Under current law, grants to counties for programs to collect waste farm
chemicals and farm chemical containers are funded from the agrichemical
management fund. This bill changes the source of funding for the grants to the
recycling fund.
Currently, a person who is licensed to manufacture or distribute fertilizer must
pay an agricultural chemical cleanup surcharge of 38 cents per ton of fertilizer sold
or distributed, unless DATCP establishes a lower surcharge by rule. This bill
authorizes DATCP to increase the agricultural chemical cleanup surcharge to up to
88 cents per ton.
Under the Agricultural Chemical Cleanup Program, DATCP pays a portion of
the costs of cleaning up spills of agricultural chemicals. This bill reduces the
reimbursement rate under the program from 80% to 75% of eligible costs.
Commerce and economic development
Business organizations and financial institutions
Under current law, any limited liability company that is organized in another
state and that may operate in Wisconsin must file an annual report containing
specified information with DFI. This bill requires Wisconsin limited liability
companies to file a similar annual report and establishes a procedure by which DFI
may administratively dissolve a Wisconsin limited liability company for violating
this requirement.
Under current law, savings banks and savings and loan associations are
regulated by the Division of Savings Institutions in DFI. This bill eliminates the
Division of Savings Institutions and, instead, provides that savings banks and
savings and loan associations are regulated by the Division of Banking in DFI.
Under current law, the Office of Credit Unions must conduct an annual
examination of each credit union unless the office accepts an audit report of the
condition of the credit union that satisfies certain conditions. This bill requires the
office to conduct an examination of each credit union at least once every 18 months
unless the office accepts an audit report.
Economic development
Currently, DOA must develop a state housing strategy, administer several
grant programs that provide different types of housing assistance, and administer
a program governing the use of surplus, state-owned real estate. This bill transfers
these responsibilities to the Department of Commerce, except that DOA must still
administer the weatherization assistance for low-income persons program and the
low-income energy assistance program.
Under current law, the Department of Commerce awards grants to eligible
technology-based nonprofit organizations to provide support for manufacturing
extension centers. This bill repeals this grant program. Current law also authorizes
similar grants to be awarded from the Wisconsin development fund. This bill repeals
this authorization. This bill also reallocates $500,000 in Indian gaming receipts
currently used to fund manufacturing extension center grants to the conservation
fund.
Currently, the secretaries of commerce and administration, or their designees,
serve on the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, along with
other designated members. This bill adds the secretary of agriculture, trade and
consumer protection, or his or her designee, to the authority.
Currently, under the Forestry Education Grant Program, the Department of
Commerce awards grants to nonprofit organizations to develop forestry educational
programs and materials for use in public schools. This bill eliminates this program.
correctional system
Adult correctional system
Under current law, DOC and DHFS operate the Drug Abuse Correctional
Center (DACC) program in Winnebago, which provides substance abuse treatment
for prison inmates transferred there. Under this bill, if DOC determines that a
person has successfully completed the DACC program, the person must be released
to parole or extended supervision, regardless of how much of his or her sentence the
person has served. Inmates convicted of violent crimes or certain offenses against
children are not eligible for this earned release program. Inmates who are sentenced
under the "Truth in Sentencing" law are eligible only if the court authorizes their
participation.
DOC currently operates a boot camp for adults who are under 30 years old and
who have a substance abuse problem. Each participant must perform strenuous
physical exercise and manual labor and participate in counseling, substance abuse
treatment, and military drill and ceremony programs. A person who successfully
completes the boot camp program is released to parole or extended supervision,
regardless of how much of his or her sentence the person has served. This bill
specifies that a person is eligible for boot camp if he or she is under 40 years old at
the start of the program. The bill also specifies that the strenuous exercise for
participants who begin the boot camp program after turning 30 years old must be age
appropriate.
Under current law, DOC operates the Racine Youthful Offender Correctional
Facility, where it may confine up to 400 persons who are from 15 to 21 years old and
who are sentenced to state prison. This bill authorizes DOC to place up to 450
persons at that facility and increases the upper age limit for prisoners there to 24.
Under current law, until July 1, 2003, DOC may operate the juvenile
correctional facility at Prairie du Chien as a state prison for nonviolent offenders who
are not more than 21 years of age. This bill permanently converts that facility into
an adult prison and lifts all restrictions regarding the age and type of prisoners who
may be confined there.
Current law provides that, with certain exceptions, DOC must charge a fee to
each person on probation, parole, or extended supervision to cover some or all of the
cost of supervising the person. Current law authorizes DOC to set fees for persons
subject to administrative or minimum supervision separately from its setting of fees
for persons subject to more intensive supervision. This bill eliminates DOC's
authority to base the fee on the level of supervision.
Under current law, DOC may contract with a private entity to confine a
Wisconsin prisoner in a private prison in another state. Current law further provides
that a person confined under such a contract is subject to the laws of the state in
which the prison is located that relate to the confinement of persons in that prison.
Under this bill, the contract may provide that certain laws of the state in which the
person is confined do not apply to that person.
Juvenile correctional system
Under current law relating to community youth and family aids, generally
referred to as youth aids, DOC must allocate various state and federal moneys to
counties to pay for state-provided juvenile correctional services and local
delinquency-related and juvenile justice services. DOC charges counties for the
costs of services provided by DOC according to per person daily cost assessments
specified in the statutes. This bill increases most of these assessments.
Under current law, subject to certain exceptions, case management services are
reimbursable under Medical Assistance (MA) only if provided to an MA beneficiary
who receives case management services from a certified case management provider
in a county, city, village, or town that elects to make those services available. This
bill permits DOC to elect to provide case management services to an MA beneficiary
who has been adjudged delinquent and placed under the supervision of DOC. Under
the bill, DOC is reimbursed for the amount of allowable charges for those services
under MA that is provided by the federal government and must pay the amount of
allowable charges for those services under MA that is not provided by the federal
government.
Under current law, DOC is required to provide a Juvenile Boot Camp Program
for juveniles who have been adjudged delinquent and placed under the supervision
of DOC. This bill eliminates that program.
Courts and district attorneys
The bill increases the circuit court support services fees as follows: for cases
other than small or large claim cases, from $52 to $67.60; for large claim cases, from
$130 to $169; and for small claim cases, from $39 to $50.70.
Currently, in all criminal proceedings and in a limited number of civil
proceedings, a circuit court must provide an interpreter for an indigent party or
witness who has limited English proficiency. This bill requires the court, in all
criminal and civil proceedings, to provide an interpreter for a party or witness who
has limited English proficiency, regardless of indigence.
Under current law, the Milwaukee County clerk of circuit court must collect a
$2 special prosecution clerks fee when most complaints initiating civil actions are
filed. This bill increases this fee to $3.50.
Under current law, a court imposes a crime laboratories and drug law
enforcement assessment when it sentences a person, places a person on probation,
or, in most cases, imposes a forfeiture. This bill increases the assessment from $5 to
$7.
This bill increases the filing fees in court of appeals and supreme court appeals
from $150 to $195.
Under current law, district attorneys and deputy and assistant district
attorneys are state employees. DOA, through its State Prosecutors Office, provides
personnel, budget, and other types of management assistance to district attorney
offices. With respect to individual cases, however, district attorneys have near-total
discretion in deciding what cases to pursue and how to prosecute them. In working
on those cases, a district attorney may request assistance from prosecutors in other
counties, who may then serve in the same capacity as the district attorney who
requested their assistance.
This bill creates a State Prosecutors Board, which is attached to DOA. The
board consists of eight district attorneys selected by the governor who must: 1) adopt
advisory guidelines for district attorneys to use in determining when criminal cases
should be prosecuted or diverted for nonprosecutorial programs; 2) issue rules
regarding the temporary assignment of district attorneys, deputy district attorneys,
and assistant district attorneys to other counties; 3) hire and assign prosecutors for
temporary placement in district attorney offices throughout the state; and 4)
supervise the State Prosecutors Office.
crimes
Current law requires the Sentencing Commission to collect and disseminate
information about sentencing practices in criminal cases and to develop advisory
sentencing guidelines for felonies to promote public safety, to reflect changes in
sentencing practices, and to preserve the integrity of the criminal justice and
correctional systems. (As of the date of this bill's introduction, however, the
Sentencing Commission has not adopted any sentencing guidelines.) When a court
sentences a person who, on or after February 1, 2003, committed a felony, the court
must consider any advisory sentencing guidelines that the Sentencing Commission
develops for that offense. If the Sentencing Commission has not adopted guidelines,
the court must consider any temporary advisory sentencing guidelines that were
developed by the Criminal Penalties Study Committee (CPSC) for that offense. The
court, however, is not required to make a sentencing decision that is consistent with
applicable guidelines, and a defendant may not appeal a court's sentencing decision
based on the court's decision to depart from a guideline.
Under this bill, by January 1, 2004, the Sentencing Commission must analyze
whether the temporary sentencing guidelines adopted by the CPSC are adequately
promoting public safety in a cost-effective manner, promoting consistency in
sentencing practices, and preserving the integrity of the criminal justice and
correctional systems. If the commission determines that the temporary guidelines
are not adequately promoting these objectives, it must adopt mandatory sentencing
guidelines for felonies and any other crimes for which a person may be sentenced to
a state prison, other than those for which the penalty is life imprisonment. The
mandatory sentencing guidelines for an offense must assign suggested ranges of
punishment based upon the combination of offense and defendant characteristics in
each case, but the range of punishment must be consistent with the penalty provided
for that crime under current law.
If the commission adopts a mandatory sentencing guideline for a crime, a court,
in sentencing a person convicted of that crime, must impose a sentence of the kind
and within the range described in the guideline unless the court finds that there is
an aggravating or mitigating factor that warrants a different sentence. In addition,
the prohibition on appeals based on a departure from an advisory guideline does not
apply to a departure from a mandatory guideline.
In addition, this bill requires the Sentencing Commission to adopt advisory
guidelines regarding the use of alternatives to incarceration. It also detaches the
commission from DOA and attaches it to DOC.
Under current law, DOJ makes crime victim compensation awards to victims
of certain crimes. In addition, when sentencing a person convicted of a crime, a judge
may order the person to make restitution to the victim of the crime. If a person is
ordered to make restitution to a victim of his or her crime, and the victim also
received a crime victim compensation award for that crime, DOJ is entitled to be
reimbursed from the restitution payments the amount it previously awarded to the
crime victim.
This bill provides that restitution that is paid to DOJ as reimbursement for
crime victim compensation awards must be used to fund other crime victim
compensation awards. The bill also eliminates restrictions that prevent state funds
from being used to pay certain parts of crime victim awards. Under this bill, either
state or federal funding may be used to pay for any part of an award.
This bill appropriates funds derived from restitution paid in drug crime cases
to DOJ for the purchase of drugs in investigating other drug crimes.
Education
Primary and secondary education
Current law requires DPI, DOA, and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to certify to
JCF by May 15 of each year an estimate of the amount of general equalization aid
needed, in combination with the amounts distributed to schools as categorical aids
and the school levy tax credit, to fund two-thirds of statewide school costs
(two-thirds funding). This bill eliminates two-thirds funding.
Current law requires DPI to develop a high school graduation examination.
Beginning on September 1, 2005, a school board or charter school may not grant a
pupil a high school diploma unless the pupil satisfies criteria set by the school board
or charter school, including the pupil's score on the high school graduation
examination. This bill eliminates the high school graduation examination
requirement and the requirement that DPI develop a high school graduation
examination.
The current state school aid formula is designed to equalize school district tax
bases and thus minimize the differences among the abilities of school districts to
raise revenue for educational programs. The formula establishes three guaranteed
tax bases, known as guaranteed valuations, that apply to three different levels of
expenditure. The primary guaranteed valuation applies to those costs that do not
exceed the primary ceiling cost per pupil of $1,000. The secondary guaranteed
valuation applies to per pupil costs that exceed the primary ceiling. The tertiary
guaranteed valuation applies to per pupil costs that exceed the secondary ceiling.
The percentage of a school district's state-aided costs at each level of expenditure is
equal to the net guaranteed valuation (the difference between the applicable
guaranteed valuation and the equalized value of taxable property in the school
district) divided by the applicable guaranteed valuation.
Under the school aid formula, the aid generated at the primary level is reduced
by aid generated at the secondary and tertiary levels but each school district is
guaranteed aid for its primary costs. This bill eliminates this guarantee of aid for
primary costs for a school district whose secondary or tertiary equalized valuation
exceeds its secondary or tertiary guaranteed valuation.
Under current law, annually the state pays to each private school participating
in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) the lesser of the following for
each pupil attending the school under MPCP:
1. The private school's cost per pupil that is related to educational
programming.
2. The sum of the amount paid per pupil under the MPCP in the previous school
year plus the amount of revenue increase per pupil allowed under the school district
revenue limits.
Under this bill, the state pays to each participating private school the lesser of
the following:
1. The private school's cost per pupil that is related to educational
programming.
2. The amount paid per pupil under the MPCP in the previous school year
increased by the percentage change in the amount of general school aid over the
previous school year.
Under current law, annually the state pays to each independent charter school
(a charter school established by the city of Milwaukee, the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, or the Milwaukee
Area Technical College), for each pupil attending the charter school, the sum of the
amount paid per pupil in the previous school year plus the amount of revenue
increase per pupil allowed under the school district revenue limits.
Under this bill, annually the state pays to each independent charter school, for
each pupil attending the school, the sum of the amount paid per pupil in the previous
school year and the amount of increase in the per pupil payment under the MPCP.
The amount paid per pupil may not be less than the amount paid per pupil in the
previous school year.
Current law generally limits the increase in the total amount of revenue per
pupil that a school district may receive from general school aids and property taxes
in a school year to the amount of revenue increase allowed per pupil in the previous
school year increased by the percentage change in the consumer price index. School
districts with revenues per pupil that are below their revenue ceiling are exempt
from the revenue limits. This bill increases the revenue ceiling from $6,900 to $7,400
in the 2003-04 school year and to $7,800 in the 2004-05 school year.
This bill distributes a portion of general school aid from the transportation
fund.
Currently, school district professional employees are required to be placed in a
collective bargaining unit that is separate from the units of other school district
employees. This bill eliminates this requirement.
This bill reduces the number of vocational education consultants that DPI must
to employ from 11 to 5.5.
Under current law, DPI pays each school district, each county children with
disabilities education board (CCDEB), and each technical college district $100 for
each pupil who completes a DPI-approved course in driver education. This bill
provides that, if the amount appropriated is more than enough to provide $100 per
pupil, DPI must distribute the balance to eligible school districts, CCDEBs, and
technical college districts on a prorated basis.
This bill pays a portion of state aid to public library systems from the universal
service fund.
Higher education
Current law prohibits the Board of Regents (board) of the UW System from
increasing resident undergraduate tuition beyond an amount sufficient to fund
certain specified functions.
This bill prohibits the board from increasing resident undergraduate tuition for
a student enrolled at UW-Madison or UW-Milwaukee by more than $350 a semester
in the 2003-04 and the 2004-05 academic years and for a student enrolled at any
other UW System institution by more than $250 a semester in the 2003-04 and the
2004-05 academic years. For example, if tuition for resident undergraduates at the
UW-Madison in the 2002-03 academic year is $2,000 per semester, tuition in the
2003-04 academic year may not exceed $2,350 per semester.
Generally, current law allows a UW System student who has been a bona fide
Wisconsin resident for the 12 months preceding the beginning of a semester or
session for which the student registers to pay resident, as opposed to nonresident,
tuition.
This bill allows an alien who is not a legal permanent resident of the United
States to pay resident, as opposed to nonresident, tuition if: 1) he or she graduated
from a Wisconsin high school or received a high school graduation equivalency from
Wisconsin; 2) was continuously present in Wisconsin for at least one year following
the first day of attending a Wisconsin high school; and 3) enrolls in a UW System
institution and provides the institution with an affidavit stating that he or she has
filed or will file an application for permanent residency with the Immigration and
Naturalization Service as soon as the person is eligible to do so.
Under current law, the board awards grants, known as Lawton grants, to
minority undergraduates enrolled in the UW System and awards grants to minority
and disadvantaged graduate students enrolled in the UW System, and the Higher
Educational Aids Board (HEAB) awards grants to undergraduates enrolled in
nonprofit public institutions of higher education or tribally controlled colleges in this
state. This bill supplements funding for these grant programs from moneys received
by the UW System for auxiliary enterprises.
Current law directs the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) Board to
award grants to district boards to develop or expand programs in occupational areas
in which there is a high demand for workers and to add sections in courses in which
student demand exceeds capacity. This bill eliminates both of these programs.
This bill authorizes the WTCS Board to award grants to district boards to
expand health care education programs.
Other educational and cultural agencies
Under current law, the Technology for Educational Achievement in Wisconsin
(TEACH) Board, which is attached to DOA for administrative purposes, administers
certain educational technology programs, including programs under which the
TEACH Board awards educational technology block grants to school districts and
juvenile secured correctional facilities; awards educational technology training and
technical assistance grants to cooperative educational service agencies (CESAs) and
to consortia of school districts, charter school sponsors, juvenile secured correctional
facilities, public library boards, and CESAs; provides educational technology
infrastructure financial assistance to school districts, charter school sponsors, and
public library boards; and provides subsidized telecommunications access (an
Internet data line or a video link) to various educational agencies.
This bill eliminates the TEACH Board and the position of executive director of
the TEACH Board and transfers the TEACH Board's duties to DPI. The bill also
eliminates educational technology block grants, educational technology training and
technical assistance grants, and educational technology infrastructure financial
assistance, other than forgiveness of loans previously provided. In addition, the bill
permits a public museum located in this state that is accredited by the American
Association of Museums or an educational center that is affiliated with such a
museum to receive a subsidy for telecommunications access. The bill eliminates an
annual grant of $175,000 to the Racine Unified School District for training teachers
and pupils in computers.
Under current law, the Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) administers
various student financial aid programs for state residents attending institutions of
higher education, including Wisconsin higher education grants, talent incentive
grants, tuition grants, handicapped student grants, Indian student assistance
grants, minority undergraduate retention grants, teacher education loans, minority
teacher loans, health education loans, nursing student loans, and academic
excellence scholarships. HEAB also administers contracts with the Medical College
of Wisconsin and the Marquette University School of Dentistry under which a per
capita amount is paid to those institutions for each state resident enrolled at those
institutions and a tuition reciprocity agreement with the state of Minnesota. This
bill, effective on July 1, 2004, eliminates HEAB and the executive secretary and
deputy executive secretary positions in HEAB and transfers the duties of HEAB to
the Board of Regents of the UW System. The bill also eliminates a cap of $1,800 for
an academic year on the amount of a Wisconsin higher education grant.
Under current law, HEAB must disburse $11,670 in each fiscal year for each
Wisconsin resident who is enrolled as a full-time doctor of dental surgery (D.D.S.)
student at the Marquette University School of Dentistry. Current law caps the
number of Wisconsin residents who may be so funded at 160. Current law also caps
the tuition that the Marquette University School of Dentistry may assess a
Wisconsin resident at an amount that is no more than the difference between $11,670
and the tuition assessed a nonresident.
This bill eliminates the amount that must be disbursed for each Wisconsin
resident who is enrolled as a full-time D.D.S. student at the Marquette University
School of Dentistry, the cap on the number of Wisconsin residents who may be so
funded, and the cap on the tuition that the Marquette University School of Dentistry
may assess a Wisconsin resident.
Current law appropriates to the Medical College of Wisconsin (Medical
College), general purpose revenues for medical education, training, and research.
From that appropriation, $10,091 must be disbursed in each fiscal year for each
Wisconsin resident who is paying full tuition in pursuit of a doctor of medicine (M.D.)
degree from the Medical College, except that, if the amount appropriated is
insufficient to pay $10,091 per student, the payments must be disbursed on a
prorated basis for each eligible student. Current law caps the number of Wisconsin
residents who may be so funded. Current law also caps the tuition that the Medical
College may assess a Wisconsin resident at an amount that is no more than the
difference between $10,091 and the tuition assessed a nonresident.
This bill eliminates the amount that must be disbursed for each Wisconsin
resident who is paying full tuition in pursuit of an M.D. degree from the Medical
College, the cap on the number of Wisconsin residents who may be so funded, and the
cap on the tuition that the Medical College may assess a Wisconsin resident.
Employment
Under the Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA), if a dispute relating
to a proposed collective bargaining agreement has not been settled after a reasonable
period of negotiation and after mediation by the Wisconsin Employment Relations
Commission (WERC), either party, or the parties jointly, may petition WERC to
initiate compulsory, final, and binding arbitration with respect to any dispute
relating to wages, hours, and conditions of employment. If WERC determines that
an impasse exists and that arbitration is required, WERC must submit to the parties
a list of seven arbitrators, from which the parties alternately strike names until one
arbitrator is left. As an alternative to a single arbitrator, an arbitration panel may
be formed that consists of one person selected by each party and one person selected
by WERC, or a single arbitrator may be randomly selected from a list of seven names
submitted by WERC. Under current law, an arbitrator or arbitration panel must
adopt the final offer of one of the parties on all disputed issues, which is then
incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement.
This process, however, does not apply to a dispute over economic issues
involving a collective bargaining unit consisting of school district professional
employees if WERC determines that the employer has submitted a qualified
economic offer (QEO). Under current law, a QEO consists of a proposal to maintain
the employees' existing fringe benefits, and the employer's contribution thereto, and
to provide for an annual average salary increase having a cost to the employer at
least equal to 2.1% of the existing total compensation and fringe benefit costs for the
employees in the collective bargaining unit plus certain fringe benefit savings.
Currently, in school districts, MERA requires that the parties engage in good
faith bargaining on all matters related to wages, hours, and conditions of
employment. This bill requires the employer to bargain collectively with respect to
education policy, but also provides that no dispute relating to an education policy
issue is subject to interest arbitration unless all parties to the dispute agree to make
such an issue subject to interest arbitration. If the employer, however, makes a
proposal that provides that employee compensation or performance expectations are
linked with pupil academic performance, the labor organization may include in its
single final offer for purposes of interest arbitration any proposal to meet the
performance expectations, including a proposal affecting education policy.
Under MERA, in reaching a decision, the arbitrator or arbitration panel must
give weight to many factors, including the lawful authority of the municipal
employer, the stipulations of the parties, the interest and welfare of the public, and
the financial ability of the unit of government to meet the costs of the proposed
agreement, comparison of wages, hours, and conditions of employment with those of
other public and private sector employees, the cost of living, the overall
compensation and benefits that the employees currently receive, and other similar
factors. But, under current law, the arbitrator must give greater weight to economic
conditions in the jurisdiction of the employer and the greatest weight to any state law
or directive that places expenditure or revenue limitations on an employer.
This bill eliminates the authorization for the arbitrator or arbitration panel to
give any weight to economic conditions in the jurisdiction of the employer or to any
state law or directive that places expenditure or revenue limitations on an employer
and, instead, requires that the arbitrator or arbitration panel simply considers these
as factors. In addition, with respect to a school district, the bill provides that the
arbitrator or arbitration panel must use as a factor a determination as to which
party's proposal best provides for a fundamental right to an equal opportunity for a
sound basic education under article X, section 3, of the Wisconsin Constitution.
Under current law, a person alleging discrimination in employment may file a
complaint with DWD seeking such action as will effectuate the purpose of the law
prohibiting employment discrimination (Fair Employment Law), including the
payment of back pay, reinstatement of the employee, and the payment of
compensation in lieu of reinstatement, but may not bring a civil action in circuit court
seeking that action. This bill permits a person alleging discrimination in
employment to bring a civil action in circuit court seeking such action as will
effectuate the purpose of the Fair Employment Law.
Under current law, an employee who believes that his or her employer has
violated the Family and Medical Leave Law may file a complaint with DWD seeking
action to remedy the violation, including an order requiring the employer to provide
the requested leave, to reinstate the employee, to provide back pay, and to pay
reasonable actual attorney fees. Current law also permits an employee to bring an
action in circuit court to recover damages caused by a violation of the Family and
Medical Leave Law, but only after completion of an administrative proceeding
concerning the violation. This bill eliminates the requirement that an
administrative proceeding first be completed before an employee may bring an action
in circuit court for a violation of the Family and Medical Leave Law.
Under current law, when DWD receives a complaint alleging discrimination in
employment, housing, or the equal enjoyment of a public place of accommodation or
a complaint alleging a violation of the Family and Medical Leave Law, DWD must
investigate the complaint to determine whether there is probable cause to believe
that the discrimination or violation occurred. Under current DWD rules, if DWD
finds that there is no probable cause to believe that the discrimination or violation
occurred, the complainant may request a hearing on the issue by a hearing examiner.
This bill eliminates the right to a hearing on the issue of probable cause and instead
provides for a review by a hearing examiner based solely of DWD's record of the
complaint.
Under current law, the Wisconsin Conservation Corps (WCC) employs young
adults to work on conservation and human services activities. The WCC Program
is administered by the WCC Board, which may delegate its administrative
responsibilities to the executive secretary of the board. This bill eliminates the WCC,
the WCC Board, and the position of executive secretary of the WCC Board and,
instead, requires DWD to award grants to community-based nonprofit
organizations for youth employment projects that provide employment for youths 14
years of age or over, but less than 22 years of age; that encourage and develop
employment and life skills, discipline, and cooperation in project participants by
providing meaningful work experiences and training and educational opportunities
for those participants; that pay not less than the minimum wage; and that either
conserve, develop, enhance, or maintain the natural resources of this state or
promote the social well-being of children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and
persons with low incomes, or both.
Under current law, the Governor's Work-Based Learning Board (GWBLB) is
required to plan, coordinate, administer, and implement certain youth
apprenticeship, school-to-work, and work-based learning programs and other
employment and education programs that the governor may, by executive order,
assign to the GWBLB. This bill eliminates the GWBLB and transfers administration
of the employment and education programs currently administered by the GWBLB
to DWD. The bill also creates the Governor's Work-Based Learning Council and
directs the council to oversee the planning, coordination, administration, and
implementation by DWD of those programs.
Under current law, the Wisconsin Service Corps employs young adults to work
on community service activities that address the social, health, and economic needs
of communities within Milwaukee County. This bill eliminates the Wisconsin
Service Corps.
