Effect on Small Business and, If Applicable, Any Analysis and Supporting Documentation Used to Determine Effect on Small Businesses: The provisions of this rule adding a highway segment to the designated system have no direct adverse effect on small businesses, and may have a favorable effect on those small businesses which are shippers or carriers using the newly-designated routes. You may contact the Department's small business regulatory coordinator by phone at (608) 267-3703, or via e-mail at the following website:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/library/research/law/rulenotices.htm.
Fiscal Effect and Anticipated Costs Incurred by Private Sector: The Department estimates that there will be no fiscal impact on the liabilities or revenues of any county, city, village, town, school district, vocational, technical and adult education district, sewerage district, or federally-recognized tribes or bands. The Department estimates that there will be no fiscal impact on state or private sector revenues or liabilities.
Place Where Comments are to be Submitted and Deadline for Submission: The public record on this proposed rule making will be held open until close of business the day of the hearing to permit the submission of comments in lieu of public hearing testimony or comments supplementing testimony offered at the hearing. Any such comments should be submitted to Ashwani Sharma, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Highway Operations, Room 501, P. O. Box 7986, Madison, WI 53707-7986. You may also contact Mr. Sharma by phone at (608) 266-1273.
Notice of Hearing
Veterans Affairs
Notice is hereby given that the Department of Veterans Affairs will hold a public hearing on the 16th day of February, 2005, at 11:00 a.m., in the 8th floor board room at 30 West Mifflin Street in Madison, Wisconsin.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Veterans Affairs
Statute interpreted: s.
45.357, Stats.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Veterans Affairs established under s.
45.365 or
45.385, Stats.
The proposed rule will identify the circumstances under which the department may assist a financially needy veteran to reside at the department's facilities established under s.
45.365 or
45.385, Stats.
There is no current or pending federal regulation that has an impact on this issue. There are no similar rules in adjacent states. This rule has no regulatory aspect to it, has no effect upon small businesses, nor any significant fiscal effect upon the private sector.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
This rule is not expected to have any adverse impact upon small businesses.
Fiscal Estimate
The rule limits expenditures for the initiative to $70,000 for each fiscal year.
Contact Person
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
(608) 266-7916
Notice of Hearing
Veterans Affairs
Notice is hereby given that the Department of Veterans Affairs will hold a public hearing on the 16th day of February, 2005, at 11:15 a.m., in the 8th floor board room at 30 West Mifflin Street in Madison, Wisconsin.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Veterans Affairs
The proposed rule accomplishes several purposes. The application procedures for home improvement and personal loans are updated to implement the additional flexibility authorized in
2003 Wis Act 83. Specifically, applicants would be authorized to file applications directly with the department. Current rule provisions addressing adjustment of interest rates and maximum loan amounts in the personal loan program will be repealed to reflect the authority provided in
2003 Wis Act 83. Additionally, underwriting criteria for guarantors will be amended to assure more secure guarantor loans.
There is no current or pending federal regulation that has an impact on this issue. There are no similar rules in adjacent states. This rule has no regulatory aspect to it, has no effect upon small businesses, nor any significant fiscal effect upon the private sector.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
This rule is not expected to have any adverse impact upon small businesses.
Fiscal Estimate
The fiscal impact is expected to be negligible. However, the added flexibility allowing interest rate and loan amount adjustments will better enable the department to control expenditures from the veterans trust fund.
Contact Person
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
(608) 266-7916
Notice of Hearing
Workforce Development
(Public Works Construction, Chs.
DWD 290-
294)
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to ss.
66.0903 (5) and
103.49 (3g), Stats., the Department of Workforce Development proposes to hold a public hearing to consider the amendment of s.
DWD 290.155 (1), relating to the adjustment of thresholds for application of prevailing wage rates.
Hearing Information
Monday, February 14, 2005, at 1:30 p.m.
G.E.F. 1 Building, B103
201 E. Washington Avenue
Madison
Interested persons are invited to appear at the hearings 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 regarding communication or accessibility 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
Explanation of agency authority. The prevailing wage laws require that when a state agency or local governmental unit contracts for the erection, construction, remodeling, repairing, or demolition of a public works project it must obtain a prevailing wage rate determination from the Department of Workforce Development and require that the contractors and subcontractors on the project pay their employees in accordance with those wage rates. Sections
66.0903 (5) and
103.49 (3g), Stats., set initial estimated project cost thresholds for application of the prevailing wage rate requirements and direct the Department to adjust the thresholds each year in proportion to any change in construction costs since the thresholds were last determined. Pursuant to s.
DWD 290.15, the Department adjusts the thresholds based on changes in the construction cost index published in the
Engineering News-Record, a national construction trade publication.
Summary of the proposed rule. Section
DWD 290.155 (1) currently provides that the prevailing wage rate requirements do not apply to any single-trade public works project for which the estimated cost of completion is below $38,000 and do not apply to any multi-trade public works project for which the estimated cost of completion is below $186,000. This rule adjusts the thresholds from $38,000 to $41,000 for a single-trade project and from $186,000 to $200,000 for a multi-trade project based on a 7.755% increase in the construction cost index between December 2003 and December 2004.
Summary of related federal law. The federal prevailing wage law applies to a federal public works project for which the contract is greater than $2,000. This threshold is in statute and is rarely adjusted.
Comparison with laws in adjacent states. Minnesota has a statutory threshold of $2,500 for a single-trade project and $25,000 for a multi-trade project. Illinois does not have a threshold in its prevailing wage law. The law covers public works projects and defines public works projects as projects financed under various other specified laws. Michigan does not have a threshold in its prevailing wage law. The law covers projects that must be bid and relies on other agencies to determine the thresholds for what projects must be bid. Iowa does not have a prevailing wage law.
Summary of factual data and analytical methodologies. The thresholds are increased based on the national inflation rate in the construction industry. The Department uses the construction cost index in the Engineering News-Record, a national construction trade publication, to determine the inflation rate.
Effect on small business. The proposed rule does not affect small business.
Anticipated costs incurred by the private sector. The rule does not have a significant fiscal effect on the private sector.
Fiscal Estimate
Under the proposed rule, a state agency or local governmental unit contracting for the construction of a single-trade public works project that costs more than $38,000 but less than $41,000 or a multi-trade project that costs more than $186,000 but less than $200,000 will not be covered by the prevailing wage requirement.
Contact information
The proposed rules are available at the web site
http://adminrules.wisconsin.gov by typing “prevailing wage" in the search engine. This site allows you to view documents associated with this rule's promulgation, register to receive email notification whenever the Department posts new information about this rulemaking order, and submit comments and view comments by others during the public comment period. You may receive a paper copy of the rule by contacting:
Elaine Pridgen
Office of Legal Counsel
Dept. of Workforce Development
P.O. Box 7946
Madison, WI 53707-7946
(608) 267-9403
Written comments
Written comments on the proposed rules received at the above address, email, or through the
http://adminrules.wisconsin.gov web site no later than February 14, 2005, will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
Small Business Regulatory Coordinator
Jennifer Jirschele
(608) 266-1023
