Currently, "vital records" means certificates of birth, death, divorce, or
annulment, marriage documents, and related data. This bill expands the definition
of "vital records" to include worksheets or electronic transmissions that use forms of
electronic file formats that are approved by the state registrar and related to birth,
death, divorce, or annulment certificates or marriage documents.
Under current law, DHFS must collect health care information from health care
providers, including physicians, hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers, and
must analyze and disseminate that information in the form of standard reports,
public use data files, and custom-designed reports. DHFS may release only those
public use data files that do not permit the identification of specific patients,
employers, or health care providers. DHFS must also prohibit purchasers of data
from rereleasing individual data elements of health care data files. This bill
eliminates the latter requirement.
Current law requires DHFS to develop and submit various reports and plans
to other state agencies, the governor, or the legislature. This bill permits, rather than
requires, DHFS to submit the following:
1. Annually, a plan to address hunger in the state and to relieve hunger in
populations currently experiencing hunger to the governor, the state superintendent
of public instruction, and the legislature.
2. Annually, a report on the expenditure of funds for providing primary health
services and mental health services to homeless individuals to the legislature.
3. A plan for developmental disability services in the state, and biennial
updates to the plan, to the governor, standing committees of the legislature with
jurisdiction over developmental disability issues, and JCF.
4. A report on DHFS's progress in implementing an early intervention services
program to the legislature.
5. A report on DHFS's activities relating to the treatment of alcoholism to the
governor.
Under current law, before DOA may approve any payments to counties for
providing supportive, personal, or nursing services to individuals who reside in a
certified residential care apartment complex, DHFS must submit an annual report
on the statewide medical assistance daily cost of nursing home care to DOA for
review and approval. If DOA approves the report, DOA may make the payments to
counties. This bill makes submission of the report optional and eliminates the
requirement that DOA approve the report before DOA may make the payments to
counties.
Current law requires the council on physical disabilities to submit to the
legislature recommendations on matters relating to physically disabled individuals
and requires the council on mental health to submit to DHFS, the governor, and the
legislature policy recommendations in the area of mental health. The bill permits,
rather than requires, the council on physical disabilities and the council on mental
health to submit the reports.
Under current law, DWD collects and distributes all moneys received for child
or family support and maintenance (formerly called alimony). If amounts received
cannot be distributed, such as when a payee has not notified DWD of a new address,
or if amounts received are distributed but go unclaimed, such as when a check that
is sent to a payee is not cashed within one year of the check's issuance, those amounts
are considered to be abandoned or unclaimed property. DWD must deliver to the
state treasurer those funds that remain unclaimed after public notice. The state
treasurer deposits all abandoned or unclaimed property in the school fund, and
anyone claiming an interest in abandoned or unclaimed property may file a claim
with the state treasurer to obtain the property.
Under this bill, DWD may retain to pay for its own expenses in administering
the child support program all amounts received for support that cannot be
distributed or that are not claimed by payees. At least quarterly, DWD must
reimburse the state treasurer for the state treasurer's administrative expenses, and
for any claims that are paid, with respect to that property.
Under current law, if a person owes an outstanding amount for past child or
family support or for medical or birth expenses, or is delinquent in making
court-ordered child or family support or maintenance payments, the amount that
the person owes may be withheld from any state income tax refund or credit owed
to the person. Also under current law, if a court orders a person to pay child or family
support or maintenance, the court must order the person to pay to DWD an annual
receiving and disbursing fee (R&D fee) of $25, in every year for which maintenance,
child support, or family support payments are ordered, to pay for DWD's costs
associated with receiving and disbursing the maintenance, child support, or family
support and maintaining a record of the receipts and disbursements.
This bill increases the R&D fee to $35, beginning with R&D fees payable in
2002, and provides that a person paying the R&D fee must pay it not only in every
year for which maintenance, child support, or family support payments are ordered
but also in every year in which the person owes an arrearage in any of those
payments. The bill provides that, if a person is delinquent in paying the R&D fee,
the delinquent amount may be withheld from any state income tax refund or credit
owed to the person upon certification of the delinquency by DWD to DOR. Before the
refund or credit may be withheld, however, the person is entitled to a court hearing
on whether he or she owes the amount that DWD certified to DOR. The bill also
requires DWD to study what it would cost DWD to operate the statewide receipt and
disbursement system, which is currently operated by a private party under contract
with, and paid by, DWD.
Current law permits a nonprofit corporation that contracts with DHFS to
provide social services on the basis of a unit rate per service provided to retain a
certain percentage of any surplus that is generated by those services, and to use that
retained surplus to cover any deficit incurred in any preceding or future contract
period or to address the programmatic needs of its clients. This bill permits a county
department that contracts with DHFS to provide social services on that basis to
retain any surplus generated by those services provided and to use that retained
surplus in the same way that a nonprofit corporation is permitted to retain and use
such a surplus under current law. The bill, however, prohibits a county department
or a nonprofit corporation providing social services in Milwaukee County from
retaining a surplus from revenues that are used to meet the maintenance-of-effort
requirement under the federal TANF program.
Under current law, the adolescent pregnancy prevention and pregnancy
services board (APPPS board), which is attached to DHFS for administrative
purposes, must award grants to organizations that provide pregnancy prevention
programs or pregnancy services to persons under 18 years of age. An organization
that receives a grant from the APPPS board must provide matching funds equal to
20% of the grant amount awarded, but may not use any moneys received from the
state government toward meeting that matching funds requirement. This bill
prohibits an organization that receives a grant from the APPPS board from using
moneys received from the federal, as well as the state, government toward meeting
the matching funds requirement under the grant. The bill also transfers the APPPS
board from DHFS to DOA for administrative purposes.
Under current law, DHFS, or a local health department that acts as an agent
of DHFS, issues permits for the operation of hotels, restaurants, temporary
restaurants, tourist rooming houses, bed and breakfast establishments, vending
machine commissaries, vending machines, campgrounds, camping resorts,
recreational and educational camps, and public swimming pools. DHFS must
promulgate rules establishing permit fees, preinspection fees, and late fees (DHFS
fees) for untimely permit renewal for those establishments that DHFS directly
regulates. For establishments that are directly regulated by a local health
department that is granted agency status by DHFS, however, the local health
department must establish its own fees and must impose both its own fees and fees
(entitled "state fees"). The state fees may be no more than 20% of the DHFS fees and
must be reimbursed to DHFS. This bill requires that, for establishments that DHFS
directly regulates, DHFS promulgate rules establishing additional DHFS fees for
reinspection, operating without a permit, comparable compliance or variance
requests, and pre-permit review of restaurant plans.
Currently, a permit to operate a restaurant that operates at a fixed location in
conjunction with an event such as a fair (a "temporary restaurant") may be applied
to a premises other than that for which it was issued if DHFS or a local health
department approves. A person who operates a bed and breakfast establishment for
more than ten nights in a calendar year must obtain a biennial permit from DHFS.
DHFS or a local health department that acts as an agent of DHFS may not without
a preinspection provide a permit for operation of a new, or newly operated, hotel,
tourist rooming house, bed and breakfast establishment, restaurant, or vending
machine commissary.
This bill eliminates the authority of DHFS or a local health department to
approve applying the permit for a temporary restaurant to a location other than that
for which it was originally issued. The bill requires that a person operating a bed and
breakfast establishment for more than ten nights in a calendar year obtain an
annual, rather than a biennial, permit from DHFS. The bill prohibits DHFS or a
local health department acting as a DHFS agent from providing, without a
preinspection, a permit for operation for a new, or newly operated, public swimming
pool, campground, or recreational or educational camp.
Under current law, DHFS may recover from property left by a decedent who
received certain benefits, such as MA, up to the amount that DHFS paid on behalf
of the decedent for the benefits. If the decedent's solely owned property in this state
does not exceed $20,000 in value, no person has commenced a procedure for
administering the decedent's estate, and the decedent is not survived by a spouse,
disabled child, or child under the age of 21, DHFS may receive the decedent's
property by presenting the person who has the property with an affidavit showing
that the requirements for DHFS's recovery of benefits paid are fulfilled. DHFS is
prohibited, however, from collecting from any of the decedent's property that consists
of interests in or liens on real property; wearing apparel; jewelry; household
furniture, furnishings, or appliances; motor vehicles; or recreational vehicles.
This bill eliminates this prohibition and, instead, requires DHFS to reduce the
amount that it may recover by up to a specified amount (currently, $5,000), if the
reduction is necessary to allow the decedent's heirs to retain property of the decedent
consisting of wearing apparel and jewelry held for personal use; household furniture,
furnishings, and appliances; and other tangible personal property, worth up to
$3,000, not used in trade, agriculture, or other business.
Under current law, if a decedent left solely owned property not exceeding
$20,000 in value, an heir may have any of the property, including an interest in real
property, transferred to himself or herself by presenting the person holding the
property with an affidavit containing certain information. This bill provides that,
if an interest in real property of a decedent is transferred to an heir by affidavit,
DHFS has a lien on that interest in real property if the decedent does not have a
surviving spouse or child who is under age 21 or disabled. If the decedent has a
surviving spouse or child who is under age 21 or disabled, DHFS has a lien on the
interest in real property only if the real property was the decedent's home. DHFS
may enforce its lien by foreclosure, in the same manner as a mortgage, but not while
the decedent's spouse, if any, or child who is under age 21 or disabled, if any, is alive.
Under current law, financial institutions must participate in a financial record
matching program operated by DWD for the purpose of determining whether a
person who owes child support or maintenance (formerly called alimony) has an
account at a particular financial institution. Under this bill, DWD must reimburse
a financial institution up to $125 per quarter for its participation in the program.
Under current law, DWD must provide by rule for a reimbursement amount that
does not exceed a financial institution's actual cost.
Insurance
Current law prohibits an insurance stock or mutual corporation from being a
party to a contract that has the effect of delegating to a person, to the substantial
exclusion of the board of the insurance stock or mutual corporation, any
management control of the corporation or of a major corporate function, such as
underwriting or loss adjustment. Current law provides exceptions, however, for
health maintenance organizations, limited service health organizations, and
preferred provider plans if the person to whom the management authority is
delegated exercises the authority according to the terms of a written contract that
is filed with, and not disapproved by, OCI. This bill eliminates these exceptions
effective January 1, 2004.
Current law sets out the various services provided by OCI for which fees must
be paid and specifies the fee amounts. This bill provides that the fee amounts in the
statute apply unless OCI specifies a different amount by rule, and authorizes OCI
to provide for different fee amounts by rule, to provide for maximum fee amounts in
any such rule, and to charge less than the maximum amount specified in the rule.
local government
Under current law, a municipality receives a shared revenue payment based on
the municipality's population. This bill eliminates the current shared revenue
payment to a municipality based on population.
Under current law, a municipality also receives an aidable revenues payment
that is equal to the product of the municipality's aidable revenues and the
municipality's tax base weight. Aidable revenues are, generally, revenues raised by
the municipality, such as local taxes and regulation revenues. Tax base weight is
based, generally, on the value of property in the municipality compared to the
municipality's population. This bill eliminates a municipality's aidable revenues
payment.
This bill creates an aidable expenditures payment for a municipality. The bill
also creates a "growth-sharing region" payment for a municipality. Beginning in
2002, a municipality receives an aidable expenditures payment that is equal to the
product of the municipality's aidable expenditures and the municipality's tax base
weight. Aidable expenditures include a municipality's expenditures for general
government operations; law enforcement, fire protection, ambulance services, and
other public safety services; and health and human services. Aidable expenditures
do not include a municipality's expenditures for highway maintenance,
administration, or construction; road-related facilities or other transportation; solid
waste collection and disposal or other sanitation; culture; education; parks and
recreation; conservation; or development.
DOR must annually determine the amount of each municipality's aidable
expenditures, which is the lesser of: 1) the amount of the municipality's aidable
expenditures in the year that was two years before the municipality receives an
aidable expenditures payment; or 2) the average of the municipality's aidable
expenditures in 1998, 1999, and 2000, adjusted for inflation and for the property
value in the municipality.
Under the bill, a municipality in a growth-sharing region may also receive a
growth-sharing region payment. DOR must define "growth-sharing region" by rule
and in such way so that the state consists of at least seven but not more than 25
growth-sharing regions. A municipality will receive a growth-sharing region
payment if the municipality limits the annual increase in its municipal budget to the
allowable increase, based on the inflation rate and the property value in the
municipality, to qualify for the expenditure restraint program under current law and
if the municipality enters into an area cooperation compact (compact).
Beginning in 2002 and ending in 2005, to receive a payment, a municipality
must enter into a compact with at least two municipalities or counties, or with any
combination of at least two such entities, to perform at least two specified functions.
Beginning in 2006, to receive a payment, a municipality must enter into a compact
with at least four municipalities or counties, or with any combination of at least four
such entities, to provide law enforcement and to perform at least five of the following
functions: housing, emergency services, fire protection, solid waste collection and
disposal, recycling, public health, animal control, transportation, mass transit, land
use planning, boundary agreements, libraries, parks and recreation, culture,
purchasing, and electronic government.
A compact must provide a plan for any municipalities or counties that enter into
the compact to collaborate to provide the specified functions. Annually, the
municipality that is to receive a payment must certify to DOR that the municipality
has complied with all of the compact requirements.
The total amount of the growth-sharing region payments allocated to all
growth-sharing regions is an amount equal to the sales and use taxes collected in the
state in a year multiplied by .05. Each growth-sharing region is allocated an amount
that is proportional to the sales and use taxes that are collected in the region. A
municipality that is eligible to receive a growth-sharing payment receives an
amount, from the amount allocated to the growth-sharing region in which the
municipality is located, in proportion to its population within the growth-sharing
region.
Under current law, a city, village, or town (municipality) is authorized to impose
a special charge against real property for current services rendered by allocating all
or part of the cost of the service to the property served. A municipality may also
impose a special charge against real property in an adjacent municipality for current
services rendered by the municipality imposing the special charge, if the
municipality in which the property is located approves the imposition. A "service"
under current law includes snow and ice removal, repair of sidewalks or curb and
gutter, garbage and refuse disposal, and other similar services. If not paid on time,
a delinquent special charge becomes a lien on the property against which it is
imposed.
A recent court of appeals decision, Town of Janesville v. Rock County, 153 Wis.
2d 538, 546-547 (Ct. App. 1989), interpreted current law to mean that special
charges may be imposed "only for services which are actually performed" and that
the statute limits a municipality to "charging only for services actually provided and
not for services that may be available but not utilized."
Under this bill, special charges may be imposed for services that are available,
without regard to whether the services are actually rendered, and may be allocated
to the property that is served or that is eligible to be served. This change also applies
to special charges imposed against real property in an adjacent municipality, under
the same terms and conditions that exist under current law.
Under current law, the Environmental Remediation Tax Incremental
Financing Program (ERTIP) permits a city, village, town, or county (political
subdivision) to defray the costs of remediating contaminated property that is owned
by the political subdivision. The mechanism for financing costs that are eligible for
remediation is very similar to the mechanism under the tax incremental financing
program. If the remediated property is transferred to another person and is then
subject to property taxation, environmental remediation tax incremental financing
may be used to allocate some of the property taxes that are levied on the property to
the political subdivision to pay for the costs of remediation. This bill makes technical
changes to ERTIP, including definitional changes; creating procedures for the
termination of an environmental remediation tax incremental district (ERTID);
requiring that the final report under the program include an independent certified
financial audit; requiring that DOR be provided with a final accounting of the
ERTID's project expenditures and the final amount of eligible costs that have been
paid for an ERTID; and modifying certain provisions of the program to apply to
contiguous parcels of property or land, as well as to a parcel of property or land.
Under current law, a municipality may sell or lease any public utility plant that
it owns only by completing a number of steps that must be performed according to
a specified time table, including enacting an ordinance or resolution that
summarizes the proposed terms of a sale or lease and that authorizes the negotiation
of a preliminary agreement with a prospective purchaser and submitting the
proposed transaction to the electors of the municipality for a referendum. This bill
eliminates all of the steps that must be completed under current law and allows a
municipality to sell or lease any public utility plant it owns in any manner that it
considers appropriate.
Under current law, a register of deeds may charge a fee to provide copies of
documents that are recorded in his or her office and to certify the copies. Currently,
the copying fees are $2 for the first page of a document and $1 for each additional
page, plus 25 cents to certify the copy of the document. None of these fees apply to
DOR, however. This bill increases the certification fee to $1.
Under current law, the Milwaukee board of police and fire commissioners is
required to conduct a city-wide communications media campaign to educate the
public about the legal consequences of unlawful possession and use of firearms, with
the goal of deterring both. Current law also requires the state to provide money to
the board for that media campaign. This bill eliminates the media campaign
requirement and the reimbursement for it.
Natural resources
Wild animals and plants
This bill authorizes DNR to issue elk hunting licenses to residents and
nonresidents and otherwise to regulate the hunting of elk in this state. The bill
allows DNR to make available only to state residents up to 99% of all the elk hunting
licenses available in each year. The bill authorizes DNR to select at random who will
be issued these licenses if the number of applicants exceeds the number of licenses
available. Under the bill, a person must have completed an elk hunter education
course in this state or another state or province to be eligible for a license. The bill
requires DNR to establish an elk hunter education course.
A person may be issued a license only once in his or her lifetime, and the license
may be used in only one elk hunting season. The license authorizes the hunting of
elk with bows and arrows, as well as with firearms, unless the licensee is eligible for
a crossbow permit under current law due to physical disabilities.
The bill specifically bans the keeping of elk on game farms, on deer farms, and
in wildlife exhibits.
This bill authorizes DNR to establish a program to protect aquatic plants that
are native to this state and to regulate the introduction, cultivation, and control
(management) of aquatic plants. The bill defines controlling aquatic plants to mean
cutting, removing, destroying, or suppressing aquatic plants.
Under current law, the only specific authority DNR has regarding aquatic plant
management is the authority to develop a statewide program to control purple
loosestrife. Under the new program, the types of aquatic plants that will be
regulated include Eurasian water milfoil, curly leaf pondweed, and purple
loosestrife. Under the program, with certain exceptions, DNR must issue aquatic
plant management permits and promulgate rules to regulate the conditions under
which aquatic plants may be managed. The bill prohibits any person who does not
have such a permit from cultivating or introducing aquatic plants that are not native
to this state, from manually removing any type of aquatic plant from navigable
waters, and from controlling any type of aquatic plants by the use of chemicals. The
bill repeals the current law that makes the failure to remove cut aquatic weeds from
a navigable water a nuisance.
Under current law, DNR issues various hunting, trapping, and fishing licenses
and permits. Those licenses and permits must contain certain information including
the name and address of the holder. The agent that issues the licenses and permits
must also sign them. Current law also specifies that DNR may require any stamp
that it issues to bear the signature of the holder of the stamp. This bill eliminates
the requirement that hunting, trapping, and fishing licenses and permits be signed
by the issuing agent and that stamps bear the signature of the holder.
Under current law, DNR administers a program under which counties receive
reimbursement for accepting deer carcasses, having them processed into venison,
and then donating the venison to charitable organizations. To participate, a county
must participate in the administration of the wildlife damage abatement and claim
programs. These three programs are funded from the wildlife damage surcharge
that DNR collects with certain hunting license fees. Current law requires that, from
the wildlife surcharge moneys, DNR make the payments under the venison
processing program after it has made the payments required under the wildlife
damage abatement and claim programs.
This bill provides funding for the venison processing program by establishing
a voluntary contribution of at least $1 that a person may pay when being issued a
hunting license. Under the bill, DNR makes payments under the venison processing
program from these contributed moneys. If the contributed moneys are not
adequate, DNR will also use wildlife damage surcharge moneys for payments for
processing venison from deer killed in special seasons established to control the deer
population.
The bill authorizes DNR to establish a master hunter education program to
provide instruction on such topics as wildlife damage and the responsibilities of
hunters to landowners. Completion of this program is not a requirement for the
issuance of any hunting license or permit.
The bill uses Indian gaming receipts for the costs of managing the state's deer
population.
Under current law, certain natural bodies of water may be used as fish farms
or as parts of fish farms. This bill specifies when a fish farm operator may use water
from a natural body of water that is not part of a fish farm. The water must be
transferred directly to the fish farm and back to the same body of water after use and
the transfer must be done by ditches or certain types of equipment. The ditches and
equipment must have barriers that prevent the passage of fish.
Navigable waters
Under current law, the Fox River management commission (river commission),
is authorized to enter into agreements with the federal government to operate and
manage the Fox River navigational system (navigational system), which includes
locks, harbors, and other facilities related to navigation that are on or near the Fox
River. Under current law, a second commission, the Fox-Winnebago regional
management commission (Fox-Winnebago commission), will replace the river
commission when the state receives federal funding for the restoration and repair of
the navigational system. The duties and powers of these two commissions are
similar; however, these two commissions differ in that the river commission is a state
agency attached to DNR and the Fox-Winnebago commission is a regional
commission with ten of its thirteen members representing the five counties in which
the navigational system is located and the remaining three members being
appointed by the governor.
This bill replaces both of these commissions with the Fox River Navigational
System Authority (authority). The authority is not a state agency. The board of
directors of the authority consists of six members appointed by the governor and the
secretary of natural resources, the secretary of transportation, and the director of the
state historical society, or their designees.
The bill requires the authority to take over the rehabilitation, repair,
replacement, operation, and maintenance of the navigational system after the
transfer of the navigational system from the federal government to the state. Once
the navigational system is transferred to the state, the state in turn will enter into
a lease with the authority to transfer the navigational system to the authority.
For the rehabilitation and repair of the navigational system, the federal
government will provide federal funding to the authority in an amount that matches
the amount of funding provided by the state to the authority. The state funding will
come from the recreational boating aids program that DNR administers.
In order to receive the state funding, the authority must contract with one or
more nonprofit corporations to provide marketing and fund-raising services. The
funds raised by these corporations will provide the matching amounts for the state
funding and will also be used for the rehabilitation and repair of the navigational
system.
The bill requires DNR to set aside from the recreational boating aids program
for the navigational system $400,000 in each fiscal year for seven fiscal years and
requires DNR to release the set-aside funding on an annual basis in amounts to
match the amounts raised by the nonprofit corporations. The authority may not
issue bonds to raise funding for the navigational system.
In addition to providing fund-raising services for the authority, the nonprofit
corporations must invest the funding received by the authority for the rehabilitation
and repair of the navigational system. These nonprofit corporations must be based
in one or more of the counties in which the navigational system is located.
The bill requires that the authority submit a management plan to DOA that
addresses the costs and funding for the rehabilitation, repair, replacement,
operation, and maintenance of the navigational system and describes how the
authority will manage its funds to ensure that there are sufficient funds available
to abandon the navigational system if its operation is no longer feasible. If the
operation of the navigational system does become infeasible, the authority must
submit a plan for its abandonment. Before abandoning the navigational system,
DOA and DNR must determine that the abandonment plan will preserve the public
rights in the Fox River and will ensure safety.
