Fiscal Estimate
The rule has no fiscal impact on county, city, village, town, school district, technical college district and sewerage district fiscal liabilities and revenues. This rule itself has no anticipated state fiscal effect during the current biennium and no future effect on state funds, which do not include the Public Employe Trust Funds. The costs of implementing an April 1, 2000, distribution to annuitants of funds transferred into the annuity reserve by the special TAA transfer mandated in this legislation was incorporated into the fiscal effect prepared for 1999 Assembly Bill 495. However, if the payment of the special dividend resulting from the extraordinary transfer from the TAA was to be delayed after April 1, 2000 – for example because of the present injunction or other court action, then previously unanticipated costs in distributing these funds will arise. If the $4 billion distribution survives review by the courts, then additional payments would be owed to annuitants, some of whom may have died in the interim. DETF anticipates at least some administrative costs in locating, notifying and processing claims by estates or heirs of deceased annuitants, similar to the costs incurred in making the distribution required by the Supreme Court in WRTA v. Employe Trust Funds Board, 207 Wis. 2d 1, 558 N.W.2d 83 (1997). The exact amount of these costs will depend, in large part, on how long the litigation over this legislation remains before the courts and the mortality experience among the affected annuitants during that period.
Contact Information
David Stella, Administrator
Division of Retirement Services
Dept. of Employe Trust Funds
P.O. Box 7931
Madison, WI 53707
Telephone: (608) 267-9038
Text of Emergency and Proposed Rule
SECTION 1. ETF 20.25 (1) is renumbered ETF 20.25 (1) (a) and amended to read:
ETF 20.25 (1) (a) A
Except as otherwise provided in par. (b), a fixed annuity dividend, as recommended by the actuary and approved by the chair of the employe trust funds board and the department's secretary, shall be distributed based on each December 31 valuation as specified in s. 40.27 (2), Stats. The dividend shall be effective on the April 1 following the valuation date and shall apply to fixed annuities effective on or prior to the date of the valuation. As authorized under s. 40.27 (2) (b), Stats., different percentages shall be determined for annuities effective for less than a full year on the valuation date. The percentages shall be determined by multiplying the number of full months the annuity was in force times the percentage change applicable to annuities effective for the full year, dividing the result by 12 and rounding the answer to the nearest tenth of a percent. No increase shall be applied to any annuity for which the resulting increase would be less than one percent.
SECTION 2. ETF 20.25 (1) (b) is created to read:
ETF 20.25 (1) (b) The total amount distributed to the annuity reserve under 1999 Wis. Act 11, section 27 (1) (a) shall be distributed effective April 1, 2000, in the form of a percentage increase. The percentage shall be recommended by the actuary separate from the distribution of any surplus created by the annual distribution under s. 40.04 (3) (a) or otherwise. The percentage under this paragraph shall be the same for all affected annuities, including those with effective dates after December 31, 1998 and before January 1, 2000.
Notice of Hearing
Financial Institutions
Division of Securities
Notice is hereby given that pursuant to ss. 551.32 (4) and 551.63 (2), Stats., the Division of Securities of the Department of Financial Institutions will hold a public hearing at the time and place indicated below to consider the amendment and adoption of administrative rules under the Wisconsin Uniform Securities Law affecting s. DFI-Sec 5.01 (4) (b) and (e), relating to investment adviser representative competency examination grandfathering provisions.
Hearing Information
Date & Time Location
March 13, 2000 Conference Room
Monday 4th Floor
10:00 A.M. 345 West Washington Ave.
MADISON, WI
Written Comments
Written comments in lieu of public hearing testimony may be submitted which must be received no later than the hearing date and should be addressed to the Administrator for the Division of Securities, 345 West Washington Avenue, P.O. Box 1768, Madison, Wisconsin 53701.
Analysis Prepared by the Dept. of Financial Institutions, Div. of Securities
Statutory authority: ss. 551.32 (4) and 551.63 (2)
Statute interpreted: s. 551.32 (4)
These proposed permanent rules are being promulgated to be in place upon the expiration of identical emergency rules currently in effect that were issued by Order of the Administrator of the Division of Securities on December 23, 1999, and became effective on January 1, 2000 following publication in the official state newspaper and the required filings with the Secretary of State and the Revisor of Statutes Bureau. The proposed permanent rules, as do the current emergency rules, are necessary to establish certain “grandfathering"/examination-waiver provisions applicable to a newly-enacted investment adviser representative competency examination requirement, so as to be uniform with equivalent grandfathering provisions adopted in most states.
The Division recently adopted for January 1, 2000 effectiveness as part of its annual rule revision process for 1999, a new administrative rule in s. DFI-Sec 5.01 (3) that prescribes a new examination requirement for investment advisers and investment adviser representatives seeking licensure in Wisconsin on or after January 1, 2000. That new examination requirement, which includes completely revised Series 65 and Series 66 examinations, was developed over a 3-year period by a Project Group of the North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA").
The new NASAA examination requirement (which also included certain “grandfathering"/examination-waiver provisions) was approved by vote of NASAA member states (including Wisconsin) at the NASAA 1999 Spring Conference to become effective on December 31, 1999. The NASAA membership vote was accompanied by a recommendation that for uniformity purposes, each NASAA member state complete the necessary steps to adopt and have effective by January 1, 2000, the new examination requirement conforming to the NASAA format in all respects.
Following the adoption on November 18, 1999 by the Division of the new investment adviser examination requirement in s. DFI-Sec 5.01 (3) as part of the Division's annual rule revision process, it was noted that the “grandfathering"/examination waiver provisions that had been included in s. DFI-Sec 5.01 (4) did not track the NASAA model language in two respects.
Because it is critical that the grandfathering provisions for the new Wisconsin investment adviser examination requirement be uniform with those of other NASAA member states so that applicants for licensing in Wisconsin receive equivalent treatment to that accorded them by other states in which they may be seeking licensure, both the emergency rulemaking and the permanent rulemaking are necessary.
The rulemaking action is comprised of two provisions which do the following:
1) Provide an examination waiver in new s. DFI-Sec 5.01 (4) (e) for any applicant licensed as an investment adviser or investment adviser representative in any jurisdiction in the U.S. on January 1, 2000; and
2) Provide an examination waiver in amended s. DFI-Sec 5.01 (4) (b) for any applicant that has been licensed as an investment adviser or investment adviser representative in any jurisdiction in the U.S. within two years prior to the date the application is filed.
Text of Rule
SECTION 1. DFI-Sec 5.01 (4) (b) is amended to read:
DFI-Sec 5.01 (4) (b) The applicant was
has been licensed as an investment adviser or licensed as an investment adviser representative under ch. 551, Stats., in any jurisdiction in the United States within 2 years prior to the date the application is filed.
SECTION 2. DFI-SEC 5.01 (4) (e) is created to read:
DFI-Sec 5.01(4) (e) The applicant was licensed as an investment adviser or licensed as an investment adviser representative in any jurisdiction in the United States on January 1, 2000, except that the administrator may require additional examinations for any individual found to have violated any state or federal securities law.
Fiscal Estimate
The proposed rules have no state fiscal effect or local government costs. A copy of the full fiscal estimate may be obtained upon request to the Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Securities, 345 West Washington Avenue, 4th Floor, P.O. Box 1768, Madison, WI 53703.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
There is no particular small business impact to the proposed permanent rules because the grandfathering/examination waiver provisions benefit equivalently all investment adviser license applicants, whether or not they fall within the definition of a small business.
Contact Information
For additional information, or if there are questions concerning the rule proposal, contact Randall E. Schumann, Legal Counsel for the Division, Division of Securities, Department of Financial Institutions, 345 West Washington Avenue, 4th Floor, P.O. Box 1768, Madison, WI 53703. Telephone direct-dial (608) 266-3414.
Notice of Hearings
Health & Family Services
(Community Services, Chs. HFS 30-)
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to ss. 48.975 (5) and 227.11 (2) (a), Stats., the Department of Health and Family Services will hold public hearings to consider the revision of ch. HFS 50, Wis. Adm. Code, relating to the adoption assistance program for families that adopt children with special needs, and the emergency rules now in effect on the same subject.
Hearing Information
February 24, 2000 Room E-101
Thursday North Central Technical College
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1000 West Campus Drive
WAUSAU, WI
February 28, 2000 Room B155
Monday State Office Building
From 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. 1 West Wilson Street
MADISON, WI
Both hearing sites are fully accessible to people with disabilities. For the public hearing in Madison, parking for people with disabilities is available in the parking lot behind the building, in the Monona Terrace Convention Center Parking Ramp or in the Doty Street Parking Ramp. People with disabilities may enter the building directly from the parking lot at the west end of the building or from Wilson Street through the side entrance at the east end of the building,
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Health and Family Services
This rulemaking order amends ch. HFS 50, the Department's rules for facilitating the adoption of children with special needs, to implement changes to the adoption assistance program statute, s. 48.975, Stats., made by 1997 Wisconsin Act 308. Those changes include permitting a written agreement for adoption assistance to be made following an adoption, but only in “extenuating circumstances;" permitting the amendment of an adoption assistance agreement for up to one year to increase the amount of adoption assistance for maintenance when there is a “substantial change in circumstances;" and requiring the Department to annually review the circumstances of the child when the original agreement has been amended because of a substantial change in circumstances, with the object of amending the agreement again to either continue the increase or to decrease the amount of adoption assistance if the substantial change in circumstances no longer exists. The monthly adoption assistance payment cannot be less than the amount in the original agreement, unless agreed to by all parties.
Section 48.975 (5), Stats., as amended by Act 308, directs the Department to promulgate rules that, among other things, define extenuating circumstances, a child with special needs and substantial change in circumstances.
Once the rule changes were developed, they were published by emergency order on November 16, 1999 to take effect on that date so that adoption assistance or the higher adoption assistance payments to which adoptive parents are entitled because of “extenuating circumstances" or a “substantial change in circumstances" under the statutory changes that were effective on January 1, 1999, could be made available to them as soon as possible rather than 7 to 9 months later which is how long the promulgation process takes for permanent rules. This is the proposed permanent order to amend ch. HFS 50 that will replace the time-limited emergency order that amended ch. HFS 50.
Contact Person
To find out more about the hearings or to request a copy of the proposed rules or the emergency rules, write, phone or E-mail:
Jill Duerst
Division of Children and Family Services
P.O. Box 8916
Madison, WI 53708-8916
(608) 266-1142 or,
if you are hearing impaired,
(608) 266-7376 (TTY)
