In addition, in the 2nd fiscal year of a fiscal biennium, the bill authorizes the
board of regents to spend for degree credit instruction, in addition to the amounts
described above, an amount equal to 5% of the sum of the amount appropriated for
this purpose and the 5% amount determined in the previous fiscal year, if sufficient
revenues are available.
Current law authorizes the board of regents of the of the UW System to transfer
moneys in program revenue appropriations to other program revenue
appropriations. The moneys must be repaid before the end of the fiscal year in which
the transfer was made.
This bill allows the board of regents, upon the request of the UW-Extension or
any institution or center within the system, to transfer surplus moneys from the
program revenue appropriation for auxiliary enterprises (such as housing facilities,
dining halls and parking facilities) to a newly created program revenue
appropriation for the one-time, fixed-duration costs of any student-related activity.
The moneys need not be repaid.
Current law prohibits the board of regents of the UW System from
accumulating any auxiliary reserve funds from student fees unless the fees and the
reserve funds are approved by the secretary of administration and JCF. This bill
eliminates this provision.
Current law requires the board of regents of the UW System to charge a $28 fee
for each application for admittance to the UW System except that the board must
charge a $38 fee for each application to a graduate school, law school or medical
school within the system. This bill increases the fees to $35 and $45, effective with
applications for admittance in the fall of 1998.

Current law authorizes the board of regents of the UW System, in the 1993-94
to 1996-97 academic years, to exempt from nonresident tuition up to 200 juniors and
seniors enrolled at the UW-Parkside in programs with surplus capacity and up to
150 students enrolled at the UW-Superior in programs with surplus capacity. This
bill extends the tuition award program through the 1998-99 fiscal biennium.
Current law also directs the board of regents to charge a student who is exempt
from nonresident tuition under the tuition award program either the resident tuition
charged at the institution in which the student is enrolled or the resident tuition
charged by the public, 4-year institution closest to the student's permanent
residence. This bill eliminates this provision. The bill also eliminates the
requirement that the board of regents submit an annual report to the secretary of
administration regarding the proposed tuition level for each student who is exempt
from nonresident tuition under the program.
Under current law, moneys for degree credit instruction at the UW System are
provided to the board of regents of the UW System in a single, sum certain
appropriation. This bill creates a separate appropriation for credit outreach
instruction sponsored by the UW-Extension under which the board is permitted to
spend without limitation any revenue collected from that instruction.
Currently, with certain exceptions, no position may be created or abolished
unless authorized by law, by JCF or, for positions funded from federal revenue, by
the governor. Current law allows the board of regents of the UW System to create
or abolish positions funded from certain appropriations. This bill allows the board
of regents to create or abolish positions funded from the newly created appropriation
for UW-Extension credit instruction.
Other educational and cultural agencies
Currently, the educational technology board (ETB) awards state "pioneering
partners" grants and approves state trust fund loans and loan interest subsidies to
certain local governments for the purpose of implementing, expanding or
participating in educational technology projects or distance education projects
(projects involving the use of communications equipment to facilitate long-distance
instruction).
This bill eliminates the ETB and the pioneering partners program. The bill
retains state trust fund loans for educational technology and distance education
projects (although eliminating ETB involvement) and extends until the 2002-03
fiscal year the reserve of $15,000,000 for such loans to school districts, counties,
municipalities and consortia of certain local governments. Currently, the reserve
applies only through the 1999-2000 fiscal year.
The bill creates a technology for educational achievement in Wisconsin board
(TEAWB) composed of the state superintendent of public instruction, the secretary
of administration and 7 other members, one of whom must be a member of the board
of regents of the UW System and one of whom must be a member of the TCS board.

The bill authorizes the governor to appoint an executive director of the TEAWB
outside the classified service and authorizes the executive director to appoint
subordinate staff, subject to authorization of positions for the TEAWB.
The bill directs the TEAWB to promote the efficient, cost-effective
procurement, installation and maintenance of educational technology by school
districts, CESAs, technical college districts and the UW System. The TEAWB is
specifically directed to support the development of courses and, with the consent of
DOA, enter into cooperative purchasing agreements whereby school districts and
CESA's may contract for courses to be provided to professional employes concerning
the effective use of educational technology.
The bill creates a subsidized educational technology infrastructure loan
program. Under the program, the state is authorized to issue general obligation
bonds in a total amount not to exceed $50,000,000 before July 1, 1998, and
$100,000,000 thereafter. The term of this debt may not exceed 10 years. The
proceeds of these bonds are used to make subsidized educational technology
infrastructure loans to school districts. The loans may be used for the purpose of
upgrading electrical wiring of existing school buildings and installing and upgrading
computer network wiring. The application procedures, terms and conditions for the
loans are set primarily by rules to be promulgated by the TEAWB, except that the
interest rate is to be set based on the state's interest expenses and the expenses of
providing reserves against default. The bill directs DOA to provide or contract for
the provision of building construction services on behalf of school districts for the
installation or maintenance of electrical and computer network wiring, at the
expense of the school districts, if the districts finance that installation or
maintenance with loans from the TEAWB. The repayment of the loans is subsidized
so that school districts only pay 50% of the total debt service on the loans.
The bill appropriates moneys to the TEAWB to award grants to CESAs and
school districts for educational technology purposes. The bill also appropriates to the
TEAWB moneys from the common school fund to be distributed to school districts for
educational technology purposes.
The bill also permits DOA to accept orders from the TEAWB on behalf of school
districts, CESAs, technical college districts and the UW System for the purchase of
educational technology materials, supplies, equipment and contractual services.
The bill permits school districts, CESAs and public educational institutions to lease
educational technology equipment from the TEAWB with an option to purchase the
equipment.
The bill appropriates moneys to the board of regents of the UW System to carry
out educational technology projects, including the student information system, the
development of curricula to train students enrolled in the schools of education in the
use of educational technology in primary and secondary schools, to provide faculty
with educational technology and to train faculty in its use.
The bill appropriates moneys to the TCS board to award grants to district
boards for faculty development programs in the use of emerging technologies in
curriculum and instruction.

The bill requires the public service commission (PSC), in consultation with the
TEAWB and DOA, to establish an educational telecommunications access program
under which school districts are provided with high-speed data transfer lines (data
lines) or 2-way interactive video links (video links). Under the program, DOA
contracts with telecommunications providers for the data lines and video links and
charges a school district not more than $250 per month per data line or video link.
Any costs incurred by DOA that exceed $250 per month are paid from the universal
service fund, which is a state segregated fund that consists of contributions made by
certain telecommunications service providers and that is used to promote universal
access to telecommunications services.
Under current law, the educational communications board (ECB) funds
distance education projects by making matching grants to school boards, CESAs,
technical college district boards, or institutions or centers within the UW System,
individually or collectively. This bill eliminates the funding of distance education
projects by the ECB.
The 1995-97 biennial budget act (1995 Wisconsin Act 27) eliminated the higher
educational aids board (HEAB), which was an independent agency, and transferred
its responsibilities for administering the state's student financial aid system to the
newly created department of education (DOE). 1995 Wisconsin Act 27 also
eliminated the educational approval board (EAB), which was attached to the TCS
board, and transferred its responsibilities for approving veterans' education and
training programs and regulating private vocational and technical schools to DOE.
On March 29, 1996, the Wisconsin supreme court held that the creation of DOE was
unconstitutional and therefore void. Thompson v. Craney, 199 Wis. 2d 674. In its
opinion, the court did not explicitly address the elimination of HEAB and EAB and
the transfer of their functions to DOE.
This bill recreates HEAB and EAB, and restores the powers and duties of these
boards to those that existed prior to their elimination, except that the bill attaches
EAB to HEAB instead of to the TCS board. (See Primary and secondary education.)
Under current law, this state has entered into a student reciprocity agreement
with the state of Minnesota. For residents of either state attending public
postsecondary institutions in the other state, the agreement provides a nonresident
tuition waiver for enrollment in vocational schools and a reciprocal fee structure for
enrollment in other higher education institutions. The reciprocal fee is the average
academic fee that would be charged the student at a comparable higher education
institution in his or her state of residence.
This bill allows the agreement to provide a different reciprocal fee for Wisconsin
residents enrolled in the University of Minnesota Law School. For these students,
the different reciprocal fee may be the same fee that a Minnesota resident is charged
for enrollment in the University of Minnesota Law School.
This bill permits the state historical society to charge a fee for research services
that the historical society provides to nonresidents who are not present when the

services are being performed. The historical society may not charge a fee unless it
has established a fee schedule and submitted it to JCF for its review.
Employment
Under current law, each school board in the state must provide access to an
education for employment program approved by the state superintendent of public
instruction. Also, under current law, the department of industry, labor and job
development (DILJD) provides a school-to-work program under the federal
school-to-work opportunities act. This bill merges the education for employment
programs provided by school boards into the school-to-work program provided by
DILJD. Under the bill, DILJD may award grants to school boards that provide local
school-to-work programs. The bill requires a school-to-work program to link
school-based and work-based learning, academic and technical education and
secondary and postsecondary education and to include work-based learning
opportunities for high school students, a system of career guidance activities for high
school students and the coordination of high school courses with technical college
system and University of Wisconsin courses for the purpose of providing
postsecondary credits for high school students.
The bill also permits DILJD to award a grant to a nonprofit organization that
provides an innovative school-to-work program for children at risk, that is, children
who are behind their age group in the number of high school credits attained or in
basic skill levels and who are dropouts, habitual truants, parents or adjudicated
delinquents, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more (Milwaukee County)
to assist those children in acquiring employability skills and occupational-specific
competencies before leaving high school.
Under current law, DILJD may award grants to nonprofit corporations and
public agencies for the provision of career counseling centers throughout the state.
This bill requires DILJD to allocate in each fiscal year $600,000 in program revenues
received from interest and penalty payments under the unemployment
compensation program to provide grants for career counseling centers.
Under current law, DILJD awards grants to nonprofit organizations and public
agencies that are responsible for the training of youth apprentices. A nonprofit
organization or public agency that is awarded a youth apprenticeship grant must use
the funds to award training grants to employers who provide on-the-job training
and supervision for youth apprentices. Currently, a training grant may not exceed
50% of a youth apprentice's hourly wage or $4 per hour, whichever is less, and may
not be awarded for more than 500 hours of work per youth apprentice in any school
year. This bill permits DILJD to award training grants directly to employers who
provide at least 180 hours of training for each youth apprentice during a school year.
The bill also eliminates the current caps on a training grant and instead limits a
training grant to $500 per youth apprentice per school year and to 2 school years per
youth apprentice.

Under current law affecting members of a police department of a 1st class city
(currently, only the city of Milwaukee), if the representative of a collective bargaining
unit consisting of the members of the police department and the representative of the
city reach an impasse, either party may petition the employment relations
commission to appoint an arbitrator to determine the wages, hours and working
conditions of the employes in the collective bargaining unit. Under current law, in
determining the proper compensation to be received by the employes, the arbitrator
must utilize both of the following factors:
1. The most recently published U.S. bureau of labor statistics "Standards of
Living Budgets for Urban Families, Moderate and Higher Level".
2. The average annual increases in the consumer price index since the last
adjustment in compensation for the employes.
This bill eliminates the requirement that the arbitrator utilize the 2 factors
specified above and instead requires that the arbitrator consider all of the following
factors, with the first factor being given the greatest weight and each successive
factor being given less weight than the one that precedes it:
1. Comparison of all of the items of compensation of the employes with such
items of compensation of other municipal law enforcement officers in the
metropolitan area in which the city is located.
2. Comparison of the respective crime rates, and workloads of and risks of
injury to law enforcement officers, in the city and any other jurisdiction in the
metropolitan area in which the city is located.
3. The increase in the cost of living during the term of the predecessor collective
bargaining agreement.
4. Comparison of all of the items of compensation of the employes with such
items of compensation of other municipal law enforcement officers in comparable
communities in this state.
5. Comparison of all of the items of compensation of the employes with such
items of compensation of other protective service employes in the city.
For the purposes of this bill, the items of compensation include base wages;
longevity pay; health, accident and disability insurance programs; pension
programs, including amount of pension, relative contributions and all eligibility
conditions; the terms and conditions of overtime compensation and compensatory
time; vacation pay and vacation eligibility; sickness pay amounts and sickness pay
eligibility; life insurance; uniform allowances; and any other similar item of
compensation.
Under current law, the Wisconsin conservation corps (WCC) board classifies its
enrollees as corps members, assistant crew leaders, crew leaders and regional crew
leaders. Under current law, the normal period of enrollment of a crew leader who is
not a regional or assistant crew leader is 2 years. Under this bill, the WCC board may
extend the enrollment period by up to an additional 2 years.
The bill also raises the maximum of a tuition voucher awarded to an enrollee
in the WCC from $2,400 to $2,600.

Under current state law governing the WCC, no WCC enrollee is eligible for
unemployment compensation benefits by virtue of his or her employment in the
WCC. Under current state law governing the unemployment compensation
program, employes of state agencies are potentially eligible for benefits. However,
an individual serving in a position receiving work relief or work training as a part
of a work-training or work-relief program assisted or funded by a state agency is not
eligible for benefits based on such service except as the agency otherwise elects with
the approval DILJD.
This bill provides that any individual who serves as a WCC member or assistant
crew leader in the WCC is not eligible for unemployment compensation benefits
based on such service, irrespective of whether the individual is participating in a
work-relief or work-training program, and irrespective of any election by the WCC
board.
Environment
Water quality
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act was amended in 1996 to provide funding
to states for revolving loan programs to fund projects that will facilitate compliance
with national drinking water regulations or otherwise further the health protection
objectives of the act.
This bill requires the department of natural resources (DNR) and the
department of administration (DOA) to administer a safe drinking water loan
program under which this state accepts the federal funding made available under
the Safe Drinking Water Act, issues general obligation bonds to provide the required
state matching funds and makes loans to local governmental units for projects to
protect or improve drinking water quality. The loans are at 55% of market interest
rate for most local governmental units and at 33% of market interest rate for local
governmental units that meet financial eligibility criteria established by DNR,
except that the joint committee on finance (JCF) may change the interest rates at the
request of DNR and DOA. DNR must establish funding lists for eligible projects,
with priority given to projects that address the most serious risks to human health,
that are necessary to ensure compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and that
assist local governmental units that are most in need on a per household basis.
This bill creates a program to guarantee loans for projects to improve the
quality of drinking water provided by certain water systems that are not owned by
local governmental units. The Wisconsin housing and economic development
authority (WHEDA) guarantees the loans and DNR establishes the eligibility
requirements and determines whether loans are eligible for guarantees. Federal
funds provided under the Safe Drinking Water Act are used to guarantee the loans
and the bill requires the eligibility requirements for loan guarantees to be consistent
with federal requirements.
This bill authorizes DNR, with DOA's approval, to use up to 27% of the funds
provided under the Safe Drinking Water Act for other purposes related to drinking
water quality, including making loans for projects to protect the quality of the source
waters for drinking water systems. The bill also authorizes the governor to transfer

a portion of the federal funds provided under the Safe Drinking Water Act to the
clean water fund program, which provides funding primarily to sewage treatment
projects, or to transfer a portion of the federal funds provided for the clean water fund
program to the safe drinking water loan program. These transfers are authorized
by federal law.
The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes a state to have primary enforcement
authority over drinking water matters if the state satisfies certain requirements.
Currently, this state has primary enforcement authority. A federal law enacted in
1996 requires a state to have authority to impose administrative penalties for safe
drinking water violations in order to maintain primary enforcement authority. This
bill authorizes DNR to impose forfeitures (civil monetary penalties) for safe drinking
water violations.
Under current law, DNR, in conjunction with the department of agriculture,
trade and consumer protection (DATCP), the land and water conservation board
(LWCB) and local governmental units, administers a program to provide financial
assistance for measures to reduce water pollution from nonpoint (diffuse) sources.
Currently, under the nonpoint source program, DNR biennially recommends
watersheds to the LWCB for designation as priority watersheds and the LWCB
designates priority watersheds. DNR is required to complete the process of the
planning nonpoint source projects in all priority watersheds by December 31, 2015.
This bill requires DNR to prepare a list of the watersheds in this state in order
of the level of impairment of the waters in each watershed caused by nonpoint source
pollution and to submit the list to the LWCB no later than January 1, 1998. The bill
requires the LWCB to identify priority watersheds based on the list and
recommendations by DNR and DATCP. DNR and DATCP must limit the number of
watersheds that they recommend to the number that they determine will enable
DNR to comply with the December 31, 2015, planning deadline.
Under this bill, a governmental unit may request funding for a nonpoint source
project in a particular year by submitting an application to the LWCB no later than
July 15 of the preceding year. DNR must use criteria approved by the LWCB to score
each proposed project. Then, before November 1, the LWCB must select the projects
for funding in the next year.
Under current law, the LWCB may authorize the transfer of funds appropriated
to DNR for the nonpoint source program to DATCP for grants to certain farmers for
animal waste management facilities. The grants may be made only for facilities that
will be located in priority watersheds. This bill eliminates this requirement.
Under current law, persons who discharge pollutants to the waters of this state
from a point source, such as a factory, must obtain a permit from DNR. This bill
requires DNR to administer at least one pilot project to evaluate the trading of water
pollution credits. A pilot project may authorize a person required to obtain a water
pollution permit to increase the discharge of pollutants above levels that would
otherwise be authorized in the permit if the person reaches an agreement with
another person under which the other person agrees to reduce the amount of
pollution that the person causes or reaches an agreement with DNR or a local

governmental unit under which the person pays money to DNR or the local
governmental unit and DNR or the local governmental unit uses the money to reduce
water pollution.
Under the clean water fund program, this state provides financial assistance
for projects to control water pollution, including sewage treatment plants. The
budget act for each fiscal biennium establishes the present value of the subsidies that
may be provided under the clean water fund during that fiscal biennium. This bill
sets the present value of the clean water fund subsidies that may be provided during
the 1997-99 fiscal biennium at $82,400,000.
Current law provides 3 interest rates for clean water fund loans, 2 subsidized
rates plus the market interest rate, depending on the type of project to be funded by
the loan. Under current law, DNR establishes the subsidized interest rates by rule,
except that the joint committee on finance (JCF) may change the interest rates at the
request of DNR and DOA.
This bill establishes 3 clean water fund loan interest rates for projects that are
eligible for a subsidized interest rate, ranging from 55% to 70% of the market interest
rate, depending on the type of project, except that JCF may change the interest rates
at the request of DNR and DOA.
Current law requires DNR and DOA to prepare a biennial finance plan for the
clean water fund program. This bill eliminates the requirements that the plan
include projections of wastewater treatment needs and financial assistance to be
provided beyond the next fiscal biennium and that the plan describe the extent to
which the clean water fund will be maintained in perpetuity.
Current law requires each person who generates solid or hazardous waste to
pay, in addition to other fees, a well compensation fee of one cent per ton for each ton
of solid or hazardous waste disposed of by that generator. This bill increases the well
compensation fee paid by generators of solid or hazardous waste from one cent per
ton to 4 cents per ton.
Hazardous substances and environmental cleanup
This bill authorizes DNR and DOA to administer a land recycling loan program
under which this state provides loans to cities, villages, towns and counties (political
subdivisions) for projects to remedy environmental contamination at sites owned by
political subdivisions where the environmental contamination has affected, or
threatens to affect, groundwater or surface water. The loans are made from the
revolving loan fund used to fund the clean water fund program. The loans are at 55%
of market interest rate. Under the program, DNR must establish funding lists for
eligible projects with rankings based on the potential of projects to reduce
environmental pollution and threats to human health and, for sites that are not
landfills, the extent to which projects will prevent the development of undeveloped
land by making land available for redevelopment after a cleanup is conducted. The
bill prohibits a political subdivision from selling a site for which a loan was provided,
while the loan is outstanding, for less than fair market value. If a political

subdivision sells a site, it must use the proceeds to pay any outstanding loan balance,
but may retain a portion of the proceeds after paying the balance.
This bill eliminates a program under which DNR is authorized to use the
proceeds of general obligation bonds to make grants to political subdivisions for
investigations and cleanups of contaminated sites owned by political subdivisions.
Current law generally requires a person who possesses or controls a hazardous
substance that is discharged or who causes the discharge of a hazardous substance
to restore the environment to the extent practicable and to minimize the harmful
effects of the discharge on the environment. Under current law, a local government
that acquires land through tax delinquency or bankruptcy proceedings, or from
another local government that acquired land by such means, is exempt from
requirements relating to correcting discharges of hazardous substances on that land.
Under this bill, this exemption does not apply to a local government that fails
to take certain actions directed by DNR to reduce to acceptable levels any substantial
threat to public health or safety posed by the land when put to its intended use or if
the discharge is a discharge of a hazardous substance from a federally regulated
underground storage tank.
Under current law, a money lender that acquires land through enforcement of
a security interest is not liable for a discharge of a hazardous substance on that land
if, in addition to meeting other requirements, the lender conducts a DNR-approved
environmental assessment of the land within 90 days after acquiring the land. This
bill allows environmental assessments conducted before the lender acquired the land
to be used to satisfy this condition. However, if the prior assessment is conducted
more than one year before the lender acquires the land, the prior assessment may
not be used unless, within 90 days after acquiring the land, the lender visually
inspects the land to verify the accuracy of the environmental assessment, submits
the assessment and inspection results to DNR, corrects the assessment's
inadequacies and reimburses DNR for the cost of its review.
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