Bad timing - Wis govt will be paying more for insurance, Walker HR scheme.

Not that our state needs to be spending money on everyday operations these days, but it’s set to happen after state government was notified higher costs in two areas in the recent weeks. However, the Joint Finance Committee could change these terms, if they so choose.

That’s under the passive review process that JFC has, which either allows the costs to pass through into being paid, or a member could object within 2 weeks, which would lead to a JFC meeting to discuss the matter further, and possibly modify the actions. The first of these items involve insurance costs that the state takes on for its buildings and daily operations.

The excess insurance premiums paid by the department in fiscal year 2019-20 will total $9,561,491. The department also estimates that excess insurance premiums incurred in fiscal year 2020-21 will total $10,391,491. The department has $7,292,500 budgeted in fiscal year 2019-20 for both property and liability excess insurance premiums. This estimate is based on the average annual increases in property and liability excess insurance premiums between fiscal years 2016-17 and 2019-20. Large state government losses that have occurred since fiscal year 2016-17 and overall market pressures have resulted in significant year-over-year excess insurance premium costs.

Well that’s no good, and it’ll mean state agencies have to shell out an extra $5.3 million in a time period when Governor Evers is asking them to cut operations by 5% because there will be fewer dollars available to spend.

So why has this gone up so much? Part of it is due to the increasing number of severe weather events that have harmed state buildings.

Premiums for excess property insurance have increased consistently since fiscal year 2010-11. The most considerable annual excess insurance premium costs have occurred during the past several fiscal years. Between fiscal years 2016-17 and 2019-20, state government excess insurance premiums have increased by 306 percent. State government experienced significant property losses during fiscal year 2018-19, including damage resulting from flooding in south central Wisconsin and the January 2019 polar vortex (when pipes burst in several buildings due to temperatures that dropped near 30 below). Nationwide property insurance market conditions have been impacted by recent catastrophic hurricane losses, which have contributed to increased excess property insurance premiums.

But it’s not just the effects of weather events that are going to cause the extra millions of tax dollars to be spent to insure state assets. Some of it is also due to the increased costs to protect against bad behavior by certain public officials.

Premiums for excess liability insurance have also increased substantially over the past several fiscal years. Between fiscal years 2016-17 and 2018-19, excess liability insurance premium costs paid by the department increased 278 percent; premium costs have increased by an additional 7 percent between fiscal years 2018-19 and 2019-20. Claims reported by state government and general market conditions have driven up liability insurance premiums during recent years. For example, during fiscal year 2017-18, an $18.9 million claim involving the Department of Corrections was settled and paid. Additional nationwide trends attributed to automobile liability, sexual misconduct claims and police brutality allegations have fueled overall increases in excess liability insurance premiums.

That $18.9 million claim that the Department of Corrections and insurance had to pay? A direct reflection of the negligence that happened in the Walker era at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Hills youth prisons.

The girl, Sydni Briggs of Janesville, was 16 when she was held at Copper Lake for breaking into a liquor store and stealing several bottles of vodka and gin. On Nov. 9, 2015, she turned on a call light that staff were supposed to respond to immediately.

Guards could see into Briggs' room from a video camera, but no one came to her door for nearly 24 minutes. By then, she had hanged herself with a torn T-shirt, had no pulse and was not breathing. Staff revived her with CPR and a defibrillator.

An expert witness determined Briggs was hanging for 2 to 5 minutes, which suggests staff could have stopped it if they had responded to her call light promptly, [Briggs attorney Eric] Haag said. …

She spent the next four months in a coma and was later moved to a rehabilitation center. Briggs, now 19, uses a wheelchair, has the cognition of a young child and is expected to require around-the-clock care for the rest of her life that will cost $200,000 or more a year.

That guy’s just the gift who keeps giving, isn’t he?

On a related note, the JFC also is in position to review the $32.0 million that agencies are slated to pay in the next fiscal year as part of the state’s new human resources system. This was a 2017 budget stunt by the Walker Administration to consolidate HR duties under his Department of Administration, but Scotty never got to do much with it after he got the boot in 2018.

These extra costs are going to take away key resources at a time when the state is going to need all the money it can scrape together in order to help Wisconsinites stay afloat during this historic level of unemployment and the recession that will go with it. Theoretically, the Joint Finance Committee could vote to delay the payback by other agencies to a time when there is more money available to take care of everything. It’s basically the state paying itself, after all.

But don’t bet on that happening with an ALEC Crew in charge of JFC who wants to make state government fail under Governor Evers. They’ll gladly force the state to pay these increased baked-in costs, and then say “we spend too much and need to cut back services.” It’s especially absurd because both of these items are related to prior actions by the Walker Administration, but watch them try it, folks.