Examining Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors
Rule Submittal Date
On February 21, 2001, the Examining Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors submitted a proposed rule to the Legislative Council Rules Clearinghouse.
Analysis
The proposed rule-making order relates to background checks.
Agency Procedure for Promulgation
A public hearing is required and will be held on April 19, 2001 at 9:15 a.m. in Room 179 A, Washington Square Building, 1400 E. Washington Avenue, Madison WI 53708.
Contact Information
If you have questions, please contact:
Pamela Haack, Paralegal
Administrative Rules Coordinator
Telephone: (608) 266-0495
Mailing Address:
Washington Square Building
1400 E. Washington Avenue
Madison WI 53708
Examining Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors
Rule Submittal Date
On February 21, 2001, the Examining Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors submitted a proposed rule to the Legislative Council Rules Clearinghouse.
Analysis
The proposed rule-making order relates to supervision of pre-certification supervised practice of social work.
Agency Procedure for Promulgation
A public hearing is required and will be held on April 19, 2001, at 9:15 a.m. in Room 179A, Washington Square Building, 1400 E. Washington Avenue, Madison WI 53708.
Rule-making notices
Notice of Hearing
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
(reprinted from 2/28/01 Wis. Admin. Register)
The state of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection announces that it will hold a public hearing on a proposed rule (proposed ch. ATCP 161, subchapter III, Wis. Adm. Code) relating to annual grants to ethanol producers. The hearing will be held:
Monday, March 12, 2001 at 1:00 p.m.
Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Board Room (SR-106)
2811 Agriculture Drive
Madison, WI 53718-6777.
The public is invited to attend the hearing and make comments on the proposed rule. Additional written comments will be accepted until March 12, 2001.
A copy of this rule may be obtained free of charge, from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Division of Trade and Consumer Protection, PO Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708 or by calling (608)224-4928. Copies will also be available at the public hearing.
An interpreter for the hearing impaired will be available on request for this public hearing. Please make reservations for the hearing interpreter by March 7, 2001 either by writing to Kevin LeRoy, Division of Trade and Consumer Protection, PO Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708, (608/224-4928), or TDD at (608/224-5058). Handicap access is available at the hearing.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Statutory authority: ss. 93.07(1) and 93.75(3)
Statutes interpreted: s. 93.75
The legislature, in 1999 Wisconsin Act 55, created an ethanol grant program under s. 93.75, Stats. The legislature authorized the department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection (DATCP) to make grants to ethanol producers in this state. The legislature has not yet provided any funding for the grant program. This rule implements the grant program, subject to legislative funding. The ethanol grant program is scheduled to sunset on July 1, 2006.
Statutory Requirements
To be eligible for a grant under s. 93.75, Stats., an ethanol producer must produce at least 10 million gallons of ethanol in a 12-month period unless DATCP specifies a different amount by rule. The ethanol producer must also purchase commodity inputs from “local sources" as defined by DATCP rule.
Under s. 93.75, Stats., an ethanol producer is eligible for grant payments during the first 60 months of ethanol production. Subject to available funding, the legislature directed DATCP to pay 20 cents per gallon for up to 15 million gallons of eligible ethanol production per 12-month period. DATCP must adopt rules to prorate grant payments if there are not enough funds to pay all ethanol producers at the authorized statutory rate.
Rule Contents
Annual grants to ethanol producers
Under this rule, an ethanol producer may apply by April 1 of each year to receive an ethanol production grant for any consecutive 12-month period ending within a year prior to that April 1. (The applicant chooses the consecutive 12-month period.) Subject to available funding, DATCP will award to each eligible applicant a grant of 20 cents per gallon for up to 15 million gallons of “eligible ethanol" produced during the consecutive 12-month period identified in the grant application.
Eligible producer
An ethanol producer is eligible for an annual grant if all the following apply:
• The producer produced at least 10 million gallons of “eligible ethanol" during the consecutive 12-month period identified in the grant application.
• DATCP has not previously awarded a grant to the ethanol producer for ethanol produced during the consecutive 12-month period identified in the grant application.
• The ethanol producer first began producing ethanol in this state not more than 60 months prior to the end of consecutive 12-month period identified in the grant application.
Eligible ethanol
Under this rule, DATCP will make grant payments only for “eligible ethanol" production. “Eligible ethanol" means ethanol that the ethanol producer produces in this state from commodities purchased from local sources. A “commodity" includes grain and other starch or sugar crops. A “commodity purchased from a local source" means any of the following:
• A commodity that the ethanol producer purchases from a person who grew that commodity in this state.
• Grain that the ethanol producer purchases from a grain dealer and receives directly from a grain facility located in this state.
Grant application
An ethanol producer must submit a grant application in writing, on a form provided by DATCP. The application must specify all the following:
• The consecutive 12-month period for which the applicant seeks a grant.
• The total gallons of “eligible ethanol" that the applicant produced during that consecutive 12-month period.
• The name and address of each supplier from whom the applicant purchased a commodity used to produce the “eligible ethanol." The applicant must identify the type and amount of each commodity purchased from each supplier. If the applicant purchased grain from a grain dealer, the applicant must give the address of the grain facility from which the grain dealer shipped that grain to the applicant.
• The applicant's federal tax identification number.
• The date on which the applicant first produced ethanol in this state.
• Any other information required by DATCP.
DATCP action on grant applications
DATCP must award grants by June 1 of each year, and must make grant payments by June 30 (the end of the state fiscal year). If DATCP denies a grant application, or awards a smaller prorated amount (see below), DATCP must explain its action in writing.
DATCP may require an applicant to provide additional information, and may deny a grant application if the applicant fails to honor DATCP's reasonable request for relevant information. DATCP may exercise its authority under ch. 93, Stats., to verify a grant application, or to verify the applicant's eligibility for a grant.
DATCP may deny a grant application, or recover grant payments made to an applicant, if DATCP finds that the applicant has materially misrepresented any information related to a grant application.
Prorating payments
Under this rule, if grant awards in any state fiscal year exceed the grant funds appropriated for that fiscal year, DATCP must prorate grant awards based on each applicant's eligible ethanol production during the consecutive 12-month period identified in the applicant's grant application. An ethanol producer who receives a pro-rated grant may not apply for the balance of that grant in the next fiscal year.
Fiscal Estimate
This proposed rule was initiated when the legislature passed 1999 Wis. Act 55. This act created an ethanol grant program under s. 93.75, Wis. Stats. Under this program, the department is authorized to make grants to certain ethanol producers. The legislation requires the department to adopt rules for the program. Administrative costs associated with this program should be minimal and easily absorbed into the agency's general duties.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
1999 Wis. Act 55 created an ethanol grant program under s. 93.75, Wis. Stats. Under this program, the department is authorized to make grants to certain ethanol producers. The legislation requires the department to adopt rules for the grant program.
To be eligible for a payment, the ethanol producer must produce at least ten million gallons of ethanol per year. The legislation requires the department to pay ethanol producers who meet the statutory and proposed rule criteria 20¢ per gallon for not more than 15 million gallons.
Ethanol producers may only apply for a grant payment if they have been in business for sixty months or less. The entire program is scheduled to sunset on July 1, 2006.
There is little chance that any ethanol producer who can produce the minimum ten million gallons per year would also meet the state's definition of a “small business" contained in s. 227.114(1)(a). Stats. In that statutory section, “small business" means a business entity, including its affiliates, which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field, and which employs fewer than twenty-five full time employees or which has gross annual sales of less than $2,500,000. Consequently, the department expects this program to have minimal impact on small business in the ethanol production industry.
The grant program should have a major impact on the prices for agricultural crops used in the production of ethanol. By providing another market for these agricultural crops, the prices for those crops should increase. The increase in prices will benefit Wisconsin farmers. Since the grant program is designed to promote the purchase of crops grown in Wisconsin, there will be a benefit to Wisconsin small businesses derived from this program and rule.
Notice of Hearing
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
The State of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection announces that it will hold a public hearing on proposed rule changes to ATCP 29, Wis. Adm. Code. The hearing will be held at the time and place shown below. The public is invited to attend the hearing and make comments on the proposed rule. Following the public hearing, the hearing record will remain open until April 11, 2001, for additional written comments.
A copy of this rule may be obtained free of charge, from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Division of Agricultural Resource Management, 2811 Agriculture Drive, P.O. Box 8911, Madison WI 53708 or by calling (608) 224-4523. Copies will also be available at the public hearing.
An interpreter for the hearing impaired will be available on request for the hearing. Please make reservations for a hearing interpreter by March 21, 2001 either by writing Karen Ayers, 2811 Agriculture Drive, P.O. Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708, (608/224-4523), or by contacting the message relay system (TTY) at 608/224-5058. Handicap access is available at the hearing.
Wednesday, March 28, 2001 from 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Board Room
2811 Agriculture Drive
Madison, WI 53718-6777.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Statutory authority: ss. 93.07 (1) and 94.73(15)
Statutes interpreted: ss. 94.681 (3), 94.685(3)(a) 2., 94.703 (3) (a) 2. and 94.704 (3) (a) 2.
This rule increases pesticide license fee surcharges in order to continue funding for the agricultural chemical cleanup program under s. 94.73, Stats.
