The GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee extended for another three years five project positions in the Department of Safety and Professional Services’ call center operation.
In doing so, it rejected Dem Gov. Tony Evers’ proposal to provide state money to permanently fund the positions. It also shot down his call for 10 state-funded positions to help process the license applications the agency receives.
State Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, said committee Republicans have a history of rejecting Evers’ staffing requests to cut down on the time it takes to process applications for positions that range from the medical profession to the trades.
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The guv, she added, has found ways around the committee’s position by using federal COVID-19 funds to cover the costs. But with that money expiring in the coming months, she accused Republicans of teeing up the agency for the return of lengthy delays in processing applications and answering calls.
“If we care about workforce development, we can’t starve the system that makes this happen,” Johnson said.
No GOP member spoke about the Republican motion before it passed 12-4 along party lines.
Afterward, Co-chair Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said budgets are always about analyzing the data given to the committee and making decisions.
“That’s exactly what we did with those agencies and every other agency,” Born said. “We added staff to the base today to continue to provide services at DSPS.”
Committee Republicans have been sharply critical of DSPS in the past for the time it took to process credentials. A Legislative Audit Bureau report in December 2023 found the agency took 125.4 days in 2020-21 to issue a health care credential. The agency began using an online system to process applications, and that dropped to 59.1 days in 2022-23.
Earlier this year, Secretary Dan Hereth testified the average completion time for all credential applications, including those for the trades and business, was 38 days.
Meanwhile, the agency received an average of 4,700 calls per week in calendar year 2024, according to information it provided the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Of those, 14% went to voicemail or were unanswered. The staff also responded to 52,700 emails last year.
The call center currently has six permanent positions, six project positions, two limited-term employees and 15 contracted through a third party using federal COVID-19 funds.
Evers proposed using revenue DSPS generates from fees to fund an additional eight permanent positions in the call center and extend six two-year project jobs.
His budget also called for funding 10 permanent positions to process applications to replace project jobs funded by COVID-19 funds that are expiring.
According to DSPS, the agency would go from 28 positions in the call center to 11 under today’s motion. It would go from 58 positions to 40 come Oct. 1 for those in the operation reviewing license applications when taking into account the temporary jobs that will expire.
