a major threat to public health,” Vos said.

He said he trusts people and businesses to take the appropriate health precautions.

Vos also said the state should have the plan to allow for churches to begin offering in-person worship services again.

The Speaker said he has been consulting with the Wisconsin Hospital Association and nursing home groups when considering possible changes to Wisconsin’s current policies.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce on Tuesday announced that its board on Friday unanimously approved a resolution calling for a phased-in “smart restart” of the state’s economy, beginning as early as the week of May 11, two weeks before Gov. Tony Evers’ “Safer at Home” order is scheduled to expire.

MMAC president Tim Sheehy today said the organization supported the governor’s initial “Safer at Home” order, but urged Evers to begin a phased reopening of the state’s economy.

MMAC’s support of Gov. Evers’ initial “Safer at Home” order through April 24 was strongly informed by concerns raised by health care leaders over the speed of the disease’s spread and the possibility of our health care systems being overwhelmed with critically ill patients,” Sheehy said.

But each day that “Safer at Home” lasts, the economic damage continues to mount. Economists at UW-Madison estimated the state’s unemployment rate at 16.7% as of April 16. The high during the Great Recession was 9.3%.

“The extension of this (Safe at Home) order to May 26 is well-intentioned, and we appreciate the challenge that elected officials face in an unprecedented crisis,” Sheehy said.

“However, it is time to move forward with a smart restart to build employee and consumer confidence, which is the best cure for our economic ills. We believe the (Milwaukee) region can work together and find ways to resume additional economic activity while adapting smart practices to protect employees and customers.”

Republican legislative leaders talked with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Monday about opening some parts of Wisconsin less affected by the coronavirus pandemic sooner than others.

Wisconsin’s powerful chamber of commerce urged legislators Thursday to adopt its business reopening plan, telling an Assembly committee that Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order is crushing the economy and that the state has the coronavirus under control.

As companies start planning their reopenings, business groups are pushing Congress to limit liability from potential lawsuits filed by workers and customers infected by the coronavirus.

They appear to have the White House’s ear.

President Donald Trump has floated shielding businesses from lawsuits. His top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on CNBC last week that businesses shouldn’t be held liable to trial lawyers “putting on false lawsuits that will probably be thrown out of court.” He said the issue could require legislation, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that the issue would be a priority when lawmakers return.

At issue is how to balance protecting businesses from lawsuits that could distract them and even lead to financial ruin, while also enabling justice for customers and workers who in a time of rapidly rising unemployment may not have the option of leaving their jobs for something safer.

“If there is no liability on the part of employers without a set of rules by which employers have to abide by, then that means you can have a wild wild west,” said Kent Swig, president of Swig Equities, LLC, a privately owned real estate investment and development company.

“You have to have a balance,” he added, “and you have to have rules and regulations.”

Swig says he’s planning measures like one-way lanes in public corridors in the lobbies and plexiglass dividers in offices at his properties. But he’s seeking national guidelines as well.

Linda Kelly, general counsel at the National Association of Manufacturers, said her trade group is “not trying to protect bad actors, and we are also not saying that liability should be completely eliminated.”

Rather, she said, the group believes “there should be a higher standard in place in order to impose legal liability and that employers who are doing the best that they can with the knowledge they have should not be subject to legal liability.”

Yesterday, Governor Tony Evers today announced the another turn of the dial in expanding allowed operations for nonessential businesses, providing even more opportunities for businesses to get back to work in a safe and responsible way.

The Emergency Order, signed on Monday by Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm, allows nonessential businesses to do curbside drop-off of goods and animals.

This will allow businesses like dog groomers, small engine repair shops, upholstery businesses, and others to safely open. This order also allows outdoor recreational rentals, such as boats, golf carts, kayaks, ATVs, and other similar recreational vehicles. Additionally, automatic or self-service car washes would be able to operate.

All of these businesses must operate free of contact with customers by providing payment options online or over the phone, enact proper disinfecting practices, and operations must be able to be performed by one staff member.

On Thursday, Thompson called on leaders of both parties and Gov. Evers to come together amid the Covid-19 crisis.

“It’s time to come together – it’s time to get together – it’s time to come up with a plan. A plan to get Wisconsin moving. And it’s not a Republican plan, it’s not a Democrat plan, it’s a Wisconsin plan. And that’s what we have to do right now. We’re in an emergency, we’re in a pandemic,” Thompson said.

While he was on board with Gov. Tony Evers’ first ‘Safer at Home’ order, the former governor, who is a Republican, said he hasn’t seen enough of a plan in place for re-opening businesses in Democratic Gov. Evers’ second extension of ‘Safer at Home.’

Thompson said the governor and lawmakers need to work together to bring in tourism, hospitality and tavern industry, and Wisconsin manufacturers and commerce to share ideas about how to open up businesses, saying a “staggered way, that’s going to provide for healthy conditions, and safety for customers.”

He thinks they can find ways to safely re-open some bars, restaurants and attractions, again in a staggered fashion.