Analysis prepared by the Department of Regulation and Licensing.
Statutes authorizing promulgation: ss. 15.08 (5) (b) and 227.11 (2), Stats., and chapter 457, Stats. as repealed and recreated by
2001 Wisconsin Act 80.
This proposed rule-making order implements the statutory changes made as a result of
2001 Wisconsin Act 80, relating to the Examining Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
These proposed rules will be reviewed by the department through its Small Business Review Advisory Committee to determine whether there will be an economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses, as defined in s.
227.114 (1) (a), Stats.
Fiscal Estimate
1. The anticipated fiscal effect on the fiscal liability and revenues of any local unit of government of the proposed rule is: $0.00.
2. The projected anticipated state fiscal effect during the current biennium of the proposed rule is: $0.00.
3. The projected net annualized fiscal impact on state funds of the proposed rule is: $0.00.
Notice of Hearing
Notice is hereby given that the Department of Veterans Affairs will hold a public hearing on the 16th day of August, 2002, at 9:30 a.m., in the 8th floor board room at 30 West Mifflin Street in Madison, Wisconsin.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Veterans Affairs
Under the provisions of
2001 Wis. Act 16, the Department of Veterans Affairs was directed to promulgate administrative rules for the annual disbursement of $100,000 to counties who provide transportation services to veterans but do not receive such services from the Wisconsin Department of Disabled American Veterans. The proposed rules will identify the application procedures and establish the eligibility criteria for the purpose of equitably distributing the $100,000 among the eligible counties.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
This rule is not expected to any adverse impact upon small businesses.
Fiscal Estimate
Act 16 appropriated $100,000 for this annual disbursement.
A copy of the proposed rules and the full fiscal estimate may be obtained by contacting:
John Rosinski
Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs
PO Box 7843
Madison, WI 53707-7843
Contact Person
John Rosinski (608) 266-7916
Notice of Hearing
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to ss.
49.155, excluding (1d) and (1g), and 227.11, Stats., the Department of Workforce Development proposes to hold a public hearing to consider rules affecting ch.
DWD 56, relating to the administration of child care funds.
Hearing Information
August 13, 2002 GEF 1 Building, Room H305
Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. 201 E. Washington Avenue
MADISON
Interested persons are invited to appear at the hearing and will be afforded the opportunity to make an oral presentation of their positions. Persons making oral presentations are requested to submit their facts, views, and suggested rewording in writing.
Visitors to the GEF 1 building are requested to enter through the left East Washington Avenue door and register with the customer service desk. The entrance is accessible via a ramp from the corner of Webster Street and East Washington Avenue. If you have special needs or circumstances that may make communication or accessibility difficult at the hearing, please call (608) 267-9403 at least 10 days prior to the hearing date. Accommodations such as ASL interpreters, English translators, or materials in audiotape format will be made available on request to the fullest extent possible.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Workforce Development
Statutory authority: ss.
49.155, excluding (1d) and (1g), and 227.11, Stats.
Statute interpreted: s.
49.155, excluding (1d) and (1g), Stats.
The proposed rules affect the administration of child care funds for the child care subsidy program under s.
49.155, excluding (1d) and (1g), Stats.
Adjustments due to insufficient funds. The proposed rules provide authority to adjust various policies if child care funds are insufficient to serve all eligible families. The options include limiting the increase in the maximum rate paid to child care providers, raising the parent co-payment levels, and establishing a waiting list. Priority status on the waiting list will be given to the following individuals in descending order: W-2 participants; parents whose children have special needs; parents who need child care services to participate in educational activities under s.
49.155 (1m) (a) 1m., Stats.; foster parents; and kinship care relatives.
Creation of more precise categories for maximum reimbursement rates. Maximum reimbursement rates to child care providers are determined by surveying licensed providers to determine the prices they charge to parents paying out of their personal funds and setting maximum rates under the child care subsidy program so that at least 75 percent of the slots in each county can be purchased at or below the maximum reimbursement rate. Currently maximum rates are set based on a survey of licensed providers' prices for children in two categories, ages 0 to 1 and 2 to 12. The department does not believe that the maximum rates set based on these categories accurately reflect market prices. The proposed rules provide the more precise categories of children ages 0 to 1, 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and 6 and older.
Increased focus on monitoring to prevent and address fraud and overpayments. The proposed rules authorize increased monitoring in the following ways:
• The child care administrative agency may refuse to authorize payment for child care services to a licensed provider if the provider refuses to submit documentation of the provider's child care prices in response to an agency request.
• An agency may limit the number of children authorized to a family day care provider unless the provider can show that he or she will not exceed the applicable group size limitation.
• An agency may authorize payments to a licensed provider based on attendance rather than enrollment if the agency has documented 3 separate occasions where the provider significantly overreported the attendance of a child.
• If a provider submits false attendance reports, refuses to provide documentation of the child's actual attendance or gives false or inaccurate child care price information, the department or agency may refuse to issue new authorizations to the provider for a period not to exceed 6 months, revoke existing authorizations, and refuse to issue payments until the provider has corrected the violation.
• An agency or the department may require a provider to submit documentation signed by the parent of the actual times that the child was dropped off to and picked up from the provider, contact the parents to determine the child's actual attendance hours, require the provider to submit attendance and payment records for families that pay for child care costs out of their own personal funds, require the provider to have attendance records available at the child care site whenever the department or agency requests to review them, and make on-site inspections to monitor provision of authorized services.
Miscellaneous:
• A child care administrative agency may not authorize payment to a provider for the care of a child when the care is done by a legally responsible parent.
• An agency may refuse to authorize payment on a provider's attendance report that is submitted more than 3 months after the attendance report was issued.
• An agency may authorize payment to a licensed or certified provider to hold a slot for a child if the parent has a temporary break in employment and intends to return to work and continue to use the child care provider upon return to work. The agency may authorize payment for no more than 6 weeks if the absence is due to a medical reason and is documented by a physician or for no more than 4 weeks if the absence is for other reasons. The department and child care administrative agency may not consider payment for a temporary absence to be an overpayment if the parent intended to return to work but does not actually return.
• The department may issue all payments by electronic funds transfer.
• County and tribal agencies must ensure that each new child care worker completes the department's initial training during the first 6 months of employment.
• An agency may contact a representative sample of licensed providers, rather than all licensed providers, to determine the prices that they charge to the general community. The department may arrange for a survey independent of the county or tribal agency.
• A child care provider may request a departmental review under ch.
227, Stats., of a refusal to issue new child care authorizations, a revocation of existing child care authorizations, a refusal to issue payment to the provider, a determination of the provider's payment amount, and collection of an overpayment, including the determination of the amount of the overpayment, the determination of the amount of the overpayment still owed, or a decision under s.
49.85, Stats., to recover the overpayment by means of certification to the Wisconsin department of revenue.
Contact Information
A paper copy may be obtained at no charge by contacting:
Elaine Pridgen
Office of Legal Counsel
Dept. of Workforce Development
201 E. Washington Avenue
P.O. Box 7946
Madison, WI 53707-7946
(608) 267-9403
elaine.pridgen@dwd.state.wi.us
Written Comments
Written comments on the proposed rules received at the above address no later than August 15, 2002, will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
The rule affects child care providers, some of which are small businesses as defined in s.
227.114, Stats. There is no significant change in the procedures that they must follow to participate in the program. Subsidy payment levels for certain age groups will be adjusted to be closer to the prices that providers charge the general community.
Fiscal Estimate
The creation of more precise maximum reimbursement rates to providers and the issuance of provider payments by electronic funds will decrease expenditures. The continuance of payments to providers to hold a slot when a parent has a temporary break in employment will increase expenditures. If the department exercises the authority in the rule to establish waiting lists, increase parental copayments, or limit the increase in the maximum rate paid to child care providers, there will be a decrease in expenditures.
