Under current law, the state superintendent of public instruction administers
four alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and intervention grant programs for
school districts. Current law also limits the amount the state superintendent may
award under each grant program.
This bill consolidates the alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and
intervention programs into one grant program administered by the state
superintendent and allows a school board to apply for a grant to fund any kind of
alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and intervention program. In addition, the
bill eliminates the limit on the amount of each grant that the state superintendent
may award.
This bill directs the state superintendent to award grants to school districts,
CESAs and other persons for staff development.
This bill directs the state superintendent to consult with the technology for
educational achievement in Wisconsin (TEACH) board before awarding school
technology resource grants. School technology resource grants are funded with
federal moneys and are awarded to school districts for various educational
technology purposes.
Current law authorizes the state superintendent to award a grant to a nonprofit
corporation to fund partially the costs of planning, developing and operating a youth
village program. A youth village program is a residential program that provides an
alternative education for pupils whose life outside school seriously interferes with
their educational progress and who are functioning below their grade level in basic
academic skills, are behind in academic credits or have a record of poor grades or
attendance problems. This bill eliminates the youth village grant program.
This bill directs DPI to award grants to school districts for smoking prevention
programs in grades kindergarten to eight. A grant may not exceed $10,000.
Under current law, DPI distributes general purpose revenue to head start
agencies, which provide comprehensive health, educational, nutritional, social and
other services to economically disadvantaged children and their families. This bill
changes the source of the funding for the head start program and a variety of other
early childhood education programs from general purpose revenue to moneys from
the federal temporary assistance for needy families block grant.
Under current law, an alternative school for American Indians may voluntarily
establish an American Indian language and culture education program. If the
alternative school meets certain management and accounting criteria, it is eligible
to receive $185 from DPI for each pupil who completes the fall semester in the
program of instruction. This bill increases the aid for which the alternative school
is eligible to $200 per pupil and provides that this aid is paid from moneys derived
from Indian gaming receipts.
Under current law, a pupil who transfers from one school district to another to
reduce racial imbalance under the interdistrict special transfer program (commonly
known as chapter 220) is counted as one pupil for state aid and revenue limit
purposes by the school district in which the pupil resides. A school district that
participates in the intradistrict special transfer program receives additional state
aid.
This bill provides that each interdistrict transfer pupil is counted by the school
district in which he or she resides as one-half pupil for state aid and revenue limit
purposes. The bill also requires MPS to use at least 10% of the intradistrict aid that
it receives in each school year to build or lease neighborhood schools.
Higher education
Current law prohibits the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics
Authority (UWHCA) from issuing bonds or incurring additional indebtedness if the
aggregate amount of the UWHCA outstanding bonds, together with all other
indebtedness of UWHCA, exceeds $50,000,000. This bill increases this amount to
$90,000,000. In addition, the bill prohibits UWHCA from issuing any new bonds for
the purpose of purchasing a clinic or a hospital.
Under current law, DOA administers the college tuition prepayment program,
which allows an individual, a trust or a legal guardian to purchase tuition units from
DOA that may be redeemed in the future to pay tuition at any accredited institution
of higher education in the United States.
This bill transfers administration of the college tuition prepayment program
from DOA to the state treasurer. The bill also makes two modifications to the
program. Under current law, if a contract is terminated, under certain
circumstances DOA may not issue a refund for one year and may not issue a refund
of more than 100 tuition units in any year. This bill eliminates these restrictions and
clarifies that tuition units may be used to pay mandatory student fees.
Under current law, the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin (UW)
System may exempt up to 200 students at the UW-Parkside campus and up to 150
students at the UW-Superior campus from nonresident tuition in programs
identified as having surplus capacity. This tuition award program (TAP) terminates
at the end of the 1998-99 academic year. This bill extends the termination date of
TAP until the end of the 2000-01 academic year.
Under current law, all academic student fees received by the board of regents
of the UW System are credited to an appropriation account that funds degree credit
instruction for the UW System. However, the board may, with some exceptions,
spend only the amounts in the appropriation schedule for degree credit instruction.
This bill, with some exceptions, authorizes the board to spend all academic student
fee revenue it receives for degree credit instruction.
This bill directs the board of regents of the UW System to allocate $1,000,000
from the UW System's general program operations appropriation in each year of the
biennium to advance the work of the UW center for tobacco research and
intervention.
This bill enumerates in the 1999-2001 state building program a full-scale
aquaculture demonstration facility to be built at Ashland and to be operated by the
board of regents of the UW System. Under the bill, $3,000,000 in program revenue
supported borrowing is authorized for the construction of the facility. The program
revenue that will support the borrowing consists of moneys received by the state from
the Indian gaming compacts.
Current law directs the technical college system (TCS) board to administer, or
contract for the administration of, the telecommunications retraining program.
Under the program, which is funded by contributions from telecommunications
companies, certain telecommunications industry workers are eligible to receive
grants for retraining. The program expires at the end of the 1998-99 fiscal year.
This bill extends the expiration date of the program to June 30, 2000, and
requires additional contributions from telecommunications companies if the
telecommunications retraining board determines that additional contributions are
necessary.
This bill directs the TCS board to produce an annual statewide guide containing
information on all of the technical colleges and their programs and to distribute it
to students, parents, high school personnel and others. For this purpose, the bill
authorizes the board to use up to $125,000 of the amount appropriated each fiscal
year as state aid for the technical colleges.
This bill directs the TCS board to award a grant in the 1999-2001 fiscal
biennium to the Waukesha County Technical College for the development of its
printing program.
Other educational and cultural agencies
Under current law, the educational communications board (ECB) is responsible
for overseeing and coordinating the provision of public broadcasting to Wisconsin.
In addition, the board of regents of the UW System, as licensee, must manage,
operate and maintain a radio and television station and provide the ECB part-time
use of equipment and space necessary for the operations of the state educational
radio and television networks.
This bill directs the secretary of administration, the president of the UW
System and one person chosen by the governor to draft and file articles of
incorporation for a nonstock, nonprofit educational broadcasting corporation and to
take all actions necessary to exempt the corporation from taxation under the
Internal Revenue Code. In addition, these persons must prepare and submit to the
joint committee on finance (JCF) for JCF's approval an operational plan for the
corporation that includes a list of those persons employed by the board of regents and
the ECB who are best-suited to provide educational broadcasting services for the
corporation and an estimate of the level of funding necessary to cover the
corporation's annual operating expenses.
The corporation is entitled to receive state aid for initial administrative
expenses if its articles of incorporation state that the purpose of the corporation is
to provide educational broadcasting to this state; the articles of incorporation name
as initial directors the secretary of administration, two representatives to the
assembly, two senators, a member of the board of regents and three individuals
selected by the governor; and the initial board of directors of the corporation submits
an application to the federal communications commission (FCC) to transfer all
broadcasting licenses held by ECB and the board of regents to the corporation.
If the FCC approves the transfer of all broadcasting licenses held by the ECB
and the board of regents to the corporation, the ECB is eliminated on the effective
date of the transfer of the broadcasting licenses. In addition, the corporation is
entitled to receive additional state aid for operational expenses if, among other
things, the board of directors of the corporation offers employment beginning on the
effective date of the transfer of all of the broadcasting licenses to those individuals
designated in the operational plan; the board of directors of the corporation
negotiates with the board of regents and the secretary of administration for the use
of state-owned equipment and space necessary for the operations of educational
radio and television networks; and the secretary of administration approves any
amendment to the corporation's articles of incorporation or bylaws.
This bill requires DOA to prepare a report on the privatization of state-owned
and state-leased communications towers that are used for public broadcasting,
except for the Milwaukee Area Technical College tower. The report must include a
plan for implementing privatization. No later than June 30, 2000, DOA must submit
the report to JCF for its approval.
Under current law, the public service commission (PSC) requires certain
telecommunications providers to make contributions to the universal service fund.
Moneys in the fund must be used for programs administered by the PSC for programs
to promote universal access to telecommunications services and affordable access to
high-quality education, library and health care information services, including a
program for providing institutions with support payments for certain
telecommunications services (institutional assistance program), and for certain
other PSC programs. In addition, the fund is used for certain programs administered
by the TEACH board, including an educational telecommunications access program
for providing data lines and video links to certain educational institutions.
This bill eliminates the requirement for the PSC to use moneys in the fund to
promote affordable access to high-quality education, library and health care
information services. The bill also transfers the institutional assistance program to
the TEACH board, which must provide support payments to eligible institutions as
determined by the PSC. In addition, all of the PSC's duties regarding the educational
telecommunications access program, except the PSC's duties regarding requiring
telecommunications providers to contribute to the fund, are transferred to the
TEACH board.
Under this bill, federated and consolidated public library systems and the
Wisconsin Schools for the Visually Handicapped and the Deaf may also participate
in the educational telecommunications access program. The bill allows any
educational agency that participates in the program to obtain access to more than
one data line if it can show to the satisfaction of the TEACH board that the additional
lines are more cost-effective than a single line. An educational agency that obtains
access to a data line under the program may enter into a shared service agreement
with a city, village, town or county (political subdivision) that provides the political
subdivision with access to any excess bandwidth on the data line that the educational
institution does not use. A political subdivision that obtains access to bandwidth
may not receive compensation for providing access to the bandwidth to any other
person and no moneys from the universal service fund may be used to pay
installation costs that are necessary to provide a political subdivision with access to
the bandwidth. The bill also prohibits an educational agency from requesting access
to an additional data line under the program for the purpose of providing a political
subdivision with access to excess bandwidth and from providing access to a data line
under the program to a private business entity.
Current law directs the TEACH board to award educational technology
training and technical assistance grants, on a competitive basis, to CESAs and to
consortia consisting of two or more school districts or CESAs, or of one or more school
districts or CESAs and one or more public library boards. This bill requires that at
least one of these grants be awarded annually to an applicant located in the territory
of each CESA. The bill also directs the TEACH board, beginning in the 2000-01
fiscal year, to award at least one grant in each fiscal year to an educational
organization or consortium of educational organizations for the development and
implementation of a foreign language instruction program in a public school in
grades kindergarten to six.
Under current law, the Wisconsin Advanced Telecommunications Foundation
provides funding for certain advanced telecommunications technology application
projects and for efforts to educate telecommunications users about advanced
telecommunications services. This bill allows the TEACH board to contract with the
foundation to provide administrative services to the foundation.
Under current law, the educational approval board (EAB), which is attached to
the higher educational aids board (HEAB), approves and supervises education and
training of veterans under certain programs under federal law. EAB also regulates
certain schools, including certain proprietary schools, and the solicitation of
students by such schools.
This bill eliminates EAB and transfers its functions regarding veterans'
education and training to the department of veterans affairs. The bill transfers all
of the other functions of EAB to HEAB. The bill creates an educational approval
council to advise HEAB in carrying out its duties.
Currently, under the Wisconsin higher education grant program, HEAB
awards grants to postsecondary resident students enrolled at least halftime in
accredited higher education institutions in this state. Students at tribal colleges are
not eligible for grants under the program. HEAB is required to promulgate rules
establishing policies and procedures for determining dependent and independent
student status and calculating expected parental and student contributions under
the program. Current law specifies a method for HEAB to award these grants to
dependent students. HEAB also administers the tuition grant program for students
enrolled at accredited, nonprofit, post-high school educational institutions and
tribal colleges. In addition, HEAB administers an Indian assistance grant program
to assist those Indian students who are residents of this state to receive a higher
education. Grants under the Indian assistance grant program are based on financial
need. One-half of each such grant is paid by the state with general purpose revenue;
the other half is contributed by Indian tribes or bands.
Under this bill, students at tribal colleges are eligible for grants under the
Wisconsin higher education grant program, but not for grants under the tuition
grant program. The bill appropriates money derived from the Indian gaming
receipts to pay for the grants awarded to tribal college students under the Wisconsin
higher education grant program and to pay the state's share of each grant under the
Indian assistance grant program. In addition, the bill eliminates the requirement
for HEAB to promulgate rules regarding student status and expected contributions
under the Wisconsin higher education grant program, as well as the method specified
for awarding grants to dependent students. The bill requires instead that HEAB
award grants under the Wisconsin higher education program based on a formula
that accounts for expected parental and student contributions.
Currently, HEAB administers the academic excellence higher education
scholarship program that awards scholarships, for up to four years of study, to
certain students enrolled at participating institutions of higher education in this
state who had the highest grade point averages in their high schools. This bill
specifies that this program and its scholarship recipients must be referred to as the
governor's scholarship program and governor's scholars, respectively, in all printed
material disseminated or otherwise distributed by HEAB.
The state currently appropriates money to the state historical society from the
conservation fund for interpretive programming at the Northern Great Lakes
Center. This bill designates the Northern Great Lakes Center as a historic site. The
bill appropriates money derived from the Indian gaming receipts for the operation
of the Northern Great Lakes Center historic site. The appropriation from the
conservation fund is not eliminated.
The state currently appropriates general purpose revenue to the arts board to
award grants to individuals and groups concerned with the arts and to contract with
individuals, organizations, units of government and institutions for services
furthering the development of the arts and the humanities. This bill appropriates
money derived from the Indian gaming receipts for such grants awarded to, and such
contracts entered into with, American Indian individuals, groups, organizations,
tribal governments and institutions.
This bill appropriates money to the Medical College of Wisconsin for the study
and prevention of tobacco-related illnesses.
eminent domain
Under current law, any municipality, board, commission, public officer or
corporation that is authorized to acquire property by condemnation and that
acquires property either by purchase or by condemnation, and any entity that carries
out a program or project with public financial assistance that causes any person to
move or to move his or her personal property, must provide relocation benefits to
persons displaced by the program or project. Relocation benefits include moving
expenses, replacement housing payments and business or farm replacement
payments.
This bill eliminates the authority of the department of natural resources (DNR)
to acquire property by condemnation. The bill also provides that if DNR carries out
a program or project that causes a person to move or to move his or her personal
property, DNR is not required to provide relocation benefits. Under the federal
Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act, however,
a person is eligible for relocation benefits specified under the federal law if a state
agency (including DNR) carries out a program or project with federal financial
assistance.
Finally, the bill authorizes the building commission, at the request of DNR, to
acquire property by condemnation for any public purpose. Under current law, the
eminent domain authority of the building commission is limited to the acquisition
of land that it deems necessary for a site for Madison downtown state office facilities.
If the building commission acquires property at DNR's request, whether by
condemnation or purchase, it is required to provide relocation benefits.
Under current law, a property owner whose property has been partially
condemned for a sewer or transportation facility must pay property taxes in the year
of the condemnation for both the condemnee's remaining property and the portion
of the property that was awarded to the condemnor. Current law also provides that,
in a partial condemnation, the portion of the condemnee's current property tax
obligation that applies to the condemnee's remaining property must be subtracted
from the award of compensation for the taking. To recover both the condemnor's and
the condemnee's prorated share of property taxes, the condemnee must file a claim
with the condemnor.
This bill provides that, if the property owner retains a majority interest in the
property after the condemnation, the condemnor may choose not to subtract the
condemnee's prorated taxes from the award payment and may include the
condemnor's prorated taxes in the award payment, thereby eliminating the need for
the condemnee to file a claim with the condemnor.
Employment
Current law requires the division of connecting education and work in the
department of workforce development (DWD) to administer the youth
apprenticeship and school-to-work programs provided by DWD under the federal
School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994. Under the youth apprenticeship
program, DWD must approve occupations and develop curricula for youth
apprenticeship programs, and may award training grants to employers that provide
on-the-job training and supervision for youth apprentices. Under the
school-to-work program, DWD must approve statewide skill standards. Also under
current law, DWD may award grants to nonprofit corporations and public agencies
for the provision of career counseling centers that provide youths with career
education and job training information and that assist youths in locating
apprenticeship and other work experience opportunities that are related to the
youth's education.
This bill eliminates the division of connecting education and work in DWD,
creates a governor's work-based learning board attached to DWD and transfers to
that board the administration of the youth apprenticeship, school-to-work and
career counseling center programs. The bill transfers to the technical college system
board the responsibility for developing youth apprenticeship curricula, subject to the
approval of the governor's work-based learning board. Under the bill, the governor's
work-based learning board is also responsible for administering a study grant
program created under the bill for high school graduates who meet or exceed a grade
point average determined by the governor's work-based learning board and who
enroll in a technical college within one year after high school graduation, and a
work-based learning program created under the bill for youths who are eligible to
receive federal temporary assistance for needy families.
The bill also directs the governor's work-based learning board to award grants
to local partnerships for the implementation and coordination of local youth
apprenticeship programs. The bill defines a local partnership as one or more school
districts, or any combination of one or more school districts, other public agencies,
nonprofit organizations, individuals or other persons, who have agreed to be
responsible for implementing and coordinating a local youth apprenticeship
program. A local partnership that is awarded a grant may use the grant moneys to
recruit employers and students to participate in the program; coordinate academic,
vocational and occupational learning, school-based and work-based learning and
secondary and postsecondary education for participants in the program; assist
employers in identifying and training workplace mentors; and perform any other
implementation or coordination activity that the governor's work-based learning
board may direct or permit the local partnership to perform.
Under current law, the state superintendent of public instruction may award
a grant to a nonprofit organization in Milwaukee County that is providing an
innovative school-to-work program for children at risk (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) to
assist those children in acquiring employability skills and occupation-specific
competencies before leaving high school. This bill transfers to the governor's
work-based learning board the responsibility for awarding that grant.
Under current law, the Wisconsin employment relations commission (WERC)
must collect fees from parties who request WERC services relating to labor disputes
involving fact-finding, mediation or arbitration. This bill requires that WERC
collect a fee from any party who requests that WERC assemble a panel of individuals
who are not members or employes of WERC to act as an arbitrator to resolve a dispute
involving the interpretation or application of a collective bargaining agreement.
Environment
Hazardous substances and environmental cleanup
Requirement to clean up hazardous substance spills
