1.
New felony classes. The bill expands the number of felony classes from six
to nine and, except for Class A and Class B felonies, creates new maximum terms of
imprisonment and new maximum fines. The felony classes under the bill and their
respective maximum terms of imprisonment and maximum fines are as follows:
-
See PDF for table 
2. Classification of felonies. The bill places felony offenses that are classified
under current law into the new felony classes, with the exception of a few classified
felony offenses that are reduced to misdemeanor offenses. In addition, the bill places
unclassified felony offenses into the new felony classes, with the exception of certain
unclassified felony offenses that are reduced to misdemeanor offenses and offenses
that are felonies only because of the application of a penalty enhancer.
As a general rule, the bill places a felony offense into a felony class based on the
amount of time that a person who is given a maximum sentence for the offense under
current law would serve in prison before being released on parole under the
mandatory release law (see below, The structure of felony sentences, item 1).
However, in some cases a felony is placed in a higher or lower felony class than the
one based on the current mandatory release date for a maximum sentence under
current law. For those felony offenses that are reduced to misdemeanor offenses
under the bill, the new penalty for the offense is a fine of not more than $10,000 or
imprisonment of not more than nine months or both.
3. Changes in property offenses. This bill changes penalties for certain crimes
against property. Under current law, the penalties for certain crimes against
property (such as theft, criminal damage to property, receiving stolen property,
issuing worthless checks and various kinds of fraud) are based on the value of the
property stolen, damaged or otherwise involved in the offense. Generally, the
current threshold between misdemeanor and felony penalties for these crimes is
$1,000. Thus, if the value of the property involved is $1,000 or less, the crime is a
misdemeanor. If the value of the property involved is more than $1,000, the crime
is a felony. This bill increases the threshold between misdemeanor and felony
penalties to $2,000 for property crimes cases in which the penalty depends on the
value of the property involved in the offense.
4. Felony murder. Under current law, a person commits felony murder if he or
she causes the death of another while committing or attempting to commit certain
felonies (such as sexual assault, arson or armed robbery). If a person commits felony
murder, the maximum period of imprisonment for the felony the person committed
or attempted to commit is increased by not more 20 years. This bill provides that the
maximum period of imprisonment for the felony the person committed or attempted
to commit is increased by not more 15 years.
5. Changes to the crime of carjacking. Under current law, a person is guilty of
carjacking if he or she intentionally takes any vehicle without the consent of the
owner while possessing a dangerous weapon and by using or threatening the use of
force or the weapon against another. This bill classifies every carjacking offense as
a Class C felony, including an offense resulting in a person's death (currently a Class
A felony), and adds carjacking to the list of offenses subject to the felony murder
statute (see item 4 above, Felony murder).
6. Increase in certain misdemeanor penalties. The bill increases penalties for
a few misdemeanor offenses by classifying them as felony offenses. The
misdemeanor offenses that are changed to felony offenses by the bill (and the
classification into which the offense is placed) are as follows:
a) Stalking (Class I felony).
b) Criminal damage to railroad property (Class I felony).
c) Possession of a firearm in a school zone (Class I felony).
d) Discharge of a firearm in a school zone (Class G felony).
7. Elimination of certain minimum penalty provisions. Current law requires
a court to impose a minimum sentence of imprisonment in certain cases. In other
cases current law specifies a minimum sentence of imprisonment but also allows a
court, in the exercise of its discretion, to impose a lesser sentence of imprisonment
or no imprisonment at all. This bill eliminates both mandatory and presumptive
minimum prison sentences for felony offenses, except for Class A felonies, which
carry a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment (see below, Sentences of life
imprisonment), and the persistent repeater penalty enhancers (often called the
"three strikes, you're out" and "two strikes, you're out" laws), which require a
sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of release. In addition, the bill does
not change the minimum mandatory sentence of six months for fifth and subsequent
offenses of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
8. Elimination of mandatory consecutive sentences. Under current law, a court
sentencing a person convicted of a crime generally may provide that any sentence
imposed run concurrent with or consecutive to any other sentence imposed at the
same time or any sentence imposed previously. However, a court must impose a
consecutive sentence if the person was convicted of certain escape offenses,
possession or discharge of a firearm in a school zone, using or possessing a handgun
and armor-piercing bullet while committing another crime or violating conditions
of lifetime supervision by committing another crime. This bill eliminates the
requirement that consecutive sentences be imposed in these cases. The bill also
imposes new requirements relating to bifurcated sentences and sentences imposed
for crimes committed before December 31, 1999, that are ordered to run
consecutively to each other (see below, The structure of felony sentences, item
3-C).
Penalty enhancers
Current law contains various penalty enhancers that allow the penalties for a
crime to be increased if the crime is committed under certain circumstances. For
instance, current law provides penalty enhancers for committing a crime using a
dangerous weapon, committing a crime while wearing a bulletproof garment,
committing a crime against a victim chosen because of his or her race, religion, color,
disability, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry (the "hate crime"
enhancer), committing certain violent crimes against an elder person and
committing certain sex crimes while infected with a sexually transmitted disease.
Current law also provides for penalty enhancers that may be triggered by the
defendant's status at the time he or she committed the crime. For instance, current
law provides a penalty enhancer for habitual criminals (persons who commit a crime
after having been previously convicted of a crime) and for persons responsible for the
welfare of a child who commit certain crimes against the child.
The bill retains the current penalty enhancers for: 1) habitual criminals; 2)
using a dangerous weapon in the commission of a crime; 3) committing a violent
crime in a school zone; 4) committing certain domestic abuse offenses within 72 hours
after an arrest for a domestic abuse incident; 5) committing a "hate crime"; 6)
distributing a controlled substance to a person under the age of 17; and 7)
distributing a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, park, correctional
institution or certain other facilities. The remaining penalty enhancers contained
in current law are eliminated and are instead included in a list of aggravating factors
that must be considered by a court when sentencing a person.
In addition, under current law, if a person violates certain prohibitions relating
to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and, at the time of the offense, a child
under the age of 16 is in the vehicle, the penalties for the offense double. This bill
retains this penalty enhancer for most of the offenses involving operating a motor
vehicle while intoxicated, but the bill eliminates the enhancer for the crimes of
homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle.
The structure of felony sentences (other than life sentences)
1. The structure of prison sentences for felony offenses committed before
December 31, 1999. If a person committed a felony before December 31, 1999, and
is sentenced to prison, the person will usually have three possible ways of being
released from prison on parole: discretionary parole granted by the parole
commission (for which a person is usually eligible after serving 25% of the sentence
or six months, whichever is greater); mandatory release on parole (usually granted
automatically after the person serves two-thirds of the sentence); or special action
parole release by the secretary of corrections (a program designed to relieve prison
crowding). However, the person could be subject to more restrictive discretionary
parole eligibility provisions or to restrictions on mandatory release under certain
circumstances (for example, if the person has one or more prior convictions for
certain serious felonies).
2.
The structure of prison sentences for felony offenses committed on or after
December 31, 1999. Under
1997 Wisconsin Act 283, if a court chooses to sentence a
felony offender to a term of imprisonment in state prison for a felony committed on
or after December 31, 1999, the court must do so by imposing a bifurcated sentence
that includes a term of confinement in prison followed by a term of community
supervision (called "extended supervision"). The offender is not eligible for parole.
A bifurcated sentence imposed under
1997 Wisconsin Act 283 must be structured as
follows:
A) The total length of the bifurcated sentence may not exceed the maximum
term of imprisonment allowable for the felony.
B) The court must set the term of confinement in prison portion of the sentence
to be at least one year but not more than 40 years for a Class B felony, 20 years for
a Class BC felony, ten years for a Class C felony, five years for a Class D felony, or
two years for a Class E felony. If the person is being sentenced to prison for a felony
that is not in one of these classes, the term of confinement in prison portion of the
sentence must be at least one year but not more than 75% of the total length of the
bifurcated sentence.
C) The term of extended supervision must equal at least 25% of the length of
the term of confinement in prison. For example, if a person is convicted of a Class
B felony committed on or after December 31, 1999, and a judge sentences the person
to the maximum allowable 40-year term of confinement in prison, the term of
extended supervision would have to be at least ten years. There is no limit on the
length of the term of extended supervision, other than the limit that results from the
requirements that the term of confinement in prison portion of a bifurcated sentence
be at least one year and that the total bifurcated sentence not exceed the maximum
term of imprisonment specified by law for the crime.
During the term of extended supervision, the person is subject to supervision
by DOC and is subject to conditions set by both the court and DOC. If a person
violates a condition of extended supervision or a rule promulgated by DOC relating
to extended supervision, the person's extended supervision may be revoked in an
administrative proceeding and the person may be returned to serve a period of time
in prison. The length of time for which the person is returned to prison is determined
by an administrative law judge or, if the person waives a revocation hearing, by DOC.
3. The changes made by this bill. This bill makes the following changes relating
to the imposition of bifurcated sentences:
A) Like
1997 Wisconsin Act 283 did for the current law felony classes, the bill
establishes maximum terms of confinement in prison for the new felony classes.
Unlike
1997 Wisconsin Act 283, the bill also establishes a maximum amount of
extended supervision that a court can impose for classified felonies. The maximum
term of confinement in prison and the maximum term of extended supervision for
each classified felony is as follows:
-
See PDF for table
B) Under the bill, when a court is imposing a bifurcated sentence it must
consider any advisory sentencing guidelines for the offense adopted by the
sentencing commission (see below,
Sentencing commission) or, if the sentencing
commission has not adopted guidelines for the offense, the temporary advisory
guidelines adopted by the criminal penalties study committee in its report under
1997 Wisconsin Act 283. In addition, the bill requires the sentencing court to
consider any applicable mitigating and aggravating circumstances. The bill includes
a partial list of aggravating circumstances that a court must consider. The list
incorporates the provisions of current penalty enhancers that are being eliminated
by the bill (see above,
Penalty enhancers).
C) Under the bill, when a court imposes a bifurcated sentence on a person who
is also subject to a prison sentence for a crime committed before December 31, 1999
(an indeterminate sentence), the court must specify all of the following: 1) whether
the confinement in prison portion of the bifurcated sentence is to run concurrently
with or consecutively to the imprisonment portion of the indeterminate sentence;
and 2) whether the period of parole under the indeterminate sentence is to run
concurrently with or consecutively to the term of extended supervision portion of the
bifurcated sentence. The court must also make the same specifications when
imposing an indeterminate sentence on a person who is also subject to a bifurcated
sentence.
D) The bill allows DOC to take custody of a person who is on extended
supervision in order to investigate an alleged violation of a condition of extended
supervision. The bill also provides that, if a person on extended supervision admits
that the or she has violated a condition or rule of extended supervision, DOC may,
as a sanction for the violation, confine the person for not more than 90 days in a DOC
regional detention facility or, with the consent of the sheriff, in a county jail.
E) The bill changes the procedure for revoking extended supervision by
requiring that a court determine how long to send a person back to prison after his
or her extended supervision is revoked. Under the bill, DOC or the administrative
law judge who made the revocation decision must make a recommendation to the
court concerning the amount of time for which the person should be returned to
prison. The court then reviews the recommendation and makes the final decision as
to the amount of time for which the person is returned to prison.
F) The bill creates a procedure by which DOC or a person on extended
supervision may petition a court to modify the conditions of extended supervision set
by the court. The court may hold a hearing on a petition to modify extended
supervision and may grant the petition if it determines that the requested
modification would meet the needs of DOC and the public and would be consistent
with the objectives of the person's bifurcated sentence.
G) The bill creates a procedure by which certain older prisoners who have been
given a bifurcated sentence may petition the sentencing court for a modification of
the terms of the sentence. The procedure is available to prisoners who are 65 years
of age or older and have served at least five years of the term of confinement in prison
portion of their bifurcated sentence and to prisoners who are 60 years of age or older
and have served at least ten years of the term of confinement in prison portion of the
bifurcated sentence.
Under the procedure, the prisoner files a petition with the prison's program
review committee, which may then refer the petition to the sentencing court if it finds
that the public interest would be served by a modification of the prisoner's bifurcated
sentence. If a petition is referred to a sentencing court, the court must determine
whether the public interest would be served by a modification of the prisoner's
bifurcated sentence. The victim of the prisoner's crime has a right to provide a
statement concerning the modification of the sentence.
If the court decides that the public interest would be served by such a
modification, the court must modify the sentence by: 1) reducing the term of
confinement in prison portion of the sentence to a number that provides for the
release of the prisoner to extended supervision; and 2) increasing the term of
extended supervision of the prisoner by the same number, so that the total length of
the bifurcated sentence does not change.
H) The bill clarifies that, if a misdemeanor offender may be sentenced to prison
because of the application of a sentence enhancer and the court decides to sentence
the person to prison, the court must impose a bifurcated sentence. In sentencing a
person to prison in such a case, the term of confinement in prison portion of the
sentence may not constitute more than 75% of the total bifurcated sentence.
Sentences of life imprisonment
If a person is sentenced to life imprisonment for an offense committed before
December 31, 1999, the person usually must serve 20 years minus time calculated
under the mandatory release formula before he or she is eligible for release on parole.
If the person does not receive extensions due to violations of prison rules, he or she
reaches parole eligibility after serving 13 years, four months. However, a court may
set a parole eligibility date for a person serving a life sentence that is later than the
usual parole eligibility date or may provide that the person is not eligible for parole.
No person serving a life sentence of any kind is entitled to mandatory release on
parole.
If a person is sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime committed on or after
December 31, 1999, he or she is not eligible for parole. Instead, the court sentencing
the person to life imprisonment must do one of the following: 1) provide that the
person is eligible for release to extended supervision after serving 20 years; 2) set a
date on which the person becomes eligible for extended supervision, as long as that
date requires the person to serve at least 20 years; or 3) provide that the person is
not eligible for extended supervision. If the court provides that the person is eligible
for extended supervision, the person may petition the sentencing court for release to
extended supervision on or after the extended supervision eligibility date. A person
sentenced to life who is released to extended supervision is on extended supervision
for the remainder of his or her life and, like a person on extended supervision under
a bifurcated sentence (see above, The structure of felony sentences, item 2-C),
may have his or her extended supervision revoked in an administrative proceeding
and be returned to prison if he or she violates a condition of extended supervision or
a rule promulgated by DOC relating to extended supervision. A person returned to
prison after a revocation of extended supervision may not petition for rerelease to
extended supervision until he or she has served a period of time back in prison. The
time period, which must be at least five years, is determined by an administrative
law judge or, if the person waived a revocation hearing, by DOC.
This bill allows DOC to take custody of a person who is on extended supervision
under a life sentence in order to investigate an alleged violation of a condition of
extended supervision. The bill also provides that, if a person on extended supervision
admits that he or she has violated a condition or rule of extended supervision, DOC
may, as a sanction for the violation, confine the person for not more than 90 days in
a DOC regional detention facility or, with the consent of the sheriff, in a county jail.
In addition, the bill changes the procedure for revoking extended supervision by
requiring that a court determine how long to send a person back to prison after his
or her extended supervision is revoked. Under the bill, DOC or the administrative
law judge who made the revocation decision must make a recommendation to the
court concerning the amount of time for which the person should be returned to
prison. The court then reviews the recommendation and makes the final decision as
to the amount of time for which the person is returned to prison. Both the
recommendation and the court's final decision must provide for the person to be
returned to prison for at least five years.
Court-ordered drug treatment
The bill provides a new sentencing option of court-ordered drug treatment.
Under this new option, if a court imposes a sentence or places a person on probation
for any offense committed on or after July 1, 2000, the court may order the person
to participate in a drug treatment program as a condition of probation or, in the case
of a person given a bifurcated sentence, while the person is in prison or as a condition
of extended supervision or both. The court may also require DOC to pay for the cost
of the court-ordered drug treatment.
Basis for sentencing decisions; modification and review of sentencing
decisions
The bill requires a sentencing court to make explicit findings of fact on the
record to support each element of its sentencing decision, including its decision as to
whether to impose a bifurcated sentence or to place a person on probation and its
decision as to the length of a bifurcated sentence, including the length of each
component of the bifurcated sentence, the amount of a fine and the length of a term
of probation.
In addition, the bill requires the director of state courts (director) to promulgate
rules that establish a procedure by which a sentencing court may modify a bifurcated
sentence and that specify the factors that a court may consider when deciding
whether to modify a bifurcated sentence. The rules must provide that a court may
modify a bifurcated sentence on its own motion, on a motion of DOC or on a motion
of the person serving the sentence. The rules must also provide that a court and DOC
may make a motion to modify a bifurcated sentence at any time and that a person
serving a bifurcated sentence may make a motion to modify the bifurcated sentence
that he or she is serving if at least 12 months have elapsed since the bifurcated
sentence was imposed or since the most recent motion to modify the person's
bifurcated sentence was made. If a court modifies a bifurcated sentence under the
procedure established by the director, the court may do so only by reducing the term
of confinement in prison portion of the sentence and lengthening the term of
extended supervision imposed so that the total length of the bifurcated sentence
originally imposed does not change.
Finally, the bill provides that in an appeal from a court's sentencing decision,
the appellate court that is reviewing the sentencing decision must reverse the
sentencing decision if it determines that there is not substantial evidence in the
record to support the sentencing decision.
Sentencing commission
The bill creates a sentencing commission (commission) consisting of 17 voting
members and three nonvoting members, all of whom serve three year terms. (The
membership of the commission under the bill differs slightly from the membership
proposed by the criminal penalties study committee.) Under the bill, the commission
is responsible for studying sentencing practices throughout the state. Using the
information it obtains, the commission must adopt advisory sentencing guidelines
for use by judges when imposing sentences for felonies committed on or after
December 31, 1999. The commission must also assist the legislature in assessing the
cost of changes in statutes affecting criminal sentencing and provide information
regarding sentencing to judges, lawyers, state agencies, the legislature. In addition,
the commission must study whether race is a basis for imposing sentences in
criminal cases and submit a report and recommendations on this issue to the
governor, the legislature and the supreme court. The duties of the commission end
on December 31, 2004.
Joint review committee on criminal penalties
The Wisconsin Constitution permits each house of the legislature to establish
the rules of its own proceedings. Under the current rules, each house generally refers
a bill that relates primarily to criminal law to a standing committee responsible for
considering legislation in that area before the bill is considered by the full body.
This bill creates a joint review committee on criminal penalties (joint
committee). Under the bill, if a bill that is introduced creates a new crime or revises
a penalty for an existing crime and is referred to a standing committee in the house
in which it is introduced, the chairperson of the standing committee may request that
the joint committee prepare a report regarding the following: 1) the costs or savings
that will result from the bill; 2) the consistency of the bill with existing criminal
penalties; 3) alternative language needed to conform the penalties in the bill to
existing criminal penalties; and 4) whether acts prohibited under the bill are
prohibited under existing criminal statutes. The standing committee may not vote
on whether to recommend the bill for passage nor may the bill be passed by the house
in which it is introduced before the joint committee submits its report or before 30
days after the report is requested, whichever is earlier.
The joint committee consists of one majority party and one minority party
member from each house, the attorney general or his or her designee, the secretary
of corrections or his or her designee, the state public defender or his or her designee,
two reserve judges and two gubernatorial appointees, one of whom shall have law
enforcement experience and one of whom shall be an elected county official. The joint
committee may hold hearings to assist it in preparing its reports.
(The bill's provisions regarding the joint committee were not part of the
legislation proposed by the criminal penalties study committee.)
District attorneys
Assistant district attorney positions
Under current law, the state pays for the salaries and various benefits for
district attorneys, deputy district attorneys, assistant district attorneys and other
state employes of the district attorney's office. This bill adds the following assistant
district attorney positions to the following counties, effective July 1, 2000: 0.25
position for Adams County; 1.0 position for Burnett County; 0.25 position for
Chippewa County; 0.5 position for Columbia County; 2.5 positions for Dane County;
0.25 position for Jefferson County; 0.5 position for Kenosha County; 0.5 position for
LaCrosse County; 1.0 position for Manitowoc County; 1.0 position for Marathon
County; 7.0 positions for Milwaukee County; 0.5 position for Oneida County; 0.5
position for Outagamie County; 1.0 position for Polk County; 0.5 position for Portage
County; 0.75 position for Rock County; 1.0 position for Sauk County, to serve
Marquette and Sauk counties; 0.5 position for Sheboygan County; and 1.25 positions
for Winnebago County. (The bill's provisions regarding assistant district attorney
positions were not part of the legislation proposed by the criminal penalties study
committee.)
Sex offender registry
Under current law, with certain exceptions, a person must register as a sex
offender if he or she has been convicted of certain sex offenses, found not guilty of
certain sex offenses by reason of mental disease or defect or adjudicated delinquent
on the basis of certain sex offenses. The sex offender registry is maintained by DOC
and contains specific information about persons required to register, including
information concerning the person's offense, the person's address and place of
employment and the name and location of any school in which the person is enrolled.
A person registered as a sex offender must also provide updated information to DOC
if the information originally provided to the registry changes.
Generally, the information in the sex offender registry is confidential. However,
when a person first registers as a sex offender or when a registered sex offender
updates information in the registry, DOC must make the information available to
local law enforcement agencies. If the person registering as a sex offender is being
released into the community from custody in prison or some other secure institution
and the person has been convicted of a sex offense on two or more separate occasions
or has been found to be a sexually violent person, the agency releasing the person
(either DOC or the department of health and family services (DHFS), depending on
the reason the person was in custody) must provide a special written bulletin to law
enforcement agencies in the communities in which the person will be living, working
or going to school. The special bulletin must notify the law enforcement agencies that
the person is being released and must provide them with the information in the sex
offender registry concerning the person and with any other information that DOC
or DHFS determines is necessary to assist law enforcement officers or to protect the
public.
A local law enforcement agency may in turn release information from the
registry that it has received from DOC or DHFS (other than information concerning
children who are required to register and information concerning juvenile
adjudications for sex offenses) if the local law enforcement agency believes that
release of the information is necessary to protect to the public. In addition, DOC may
release certain information from the registry to specified community organizations,
including public and private elementary and secondary schools, and to members of
the general public if an organization or a member of the general public requests the
information.
This bill creates a new method by which a parent, guardian or legal custodian
of a child may request information from the sex offender registry concerning
registered sex offenders who are subject to special bulletin notification because they
have been convicted of a sex offense on two or more separate occasions or have been
found to be a sexually violent person. Under the bill, a parent, guardian or legal
custodian of a child may request the information under any of the following
situations:
1. If the child is enrolled in a public school, the parent, guardian or legal
custodian may ask the school district administrator for the information.
2. If the child is enrolled in a private school, the parent, guardian or legal
custodian may ask for the information from the school district administrator of the
school district in which the child resides or the school district administrator of the
school district in which the private school is located.
3. If a parent, guardian or legal custodian of a child intends to move to a new
residence that is located in a different school district or intends to enroll his or her
child in a private school, the parent, guardian or legal custodian may ask for the
information from the school district administrator of the school district in which the
new residence is located or the school district administrator of the school district in
which the private school is located.
When a school district administrator receives a request from a parent, guardian
or legal custodian for information concerning registered sex offenders who are
subject to special bulletin notification, the school district administrator must in turn
request information concerning the persons from the police chief of the community
in which the school district is located or the sheriff of the county in which the school
district is located. Upon receiving a request from a school district administrator, the
police chief or sheriff must immediately provide in writing to the school district
administrator information concerning each person who is residing, employed or
attending school in the community or county and about whom the police chief or
sheriff has received a special bulletin notification. The information that the police
chief or sheriff must provide includes the name and address of the person who is
registered as a sex offender, the offense the person committed, the person's place of
employment and the location of any school the person is attending. The information
provided will include information about children who are required to register as sex
offenders and information concerning juvenile adjudications for sex offenses. Upon
receiving the information from the police chief or sheriff, the school district
administrator must provide the information to the parent, guardian or legal
custodian who asked the school district administrator for the information.
Courts and procedure
Tobacco product manufacturers
On November 23, 1998, Wisconsin and other states agreed to a settlement of
lawsuits brought against the major U.S. tobacco product manufacturers, the "master
settlement agreement". As part of that agreement, each state may enact model
legislation that would affect tobacco product manufacturers that did not originally
join in the master settlement agreement. This bill enacts the model legislation in
Wisconsin. Under this bill, a tobacco product manufacturer that sells cigarettes in
this state is given the choice of joining in the master settlement agreement and
performing the obligations under that agreement or placing money into an escrow
fund, based on the number of cigarettes sold each year. The amount of money to be
placed into escrow per cigarette increases each year until the year 2007, when the
amount is $.0188482. The amount paid into escrow, under the bill, is intended to
ensure that tobacco product manufacturers that do not participate in the master
settlement agreement have funds available to satisfy judgments on the types of
claims that were asserted in the state's tobacco lawsuit. Under the bill, any interest
in money in the escrow account accrues to the tobacco product manufacturer that put
the money into escrow and any money remaining in the escrow account after 25 years
is returned to the tobacco product manufacturer that put the money into escrow.
The bill permits the attorney general to bring a civil action against a tobacco
product manufacturer that fails to put money into escrow as required. If a court finds
that a tobacco product manufacturer failed to place the money into escrow, the bill
permits the court to impose a penalty of up to 5% of the amount improperly withheld
from escrow for each day of the violation, up to 100% of the amount improperly
withheld. If the court finds that a tobacco product manufacturer knowingly failed
to place the money into escrow, the bill permits the court to impose a penalty of up
to 15% of the amount improperly withheld from escrow for each day of the violation,
up to 300% of the amount improperly withheld. The bill also provides that if a tobacco
product manufacturer failed to place the money into escrow on two or more occasions,
the court is required to prohibit the manufacturer from selling cigarettes in this state
for up to two years. The bill requires the court to award the attorney general costs
and reasonable attorney fees if he or she prevails in the lawsuit.
The bill requires the department of administration (DOA) to provide a copy of
the master settlement agreement to each public library system in the state and
requires the revisor of statutes to publish the master settlement agreement in the
Wisconsin Administrative Register.
education
Primary and secondary education
In the 1996-97 and 1998-99 school years, school boards with a certain
percentage of low-income pupils could enter into five-year student achievement
guarantee contracts (SAGE contracts) with the department of public instruction
(DPI) to reduce class size and improve academic achievement in grades kindergarten
to three in exchange for receiving state aid. Beginning in the 2000-01 school year,
a school board may enter into a SAGE contract regardless of the school board's
percentage of low-income pupils, but the school board must satisfy other eligibility
requirements that also pertain to SAGE contracts entered into in 1996-97 and
1998-99 school years. One of these requirements is that a school board that was
eligible to participate in the SAGE program in the 1996-97 and 1998-99 school years
must have participated in the SAGE program in either school year.
This bill repeals this eligibility requirement. The bill also permits DPI to renew
an existing SAGE contract for five years and to enter into new SAGE contracts after
the 2000-01 school year if funding for contract renewals and the new contracts is
available. In making payments for contract renewals and the new contracts, DPI
must give priority to schools that have the highest percentage of low-income pupil
enrollment.
Public broadcasting
Under current law, the following are responsible for providing certain types of
public broadcasting in this state: the educational communications board (ECB), the
board of regents of the University of Wisconsin (UW) System and the Milwaukee
Area Technical College. This bill increases the general fund supported bonding
authority of the building commission by the following amounts: $13,220,800 for a
digital television conversion project for the ECB; $1,700,000 for a digital television
conversion project for the UW System; and $3,500,000 for a digital conversion project
for the Milwaukee Area Technical College. The bill enumerates the authorization of
these projects in the 1999-2001 authorized state building program.
Gambling
Under current law, the general program operations of the state lottery, lottery
retailer compensation, fees that are paid to lottery vendors for on-line and instant
ticket services and supplies, the farmland tax relief credit, costs of the
administration of the lottery and gaming credit and a portion of the department of
justice's (DOJ's) gaming law enforcement activities are funded with general purpose
revenue in fiscal year 1999-2000. There is currently no funding for these programs
in fiscal year 2001-02.
This bill appropriates general purpose revenue to fund the general program
operations of the state lottery, lottery retailer compensation, fees that are paid to
lottery vendors for on-line and instant ticket services and supplies, the farmland tax
relief credit, costs of the administration of the lottery and gaming credit and to
partially fund DOJ's gaming law enforcement activities in fiscal year 2001-02.
Health and human services
Prescription drug assistance
This bill creates an entitlement program for prescription drug assistance for
elderly persons in DHFS and a sum sufficient appropriation of general purpose
revenues for the program. Under the program, beginning April 1, 2001, state
residents who are aged at least 65 years, who are ineligible for medical assistance
and whose gross incomes, if single, are not more than $50,000 or, if married, are not
more than $75,000 per couple, as annually indexed for inflation, may apply for
assistance of up to $10,000 per year in paying for prescription drugs. Prescription
drugs for which a program participant may receive coverage are those prescription
drugs that are covered under the medical assistance program. Participants in the
prescription drug assistance program must pay 25% of the cost of the prescription
drug, at the rate under which pharmacists are reimbursed under the medical
assistance program, plus copayments of $5 for each generic prescription drug and
$10 for each brand-name drug. Under the program, DHFS is the payer of last resort
for coverage for prescription drugs and must reimburse pharmacist providers at the
rate under which pharmacists are reimbursed under the medical assistance
program. DHFS must also maintain or contract for the maintenance of a toll-free
telephone number to provide application information about the prescription drug
assistance program. In order for drugs manufactured by a manufacturer doing
business in this state to be included in the program, the manufacturer must enter
with DHFS into a rebate agreement that is modeled on rebate agreements under
federal medicaid law. The rebate agreement must provide that the manufacturer
make payments to DHFS each calendar quarter or as scheduled by DHFS and that
the rebate payment amounts be determined by the method specified in federal
medicaid law. The bill appropriates $1,000,000 in general purpose revenues in fiscal
year 1999-2000 to the general program supplementation appropriation account of
the joint committee on finance (JCF) and requires DHFS to submit to JCF a plan for
expenditure of these funds for administration of the prescription drug assistance
program. If the cochairpersons of JCF do not notify the secretary of health and family
services of the committee's intent to schedule a meeting to review the plan, JCF must
supplement the DHFS general program operations appropriation account as
provided in the DHFS plan. If the cochairpersons of JCF notify the secretary of
health and family services that JCF intends to schedule a meeting to review the plan,
the DHFS appropriation account may be supplemented only as approved by JCF.
Badger care health care program
Under current law, DHFS administers the badger care health care program.
This program provides health care coverage to certain low-income families and
certain low-income children who do not reside at home. Low-income is generally
defined as having an income at or below 185% of the federal poverty line.
This bill increases funding for the badger care health care program for the
1999-2001 fiscal biennium.
Grants to food pantries
