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Madison —Cancer patients taking chemotherapy pills could see their costs ease under a bill approved by the Senate Tuesday amid a hectic final day of work for the year.

Senators passed the bill on a bipartisan vote of 26-7, with 16 Republicans and 10 Democrats supporting the measure and five Democrats and one Republican opposing it because they didn't believe it went far enough. In addition, Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) voted against the measure because she opposed putting what she sees as state mandates on insurers.

The measure now goes to Gov. Scott Walker, who has said he will sign it.

Among the scores of proposals senators approved were ones providing independent reviews when people die in police custody; setting up a new program for handling emergency mental health detentions in Milwaukee County; and tweaking the state's new law that will require police next year to take DNA from felony suspects at arrest instead of conviction.

All those measures — and a host of others the senators worked through Tuesday — now go to the Republican governor, who will spend the coming weeks signing or vetoing legislation.

Four state senators gave farewell speeches Tuesday, capping long political careers. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center), Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) and Tim Cullen (D-Janesville) are retiring, and John Lehman (D-Racine) is running for lieutenant governor.

"Regardless of political affiliation, citizens are troubled by a legislative landscape where legislative decisions are so disconnected from public priorities," Jauch said in his speech. "Citizens are increasingly frustrated about the lack of openness and unwillingness to compromise."

Lawmakers are not expected to come back again until next year, though some have said they may return if courts do not reinstate Wisconsin's voter ID law or if the Assembly decides to expel Rep. Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha), who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2011 and groping a legislative aide at a recent fundraiser.

■Oral chemotherapy. The bill on oral chemotherapy appeared dead just three weeks ago, with legislative leaders taking arcane procedural steps to prevent the measure from coming to the floor. At one stage, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) arranged a phantom hearing on the bill so supporters couldn't force the bill to the floor when a public hearing was on the books, even though Fitzgerald never intended to hold it.

As public pressure mounted, though, the Senate on March 18 on a 30-2 vote passed the bill, which would require insurers to cover oral chemotherapy the same way they cover chemotherapy administered through IVs at hospitals or clinics.

The Assembly followed suit on March 21, passing it 75-18. But Republicans in that house scaled it back to allow insurers to charge patients up to $100 a month for chemotherapy pills.

The $100 cap would be allowed to increase each year at the rate of inflation. People with high-deductible plans would still have to fulfill those large deductibles before the cap would apply.

Because of those changes, senators had to revisit the matter Tuesday.

Cullen, a former insurance executive and cancer survivor, criticized the Assembly amendment, saying it greatly weakened protections in the bill for cancer patients.

Cullen said the language in the Assembly amendment didn't mirror laws in states such as Missouri, Louisiana and Florida, as the amendment's supporters have claimed. The amendment, for instance, lacks protections present in those states' laws to explicitly prohibit other patient costs in addition to the copay, such as coinsurance, Cullen said.

In addition, Cullen questioned whether patients taking a cocktail of multiple pills could have to pay a $100-per-month copay for each drug.

"What bothers me is not only is the Assembly bullying us, they're bullying the (patient) advocacy groups," he said. "It's a giveaway to the insurance industry."

A memo from the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, however, said that in enforcing the law, the agency would limit patient costs in insurance plans to either the same as traditional chemotherapy or to a flat $100 copay each month. Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), the bill's lead sponsor, said that memo gives advocates for cancer patients comfort.

"Look, I'm not happy with this amendment. I like our bill a lot better," Darling said. "But the amendment that (the Assembly) put in, I'm happy we got that far."

■Doctor apologies. Apologies and other statements of contrition could not be used as evidence against doctors in lawsuits and other proceedings, under a bill the Senate passed on a mostly party-line vote of 19-14.

Cullen and Kathleen Vinehout of Alma joined most Republicans in voting for the bill, while Republican Sen. Glenn Grothman of West Bend voted against.

Democrats argued the measure went too far, providing protections for doctors even when they admitted they were at fault.

"So the doctor says ... 'I'm sorry, I made a mistake ... I amputated the wrong thing.' ... Why would we find that that's OK?" said Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee).

But Vukmir, a nurse practitioner and co-sponsor of the bill, said the measure would allow doctors to provide more details about incidents at a time when patients and their families need to be comforted. Doctors are reticent to talk now, she said.

"The reason that professionals zip their lips is that they're afraid of being sued," she said. "But at these difficult times, people want, need and deserve compassion."

■Cannabis oil. A marijuana byproduct could be used as a potential treatment for seizures in children under a bill the Senate unanimously approved.

"I'm just so overwhelmed and overjoyed and so grateful that we have a renewed hope for our kids and our families," said Amylynne Santiago Volker, whose son, Nic, is having around 100 epileptic seizures a day.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles about Nic in 2010 when doctors sequenced his DNA to fight a mysterious illness.

Volker said she had spoken with Walker last month and felt he was likely to sign the measure.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) spoke favorably of the bill but said legislators should go further and legalize medical marijuana.

"There are thousands of Wisconsinites we are leaving behind today," he said.

The substance, cannabis oil, won't make users high because it's extremely low in THC, the chemical agent that produces that effect.

■Credit card debt. Private-label credit card companies would receive refunds for sales taxes they had paid on bad consumer debt under a bill that narrowly passed and didn't fall strictly along party lines.

The bill would reduce state sales taxes by $12 million through June 2015, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Supporters say retailers with their own banks can already receive these refunds. The bill would help certain Wisconsin-based retailers such as Kohl's and Menards that contract with outside lenders for their store credit cards, they say.

"It's an issue of fairness," Jauch said. "They should be getting reimbursement for it. There's no excuse that they're not."

The measure passed 19-14, with most Republicans for it and most Democrats against it. Four Democrats — Jauch, Vinehout, Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse and Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson of Milwaukee — voted for the bill, while three Republicans — Schultz, Rob Cowles of Allouez and Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls — voted against.

■Drones. Police and private individuals would be barred from using drones equipped with cameras to intrude on people's privacy under a bill passed by the Senate on a voice vote.

The bill would sharply reduce the ability of police to use evidence from unmanned aircraft in court, requiring a search warrant unless the drone is being used in a public place.

Other exceptions to the search warrant requirement include active search and rescue efforts, pursuit of an escaped prisoner or an urgent threat to a person or evidence.

The Senate first approved the bill in February, but the Assembly changed it in March to say material gathered from drones could not be used in instances where people had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

■Restitution. The Senate unanimously approved paying $90,000 to Robert Lee Stinson, who spent 23 years in prison for a rape and murder he didn't commit.

The Senate in November unanimously approved giving him $136,000, but the Assembly last month instead decided to give him the lower figure. The Senate then had to return to the measure.

■Wedding officiants. Those performing weddings would have to be at least 18 under another bill the Senate signed off on with a voice vote.

■Milwaukee County treasurer. The Senate likely killed a measure that would turn Milwaukee County's currently elected post of treasurer into an appointed position.

The proposal has had bipartisan support, with Milwaukee County Treasurer Dan Diliberti backing the move. But Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) — a co-sponsor of the plan — pushed through changes to the proposal Tuesday that almost certainly doom its chances of taking effect.

Diliberti had been pushing for the change for several years and has argued that the county's $1.3 billion budget should be overseen by a skilled professional — not the most electable candidate.

The proposal would require a change to the state constitution, a years-long process. The Assembly took the first step to do that in February, approving the plan 88-9. But Carpenter offered a change to the resolution on Tuesday that would allow Milwaukee County to decide whether to make the treasurer's job elected or appointed, but prevent the Legislature from making that determination once the constitution had been changed.

The Senate went along with Carpenter's changes, but the Assembly has already ended its legislative session for the year. Unless the Assembly makes a surprise decision to revisit the issue, supporters of changing the constitution would have to start from scratch next session.

■UW research. The Senate agreed to a bill that would allow researchers at the University of Wisconsin System schools to do classified research — something that has not been allowed since the 1970s, when UW regents began prohibiting researchers from undertaking work that couldn't be published. The prohibition was a reaction to the 1970 bombing of Sterling Hall by four students who were protesting research helping the military during the Vietnam War. The bill now goes to Walker.

Lee Bergquist and Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report from Milwaukee.

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