SB259: Bill Text

LRB-2210/4

PG/MES/JTK/DAK:kjf:jf

2005 - 2006 LEGISLATURE

2005 Senate BILL 259

July 13, 2005 - Introduced by Senators Brown, Jauch, Kanavas, Roessler and Kapanke, cosponsored by Representatives Musser, Albers, Hines and Townsend. Referred to Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security, Military Affairs, Small Business and Government Reform.

SB259,2,2 An Act to repeal 101.14 (1) (d), 115.28 (3m) (c), 115.28 (32), 115.28 (33), 115.28 (34), 115.28 (37), 115.28 (44), 118.07 (2) (b), 118.258 (2) (b) and 120.12 (13); to renumber 120.12 (17); to renumber and amend 118.07 (2) (a) and 118.258 (2) (a); to amend 59.03 (2) (c), 59.26 (1) (intro.), 59.26 (2), 59.26 (3), 59.26 (8) (a), 61.65 (1) (a) (intro.), 62.09 (1) (a), 62.13 (1), 66.0305 (title), 66.0305 (1), 66.0305 (2), 66.0305 (3), 66.0305 (4) (a) 4., 66.0305 (5), 66.0305 (6), 118.258 (1), 120.12 (23), 121.02 (1) (c) 1., 121.02 (1) (k), 121.53 (6) and 250.01 (4) (a) 3.; to repeal and recreate 120.25 (5); and to create 16.971 (2) (cm), 59.26 (10), 59.27 (13), 61.65 (1) (a) 4. and 62.13 (2s) of the statutes; relating to: eliminating various school district and Department of Public Instruction requirements, authorizing a city or village to abolish its police department and contract for law enforcement services with a county, authorizing a county to participate in a municipal revenue sharing agreement, standards for information technology integration, and city health departments.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Elementary and secondary education

This bill makes a variety of changes to the laws governing elementary and secondary education, including:

1. Currently, a school board must pay the tuition of a pupil enrolled in the school district who attends the University of Wisconsin System if the course that the pupil is taking is not offered in the school district, the pupil will receive high school credit for the course, and the pupil is not participating in the Youth Options Program. This bill allows a school board to pay a pupil's tuition in these circumstances, but does not require it.

2. Current law requires each public and private school to file a report annually pertaining to fire drills with the Department of Commerce and with the local fire department. This bill eliminates this requirement. The bill requires each public and private school to keep a record of each fire drill for at least seven years.

3. Current law directs each school board to adopt rules prohibiting a pupil from using or possessing a paging or two-way communication device while on school premises. This bill allows, but does not require, a school board to adopt such rules.

4. Current law requires a school board to report school bus accidents to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). This bill eliminates this requirement.

5. Current law requires a school district to report to DPI when the school district contracts with another school district to acquire or use the latter district's facilities or equipment. This bill eliminates this requirement but requires each school board to adopt a policy on these contracts.

6. This bill eliminates the requirement that a school board annually adopt a policy on access to extracurricular and recreational school programs and activities.

7. This bill eliminates the requirement that DPI coordinate the exchange of teachers.

8. This bill eliminates the requirement that DPI promote public awareness of, access to, and training of health professionals for rural and underserved urban areas.

9. This bill eliminates the requirement that school boards maintain a mailbox for each school located on a rural mail route.

10. This bill eliminates the requirement that DPI report to the legislature every three years on all cooperative educational service agency programs and services.

Local law enforcement

Generally under current law, each city is required to have a board of police and fire commissioners. The board is required to appoint the chief of police and the chief of the fire department, and the chiefs are required to appoint subordinates subject to approval by the board. Also under current law, a village with a population of 5,000 or more is required to provide police protection by creating its own police department, by contracting for police protective services with a city, village, town, or county, or by creating a joint police department with a city, village, or town.

Current law authorizes a county to exercise any of its powers to provide services, such as water, sewer, streets and highways, fire, police, and health, in any municipality (city, village, or town), or part of a municipality that is located in the county, upon the request of the municipality. The municipality may adopt a resolution designating the function it would like the county to assume and the terms under which the power shall be exercised. If the county board approves the resolution, the county may then exercise the designated function in the municipality, and the county and municipality may enter into a contract under which the municipality agrees to appropriate money to the county to pay for the service to be provided by the county.

This bill specifically authorizes a city, or a village, to abolish its police department if it enters into a contract with a county for the sheriff to provide law enforcement services in all parts of the city or village. If a city or village is in more than one county, the city or village must enter into a contract with the county in which the greatest amount of the city's, or village's, equalized value, population, or territory is located.

Before a city or village may enter into such a contract, the common council or village board must adopt a resolution requesting that the county provide police protective services and stating that the services are to be provided exclusively by the county, and the county must approve the resolution. The contract must address at least the following issues:

1. The division of the city's assets and liabilities that relate to the city's police department.

2. A description of the level of services that the county will provide and the amount that the city will pay for the services.

3. A procedure for the city to request, or require, additional law enforcement services and the amount that the city will have to pay for the services.

4. The term of the agreement and procedures for the renewal, extension, or termination of the agreement.

No agreement that is entered into may take effect before the termination of any collective bargaining agreement that covers the city's police department employees.

The bill also provides that if a city or village and a county enter into a contract for the county to provide law enforcement services a sheriff is required, for approximately two years after the contract takes effect, and to the greatest extent possible, to hire any additional deputies that are needed from the ranks of former police officers who lost their positions when their departments were abolished. This requirement on a sheriff applies notwithstanding any current law provisions governing the hiring of deputies, such as a requirement that deputies be hired from a list of persons with the highest scores on a civil service exam, although the requirement does not apply to the extent that it conflicts with a collective bargaining agreement between a county and its employees.

The bill also authorizes, but does not require, a village with a population of under 5,000 to provide police protection services to the same extent as villages with a population of at least 5,000 are required to provide.

Municipal, county revenue sharing

Under current law, municipalities may enter into agreements to share revenues from taxes and special charges with other municipalities and with federally recognized American Indian tribes or bands. No municipality may enter into an agreement with one or more municipalities unless the municipality is contiguous to at least one other municipality that enters into the agreement.

A municipal revenue sharing agreement must meet a number of conditions. It must:

1. Be for a minimum term of ten years.

2. Describe the boundaries of the area within which the revenues are to be shared in the agreement.

3. Describe the formula or other means of determining the amount of revenues to be shared under the agreement.

4. Specify the date or dates upon which revenues agreed to be shared are to be paid to the appropriate municipality.

5. Specify how the agreement may be invalidated after the expiration of the minimum ten-year term.

An agreement under current law may address any other necessary and proper matters, including any agreements with respect to services or agreements with respect to municipal boundaries. Current law also requires that at least 30 days before entering into an agreement the participating municipality must hold a public hearing on the proposed agreement (public hearing notice requirements are specified). In addition, current law provides that an advisory referendum on a proposed agreement may be called either by the governing body of the participating municipality or by the qualified electors of a participating municipality. In the latter case, a petition, signed by a number of qualified electors equal to at least 10 percent of the votes cast for governor in a municipality at the last gubernatorial election must be timely filed. Time limits and notice requirements are provided for the advisory referendum.

This bill modifies current law by authorizing a county to enter into a revenue sharing agreement with another county or a municipality or federally recognized American Indian tribe or band.

City health departments

Currently, under the public health laws, a local health department in a county other than Milwaukee County is defined to include a city health department that was established before January 1, 1994. Also, in such a county, a city health department may participate with the county in a joint city-county health department or may participate with another city in a city-city health department. A city health department that participates in a city-county or city-city health department may withdraw by giving notice at least a year before the start of the fiscal year in which the withdrawal takes effect. This bill modifies the definition of a local health department in a county other than Milwaukee County to provide for a city health department that has withdrawn from participation as a city-county or city-city health department.

Information technology integration standards

Currently, the Department of Administration (DOA) is directed to develop and maintain procedures to ensure information technology resource planning and sharing between executive branch agencies. The procedures must ensure interconnection of information technology resources if interconnection is consistent with the strategic plans of the agencies for utilization of information technology, as approved by DOA. This bill directs DOA to prescribe standards for data, application, and business process integration that must be used by executive branch agencies, to the extent consistent with the statewide strategic plan for information technology utilization, and that enable local governments in this state to integrate their data, application, and business processes into state systems whenever feasible.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SB259, s. 1 Section 1. 16.971 (2) (cm) of the statutes is created to read: