Emergency rules now in effect
Under s. 227.24, Stats., state agencies may promulgate rules without complying with the usual rule-making procedures. Using this special procedure to issue emergency rules, an agency must find that either the preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare necessitates its action in bypassing normal rule-making procedures.
Emergency rules are published in the official state newspaper, which is currently the Wisconsin State Journal. Emergency rules are in effect for 150 days and can be extended up to an additional 120 days with no single extension to exceed 60 days.
Occasionally the Legislature grants emergency rule authority to an agency with a longer effective period than 150 days or allows an agency to adopt an emergency rule without requiring a finding of emergency.
Extension of the effective period of an emergency rule is granted at the discretion of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules under s. 227.24 (2), Stats.
Notice of all emergency rules which are in effect must be printed in the Wisconsin Administrative Register. This notice will contain a brief description of the emergency rule, the agency finding of emergency or a statement of exemption from a finding of emergency, date of publication, the effective and expiration dates, any extension of the effective period of the emergency rule and information regarding public hearings on the emergency rule.
Copies of emergency rule orders can be obtained from the promulgating agency. The text of current emergency rules can be viewed at www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/code.
Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection
Rules adopted revising
chs. ATCP 10 and 11 relating to chronic wasting disease in cervids.
Finding of emergency
(1) Chronic wasting disease is a contagious disease known to affect several species of the cervid family, including elk, white-tailed deer, black-tailed deer, red deer and mule deer. The disease is always fatal. At the present time, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that chronic wasting disease is transmitted to non-cervids or to humans. But there is limited scientific knowledge about the disease, and this lack of knowledge has contributed to public concerns.
(2) The cause of chronic wasting disease is not fully understood. The disease appears to be related to aberrant protein molecules called prions. By an unknown mechanism, prions apparently cause other protein molecules in the cervid brain to take aberrant forms. The disease causes microscopic vacuoles (holes) in the brain. Diseased cervids become emaciated, display abnormal behavior patterns, and experience loss of bodily functions.
(3) Science does not understand how chronic wasting disease is spread. It is thought that infected cervids can transmit the disease to other cervids, either directly or by contaminating their environment. It appears that cervid-to-cervid contact facilitates the spread of the disease.
(4) On February 27, 2002, the national veterinary services laboratory informed Wisconsin that it had confirmed chronic wasting disease for the first time in this state. The laboratory confirmed the disease in test samples collected from 3 free-ranging white-tailed deer killed by hunters during the November 2001 gun deer season. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) collected these samples as part of a statewide disease surveillance program. With the voluntary cooperation of hunters, DNR collected test samples from deer killed and registered by hunters at selected hunting registration sites around the state. DNR collected a total of 345 samples statewide, including 82 samples at the Mt. Horeb registration station. The 3 deer that tested positive for chronic wasting disease were all registered at the Mt. Horeb station. The 3 deer were shot in close proximity to each other in Vermont Township in Dane County. We do not know how the 3 deer were exposed to chronic wasting disease, nor do we know the extent of infection in the free-ranging herd.
(5) We do not know whether any captive cervids in Wisconsin are infected with chronic wasting disease (there are no findings to date). If captive cervids are infected, the close proximity of cervids within a captive herd may facilitate the spread of disease within the herd. The movement of infected cervids between herds may spread the disease to other herds. Contact between free-ranging and captive cervids may also spread the disease.
(6) Persons importing captive cervids to Wisconsin must obtain an import permit from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). Importers must identify the herd of origin and the herd of destination. A veterinarian must certify that the cervids appear to be in good health, and that they have been tested for tuberculosis and brucellosis. There is no chronic wasting disease testing requirement, because there is no way to test live cervids for the disease.
(7) Since 1995, a total of 2,604 captive cervids have been legally imported into Wisconsin. This includes 2,020 elk, 191 whitetail deer, 12 mule deer and 387 other cervids. Chronic wasting disease has been found in free-ranging herds or in some captive herds in Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Since 1995, a total of 410 captive cervids have been legally imported to Wisconsin from these states. Most other states lack active chronic wasting disease surveillance programs, so the full extent of the disease is not known with certainty.
(8) DATCP currently registers captive cervid herds, other than white-tail deer herds. DNR currently licenses captive white-tail deer herds. Since 1998, DATCP has sponsored a voluntary program to monitor for chronic wasting disease among the captive herds that it registers. Approximately 50 herd owners currently participate in this program.
(9) Since chronic wasting disease was confirmed in this state, there has been widespread public concern about the disease. The public has expressed concern about the health of free-ranging deer and elk, and about potential threats to humans, livestock and deer-related businesses. Hunters and consumers have expressed food safety concerns. There is currently no scientific evidence to suggest that chronic wasting disease is transmissible to non-cervids or to humans. But there is limited scientific knowledge about the disease, and this lack of knowledge has contributed to public concerns.
(10) In order to protect the public peace, health, safety and welfare, it is necessary to take immediate steps to prevent and control the spread of chronic wasting disease in this state. Among other things, it is necessary to impose further controls on the import and movement of captive cervids and to implement a mandatory monitoring program. DATCP may adopt rules to implement these measures.
(11) Normal rulemaking procedures require up to a year or more to complete. A temporary emergency rule is needed to protect the public peace, health, safety and welfare, pending the adoption of longer-term rules. This emergency rule will implement essential prevention and control measures on an immediate, interim basis.
Publication Date:
April 9, 2002
Effective Date:
April 9, 2002
Expiration Date:
September 6, 2002
Hearing Date:
May 22, 2002
Extension Through:
May 31, 2003
Commerce
(Financial Resources for Bus. and Communities, Chs. Comm 105-128)
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
