Health and Family Services
Subject
Foster parents.
Policy Analysis
The Department of Health and Family Services proposes to amend ch.
HFS 56, Foster Home Care for Children, rules relating to creating an exception to the maximum placement standards for sibling placements, providing a foster parent handbook to foster homes and treatment foster homes where children are placed under s.
48.833, Stats., through the child welfare system, requirements for fingerprinting prospective foster and adoptive parents and checking child abuse and neglect registries for prospective foster and adoptive parents and adults in their homes, and revising requirements regarding the use of child safety seats.
Section
48.67, Stats., requires the Department to promulgate rules establishing minimum requirements for the issuance of licenses to and the operation of foster homes and treatment foster homes among other entities. The rules must be designed to promote the health, safety and welfare of the children placed in the care of the foster home or treatment foster home. The Department intends to amend the rule to require agencies to provide specified foster parents and treatment foster parents with a handbook that contains specific identified information. The agencies will have the option of using a handbook developed for the Department or their own handbook that contains all the required information. In addition, current rules provide directives on the use of child safety seats for foster children.
2005 Wisconsin Act 106 recently changed child safety seat requirements for all children in Wisconsin. The Department intends to amend the rules to conform to the new requirements.
Section
48.62 (4), Stats., directs the Department to promulgate rules that address supplemental foster care payments for special needs, exceptional circumstances, care in a treatment foster home and initial clothing allowances. Research and experience in the area of child welfare demonstrates that generally children who are removed from their homes and placed in out of home care, will adjust more successfully if they are placed with their siblings in the same out of home placement. Current rules prevent the placement in a foster home of more than four children or more than six children in order to keep siblings together. The Department intends to establish rules that would create an exception, with specific standards, that would allow more than six children to be placed in a foster home if the children are siblings.
In addition, under the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, P.L.
109-248, the state is required to have procedures in place to assure that all prospective foster and adoptive parents have their fingerprints submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigations criminal information database. In addition, all prospective foster and adoptive parents and adults in their households who have resided outside of Wisconsin in the five years prior to their application for licensure, must be checked against the other state(s) child abuse and neglect registry if one exists, and finally all prospective foster and adoptive parents and adults in their household who have resided in Wisconsin must be checked against a Wisconsin child abuse and neglect registry if one exists. The Department is seeking legislation to mandate compliance with these new requirements and intends to establish rules that provide guidance and procedures for complying with these requirements.
Statutory Authority
Staff Time Required To Develop The Proposed Rule
It is anticipated that approximately 80 hours of staff time will be required for the development, drafting, review and editing of the proposed rule. The Department will work with the Out-of-Home Care / Adoption Committee to develop the rule. Committee participants include representatives from the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, Bureau of Regulation and Licensing, county human services and social services agencies, and private child placing agencies.
Entities That May Be Affected By The Proposed Rules
The amendments to the rule will have a direct impact on the Department, including the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare (BMCW), county human and social services agencies, licensed child placing agencies, and prospective and current foster parents and treatment foster parents, including those individuals who are seeking licensure as a foster parent for the purposes of adopting a child.
Comparison With Federal Regulations
There appear to be no existing or proposed federal regulations that address the activities to be regulated by the proposed rule.
Health and Family Services
Subject
The Department of Health and Family Services is repealing ch.
HFS 119, rules relating to operation of the Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan (HIRSP).
Policy Analysis
Pursuant to ch.
149, Stats., the department operates the Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan (HIRSP) which provides health insurance coverage for Wisconsin residents who: (a) have been refused coverage, or coverage at an affordable price, in the private health insurance market because of their health condition; (b) are covered under Medicare because they are disabled or have tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus; or (c) do not have health insurance but, under certain circumstances, were covered under certain types of creditable coverage in the past.
Effective July 1, 2006,
2005 Act 74 transfers the department's authority to operate HIRSP to the Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan Authority that was created by Act 74. This transfer of authority means that effective July 1, 2006, the department is not statutorily authorized to operate HIRSP or to promulgate or implement ch.
HFS 119 rules relating to the operation of HIRSP. Because the department will no longer be statutorily authorized to promulgate or implement ch. HFS 119, the department is hereby giving notice that ch. HFS 119 will be repealed by the department.
Statutory Authority For Proposed Rule
Staff Time Required To Develop The Proposed Rule
10 hours.
Entities That May Be Affected By The Proposed Rules
N/A
Comparison With Federal Regulations
N/A
Natural Resources
Subject
The Department is requesting authorization to pursue a modification to NR 50 (snowmobile program) Wis. Admin code, regarding specifications for bridge design and the length of easements relating to bridge abutments and a corresponding modification to NR 64 (all-terrain vehicle program) regarding the bridge design specifications.
Policy Analysis
The issues involved in the proposed rule change relate to the change in design load concept involved in the design specifications for bridges constructed under the snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle grant programs. The Department has long published a set of guidelines for the design of bridge structures used in both the snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle grant programs. With the continued growth of the weight of snow grooming power units and drags, the infrastructure committee of the Snowmobile Recreation Council undertook a review of the specifications in conjunction with Sanjay Olson of the Department's Engineering and Construction section of the Facilities and Land Bureau. As part of the review process, the manner in which the design process is viewed was modified from point loading concept to a train loading concept. As a result of this modification, the suggestion was to increase the design load from its current 12,000 pounds to 14,000 pounds. NR 50 contains references to the design load that need to be changed to meet the newer design concept. NR 64, the administrative rules for the all-terrain vehicle program, is currently silent on the bridge design load and should be updated to reflect the newer concept.
In addition, the Snowmobile Recreation Council has indicated an interest in having the Department develop a sliding scale of easement lengths for lands that serve as bridge abutments that correspond to the total estimated cost of a bridge structure, i.e. longer easements required for more expensive, larger bridge structures. The council feels that the current minimum of 3 years is not sufficient for bridge structures costing in excess of $50,000.
Statutory Authority
Staff Time Required
The time necessary to draft the changes should not exceed 40 hours.
The proposed design concept changes are consistent with standards established by American Association of State Highway Traffic Officials (AASHTO) for pedestrian bridges.
Entities Affected by the Rule
The eligible program sponsors (snowmobile – county ; all-terrain vehicle – municipalities) would be the parties immediately impacted by the design concept changes. Sponsors are the entities responsible for bridge design and construction bidding. The proposed development of a sliding scale of easements versus bridge costs for the snowmobile program would impact both the sponsor and cooperating snowmobile club who is generally involved in securing the easements necessary to place the bridge.
Comparison with Federal Regulations
The proposed rules do not interface with existing or proposed federal regulations.
The name of the individual responsible for rule drafting is Larry Freidig, 266-5897 or
larry.freidig@wi.gov
Natural Resources
Subject
Objective of the rule. Under the federal Clean Air Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responsibility for promulgating National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) which are designed to protect public health (primary standards) and public welfare (secondary standards). Under state law, if EPA promulgates a NAAQS, the department is required to promulgate a similar, but no more restrictive standard. The EPA has recently promulgated NAAQS for ozone and particulate matter (PM). In order to both reflect current air quality health science and to maintain consistency with EPA-promulgated NAAQS, the department is proposing the following administrative rule actions:
a) Repeal the ambient air quality standards for total suspended particulates (TSP), annual PM10 particulate matter and 1-hour ozone from ch.
NR 404, Wis. Adm. Code, as well as corresponding sections from ch.
NR 484, Wis. Adm. Code.
b) Adopt the EPA-promulgated NAAQS for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) into ch.
NR 404, Wis. Adm. Code, and incorporate the corresponding federal PM2.5 monitoring requirements into ch.
NR 484, Wis. Adm. Code.
Policy Analysis
The EPA repealed the TSP NAAQS in 1987 and replaced it with more restrictive particulate NAAQS for PM10 (1987), followed by PM2.5 (1997) to more directly address the increasing scientific awareness of serious public health impacts from fine-scaled particulate matter. Although Wisconsin has retained the secondary TSP ambient air standard to address nuisance conditions, the department is now proposing to repeal the TSP ambient air standard in order to focus resources on particulate emissions which more directly affect public health.
The EPA repealed the 1-hour ozone NAAQS in 2005 after it promulgated the 8-hour ozone NAAQS, based on its conclusion that the more restrictive 8-hour ozone standard provides greater protection of public health.
By repealing the TSP ambient air standard and adopting the federal PM2.5 ambient air standards, Wisconsin's air quality standards will be consistent with EPA's NAAQS. Additionally, Wisconsin's air program will be more focused on emission sources of fine particulates and their precursors, which have greater impacts on public health than emissions of TSP.
As required by s.
285.21 (1) (a), Stats., Wisconsin must promulgate ambient air quality standards similar to the NAAQS for the protection of public health and welfare. Consequently, there are no apparent policy alternatives to this proposed action.
Statutory Authority
Staff Time Required
Approximately 250 hours of agency staff time is being budgeted to this proposed rule action.
Entities That May Be Affected By The Proposed Rules
Stationary source facilities that are seeking air permits may potentially be affected by focusing on modeled PM10 impacts because concurrent TSP impacts will no longer be modeled.
Comparison With Federal Regulations
A major purpose of this proposed rules package is to amend Wisconsin's ambient air quality standards in order to be consistent with the NAAQS, which are contained in Title 40, Part 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (
40 CFR part 50). This consistency is required under s.
285.21 (1) (a), Stats.
Agency Contact
Bill Adamski
Bureau of Air Management
Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources
P.O. Box 7921
Madison, WI 53704
608-266-2660
Occupational Therapists Affiliated
Credentialing Board
Subject
Occupational therapist supervision of occupational therapy assistants.
Policy Analysis
Objective of the rule. The proposed rule would clarify definitions and ambiguous provisions of Chapter
OT 4 and recognize supervisory models that vary by practice setting, client needs, and the professional judgment of occupational therapists in supervision standards.
Existing Policies Relevant to the Rule, New Policies Proposed and Analysis of Policy Alternatives
The purpose of revising the supervision rules is to ensure safe, effective, competent service is delivered to patients. The occupational therapist is accountable for the safety and effectiveness of the delivered occupational therapy services. Occupational therapy assistants must receive supervision in partnership with the occupational therapist such that the two people will achieve the same or equivalent results irrespective of the method of service delivery. Some of the current provisions relating to “close" and “general" supervision are viewed as too restrictive, and others are viewed as too expansive.
Statutory Authority
Existing or Proposed Federal Legislation
None.
Entities Affected by the Rule
Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants and facilities that employ OTs and OTAs.
Staff Time Required
150 hours.
Pharmacy Examining Board
Subject
