Rules were adopted revising
ch. Comm 108, relating to the use of rapid response funds in economically depressed areas of Wisconsin to preserve economic development.
Finding of emergency
The Department of Commerce finds that an emergency exists and that the adoption of the rule included in this order is necessary for the immediate preservation of public health, safety and welfare.
Analysis of Rules
Statute Interpreted: s.
560.04, Stats.
Pursuant to s.
560.04, Stats., the Department of Commerce (Commerce), as a part of its comprehensive duties involving community development and economic development, administers federal funds in the form of grants to eligible communities related to economic development. Under current rules, the maximum amount of funds that may be awarded to a community is $1 million per calendar year and the maximum amount that a business may borrow from a local government under the economic development program is also $1 million during any 5-year period. The timing and dollar limitations specified in the rules are barriers to providing a comprehensive and rapid response to changing economic conditions in a community.
Given the uncertainty inherent in today's marketplace, Commerce would like to maximize the use of federal community development block grant funds to positively impact local economies. Under the rules, as currently structured, Commerce's ability to respond rapidly to actual or potential plant closings or relocations in a specific geographical region is limited. The following emergency rule will allow Commerce to respond more rapidly to changing economic conditions.
This rule provides Commerce, working collaboratively with local communities, the ability to quickly respond to changing economic conditions due to potential plant closings, business relocations, layoffs, and other economic factors that could negatively affect the economic conditions in the community and state.
Publication Date:
March 22, 2003
Effective Date:
March 22, 2003
Expiration Date:
August 19, 2003
Employee Trust Funds
Finding of emergency
The Department of Employee Trust Funds, Employee Trust Fund Board, Teachers Retirement Board and Wisconsin Retirement Board find that an emergency exists and that an administrative rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is:
Without emergency rule-making it will not be possible to avoid short-term harm to individual WRS annuitants who will already bear the effects of the market downturn though a zero percent fixed annuity dividend and a double-digit negative variable change.
The first annuity dividends actually affected by the 2002 rule-making (CR #02-049) are the dividends otherwise payable on March 1, 2003. Projections indicate that the fixed division dividend will likely be 0%, largely because of the effect of three years of market declines. The annual change to variable division annuities, which is more volatile because it reflects only the past year's market performance, will be negative and in the range of -26% to -30%. This means that the portion of an annuitant's annuity payable from the fixed division will not increase during 2003, while, if the annuitant receives a portion of his or her annuity from the variable annuity division, that portion of the annuity will be markedly reduced. Annuitants are concerned about the short-term effect of cuts to their annuities being made effective a month earlier this year than was the case in previous years.
The change from April 1 to March 1 was initiated with the best of intentions, primarily to get the additional money from dividend increases into the hands of annuitants as quickly as possible. In retrospect, the timing is unfortunate. When drafting of the rule began in early 2002, the year-end market earnings were unknown and a third consecutive year of market losses could not be predicted. The continued deterioration of investment returns in the latter part of 2002 has magnified the adverse, short-term effect of this change in the timing of dividends; that is, the size of the negative variable adjustment is larger.
Publication Date:
February 27, 2003
Effective Date:
February 28, 2003
Expiration Date:
July 28, 2003
Health and Family Services
(Medical Assistance, Chs. HFS 100—)
Rules adopted revising
chs. HFS 101 to 107, relating to the Medicaid Family Planning Demonstration Project.
Finding of emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that the rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
On June 25, 1999, the Department submitted a request for a waiver of federal law to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services that controls states' use of Medicaid funds. On June 14, 2002, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare granted the waiver, effective January 1, 2003. The waiver allows the state to expand Medicaid services by providing coverage of family planning services for females of child-bearing age who would not otherwise be eligible for Medicaid coverage. Under the waiver, a woman of child-bearing age whose income does not exceed 185% of the federal poverty line will be eligible for most of the family planning services currently available under Medicaid, as described in s.
HFS 107.21. Through this expansion of coverage, the Department hopes to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in Wisconsin.
Department rules for the operation of the Family Planning Demonstration Project must be in effect before the program begins. The program statute, s.
49.45 (24r) of the statutes, became effective on October 14, 1997. It directed the Department to request a federal waiver of certain requirements of the federal Medicaid Program to permit the Department to implement the Family Planning Demonstration Project not later than July 1, 1998, or the effective date of the waiver, whichever date was later. After CMS granted the waiver, the Department determined that the Family Planning Demonstration Project could not be implemented prior to January 1, 2003, and CMS approved this starting date. Upon approval of the waiver, the Department began developing policies for the project and subsequently the rules, which are in this order. The Department is publishing the rules by emergency order so the rules take effect in February 2003, rather than at the later date required by promulgating permanent rules. In so doing, the Department can provide health care coverage already authorized by CMS as quickly as possible to women currently not receiving family planning services and unable to pay for them. The Department is also proceeding with promulgating these rule changes on a permanent basis through a proposed permanent rulemaking order.
Publication Date:
January 31, 2003
Effective Date:
January 31, 2003
Expiration Date:
June 30, 2003
Hearing Dates:
April 25 & 28, 2003
Health and Family Services (3)
(Health, Chs. HFS 110—)
1.
Rules adopted amending
chs. HFS 110 to 113, relating to licensing of EMT's and certification of first responders, incorporating responding to acts of terrorism as a training component.
Finding of emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
2001 Wisconsin Act 109 amended s.
146.50 (6) (a) 2.,
(b) 2. and
(8) (b) 3. by adding the requirement that as of January 1, 2003, to receive an initial or renewed EMS license or first responder certification, the applicant must have received training in response to acts of terrorism. Section
146.50 (6) (b) 2. of the statutes specifically directs the Department, in conjunction with the technical college system board, to promulgate rules specifying training, education, or examination requirements for training in response to acts of terrorism. The training must be completed by all persons desiring to receive an initial or renewed license or certification after January 1, 2003. To enforce and administer this statutory requirement, the Department must revise the administrative rules associated with the licensing of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) - Basic and EMTs- Basic IV (found in ch.
HFS 110), EMTs- Intermediate (found in ch.
HFS 111), EMTs - Paramedic (found in ch.
HFS 112) and First Responders (found in ch.
HFS 113.)
The required rule changes will remove any question of whether the department had the authority to require persons to receive training for acts of terrorism. Such training is needed to promote the public's health and safety and due to the statutory effective date of January 1, 2003, the department is promulgating these rule changes through an emergency order. The department is also proceeding with promulgating these rule changes on a permanent basis through a proposed permanent rulemaking order.
Publication Date:
December 31, 2002
Effective Date:
December 31, 2002
Expiration Date:
May 30, 2003
Hearing Date:
February 17, 2003
2.
Rules adopted revising
ch. HFS 163, relating to certification for the identification, removal and reduction of lead-based paint hazards.
Finding of emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is as follows:
The presence of lead in paint and soil is believed to contribute to the level of lead found in the blood of persons, particularly children, living in the area. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains regulations intended to reduce environmental lead hazards principally by:
• Specifying the thresholds for an environment to be considered as presenting a lead-based paint hazard; and
• Requiring training and certification of persons who perform lead hazard reduction activities or lead investigation activities so those persons are best able to prevent exposure of building occupants to hazardous levels of lead.
The federal government may authorize a state to administer its own lead training and certification program if the state has regulations governing certification of persons for the identification, removal and reduction of lead-based paint hazards that are as protective as those specified in the EPA regulations.
In Wisconsin, the Department of Health and Family Services administers the lead training and certification program. The Department has established administrative rules under ch.
HFS 163 to guide its administration of the program. In 2000, the Department began work to extensively revise ch.
HFS 163 to implement
1999 Wisconsin Act 113, which established a program for registering lead-free and lead-safe properties. The proposed rule was released for public review and comment on December 12, 2000. On January 5, 2001, in volume 66, number 4 of the Federal Register (66 FR 1206-1239), the EPA published regulations that established standards for lead-based paint hazards under
40 CFR Part 745, Subparts D and L, and required states with authorized lead training and certification programs under
40 CFR Part 745, Subpart Q, to implement the regulations by February 5, 2003. Because the proposed rule had already been released for public review and comment and the EPA standards for lead-based paint hazards would affect the lead-safe property standards under ch.
HFS 163, the Department decided to educate the public about the new EPA standards for lead-based paint hazards before revising the rule to reflect the new EPA standards. If Wisconsin is to continue administering its program of training and certification of persons performing lead abatement and lead investigation activities (in lieu of a program operated by the EPA), the Department must revise ch.
HFS 163 by February 3, 2003 to comply with those most recent and final federal regulations at
40 CFR Part 745, Subparts D, L and Q.
If the Department does not make these changes to ch.
HFS 163, Wisconsin could lose some or all of its Federal lead grant funding and EPA's authorization for the Department's lead program. Since the federal regulation provides the first measurable definition of a lead-based paint hazard, the Department needs to adopt this definition in order to protect the state's citizens.
The most significant modification to the rules pertains to the permissible level of residual lead dust in window troughs. The current lead-safe property standards expressed under s.
HFS 163.42 allow a higher level of lead dust in window troughs than is permissible in corresponding EPA regulations and also do not require properties to be free of soil-lead hazards. Making the changes to s.
HFS 163.42 through this order will mean that persons removing lead-based paint hazards may need to clean window troughs more thoroughly to reduce the dust-lead levels and also may need to cover bare soil. Most lead investigation professionals in Wisconsin already perform lead investigation work in conformance with the more stringent lead levels specified in EPA's regulations to ensure a more protective environment for residents, especially when conducting clearance following abatement activities. Conformance with the more stringent EPA regulations is also currently required when lead hazard reduction work is performed using federal funds. Since most lead investigation professionals already use the more protective EPA standards, the rule changes should have little effect on persons conducting lead investigation or abatement activities.
Among the changes the Department is making through this order, the most significant are the following:
1. Prior to this order, s.
HFS 163.14 (5) (c) 8. required that, following lead abatement, a window well or trough may contain no more than 800 micrograms of lead dust per square foot. The revised EPA regulations specify a maximum level of 400 micrograms per square foot. To comply with federal regulations, the Department is reducing the permissible threshold to 400 micrograms per square foot.
2. Prior to this order, s.
HFS 163.15 (2) specified that a lead hazard is present in soil when the arithmetic mean for laboratory results for samples of bare soil is equal to or greater than 2,000 parts per million. The EPA revised regulations state that a lead hazard is present in soil when bare soil in a play area contains total lead content equal to or exceeding 400 parts per million or when bare soil in the rest of the yard contains an average of 1,200 parts per million of lead. To comply with the federal regulations, the Department is reducing the permissible threshold to that specified by the EPA.
3. The Department is adding standards, as s.
HFS 163.15 (3), for determining when a lead-based paint hazard exists.
4. The Department is modifying s.
HFS 163.42 (1) (b) and
(c) to require that all exterior painted components, regardless of their height above the ground, be free of deteriorated paint unless the paint is proved to be lead-free.
5. The Department is revising its standards for lead-safe property under s.
HFS 163.42 (1) (f) and
(j) to reflect these lower levels for lead in dust and soil.
6. Finally, the Department is revising s.
HFS 163.42 (1) (j) to require that there be no soil-lead hazard on registered lead-safe property.
Publication Date:
January 3, 2003
Effective Date:
January 3, 2003
Expiration Date:
June 2, 2003
Hearing Date:
April 2, 2003
3.
Rules adopted revising
ch. HFS 124, relating to critical access hospitals.
Finding of emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that the rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
The federal Rural Hospital Flexibility Program promotes the continued viability of rural hospitals by allowing qualifying hospitals to receive cost-based reimbursement for their services if the hospital qualifies for and is approved to convert to what is known as a Critical Access Hospital (CAH). In Wisconsin, subchapter VI of ch.
HFS 124 governs the Department's designation and regulation of CAHs. Designation as a CAH and receipt of cost-based reimbursement promotes the hospital's continued viability. To date, 25 hospitals in Wisconsin have transitioned to CAH status, thereby ensuring continued acute care access for many rural residents.
The Department recently learned that the tenuous financial condition of St. Mary's Hospital in Superior jeopardizes its continued operation and places it in imminent danger of closing unless the hospital can be designated as a CAH and receive cost-based reimbursement. The closure of St. Mary's would reduce Douglas County residents' accessibility to acute care. Moreover, the loss of the facility would have a significant detrimental effect on the county because St. Mary's annual payroll is between $7-8 million and it employs the equivalent of about 160 persons full-time.
Federal regulations permit a hospital in an urban area such as Superior to be reclassified as a critical access hospital if the hospital is located in an area designated as rural under state law or regulation. The Department has determined that the current provisions in ch.
HFS 124 preclude St. Mary's from being reclassified as a rural hospital and designated as a necessary provider of health services to area residents. However, St. Mary's Hospital meets “necessary provider" status in the Wisconsin Rural Health Plan based on economic, demographic and health care delivery in its service area. Therefore, through this rulemaking order, the Department is modifying provisions in subchapter VI of ch.
HFS 124 to permit St. Mary's Hospital to be classified as a rural hospital and begin the approval process for designation as a Critical Access Hospital.
Publication Date:
March 21, 2003
Effective Date:
March 21, 2003
Expiration Date:
August 18, 2003
Hearing Date:
June 20, 2003
[See Notice This Register]
Higher Educational Aids Board
Rules adopted amending s.
HEA 5.05 (2), relating to the eligibility of those on active duty military service.
Finding of emergency
The Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board finds that an emergency exists and that the attached rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is:
The
1989 Wisconsin Act 31 created s.
39.435 which provides for Talent Incentive Program Grants to Wisconsin residents who meet criteria established by the statute and administrative code. The Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) administers this program under s.
39.435 and under ch.
HEA 5. According to the administrative rules, a student must be continuously enrolled from semester to semester and year to year to continue to receive this grant after their initial year. Under current rules, exceptions to this requirement may only be made for medical reasons.
Recently, students who have returned from active duty military service and resumed enrollment at a college or university have begun to request exceptions to the continuous enrollment requirement. This situation is not addressed in the current administrative rules, because the break in these students' enrollment was not due to medical reasons.
Unless the Board changes its rules, participating students who have been called up to active duty military service will permanently lose their eligibility in this program. Because this grant targets the most financially-needy and educationally-disadvantaged students, the loss of eligibility will cause a hardship to those students who rely most heavily on financial assistance.
The emergency rule procedure is being used to ensure that students who have returned from active duty military service and resumed enrollment during the current academic year, 2002-2003, will not permanently lose their eligibility in this program.
Publication Date:
April 4, 2003
Effective Date:
April 4, 2003
Expiration Date:
September 1, 2003
Natural Resources (4)
(Fish, Game, etc., Chs. NR 1-)
1.
Rules adopted revising
chs. NR 10 and 45, relating to the control and management of chronic wasting disease.
Finding of emergency
The emergency rule procedure, pursuant to s.
227.24, Stats., is necessary and justified in establishing rules to protect the public health, safety and welfare. The state legislature has delegated to the department rule-making authority in
2001 Wisconsin Act 108 to control the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Wisconsin. CWD poses a risk to the health of the state's deer herd and citizens and is a threat to the economic infrastructure of the department, the state, it citizens and businesses.
Publication Date:
July 3, 2002
