XX13 District attorneys.
XX14 Educational communications board.
XX15 Elections board.
XX16 Employee trust funds.
XX17 Employment relations commission.
XX18 Employment relations department.
XX19 Ethics board.
XX20 Financial institutions.
XX21 Governor.
XX22 Health and Educational Facilities Authority.
XX23 Health and family services.
XX24 Higher educational aids board.
XX25 Historical society.
XX26 Housing and Economic Development Authority.
XX27 Insurance.
XX28 Investment board.
XX29 Joint committee on finance.
XX30 Judicial commission.
XX31 Justice.
XX32 Legislature.
XX33 Lieutenant governor.
XX34 Lower Wisconsin state riverway board.
XX35 Medical College of Wisconsin.
XX36 Military affairs.
XX37 Natural resources.
XX38 Personnel commission.
XX39 Public defender board.
XX40 Public instruction.
XX41 Public lands, board of commissioners of.
XX42 Public service commission.
XX43 Regulation and licensing.
XX44 Revenue.
XX45 Secretary of state.
XX46 State fair park board.
XX47 Supreme Court.
XX48 Technical college system.
XX49 Technology for educational achievement in Wisconsin board.
XX50 Tobacco control board.
XX51 Tourism.
XX52 Transportation.
XX53 Treasurer.
XX54 University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority.
XX55 University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Board.
XX56 University of Wisconsin System.
XX57 Veterans affairs.
XX58 Workforce development.
XX59 Other.
For example, for general nonstatutory provisions relating to the historical society, see SECTION 9125. For any agency that is not assigned a two-digit identification number and that is attached to another agency, see the number of the latter agency. For any other agency not assigned a two-digit identification number or any provision that does not relate to the functions of a particular agency, see number "59" (other) within each type of provision.
In order to facilitate amendment drafting and the enrolling process, separate section numbers and headings appear for each type of provision and for each state agency, even if there are no provisions included in that section number and heading. Section numbers and headings for which there are no provisions will be deleted in enrolling and will not appear in the published act.
Following is a list of the most commonly used acronyms appearing in the analysis.
DATCP Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
DEG Department of Electronic Government
DER Department of Employment Relations
DETF Department of Employee Trust Funds
DFI Department of Financial Institutions
DHFS Department of Health and Family Services
DMA Department of Military Affairs
DNR Department of Natural Resources
DOA Department of Administration
DOC Department of Corrections
DOJ Department of Justice
DOR Department of Revenue
DOT Department of Transportation
DPI Department of Public Instruction
DRL Department of Regulation and Licensing
DVA Department of Veterans Affairs
DWD Department of Workforce Development
JCF Joint Committee on Finance
OCI Office of the Commissioner of Insurance
PSC Public Service Commission
UW University of Wisconsin
WHEDA Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority
WHEFA Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority
_____________________________________________________________
agriculture
Current law authorizes DATCP to grant $240,000 in each fiscal year to Dane County to assist in paying the costs of operating an exposition center and of hosting the World Dairy Expo at the exposition center. This bill eliminates the authority and the funding for those grants.
Commerce and economic development
Economic development
This bill requires the department of commerce to establish a grants management office to identify public and private sources of grants, act as a clearinghouse for those sources of grants, and offer to governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, school boards, charter schools, and private schools training and assistance in pursuing grants.
Under the Business Development Initiative Program, the department of commerce provides technical assistance and grants to individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations for developing and planning the start-up or expansion of a business that is expected to provide job opportunities for persons with severe disabilities. This bill eliminates the Business Development Initiative Program.
Commerce
Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
Currently, various state and federal laws govern the use of electronic documents and signatures, the most significant one being the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, or "E-sign." E-sign generally preempts inconsistent state laws.
This bill enacts a version of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), which was approved and recommended for enactment by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1999. Although enactments of this approved version of UETA are not preempted by E-sign, because this bill makes certain substantive changes to the approved version of UETA that render the bill inconsistent with the approved version, it is difficult to determine whether a court would consider the bill preempted by E-sign. Because some of the unchanged UETA provisions are ambiguous, this analysis does not cover all potential legal effects of these ambiguous provisions.
Like E-sign, the bill primarily affects the use of electronic documents and electronic signatures in transactions. Under the bill's broad definitions, such things as information stored on a computer disk or a voice mail recording would likely qualify for use as an electronic document. However, like E-sign, this bill does not apply to the execution of wills, to testamentary trusts, or to a transaction governed by any chapter of this state's version of the Uniform Commercial Code other than the chapter dealing with sales of goods. Unlike current law under E-sign and the version of UETA recommended for enactment in all of the states, the bill also specifically exempts deeds and cancellation notices for local telecommunications services.
Like E-sign, this bill specifies that a document or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form. Unlike E-sign, this bill provides that an electronic document satisfies any law requiring a document to be in writing and that an electronic signature satisfies any law requiring a signature. The bill does not require the use of electronic documents or electronic signatures. Rather, the bill applies only to transactions between parties each of which has agreed to conduct transactions by electronic means. However, unlike current law under E-sign, this bill does not contain any protections that specifically apply only to consumer transactions. The consumer protections currently in effect under E-sign would arguably have no effect in this state upon the enactment of this bill.
Under this bill, a person may use an electronic document in a transaction to satisfy any law requiring the person to provide, send, or deliver information in writing to another person, if the electronic document satisfies certain conditions. Although the bill also states that a document relating to a transaction may not be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form, the bill likely permits a person to deny the legal effect of an electronic document that does not satisfy these conditions. The bill also appears to require the parties to a transaction to comply with any legal requirement relating to the provision of information other than a requirement that the information be provided on paper.
The bill establishes the time and location of the sending and receipt of an electronic document, although the parties to a transaction may agree to alter the effect of these provisions. The bill also permits a sender to expressly provide in an electronic document that the document is deemed to be sent from a different location. The bill also establishes the legal effects of any change or error in an electronic document that occurs in a transmission between the parties to a transaction. These effects depend in part upon whether the parties have consented to the use of a security procedure and whether the transaction is an automated transaction involving an individual.
This bill generally permits the use of an electronic document to satisfy any law that requires document retention. An electronic document retained in compliance with these provisions has the same legal status as the original document and need not contain any information the sole purpose of which is to enable the document to be sent, communicated, or received. Under current law, this ancillary information is normally required to be retained if the document to which it is attached is required to be retained.
The bill does not apply to any new laws enacted by this state, after enactment of this bill, that prohibit a person from using an electronic document to satisfy any requirement that the person retain a document for evidentiary, audit, or like purposes.
