· Provides $11.2 million over the biennium to increase financial aid programs for students at Wisconsin’s public and private universities and colleges.
· Provides $6.6 million to the Wisconsin Technical College System to create a new grant program that will provide $500 annually, for up to two years, to every recent high school graduate who attends a technical college full-time in an associate degree or technical training program.
· Increases general aid funding to the technical college system by $7.3 million over the biennium.
· Enhances the ability of Wisconsin technical colleges to expand and create programs and course sections in high skill occupational areas to address skilled workforce needs by providing $7.2 million GPR in two new grant programs.
· Maintains the state’s commitment to fund two-thirds of school costs by providing increases in state school aid of $237 million for the 1999-2000 school year and an additional $239 million in fiscal year 2000-01.
· Significantly expands the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program to lower class size by providing $47.2 million (a 260% increase) in new GPR over the biennium, adding an estimated 400 schools to the program.
· Increases funding for school district special education programs by $53 million GPR over the biennium.
· Provides $5 million in fiscal year 2000-2001 to establish alternative education programs for students who are not achieving in traditional educational environments.
· Increases the low-spending revenue limit exemption for school districts from the 1998-99 level of $6,100 per pupil to $6,300 in 1999-2000 and $6,500 in 2000-2001.
· Adjusts the allowable increase in school district revenue limits from $209 per pupil in 1998-99 to an estimated $212 in 1999-2000 and $217 in 2000-2001.
· Makes permanent the 75% hold harmless provision for school districts experiencing declining enrollment.
· Provides $2 million to increase aid for public library systems by 11.3% over the biennium.
· Expands opportunities for middle and high school age minority students to attend precollege programs at Wisconsin postsecondary institutions by providing a $1.4 million GPR increase over the biennium to the UW System and DPI for precollege programs.
Human Resources
· Provides $9.8 million GPR over the biennium to fully fund existing Community Option Program (COP) placements and to add 581 additional placements.
· Provides an additional $11.3 million GPR to fund the Family Care pilot this biennium.
· Increases the SSI Caretaker Supplement program from $100 to $250 for the first child and from $100 to $150 for each additional child.
· Provides $56.6 million GPR over the biennium to fully fund the BadgerCare program, which is available to all low-income children and their parents not covered by Medical Assistance.
· Provides $7.9 million GPR over the biennium to fund a 5% nursing home wage pass-through initiative directed to nurse assistants.
· Provides $3.7 million GPR over the biennium to increase reimbursement for personal care workers from $11.50 per hour to $12.25 per hour.
· Provides $50 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to create several new initiatives, including the Workforce Attachment Fund, Early Child Excellence Centers and Community Youth Grant programs to assist TANF families at all stages of life.
· Expands W-2 child care eligibility in several ways, including reducing the co-payment amount to no more than 12% of a family’s income, increasing eligibility to 185% of the federal poverty level, excluding certain types of income, eliminating the asset test and covering disabled children up to age 19.
· Includes provisions that protect the confidentiality of health care information of patients and providers.
Justice
· Increases funding for programs that assist victims of crime by $6.3 million over the biennium and creates the Office of Victim Services in the Department of Corrections.
· Provides resources to monitor, treat and evaluate sex offenders and to prosecute sex predators.
· Provides funding to staff the new 500-bed Supermax prison at Boscobel, the 750-bed Redgranite Correctional Facility, the 600-bed Milwaukee Probation and Parole hold/AODA facility, and initial start-up costs for the 375-bed New Lisbon Correctional Facility.
· Provides funding for 2,616 contract prison beds to help relieve prison overcrowding.
· Provides capital funding to expand, improve and acquire correctional facilities, including funding for two 150-bed work houses.
· Authorizes 6.0 FTE assistant district attorney positions in Milwaukee County to be designated as special assistant U.S. attorneys to prosecute gun violations in federal courts under Project Ceasefire.
· Increases resources for law enforcement including investments in new DNA analysis methods at the state crime labs, expansion of the state DNA data bank to include all convicted felons, and provision of an additional $576,400 over the biennium for law enforcement training.
· Increases resources for criminal justice information systems to upgrade and maintain these systems, including additional funding for the Department of Corrections, the Circuit Court Automation Program (CCAP), the State Public Defender, the automation of district attorneys’ offices and the development of integrated justice information systems projects.
· Increases funding for Youth Aids by providing an additional $6 million GPR over the biennium.
· Increases funding for the Serious Juvenile Offender (SJO) program by providing an additional $4,160,200 GPR over the biennium.
· Increases funding for Circuit Court Support Payments by providing an additional $4,500,000 GPR over the biennium.
State Government Operations
· Provides $232,000 GPR annually for grants to local housing organizations to fund projects similar to Madison’s Operation Fresh Start program.
· Provides $1.5 million (SEG) to continue automating information systems in the Department of Employe Trust Funds to improve service to employers and participants.
· Creates a private employer health care coverage program and purchasing alliance, providing small businesses a means to offer group health coverage for their employes.
· Adds $420,000 GPR to continue state support of the Department of Military Affairs’ Youth Challenge program for young adults aged 16 to 18 who are high school dropouts or truants who will not graduate from high school.
· Redefines Wisconsin residency requirements making more veterans eligible to receive benefits from most state veterans programs.
· Adds $213 million in bonding authority for the veterans home loan program.
· Authorizes bonding and operating support for a second veterans home in Southeast Wisconsin.
· Increases funding by $568,600 biennially for the veterans health care aid grant program, $218,200 for employment and training programs and $104,200 for subsistence aid grants.
There are also several budget provisions I did not veto that warrant discussion.
