This bill imposes a freeze upon salary increases granted to incumbents in certain administrative positions at the UW System during the period beginning on the date on which the bill becomes law and ending on June 30, 1997. Under the proposal, the salary paid to the incumbent in an affected position during this period may not exceed an annualized rate of $100,000 or the annualized salary paid to the incumbent in the same position on January 1, 1995, whichever is greater. The freeze does not apply to any salary increase that is granted under the state compensation plan before July 1, 1995, or by the board of regents of the UW System before February 1, 1995.
Currently, the salaries for these positions are set by the board of regents subject to limitations set forth in the state compensation plan.
*** Analysis from -2676/P2-1007/2 ***
Under current law, the board of regents of the UW System may invest not more than 75% of the trust funds held and administered by the board in common stocks. This bill increases the allowable percentage to 85%.
*** Analysis from -2370/1 ***
Current law authorizes the board of regents of the UW System to use balances in program revenue appropriations as contingent funds for the payment of miscellaneous expenses if immediate payment is necessary, but not exceeding a total of $4,000,000.
This bill authorizes the board of regents to use balances in program revenue appropriations as contingent funds for the payment of miscellaneous expenses only if DOA determines that immediate payment is necessary. In addition, the daily balance of the contingent funds may not exceed $3,000,000 and total disbursements from the funds may not exceed $100,000,000 in any fiscal year.
*** Analysis from -0997/1 ***
Current law appropriates general purpose revenue and academic student fees to the board of regents of the UW System for laboratory modernization. The appropriations are set to expire at the end of the 1995-96 fiscal year. This bill eliminates the expiration date.
*** Analysis from -1001/5 ***
This bill modifies the appropriation to the board of regents of the UW System for nonincome sports. Currently, $481,900 annually from moneys received from parking for all events at athletic facilities at UW-Madison is appropriated; this bill appropriates all moneys received from the sale of parking provided for all events at athletic facilities at the UW-Madison, less related expenses. The bill also allows the funds to be used for debt service on any sports-related facility.
*** Analysis from -1002/2 ***
With certain specified exceptions, current law prohibits the furnishing of complimentary or reduced-price tickets to any UW System athletic event for which an admission fee is normally charged. One of the exceptions is for complimentary or reduced-price tickets required by rules of intercollegiate athletic conferences in which the UW System participates.
This bill modifies that exception. The bill allows complimentary and reduced-price tickets if such tickets are permitted by rules of intercollegiate athletic conferences in which the UW System participates and if the chancellor of the institution participating in the athletic event has approved the furnishing of such tickets.
*** Analysis from -1975/3 ***
Other educational and cultural agencies
Currently, HEAB administers the academic excellence higher education scholarship program. The program awards higher education scholarships for up to 4 years to certain students who had the highest grade point averages in their high schools.
This bill establishes a maximum amount for a scholarship under the program of $3,000 per academic year. The bill also requires the program and its scholarship recipients to be referred to as the governor's academic excellence higher education scholarship program and governor's scholars, respectively, in all printed material disseminated or otherwise distributed by HEAB.
Under current law, HEAB administers a stipend loan program for resident nursing students, a minority teacher loan program, a minority undergraduate retention grant program and a program to award grants to resident students who are currently recipients of aid to families with dependent children (AFDC).
This bill provides that HEAB may not award any original grants or loans under these programs, except for minority undergraduate retention grants to students enrolled at private, nonprofit institutions of higher education in this state.
*** Analysis from -1935/5 ***
This bill eliminates the higher educational aids board (HEAB) effective July 1, 1996, and transfers all functions of HEAB to DOE. On the same date, the bill also transfers all functions of the educational approval board (EAB) (currently attached to the technical college system board) to DOE and transfers EAB itself to DOE as an advisory council.
*** Analysis from -2242/4 ***
Beginning in the 1997-98 fiscal year, this bill directs the board of regents of the UW System annually to transfer to the state historical society an amount equal to 33% of the cost of acquisitions for and operation of the historical society library, or $515,000 (adjusted annually for inflation), whichever is greater. The 2 agencies may agree to transfer a higher amount. In each of the 1995-96 and 1996-97 fiscal years, the board of regents must transfer $515,000.
The bill also permits the state historical society to collect a fee for use of the historical society library. Any member of the state historical society, any member of the faculty or academic staff of the UW System and any student enrolled in the UW System is exempt from such fees.
*** Analysis from -1662/2 ***
Current law establishes a schedule of fees to be collected by the state historical society for admission to the following historic sites: Old World Wisconsin, Madeline Island, Pendarvis, Stonefield Village, Villa Louis and Old Wade House. The historical society is prohibited from collecting any group child admission fee for admission to any historic site owned and operated by the historical society.
This bill eliminates the fee schedule and the prohibition on group child admission fees. The historical society may establish and collect a fee for admission to these historic sites.
*** Analysis from -1028/1 ***
Under current law, the historical society operates the Wesley W. Jung Carriage Museum located at Old Wade House state park. This bill requires the department of natural resources (DNR) to transfer title to Old Wade House state park, including the Wesley W. Jung Carriage Museum, to the historical society on July 1, 1996.
*** Analysis from -2314/6 ***
Effective July 1, 1996, this bill transfers the transmission and engineering functions of the educational communications board (ECB) to DOA. The bill permits the secretary of administration to transfer FTE positions in ECB performing duties that are primarily related to the transmission and engineering functions, together with the incumbents in those positions, to DOA on that date, and requires the secretary to submit a plan to the chairpersons of JCF for the transfer of other FTE positions in ECB performing those duties, to become effective no later than July 1, 1997. Upon submittal, DOA may implement the plan.
The bill also requires ECB and DOA to enter into an affiliation agreement with the board of regents of the UW System with respect to broadcasting station WHA and WHA-TV. The bill does not transfer any programmatic responsibilities of ECB.
*** Analysis from -2517/2 ***
This bill creates a Wisconsin regranting program to be administered by the arts board. Under the program, the arts board awards grants to local arts agencies and municipalities. The bill requires a matching fund contribution from a grantee equal to the amount of the grant awarded under the program.
*** Analysis from -2174/3 ***
Under current law, the arts board is attached to DOA. This bill transfers the arts board to the department of tourism and parks, as created by the bill.
*** Analysis from -1668/1 ***
Current law directs the state technical college system board to develop a program relating to recycling. This bill eliminates this duty.
*** Analysis from -1366/3 ***
Employment
Currently, the employment relations commission is authorized, and directed in some cases, to attempt to mediate labor disputes in private, local government and state employment. During mediation, the mediator attempts to identify and narrow differences between the parties and to encourage a voluntary settlement of the dispute. The commission employs staff members for the purpose of providing mediation services, which are available at state expense.
This bill prohibits any officer or employe of the commission from engaging in mediation or facilitating mediation of a labor dispute by any other person. Under the bill, the parties to a labor dispute may retain any person other than an officer or employe of the commission to provide mediation services. The cost of those services is divided equally between the parties. In labor disputes involving local government or state employment, the bill requires each party or the parties jointly to notify the commission in writing of the name and address of any mediator who is retained by the parties.
*** Analysis from -2473/3 ***
This bill directs the employment commission, as created by this bill, to study its procedures, recommend ways to streamline its operations and report its findings and recommendations to the secretary of administration by October 31, 1996. See also STATE GOVERNMENT, STATE EMPLOYMENT.
*** Analysis from -2298/6 ***
Under current law, various state agencies administer various state and federal employment and education programs. This bill consolidates oversight over those programs under the governor's council on workforce excellence which is created by the bill. The bill requires the council, consisting of the heads of the state agencies responsible for administering employment and education programs and representatives of the public school system, 4-year postsecondary educational institutions, technical college districts, community-based organizations that provide employment training, business and industry and organized labor, to:
1. Identify the workforce development needs of the state and recommend goals for meeting those needs and steps for meeting those goals.
2. Recommend a strategic plan for coordinating the provision of services and the allocation of funding and resources under the various state and federal employment and education programs.
3. Monitor the provision of those services and the allocation of that funding and those resources and evaluate the effectiveness of those programs in meeting the state's workforce development needs.
4. Recommend the seeking of waivers of federal laws, regulations or policies that impede the effectiveness or coordination of those employment and education programs.
5. Recommend occupations for the youth apprenticeship program and skill standards for the school-to-work program.
The bill further consolidates the state's employment and education programs by:
1. Directing the council to prepare, by January 15, 1996, a plan that terminates other state advisory bodies that are duplicative of the council or whose duties and responsibilities can be taken over by the council and a plan that reorganizes all substate boundaries for the local administration of employment and education programs so that those boundaries are contiguous with the technical college district boundaries.
2. Directing the department of industry, labor and human relations (DILHR) to prepare, by February 15, 1996, a plan that structures the new functions and personnel of DILHR, as affected by this bill.
3. Upgrading the office of workforce excellence in DILHR, which currently coordinates and implements DILHR's workforce excellence initiatives, to the division of workforce excellence and expanding the duties of that new division to include planning, coordinating, administering and implementing the youth apprenticeship program, under which young people receive classroom and on-the-job training in skilled trades, and the school-to-work program, under which young people receive training in the skills necessary to make the transition from school to work.
4. Terminating the youth apprenticeship council and assigning the duties of that council to the council on workforce excellence.
*** Analysis from -1962/2 ***
Currently, a school district is required to bargain collectively in good faith with the majority representative of its employes in a collective bargaining unit concerning the wages, hours and conditions of employment of the employes.
This bill provides that a school district is not required to bargain collectively concerning any decision to create a performance recognition plan or concerning the amount of any performance recognition award made under such a plan (see also EDUCATION, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION).
*** Analysis from -1972/6 ***
The bill also provides that a school district is prohibited from bargaining collectively with respect to reassignment of employes, with or without regard to seniority, resulting from the decision of the school board to contract with an individual or group to operate a school as a charter school, as authorized by the bill, or to convert a school to a charter school, or with respect to the impact of any such decision on the wages, hours or conditions of employment of the employes who perform services for the school district; and, in the Milwaukee Public Schools, the reassignment of employes, with or without regard to seniority, resulting from the decision of the school board to close or reopen a school, the decision of the school board to contract for the management or operation of a school, or the decision of the school board to contract with a nonprofit, private school or agency to provide educational programs, or the impact of any of these decisions on the wages, hours and conditions of employment of the employes in the school district.
Currently, subject to certain limitations, the employment relations commission decides which employes of a school district shall be included in the same collective bargaining unit with other employes of the school district, but the commission is directed to avoid fragmentation of units. This bill provides that, upon request of 30% of the professional employes of a school district who perform any services at a charter school, the commission must conduct an election for the purpose of permitting the employes to decide whether they wish to be represented in a separate collective bargaining unit from any unit that includes other employes of the school district. If a majority of the employes voting in the election decide to be represented in a separate unit, the commission must place the employes in such a unit (see also EDUCATION, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION).
*** Analysis from -1093/3 ***
Environment
Water quality
Under the clean water fund program, this state provides financial assistance to local governments for projects related to the control of water pollution, including sewage treatment plants. Under current law, the department of natural resources (DNR) and the department of administration (DOA) administer the clean water fund program. This bill increases the amount of general obligation bonds that the state may issue for the clean water fund program. The bill also establishes the present value of the subsidies for clean water fund assistance that may be provided in the 1995-97 biennium.
*** Analysis from -2597/5 ***
Under current law, the clean water fund program may not provide below market rate (subsidized) financing for the portion of a project that treats waste from industrial users. This bill eliminates that restriction.
Currently, the clean water fund program provides financial hardship assistance to certain communities to further reduce the costs of financing water pollution control projects. Generally, clean water fund program financial assistance is provided in the form of a below-market interest rate loan; however, hardship assistance may be provided in the form of a grant. Under this bill, clean water fund hardship assistance may only be provided in the form of a no-interest loan.
The bill also changes the eligibility criteria for clean water fund hardship assistance. Currently, eligibility for clean water fund hardship assistance is based on the level of wastewater treatment charges in a community compared to adjusted gross income and property values in the community, per capita adjusted gross income in the community compared to per capita adjusted gross income in this state and the average equalized value of a parcel of improved residential property in the community compared to the average equalized value of a parcel of improved residential property in this state. Under the bill, a municipality is eligible for clean water fund hardship assistance if both of the following apply:
1. The median household income in the municipality is 80% or less of the median household income in this state.
2. The estimated total annual charges per residential user in the municipality that relate to wastewater treatment would exceed 2.5% of the median household income in the municipality in the absence of hardship assistance.
The current eligibility criteria for hardship assistance continue to apply to municipalities that received hardship assistance for project planning and design during fiscal years 1991 to 1995 or whose construction projects appeared on the 1993, 1994 or 1995 hardship funding list.
Current law earmarks 18% of the total amount of subsidy available under the clean water fund program in a state fiscal biennium for hardship assistance, 74% of the total subsidy for ordinary clean water fund program projects and 8% for additional costs associated with approved clean water fund program projects. This bill eliminates the earmarking of clean water fund subsidy, but provides that during the 1995-97 biennium the total value of subsidies used to provide hardship assistance may not exceed $9,600,000.
In addition, the bill makes a number of changes in the process for obtaining financial assistance under the clean water fund program and transfers some clean water fund program administrative responsibilities from DNR to DOA. Under current law, the clean water fund program has an annual funding cycle. Under this bill, funding decisions are made on a continuing basis. Under current law, if there is insufficient funding for all eligible projects during a fiscal year, funding is distributed using a priority ranking established by DNR. Under this bill, funding is distributed in the order in which projects are ready to be constructed. If no funding is available for a project when it is ready to be constructed, DOA places the project on a list to be funded when funding is available.
*** Analysis from -1093/3 ***
Current law requires DNR and DOA jointly to prepare 3 versions of a biennial finance plan for the clean water fund program. Under this bill, DNR and DOA prepare amendments to the biennial finance plan to reflect the biennial budget bill and the biennial budget act, rather than new versions of the plan. The bill also eliminates requirements that the biennial finance plan include certain information. The bill requires the biennial finance plan to include audited financial statements of the clean water fund program.
*** Analysis from -2121/2 ***
Under current law, DNR is required to complete plans to implement the nonpoint source water pollution abatement program (which provides financial assistance for measures to reduce water pollution from diffuse sources) in priority watersheds (those watersheds in which the need for nonpoint source pollution abatement is most critical) by December 31, 2000. This bill changes the date by which the plans must be completed to December 31, 2015.
*** Analysis from -2511/1 ***
This bill reduces the amount of general obligation bonding that may be incurred for the nonpoint source program by $4,000,000. The bill increases the amount of general obligation bonding that may be incurred for environmental cleanups in or adjacent to the Great Lakes by $4,000,000.
Current law prohibits the building commission from incurring over $15,500,000 in general obligation bonding for the nonpoint source program without the approval of the secretary of administration and the joint committee on finance. This bill eliminates that prohibition.
*** Analysis from -1072/2 ***
Under current law, DNR provides lake management planning grants to provide information on the quality of water in lakes and to aid in the selection of projects to improve water quality. This bill adds nonprofit conservation organizations as eligible recipients of lake management planning grants.
Under current law, DNR provides lake management grants to improve or protect the quality of water in lakes. This bill eliminates the current $100,000 maximum amount for a lake management grant.
*** Analysis from -1586/1 ***
Air quality
Under current law, the operators of certain stationary sources of air pollution are required to obtain air pollution control permits from DNR. This bill expands some of the provisions relating to air pollution control permits that currently apply only to existing sources (those on which construction began on or before November 15, 1992, and that have not been modified since that date) so that the provisions also apply to new and modified sources (those on which construction or modification began after November 15, 1992). One of these provisions authorizes DNR, under specified circumstances, to issue an operation permit for a source of air pollution that will not be able to comply with the terms of the permit at the time that the permit is issued.
