Current law generally requires drivers to remain at least 500 feet behind
authorized emergency vehicles, including police cars, fire trucks and ambulances,
that are responding to a call or alarm. This bill prohibits a driver from following
closer than 200 feet behind a snowplow that is engaged in the removal or treatment
of snow or ice upon a highway.
Motor vehicles
Current law specifically requires, with limited exceptions, that the owner of a
motor vehicle register the vehicle with DOT if the vehicle is subject to registration
in this state. This bill requires the lessee of a motor vehicle to register the vehicle
with DOT unless the lease period is less than one year. The bill imposes on the lessee
the same vehicle registration and financial responsibility duties that currently apply
to the vehicle owner, but does not permit the vehicle to be impounded under the
financial responsibility laws of this state.
Current law imposes upon the owner of a motor vehicle liability for certain
traffic and parking violations, including fleeing a traffic officer, illegally passing a
school bus or crossing a controlled school crossing, and parking in areas reserved for
vehicles used by physically disabled persons. This bill imposes liability on the lessee
of a vehicle if the vehicle is registered, or is required to be registered, by the lessee.
The bill also provides that certain provisions relating to vehicle removal, seizure,
impoundment, immobilization, towing or storage, or to the seizure of vehicle parts,
also apply to the lessee.
Under current law, DOT issues and delivers a certificate of title to the owner
of a motor vehicle upon receipt of an application and the fee required for titling the
vehicle. However, if a secured party holds legal title to a vehicle, the debtor is
considered the owner of the vehicle and the certificate of title is issued and delivered
to the debtor if the debtor has the immediate right of possession of the vehicle.
This bill requires DOT, if there is a perfected security interest in a motor
vehicle, to deliver the certificate of title to the secured party having the primary
perfected security interest in the vehicle. DOT may deliver a certificate of title by
electronic transmission. The bill also permits an application for a certificate of title
and related forms to be in an automated format.
Under current law, with specific exceptions, a person suffering damage caused
by the negligent operation of a motor vehicle that is owned and operated by a political
subdivision of this state may file a claim for damages and commence a lawsuit
against that political subdivision. Under this bill, a political subdivision is not liable
for damages caused by the operation of a snowplow if the damage occurred while the
snowplow was engaged in the removal or treatment of snow or ice.
Currently, most motor vehicle registrants may obtain for their vehicles special
license plates that identify the bearer as affiliated with a special group. No
additional fee is assessed to issue or reissue special plates associated with
endangered resources, but an additional fee of $15 is assessed to issue or reissue
special plates related to certain campuses of the University of Wisconsin System and
an additional fee of $10 is assessed to issue or reissue all other special plates. This
bill provides that an additional fee of $15 is assessed for the issuance or reissuance
of all special plates, including endangered resources special plates.
In addition, current law assesses fees of $5 or $10 for issuance or reissuance of
license plates that identify the registrant as an ex-prisoner of war, national guard
member, amateur radio station licensee or collector of special interest vehicles. This
bill increases to $15 the fee to issue or reissue these license plates.
Under current law, a person who is required to demonstrate proof of financial
responsibility for the future with respect to the operation of motor vehicles must
submit or have submitted a written certification of insurance to DOT. This bill
provides that, if an insurer submits more than 1,000 such certifications (or
recertifications) of insurance in any year, the insurer must pay to DOT a transaction
fee of $1.50 per certification or recertification that is not transmitted electronically
to DOT.
Current law prescribes an annual vehicle registration fee of $12 for a mobile
home that is 25 feet or less in length, and $18 for a mobile home that is more than
25 feet in length. The annual vehicle registration fee for a camping trailer that
weighs more than 3,000 pounds is the same as the fee for a mobile home of the same
length.
This bill establishes a single annual vehicle registration fee of $15 for a mobile
home that is 45 feet or less in length and for a camping trailer that weighs more than
3,000 pounds.
The bill also prohibits DOT from registering or initially titling mobile homes
that are more than 45 feet in length. The effect is that security interests given in
these mobile homes must be perfected by filing a financing statement with the
department of financial institutions, instead of DOT.
Current law prescribes a $5 annual registration fee for a semitrailer that
weighs more than 3,000 pounds, that is owned by or leased to a farmer and that is
used exclusively to transport farming supplies or produce. This bill allows such a
semitrailer to be permanently registered for $50, except that the owner of a
semitrailer currently registered under the annual registration fee may permanently
register the semitrailer for $5.
Current law requires DOT to issue distinctive license plates for driver
education vehicles. This bill eliminates this requirement.
Transportation aids
Current federal law authorizes the U.S. department of transportation to
distribute $150,000,000 in federal funds to up to 10 states accepted to participate in
a transportation infrastructure bank pilot program. Federal funds, matched by a
25% contribution of funds from the participating state, may be provided by the state
to cities, villages, towns and counties (political subdivisions) to assist with highway
and transit capital projects. Such assistance may be provided in the form of loans,
credit enhancements, interest rate subsidies or similar financial assistance.
This bill creates a transportation infrastructure loan and assistance program
to be administered by DOT, with the approval of the department of administration
(DOA), to provide loans and other financial assistance to political subdivisions for
highway and transit capital projects. Recipients must repay any loans or assistance
provided by this state under the program. The bill authorizes DOT to receive federal
grants designated for the program, to meet federal requirements for contributions
of state funds to the program and to issue $100 in revenue bonds for the program.
The bill requires DOT and DOA to promulgate rules, consistent with applicable
federal requirements, that establish eligibility criteria for applicants and projects
and that establish the terms and conditions of loans and assistance under the
program.
The bill also creates a segregated fund, called the transportation infrastructure
loan fund, consisting of all moneys related to the program.
This bill allows DOT to make aid payments to a professional baseball park
district for the state's share of costs for the development of transportation-related
facilities, including highways and bridges, associated with the construction of a new
stadium to be used by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Rail and air transportation
Under current law, the state may issue up to $14,500,000 in general obligation
bonds for the acquisition of rail property and for grants and loans awarded by DOT
for certain rail property acquisitions and improvements. This bill increases this
authorized bonding limit to $19,000,000.
Under current law, the office of the commissioner of railroads (OCR) is
primarily funded by collections of annual assessments against railroads. The
assessments are based on expenditures of OCR, but may not exceed an amount equal
to 1.75% of the prior year's gross operating revenues of the railroads that are derived
from intrastate operations.
This bill bases the annual assessments collected from railroads not on the
expenditures of OCR, but on an amount equal to 1.75% of the prior year's gross
operating revenues of the railroads that are derived from intrastate operations. Any
balance remaining after funding the operations of OCR is required to be used for
railroad crossing protection improvements.
Under current law, DOT administers a rail passenger service assistance and
promotion program. Under the program, DOT may contract with Amtrak and other
railroads. DOT may also contract for marketing studies and promotional activities,
subject to a local matching contribution requirement.
This bill makes changes in the program by permitting DOT to do any of the
following:
1. Acquire equipment and to sell or lease the equipment.
2. Enter into agreements with other states to assist or promote rail passenger
service.
3. Contract with other persons with respect to rail passenger service. The bill
also allows DOT to enter into contracts with respect to rail passenger service without
competitive bidding or competitive sealed proposals.
4. Conduct marketing studies and promotional activities related to rail
passenger service. The bill also eliminates the local matching contribution
requirement with respect to contracts for marketing studies or promotional
activities.
This bill increases from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000 this state's authority to
issue general obligation bonds to finance grants awarded by DOT for harbor
improvements.
Under current law, DOT administers several programs related to aesthetic and
qualitative enhancements of transportation facilities. This bill creates a
transportation enhancement activities program, to be administered consistent with
federal regulations that govern the use of federal funds for such activities.
Under current law, DOT maintains a state traffic patrol to enforce and assist
in the administration of traffic and parking laws. Among other duties, the state
traffic patrol currently provides escort services, for a reasonable charge, to oversize
or overweight vehicles traveling upon a highway whenever such an escort is
considered necessary.
This bill allows DOT to impose a fee for security and traffic enforcement
services provided by the state traffic patrol at any public event that charges
spectators an admission fee, if the event is organized by a private organization.
Veterans and military affairs
Currently, a veteran is eligible for loans of up to $5,000 under the economic
assistance loan program for the purchase of numerous items, including a business,
the education of the veteran or his or her children and for repairing or adding to his
or her business or property. Current law also provides for loans of up to $15,000 to
veterans under the veterans trust fund stabilization loan program for the purchase
of a mobile home, the payment of medical or funeral expenses, consolidation of debt
or for the items included in the economic assistance loan program.
This bill abolishes these 2 programs and instead establishes a veterans
personal loan program to make loans to veterans and veterans' dependents for some
of the items covered in the 2 abolished programs. The bill limits a loan to $15,000,
or a lesser amount if established by the department of veterans affairs (DVA) by rule,
and eliminates use of the loans for home additions or garage construction. Under the
new program, a veteran's remarried surviving spouse or the parent of a deceased
veteran's children may receive a loan for the education of certain children of the
veteran.
Currently, veterans applying for an economic assistance loan are subject to an
income limit of $36,600 plus $500 for each dependent in excess of 2 dependents. This
new loan program has no income limit. Currently, mortgage loans to veterans are
provided from the veterans mortgage loan repayment fund. This bill permits DVA
to loan moneys from the veterans mortgage loan repayment fund to the veterans
trust fund in order to provide loans to veterans under the veterans trust fund loan
stabilization program (renamed the veterans personal loan program under the bill).
Currently DVA makes loans to veterans for the purchase of a mobile home, a
home, rehabilitation of a home, and other home-related improvements. This bill
prohibits DVA from making a loan under this program for the purchase of a home
that exceeds 2.5 times the median price of a home in this state.
Currently, all loans under this program must be secured by a mortgage on the
real estate involved. This bill requires loans of $3,000 or less to be secured by a
guarantor or by a mortgage on the real estate involved.
Currently, veterans who served in the U.S. armed forces during peacetime are
not eligible for certain veterans benefits. Peacetime veterans are those veterans who
served in the U.S. armed forces during a period when no war or specified
engagement, such as in Bosnia, was occurring, for 2 consecutive years, for the full
period of their initial obligation or who, during that period, were discharged by
reason of hardship or a service-connected disability or released due to a reduction
in the U.S. armed forces.
This bill requires county veterans' service officers to provide a decent and
respectable burial for peacetime veterans. The bill adds the burial places of
peacetime veterans to those that DVA is required to record. The bill makes peacetime
veterans eligible for the veteran's tuition and fee reimbursement program, the
veterans personal loan program, the correspondence and part-time classroom study
program, the retraining grant program, the veterans housing loan program and
admission to the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King. The bill also prohibits barring
from public employment peacetime veterans who suffered a physical disability as a
direct result of military service.
Currently, a veteran is eligible to receive reimbursement for 50% of the
veteran's tuition and fees, other than textbooks and certain other costs, for classes
as an undergraduate in the University of Wisconsin (UW) System or for classes in
any state technical college. In addition, a veteran is eligible to receive
reimbursement of up to $300 per course and reimbursement for the costs of necessary
textbooks from the correspondence course and part-time classroom study program.
In most cases, the course must be through a public or private high school or
institution of higher education located in this state. The current retraining grant
program allows DVA to give a veteran up to $3,000 for retraining to obtain gainful
employment if the retraining takes place at an institution of higher education located
in this state or in certain approved on-the-job training programs.
This bill expands the schools that a veteran may attend under the tuition and
fee reimbursement program to include those institutions of higher education in
Minnesota that waive nonresident tuition under the Minnesota-Wisconsin student
reciprocity agreement. The bill allows a veteran to apply under the tuition and fee
reimbursement program for courses completed within 10 years of his or her
separation from service, instead of within 6 years of that separation, as currently
provided. The bill limits the tuition and fee reimbursement to 50% of the cost for a
resident to attend an equivalent undergraduate course at the UW-Madison. The bill
also eliminates reimbursement for the cost of textbooks under the correspondence
course and part-time classroom study program.
Currently, the health care aid grant program expires on June 30, 1997. This
bill continues the program, which provides grants to veterans or their dependents
to meet medical or hospital bills of up to $5,000 for a maximum of 30 days within a
one-year period, until June 30, 1999. The bill requires DVA to deny a health care
aid grant application if the combined liquid assets of the veteran and veteran's
dependents who are living in the same household are in excess of $1,000. Currently,
no limit is placed on liquid assets.
Currently, DVA makes a payment to each state veterans organization that
maintains a full-service office at the U.S. department of veterans affairs regional
office. The payment is equal to 25% of the organization's salaries and travel expenses
paid to employes located at the regional office and engaged in veterans claims
services. The payment is limited to a minimum of the lesser of the total salaries and
travel expenses or $2,500 but not more than $15,000. This bill allows DVA to make
an additional performance incentive award to an organization that receives a
payment.
Currently, DVA administers a veterans rehabilitation program to assist
veterans who are in need of services because of homelessness, incarceration or other
reasons as designated by rule. Services may include medical care, dental care,
education, employment and transitional housing. This bill eliminates the
requirement that the services provided be rehabilitative and allows DVA to charge
fees for services provided.
Currently, a veteran must be over 50 years of age to be eligible for admission
to the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King, except that a disabled veteran under 50
years of age may be admitted if he or she is unable to obtain adequate care from the
federal government. This bill eliminates this eligibility requirement.
Currently, DVA awards grants to counties to provide services to veterans
through the county veterans' service offices. The award amounts are up to $1,000
for an initial year, up to $3,000 for the next year and up to $5,000 for any subsequent
year. This bill changes the grant to a combination of a basic award, depending on the
population of the county, and a production incentive award. The basic award ranges
from $8,500 for counties with populations under 20,000 to $13,000 for counties with
populations over 75,000. The amount of the production incentive award is
determined by criteria to be promulgated by DVA by rule.
This bill raises the amount of general obligation bonds that the building
commission may issue to fund veterans' housing loans by $40,000,000.
The department of military affairs (DMA) was given the authority in
1995
Wisconsin Act 27 to sell the national guard armory located in Whitefish Bay. The
proceeds of the sale were to be used to pay any bonds related to the construction or
purchase of the property and the remainder was to be used for tuition grants for
national guard members. This bill provides that the remainder of the sale proceeds
may be used for the payment of municipal assessments related to state-owned
military property and the purchase, rental, repair and maintenance of state-owned
military property.
Under current law, an eligible national guard member, upon completion of a
course at a qualified school, is eligible for a grant equal to 50% of the tuition charged
or 50% of the resident undergraduate tuition charged by the UW-Madison for a
comparative number of credits, whichever is less. This bill increases the percentage
paid from 50% to 100% of each tuition amount.
This bill requests the joint legislative audit committee to direct the legislative
audit bureau to perform a financial and performance evaluation audit of the
expenditures of the emergency response teams that respond to Level A releases of
hazardous substances. Level A releases involve the release of the most dangerous
hazardous substances, requiring the highest level of protection for the person
involved in containing the releases.
Other
This bill will be referred to the joint survey committee on tax exemptions for a
detailed analysis, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
Because this bill directly or substantially affects the development,
construction, cost or availability of housing in this state, the department of
administration, as required by law, will prepare a report to be printed as an appendix
to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
