Under the full-time and part-time open enrollment programs, currently each
school board is required to adopt a resolution by December 1997 specifying various
school board criteria and policies relating to the programs.
This bill changes the date by which the resolution must be adopted to February
1, 1998.
Under current law, the technology for educational achievement in Wisconsin
board (the TEACH board) may make subsidized loans to school districts and to public
library boards for the purpose of upgrading the electrical wiring of school and library
buildings and for the purpose of installing and upgrading computer network wiring.
These subsidized loans are funded with public debt contracted by the state. Under
current law, the term of the state public debt used to fund the subsidized loans may
not exceed 10 years. This bill removes this restriction on the term of the public debt
used to fund the subsidized loans and instead provides that the term of the
subsidized loans made to school districts and public library boards may not exceed
10 years.
Under current law, the public service commission (PSC) must promulgate rules
establishing an educational telecommunications access program under which
certain educational entities, including private schools, are provided access to data
lines and video circuits. The educational entities are required to pay a certain
portion of the cost of such access. The costs in excess of this portion are paid from
the universal service fund, which is also used to fund certain other programs.
Certain telecommunications providers and other persons are required to contribute
to the universal service fund. The PSC must designate a method for calculating the
required contributions that ensures that the contributions are sufficient to pay the
cost of the educational telecommunications access program that is in excess of the
portion that is paid by educational entities that are not private schools.
Under this bill, the method for calculating the required contributions to the
universal service fund must also ensure that the contributions are sufficient to pay
the cost of the educational telecommunications access program that is in excess of
the portion that is paid by private schools.
Under current law, the technology for educational achievement in Wisconsin
board (board) awards grants from the universal service fund to certain school
districts to pay a portion of the costs incurred under certain contracts for
telecommunications access that the school districts entered into before October 14,
1997. The PSC is required to use the moneys in the universal service fund only for
specified purposes which do not include the grants awarded by the board to the school
districts. This bill specifies that the PSC may use the universal fund to make the
grants awarded by the board to school districts.
Environment and natural resources
Under current law, this state awards grants to local governmental units for the
operation of local recycling programs. The grants are funded through the year 2000.
This bill specifies that the eligibility requirements and the formula for
determining the amount of the grant for the year 2000 are the same requirements
and formula used for 1999. The bill also establishes the year 2000 as the sunset date
of the grant program.
This bill corrects a reference to the location of a boat landing for which Richland
County received funding under the recreational boating project program in the 1997
biennial budget act.
Current law authorizes the environmental education board to award grants to
nonprofit corporations and public agencies to develop, disseminate and present
environmental education programs. Moneys are appropriated from the conservation
fund for such grants that are related to forestry.
This bill allows the environmental education board to use up to 5% of the
amount appropriated from the conservation fund to administer the grants that are
related to forestry.
Under current law, state fish hatcheries, the propagation, transportation and
transplanting of fish by the department of natural resources (DNR), the removal of
deleterious fish by DNR, the transportation of fish in or out of the state by other
states or by the federal government and the transportation and sale of fish by any
person are exempt from any law that protects wild animals. This bill limits this
exemption for the transportation and sale of fish to those fish that are raised on fish
farms.
This bill eliminates 2 references in the statutes to the environmental
performance council, which was proposed to be created in the 1997 budget bill but
was deleted from the budget bill in the legislative process.
This bill also makes 2 minor adjustments in appropriations to DNR.
This bill provides funding to the department of natural resources to study fish
in the Great Lakes.
Social services
Currently, a person who is found by a jury or a judge to be be a sexually violent
person must be committed to the custody of the department of health and family
services (DHFS) for control, care and treatment. A sexually violent person is a
person who has committed certain sexually violent offenses and who is dangerous
because he or she suffers from a mental disorder that makes it substantially probable
that the person will engage in acts of sexual violence. A person found to be a sexually
violent person must be committed either to institutional care or for supervised
release to the community. A person initially committed to institutional care is placed
in a mental health facility by DHFS, but the person may later be given supervised
release if it is no longer substantially probable that the person will engage in acts of
sexual violence if he or she is not confined in a mental health unit or facility.
Generally, if a sexually violent person is given supervised release, the social
services department of the person's county of residence must prepare a plan
identifying the treatment and services the person will receive in the community. If
the county of residence declines to prepare such a plan, DHFS must try to arrange
for another county to prepare a plan for the person and accept the supervision and
residence of the person.
However, if DHFS cannot get another county to prepare a plan, the court must
designate a county to prepare a plan and place the person on supervised release in
that county, except that the court may not designate the county where the facility in
which the person was committed for institutional care is located unless that county
is also the person's county of residence.
This bill provides that if a sexually violent person is being given supervised
release and the court must designate a county to prepare a plan for and accept the
supervision and residence of the person, the court may not designate any county
where there is a facility in which persons are placed after being committed to
institutional care for being a sexually violent predator, regardless of whether the
person was actually placed in the facility of that county, unless that county is the
person's county of residence.
Under current law, the department of workforce development may request from
any person any information that it determines is appropriate and necessary for the
administration of child and spousal support programs and certain economic support
programs, such as aid to families with dependent children and medical assistance.
The person is required to provide the information within 7 days of receiving the
request. This bill adds the Wisconsin works program to the list of economic support
programs covered by the provision.
Under current law, certain specified services under the medical assistance
program are not subject to recipient cost sharing or "copayments", including
specialized medical vehicle services (SMV services) .
1997 Wisconsin Act 27 reduced
medical assistance benefits funding to reflect benefit savings from the creation of a
copayment for SMV services, but did not amend the statutory prohibition on
copayments for SMV services. This bill removes that statutory prohibition.
Under current law, an individual may receive a child care subsidy under the
Wisconsin works program for child care needed to obtain a high school diploma or to
participate in a course of study for a declaration of equivalency of high school
graduation (GED), if the individual meets certain eligibility requirements. Among
other things, the individual must be under 20 years of age and must reside in certain
types of supervised living arrangements. These supervised living arrangements
include residency with a custodial parent or a kinship care relative and residency in
a foster home, a group home or an independent living arrangement supervised by an
adult. This bill modifies these eligibility requirements so that the supervised living
arrangement requirement applies only to persons under 18.
Currently, DHFS must allocate $1,224,000 of general purpose revenues in each
fiscal year to county aging units to provide benefit specialist services for persons who
are aged at least 60. DHFS must also allocate $132,500 in each fiscal year to area
agencies on aging for training, supervision and legal back-up services for benefit
specialists. Under
1997 Wisconsin Act 27 (the biennial budget act), although the
appropriation amount for these purposes was increased, after partial veto, to provide
$2,348,400 in each fiscal year for elderly benefit specialist services, the statutes
authorizing this program were not correspondingly changed.
This bill requires DHFS to allocate $2,298,400 in general purpose revenues to
counties in each fiscal year to provide elderly benefit specialist services. The bill also
requires DHFS to allocate $182,500 in general purpose revenues to area agencies on
aging in each fiscal year for training, supervision and legal back-up services for
benefit specialists.
Under current law, on January 1, 1998, DHFS takes over from the Milwaukee
County department of social services the responsibility for providing child welfare
services in Milwaukee County. Current law requires Milwaukee County to
contribute $31,280,700 in state fiscal year 1997-98 and $62,561,400 in state fiscal
year 1998-99 for the provision of those services. This bill adjusts those amounts to
$30,489,200 in state fiscal year 1997-98 and $60,978,400 in state fiscal year
1998-99.
Under current law, a county department of human services or social services
(county department) must conduct a criminal background investigation of all
persons applying for kinship care payments (kinship care relatives), of all employes
and prospective employes of a kinship care relative who have or would have regular
contact with the child for whom the kinship care payments are being made and of all
adult residents and prospective adult residents of the home of a kinship care relative.
As part of the background investigation, the county department must require the
person being investigated to be photographed and fingerprinted, if the person is, or
within the last 5 years has been, a nonresident or if the county department
determines that there is a reasonable basis for further investigation. This bill
eliminates the requirement that a county department require a person meeting any
of those criteria be photographed.
Under current law, DHFS may not license a person to operate certain facilities
that provide care for children or adults (entities), for example, child caring
institutions, group homes, foster homes, day care centers, community-based
residential facilities and nursing homes, if DHFS knows or should know that the
person has been convicted of, or has pending against him or her a charge for, a serious
crime, as defined by DHFS by rule, that the person has been found to have abused
or neglected a client or a child or to have misappropriated the property of a client or,
if the person must be credentialed by the department of regulation and licensing
(DORL), that the person's credential is not current or is limited so as to prevent the
person from providing adequate care to a client, unless the person demonstrates that
he or she has been rehabilitated. Similarly, under current law, an entity may not hire
or contract with a person who will be under the entity's control and who is expected
to have access to the entity's clients and may not permit to reside at the entity a
person who is expected to have access to the entity's clients if the entity knows or
should know that any of those conditions apply to that person, unless the person
demonstrates that he or she has been rehabilitated. Current law requires DHFS to
obtain, with respect to a person applying for a license to operate an entity, and an
entity to obtain, with respect to a prospective employe, contractor or resident, a
criminal history search, information contained in the client abuse registry
maintained by DHFS, information maintained by DORL regarding the status of the
person's credentials, if applicable, and information maintained by DHFS regarding
any substantiated reports of child abuse or neglect against the person (criminal
history search and abuse record law).
This bill makes all of the following changes relating to the criminal history and
abuse record search law:
1. Extends the applicability of the law to prohibiting DHFS not only from
licensing, but also from certifying or registering a person to operate an entity if the
person is a person who may not be licensed under current law.
2. Limits the application of the law to children and adults who receive direct
care or treatment services from an entity and to entities that are licensed or certified
by, or registered with, but not otherwise regulated by, DHFS to provide direct care
or treatment to clients. The bill also excludes public health dispensaries from
coverage under the law.
3. Requires DHFS, in defining by rule "serious crime" for purposes of the law,
to include in that definition not only crimes involving abuse or neglect of a client for
which a person may not demonstrate that he or she has been rehabilitated, but also
crimes involving misappropriation of the property of a client or abuse or neglect of
a client for which a person may demonstrate that he or she has been rehabilitated.
The bill also requires DHFS to establish a separate list of crimes or acts involving
abuse or neglect of a client for which no person may demonstrate that he or she has
been rehabilitated. Under current law, the list of offenses for which no person may
demonstrate that he or she has been rehabilitated is limited to certain offenses listed
in the statutes.
4. Requires an entity to report to DHFS, for inclusion in the client abuse
registry, and to report to DORL, for purposes of credentialing a person,
misappropriation only of a client's property, and not of any property, by a person
employed by or under contract with the entity.
5. Transfers from the entity to DHFS the responsibility for investigating the
background of a resident or prospective resident of the entity who is expected to have
access to the entity's clients.
6. Includes among the information that DHFS must obtain in investigating the
background of a person applying for a license, certification or registration to operate
an entity for the care of adults and of a prospective resident of an entity and that an
entity providing care for adults must obtain in investigating the background of a
prospective employe or contractor, information regarding any previous denials of a
license, certification or registration or of employment, a contract or permission to
reside at an entity for a reason specified under current law. Under current law,
DHFS must obtain that information with respect to a person applying for a license
to operate an entity to provide care for children, but not for adults, and an entity that
provides care for children, but not for adults, must obtain that information with
respect to a prospective employe, contractor or resident.
7. Requires an entity, which under current law may obtain the information
required under current law with respect to a person from another entity or from a
temporary employment agency if the other entity or temporary employment agency
has already obtained that information with respect to that person within the last 4
years, to obtain updated information with respect to that person if the entity has
reasonable grounds to believe that the information obtained from the other entity or
temporary employment agency is no longer accurate.
1997 Wisconsin Act 27 (the budget act) eliminated the Wisconsin works health
plan. This bill eliminates cross-references to the Wisconsin works health plan that
erroneously remained in the budget act.
This bill also transfers 2 full-time general program revenue positions in DHFS
from the subunit of DHFS primarily concerned with general administration to the
subunit of DHFS primarily concerned with health services planning, regulation and
delivery.
Taxation and tax administration
This bill makes a technical change that indicates the indexing of certain
elements of the mining tax has occurred since 1983.
This bill makes a technical correction to make the administration of the
aviation fuel tax consistent.
This bill responds to uncertainty about the validity of 2 vetoes to
1997
Wisconsin Act 27. The bill provides that any person who is not otherwise required
to collect sales taxes or use taxes may register with the department of revenue and
that medicines that may not be dispensed without a prescription and that are
furnished without charge to a physician, nurse, nurse anesthetist, advanced practice
nurse, osteopath, dentist, podiatrist or optometrist are exempt from the sales tax and
the use tax.
Under the current tax incremental financing (TIF) program, a city or village
may create a tax incremental district (TID) in part of its territory to foster
development if at least 50% of the area to be included in the TID is blighted, in need
of rehabilitation or suitable for industrial sites. Before a city or village may create
a TID, several steps and plans are required. These steps and plans include public
hearings on the proposed TID, preparation and adoption by the local planning
commission of a proposed project plan for the TID, approval of the proposed project
plan by the common council or village board and creation by the city or village of a
joint review board to review the proposal. The joint review board, which is made up
of representatives of the overlying taxing jurisdictions of the proposed TID, must
approve the project plan or the TID may not be created. If an existing TID project
plan is amended by a planning commission, these steps are also required.
Also under current law, once a TID has been created, the department of revenue
(DOR) calculates the "tax increment base value" of the TID, which is the equalized
value of all taxable property within the TID at the time of its creation. If the
development in the TID increases the value of the property in the TID above the base
value, a "value increment" is created. That portion of taxes collected on the value
increment in excess of the base value is called a "tax increment". The tax increment
is placed in a special fund that may only be used to pay back the costs of the TID.
The costs of a TID, which are initially incurred by the creating city or village, include
public works such as sewers, streets and lighting systems; financing costs; site
preparation costs; and professional service costs. DOR authorizes the allocation of
the tax increments until the TID terminates or 23 years, or 27 years in certain cases,
after the TID is created, whichever is sooner. TIDs are required to terminate, under
current law and with one exception, once these costs are paid back, 16 years, or 20
years in certain cases, after the last expenditure identified in the project plan is made
or when the creating city or village dissolves the TID, whichever occurs first. Current
law also provides that in general, unless the project plan is amended, no expenditure
of tax increments may be made later than 7 years, or 10 years in certain cases, after
the TID is created. In no event, however, may the total number of years during which
expenditures are made plus the total number of years during which tax increments
are allocated exceed 27 years.
Also under current law, once a TID pays off the aggregate of all of its project
costs under its project plan but not later than the date on which it would otherwise
have to terminate, a planning commission may allocate positive tax increments
generated by that TID (a donor TID) to another TID (a donee TID) created by that
planning commission in which environmental pollution exists to the extent that
development has not been able to proceed according to the project plan because of the
environmental pollution. This increment sharing may only occur in TIDs created by
the cities of Kenosha, Glendale and Oshkosh. The provision that allows such
increment sharing does not apply after January 1, 2002, for Glendale and Oshkosh
and does not apply after August 1, 2016, for Kenosha.
Under this bill the increment sharing provision, as it relates to the city of
Oshkosh, does not apply after January 1, 2016. Also under this bill, a donor TID
created by the city of Oshkosh is not required to pay off its project costs before
contributing to the donee TID.
Under current law, no employe of DOR who performs any duty related to the
state lottery or the executive assistant or the secretary or deputy secretary of
revenue may do any of the following:
1. Have a direct or indirect interest in, or be employed by, any vendor while
serving as a DOR employe performing any duty related to the state lottery or as the
executive assistant or as secretary or deputy secretary of revenue or for 2 years
following the person's termination of service.
2. Have a direct or indirect interest in or be employed by a business which has
entered into a lottery retailer contract.
3. Accept or agree to accept money or any other thing of value from any vendor,
retailer or person who has submitted a bid, proposal or application to be a lottery
vendor or lottery retailer.
In addition, no DOR employe who performs any duty related to the state lottery
or the executive assistant or the secretary or deputy secretary of revenue and no
member of such a person's immediate family may purchase a lottery ticket or lottery
share.
This bill narrows the application of these restrictions from applying to all DOR
employes who perform any duty related to the state lottery to only employes in the
lottery division of DOR.
This bill creates 4.5 FTE positions for, and makes an appropriation to, DOR for
the administration of the rental vehicle fee.
Under the international fuel tax agreement (IFTA), to which this state is a
party, every person who drives a larger motor truck into this state using motor fuel
purchased outside this state pays the Wisconsin motor vehicle fuel tax and the oil
inspection fee by purchasing in this state motor vehicle fuel in an amount that is
equivalent to the gallonage consumed while driving the truck in this state, or by
remitting the tax and fee directly to the department of transportation (DOT) or to
another jurisdiction that is a party to IFTA.
1997 Wisconsin Act 27, the biennial state
budget act, increased the motor vehicle fuel tax rate.
This bill requires DOT to recalculate the amount of motor vehicle fuel tax
payable under IFTA for the 4th quarter of 1997 to reflect the midquarter increase to
this state's motor vehicle fuel tax rate.
The rate of taxation under current law, for taxable years beginning before
January 1, 1998, for the lowest income tax bracket for single individuals, certain
fiduciaries, heads of households and married persons is 4.9% of taxable income, the
rate for the middle bracket is 6.55% and the rate for the highest bracket is 6.93%.
For taxable years beginning after December 31, 1997, current law lowers the
rate of taxation for all brackets by 1.0%. Therefore, for taxable years beginning after
December 31, 1997, the rate of taxation under current law for the lowest bracket for
single individuals, certain fiduciaries, heads of households and married persons is
4.85% of taxable income, the rate for the middle bracket is 6.48% and the rate for the
highest bracket is 6.87%.
For taxable years beginning after December 31, 1998, current law also indexes
for inflation the maximum dollar amount in each tax bracket and the corresponding
minimum dollar amount in the next bracket, and the dollar amounts of the standard
deduction that may be claimed by individual income tax payers.
Current law also prohibits DOR from adjusting the withholding tables to reflect
the changes in rates of taxation for any taxable year that begins before January 1,
2000. This bill prohibits DOR from adjusting the withholding tables to reflect the
changes in dollar amounts because of tax bracket and standard deduction indexing
for any taxable year that begins before January 1, 2000.
This bill also makes a technical change in the calculation of the income tax
liability of nonresident and part-year resident individuals. Under current law, one
of the 2 formulas used to calculate the tax liability of nonresident and part-year
resident individuals applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1996, and
ending before January 1, 1998. The other formula use to calculate their tax liability
applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1997. This bill changes the
applicability of the first formula such that it applies to taxable years beginning after
December 31, 1996, and before January 1, 1998.
Transportation
Under current law, DOT may issue annual and consecutive month permits for
overweight vehicles and combinations of vehicles that are transporting bulk potatoes
from storage facilities to food processing facilities. A permit does not authorize the
operation of a vehicle or vehicle combination at a maximum gross weight of more
than 90,000 pounds. A permit is valid on designated portions of USH 51 and I 39 that
are part of the national system of interstate and defense highways.
This bill provides that any annual or consecutive month permit DOT issues for
an overweight vehicle or vehicle combination that is transporting bulk potatoes from
storage facilities to food processing facilities is not valid on any part of the national
system of interstate and defense highways, except to the extent permitted by federal
law without any loss or reduction of federal aid or other sanction.
