Courts and procedure
Circuit courts
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.
This bill creates a $20 child abuse prevention and child mental health
surcharge and requires a court to impose the surcharge on each misdemeanor offense
or count and on each felony offense or count when it imposes a sentence or places a
person on probation. Of the surcharge $6 is used by the Child Abuse and Neglect
Prevention Board for grants to organizations, and $14 is used by DHFS for grants
to certain counties and tribal governing bodies for programs for alcohol and other
drug abuse problems. If an inmate in a state prison or a person sentenced to a state
prison has not paid the surcharge, DOC must assess the amount owed from the
inmate's wages or other moneys.
Under current law, the clerk of circuit court must charge a justice information
system surcharge of $9 from persons who must pay certain specified fees. Under
current law, two-ninths of the surcharge is used for the development and operation
of automated justice information systems and six-ninths is issued for the operation
of circuit court automated information systems. This bill increases the surcharge to
$12, five-twelfths of which is used for for the development and operation of
automated justice information systems and one-half of which is used for the
operation of circuit court automated information systems. One-twelfth is deposited
into the general fund and is not earmarked for any particular program.
Under current law, if a court imposes a sentence or places a person on probation,
the court must impose a crime victim and witness assistance surcharge. The
surcharge is $50 for each misdemeanor offense or count and $70 for each felony
offense or count. Of the surcharge $30 for each misdemeanor and $50 for each felony
is used to reimburse counties for services to victims and witnesses of crimes. This
bill increases the surcharge to $60 for each misdemeanor and $85 for each felony.
Of the surcharge $40 for each misdemeanor and $65 for each felony is used to
reimburse counties for the services to victims and witnesses of crimes.
Under current law, with some exceptions, if a court imposes a sentence, places
a person on probation, or imposes a forfeiture for a violation of state law or a violation
of a municipal or county ordinance, a court must impose a $7 crime laboratories and
drug law enforcement surcharge. This bill increases the surcharge to $8.
This bill increases the penalty surcharge, which a court imposes whenever it
imposes a fine or forfeiture for most violations of state laws or local ordinances, from
24 percent to 25 percent of the fine or forfeiture imposed. The bill also increases the
percentage of the money collected from this surcharge that is used to train law
enforcement, jail, and secure detention officers and for crime laboratory equipment
from 48 percent to 49.5 percent.
Other courts and procedure
This bill appropriates money to the Office of Justice Assistance in DOA and
directs the office to pay the amounts appropriated to the Wisconsin Trust Account
Foundation, Inc., to be awarded as grants to programs that provide civil legal
services to indigent persons. The Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Inc., was
created by the Supreme Court to allocate the money received from interest on
lawyers' trust accounts to programs that provide civil legal services to indigents. The
grants may be used only for assisting Wisconsin Works participants with medical
claims, developing discharge plans for mentally ill inmates, coordinating insurance
benefits for medical assistance recipients, providing ancillary services to juvenile
offenders, obtaining child support, and acting as a guardian ad litem in cases with
the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare.
This bill authorizes DOJ to bring an action for injunctive or other equitable
relief against a person who interferes with the exercise or enjoyment by an individual
of a right secured by the constitution or laws of this state or of the United States.
Generally, under current law, a county elects its own district attorney, but the
district attorney and deputy and assistant district attorneys are state employees.
DOA provides administrative assistance to district attorney offices. This bill
transfers the administrative assistance duties to DOJ.
crimes
Under current law, the term of probation for a person convicted of a single
misdemeanor is six months to two years. Under this bill, if a person is convicted of
a Class A misdemeanor (for which the maximum term of imprisonment is generally
nine months), the initial maximum term of probation is one year. If a person is
convicted of any other type of misdemeanor, the initial maximum term of probation
is six months, and there is no minimum term. Neither of these maximum terms of
probation applies, however, if the person committed the misdemeanor while
possessing a firearm or if the conviction is for an act of domestic abuse, for having
nonconsensual sexual contact with another person, or for a misdemeanor under
chapter 948 of the statutes (which covers certain crimes against children). In such
a case, the initial maximum term of probation is two years.
This bill directs the Sentencing Commission to review sentences imposed on
individuals who are convicted of nonviolent offenses, other than those relating to
operating a vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant, or with a restricted
controlled substance or a prohibited level of alcohol in his or her blood, and to develop
recommendations for alternative dispositions for these individuals that may be used
by courts at or before sentencing.
education
Primary and secondary education
Current law allows a school board to enter into a five-year renewable
achievement guarantee (SAGE) contract with DPI to reduce class size and improve
academic achievement in grades kindergarten to three in exchange for receiving
$2,000 for each low-income pupil enrolled in grades eligible for SAGE funding in the
school district. The most recent set of SAGE contracts expires at the end of the
2005-06 school year.
This bill authorizes another set of SAGE contracts, starting in the 2006-07
school year, and increases the $2,000 per pupil payment to $2,250 in the 2005-06
fiscal year and $2,500 in subsequent fiscal years for these new contracts and for
renewals of existing contracts.
Beginning in the 2006-07 fiscal year, this bill authorizes DPI to award grants
to school boards to implement four-year-old kindergarten programs. A school board
is eligible for an initial grant of up to $3,000 for each pupil enrolled in a four-year-old
kindergarten program in the school district and a second grant of up to $1,500 for
each such pupil.
This bill directs DPI to award grants of up to $100,000 to no more than 20 school
districts for the design, development, and implementation of a differentiated
compensation program for teachers in the 2005-07 fiscal biennium. To be eligible for
a grant, a program must base all or part of teacher salary increases on one or more
of the following factors:
1. An increase in a teacher's knowledge about teaching or about the subjects
he or she teaches or an improvement in a teacher's teaching skills.
2. The assumption by a teacher of additional responsibilities, including
mentoring other teachers.
3. The assignment of a teacher to a grade level or subject area in which there
are teacher shortages.
4. The assignment of a teacher to a school that is difficult to staff or that is low
in pupil performance.
The bill directs DPI to establish a competitive process for awarding grants, to
give preference in awarding grants to school districts in which the teachers, the
community, and the businesses in the community support the grant, and to make
reasonable efforts in awarding grants to reflect the diversity of school districts on
various factors.
Current law limits the amount of revenue that a school district may obtain from
general school aids, computer aid, and the property tax levy. If a school district's
revenue in any school year is less than its revenue limit for that school year, the
revenue limit otherwise applicable in the subsequent school year is increased by an
amount equal to 75 percent of the difference between the revenue limit in the
preceding school year and the school district's actual revenue for that school year.
This bill increases that subsequent revenue limit for such a school district to the
entire difference between the revenue limit in the preceding school year and the
actual revenue for that school year.
Under current law, a school district's revenue limit is based on a three-year
rolling average of its enrollment. This bill sets a school district's revenue limit at the
amount calculated using a three-year or five-year rolling average of its enrollment,
whichever yields the higher amount.
Currently, a school district with per pupil revenue below $7,800 in any school
year is exempt from school district revenue limits. This bill raises the amount to
$8,100 in the 2005-06 school year and to $8,400 in subsequent school years.
Current law requires a school board annually to publish a summary of its
proposed budget before it holds a public hearing on the budget. This bill requires the
summary to include, for the proposed budget, the current budget, and the budget in
the previous fiscal year, the school district's general fund balance at the end of the
fiscal year divided by the school district's general fund expenditures in that fiscal
year, expressed as a percentage. The budget summary must also include, for the
current and previous fiscal years, the statewide average school district general fund
balance at the end of the fiscal year divided by the statewide average school district
general fund expenditures in that fiscal year, expressed as a percentage.
The bill also provides that if a school board adopts a proposed budget in which
the school district's general fund balance at the end of the fiscal year divided by the
school district's general fund expenditures in that fiscal year will exceed an amount
equal to 90 percent of the statewide average school district general fund ratio of
balance to expenditures in the previous fiscal year, the school board must approve
the excess by a separate vote.
Under current law, the state reimburses school boards and private schools 10
cents for each breakfast served under the School Breakfast Program. This bill raises
the reimbursement rate to 15 cents.
This bill increases the reimbursement rates for school district pupil
transportation and changes the funding source for school transportation aid from the
general fund to the transportation fund.
Under current law, a school board, board of control of a cooperative educational
service agency, county children with disabilities education board, or an independent
charter school established by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the
University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Milwaukee Area Technical College, or the city of
Milwaukee is eligible to receive state aid for certain special education costs, such as
salaries for special education personnel and transporting children with disabilities.
Other costs, such as providing nursing care or assistive technology for children with
disabilities, are not reimbursable under state or federal law. Beginning in the
2006-07 school year, this bill provides state aid for these costs equal to 90 percent
of the amount by which these costs exceeded $30,000 per child in the previous school
year.
Current law authorizes the employment of teachers, school social workers,
school psychologists, and coordinators of special education, who are licensed by DPI,
for a special education program. The salaries of these employees are eligible for state
reimbursement through special education aid.
Beginning in the 2006-07 fiscal year, this bill allows the employment of licensed
school counselors for special education programs and provides that the cost of their
salaries is eligible for reimbursement through special education aid.
This bill directs DPI to award grants to persons who employ individuals
licensed by DPI as initial educators in positions that require a DPI teaching license.
The amount of the grant is equal to the amount that the employer is spending to
provide a mentor for the initial educator, but not more than $375 for each initial
educator so employed. The employer must use the funds to provide a mentor for each
initial educator.
Current law directs DPI to award a grant to any person who is certified by the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, licensed by DPI as a teacher
or employed as a teacher in a private school, and employed as a teacher in this state.
This bill provides that a teacher who is licensed by DPI as a master educator is also
eligible for the grant.
This bill creates a grant program, funded with Indian gaming revenue, under
which a person may apply to DPI for a grant of up to $30,000 to: (1) impart to pupils
an appreciation of different value systems and cultures; (2) promote pupils'
understanding of human relations, particularly with regard to American Indians; or
(3) assist pupils, schools, and communities in appreciating racial and cultural
diversity. The bill also appropriates Indian gaming revenue for the American Indian
Language and Culture Eduction Program, which DPI administers.
This bill provides state aid to nonsectarian private or tribal schools in which at
least 75 percent of the pupils enrolled are American Indian. The amount provided
is $200 for each pupil who completes the fall semester in the school's American
Indian Language and Culture Eduction Program.
This bill requires DPI to award a grant to Beloit College to educate children and
adults in southern Wisconsin about Native American cultures.
This bill directs DPI to award grants to school districts to partially reimburse
them for the costs incurred in offering advanced placement courses in high schools
that are not currently offering them. A grant may not exceed $300 per pupil enrolled
in advanced placement courses.
This bill directs DPI to award grants to cooperative educational service
agencies and the Milwaukee Public Schools for the purpose of providing advanced
curriculum and assessments for gifted and talented middle school pupils.
Current law directs DWD annually to allocate $100,000 from federal
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) moneys to the Wausau school
district for English training for three-, four-, and five-year-old Southeast Asian
children. This bill shifts funding for this purpose to DPI and to general purpose
revenue. The bill also eliminates the Head Start supplement from TANF funds.
This bill directs DPI to award grants to nonprofit organizations in the 2005-06
fiscal year to support programs that train community-based adult literacy staff and
to establish new volunteer-based programs in areas of the state that need adult
literacy services. A grant may not exceed $25,000.
This bill authorizes DPI to assist in the establishment of, and to participate in,
a consortium of state education agencies organized to obtain funds for the purchase
of an English language proficiency assessment system.
Higher education
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 he or she: 1) graduated
from a Wisconsin high school or received a high school graduation equivalency from
Wisconsin; 2) was continuously present in Wisconsin for at least three years
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 U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services as soon as he or she is eligible to do so. The bill also
provides that such persons are to be considered residents of this state for purposes
of admission to and payment of fees at a technical college.
Current law grants certain veterans an exemption from nonresident tuition at
the UW System even if they were not Wisconsin residents at the time of entry or
reentry into active duty. This bill grants the exemption only to a veteran who was
a Wisconsin resident at the time of entry or reentry into active duty.
Current law authorizes the Board of Regents of the UW System to award
nonresident tuition exemptions to different categories of students, but the number
of remissions for each category is limited. This bill eliminates these limits.
Currently DHFS and the Department of Commerce, in conjunction with the
UW System's State Laboratory of Hygiene (lab), conduct federal Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) testing, pursuant to a contract with OSHA. This
bill transfers the entire responsibility for this testing, along with incumbent
employees and positions, to the lab.
This bill requires the Board of Regents of the UW System to file a plan with DOA
to eliminate 200 UW System administrative positions. Unless the secretary of
administration approves the plan, the board loses the authority to create or abolish
faculty and academic staff positions from general program operations funding
during the 2006-07 fiscal year.
This bill requires the Board of Regents of the UW System to submit to the
secretary of administration by August 1, 2006, a report that describes by position
classification and campus the faculty and instructional staff positions that were
created from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2006, to promote access to the UW System.
This bill directs the Board of Regents of the UW System to allocate certain
amounts of money from the UW System general program operations appropriation
for implementing the recommendations of the UW System Committee on
Baccalaureate Expansion and for the UW-Rock County Engineering Initiative.
This bill requires DOA annually to lapse from three UW System appropriations
the amount of money equal to the amount spent from a DOJ appropriation for legal
advice regarding UW's public broadcasting.
Current law authorizes a technical college district board to charge an
additional fee for a short-term, professional development, vocational-adult seminar
or workshop offered to individuals who are employed in a related field. The
additional fee may not exceed an amount equal to the full cost of the seminar or
workshop less the normal program fee. This bill eliminates this restriction on the
amount of the additional fee but provides that the seminar or workshop may not
consist of more than 24 hours of instruction.
Other educational and cultural agencies
Under current law, DOA administers an Educational Telecommunications
Access Program under which DOA provides Internet access and two-way interactive
video links to educational agencies. Under that program, an educational agency,
subject to certain exceptions, may request access to either one data line for Internet
access or one video link and is charged a monthly fee for that access. Any costs
incurred by DOA that exceed that monthly fee are paid from the universal service
fund, which is a separate trust fund that consists of contributions made by certain
telecommunications providers and that is used to promote universal access to
telecommunications services (universal service). In addition, DOA receives aid from
a federal program that supports universal service, commonly referred to as the
E-Rate Program, that DOA uses to pay administrative expenses and to reimburse
the Building Commission for public debt incurred in providing educational
technology infrastructure to school districts and public libraries.
This bill permits an elementary school, a secondary school, or a library to
request data lines, video links, and bandwidth access in addition to what is provided
under the Educational Telecommunications Access Program. The bill requires DOA
to apply for aid under the E-Rate Program to cover the costs of the additional data
lines and video links and the additional bandwidth access and, to the extent that the
aid does not cover those costs, to require an elementary school, secondary school, or
library to pay DOA a monthly fee that is sufficient to cover those costs.
Under current law, the Educational Approval Board (EAB) inspects and
approves private trade, correspondence, business, and technical schools
(EAB-approved schools) to protect the students, prevent fraud, and encourage
accepted educational standards at those schools. Currently, the EAB is attached to
DVA. This bill transfers the EAB to the Technical College System Board.
Under current law, the EAB may seek a court order to take possession of an
EAB-approved school's records if the records are in danger of being destroyed,
secreted, mislaid, or otherwise made unavailable. Current law, however, exempts
from the oversight of the EAB tax-exempt schools that were incorporated in this
state before January 1, 1992, or that had their headquarters and principal places of
business in this state before 1970; schools that are licensed or approved, and
supervised, by other state agencies; schools approved by DPI for the training of
teachers; and schools accredited by accrediting agencies recognized by the EAB
(schools not approved by the EAB).
This bill permits the EAB to take possession of the student records of an
EAB-approved school or a school not approved by the EAB if the school discontinues
its operations, proposes to discontinue its operations, or is in imminent danger of
discontinuing its operations as determined by the EAB and if the EAB determines
that those records are in danger of being destroyed, secreted, mislaid, or otherwise
made unavailable to the persons who are the subjects of those records. The bill also
permits the EAB to seek a court order authorizing the EAB to take possession of the
student records of an EAB-approved school or a school not approved by the EAB if
necessary to protect those records from being destroyed, secreted, mislaid, or
otherwise made unavailable to the persons who are the subjects of those records.
Under current law, the Higher Educational Aids Board awards Wisconsin
higher education grants (WHEG grants) to undergraduates enrolled at least half
time at nonprofit public institutions of higher education or tribally controlled
colleges in this state. Currently, a WHEG grant may not exceed $2,500 for any
academic year. WHEG grants for UW System students are funded in part from
moneys received by the UW System for auxiliary enterprises, such as dining halls
and parking facilities. This bill increases the maximum grant amount to $3,000 for
any academic year and eliminates the UW System's auxiliary enterprises as a
funding source for WHEG grants.
Under current law, the Arts Board must provide grants to individuals or groups
of exceptional talent engaged in the arts and may contract with individuals,
organizations, units of government, and institutions for services furthering the
development of the arts and humanities. This bill requires the Arts Board to provide
grants to American Indian individuals or groups of exceptional talent engaged in the
arts and permits the Arts Board to contract with American Indian individuals,
organizations, institutions, and tribal governments for services furthering the
development of the arts and humanities.
Current law authorizes six unclassified division administrator positions for the
State Historical Society of Wisconsin. This bill reduces that number to five.
employment
Under current law, in local government employment other than law
enforcement and fire fighting employment, if a dispute relating to the terms of 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, after
investigation, 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 one alternative to a single arbitrator,
WERC may provide for an arbitration panel that consists of one person selected by
each party and one person selected by WERC. As another alternative, WERC may
provide a process that allows for a random selection of a single arbitrator 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.
Under current law, however, this process does not apply to a dispute over
economic issues involving a collective bargaining unit consisting of school district
professional employees if WERC determines, subsequent to an investigation, that
the employer has submitted a qualified economic offer (QEO). Under current law, a
QEO consists of a proposal to maintain the percentage contribution by the employer
to the employees' existing fringe benefit costs and the employees' existing fringe
benefits and to provide for an annual average salary increase having a cost to the
employer at least equal to 2.1 percent of the existing total compensation and fringe
benefit costs for the employees in the collective bargaining unit plus any fringe
benefit savings. This bill eliminates the QEO exception from the compulsory, final,
and binding arbitration process.
Under the current prevailing wage law, certain laborers, workers, mechanics,
and truck drivers employed on a state or local project of public works must be paid
at the rate paid for a majority of the hours worked in the person's trade or occupation
in the county in which the project is located. Current law requires each contractor,
subcontractor, and agent performing work on a project that is subject to the
prevailing wage law to keep records indicating the name and trade or occupation of
every person performing work that is subject to the prevailing wage law and an
accurate record of the number of hours worked by each of those persons and the
actual wages paid for those hours worked. This bill requires a contractor,
subcontractor, or agent performing work on a project that is subject to the prevailing
wage law, other than a state highway project, to submit on a weekly basis a certified
record of that information for the preceding week to the local governmental unit or
state agency authorizing the work.
Under current law, DWD collects an annual assessment from each worker's
compensation insurer and self-insured employer doing business in this state and
uses the assessments to administer the worker's compensation program. This bill
requires DWD to use a portion of the assessments to conduct a study of injuries to
health care workers caused by lifting; to develop and distribute informational
materials that promote a lift-free working environment for health care workers; and
to distribute grants to health care facilities and providers to assist in implementing
a lift-free working environment for health care workers.
Current law requires the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) Board
to provide a school-to-work program, including a school-to-work program for
children-at-risk in Milwaukee County, and a work-based learning program under
which the WTCS Board awards grants to tribal colleges for programs that provide
occupational training and work-based learning experiences to youths and adults.
This bill transfers administration of these programs to the Governor's Work-Based
Learning Board.
Environment
Water quality
Under the Clean Water Fund Program, Wisconsin makes loans at subsidized
interest rates for projects for controlling water pollution, including sewage
treatment plants. This bill sets the present value of the Clean Water Fund Program
subsidies that may be provided during the 2005-07 biennium at $136,600,000. The
bill also increases the general obligation bonding authority for the Clean Water Fund
Program by $9,600,000.
Under the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program, Wisconsin makes loans at
subsidized interest rates to local governmental units for projects for the construction
or modification of public water systems. This bill sets the present value of the Safe
Drinking Water Loan Program subsidies that may be provided during the 2005-07
biennium at $13,500,000. The bill also increases the general obligation bonding
authority for the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program by $6,100,000.
Under current law, DNR provides financial assistance for measures to reduce
water pollution from nonpoint (diffuse) sources. This bill increases the general
obligation bonding authority for nonpoint source financial assistance by $6,000,000.
Under current law, DNR also provides financial assistance for the management
of urban storm water runoff and for flood control and riparian restoration projects.
This bill increases the general obligation bonding authority for these projects by
$4,700,000.
Under current law, DNR compensates landowners or lessees of properties on
which contaminated wells are located for the costs of treating the well water or of
constructing a new well or obtaining clean water from another source. This bill
authorizes DNR also to provide compensation for claims solely for the costs of
abandoning a well that is unused or that poses a hazard to health or safety.
Air quality
The federal Clean Air Act requires certain stationary sources of air pollution,
such as large factories, to obtain operation permits from DNR. State law requires
additional stationary sources of air pollution to obtain operation permits. Under
current law, DNR sets the fees to be paid by the operator of any stationary source for
which an operation permit is required. The fees are based on the amount of
pollutants that a stationary source emits.
This bill sets different fees for stationary sources of air pollution for which an
operation permit is required under state law, but not under the Clean Air Act. The
fees are $1,500 per year or $3,000 per year depending on the type of operation permit.
The bill also sets fees of $300 per year for stationary sources that are exempt from
the requirement to obtain an operation permit but that annually emit more than
three tons of a regulated pollutant.
Other environment
This bill transfers $10,860,600 in fiscal year 2005-06 and $20,000,000 in fiscal
year 2006-07 from the petroleum inspection fund to the general fund. The bill
transfers $5,842,100 in fiscal year 2005-06 and $5,742,100 in fiscal year 2006-07
from the recycling fund to the general fund. The bill also transfers $4,200,000 in
fiscal year 2005-06 and $800,000 in fiscal year 2006-07 from the environmental fund
to the general fund.
Under the Land Recycling Loan Program, Wisconsin makes interest-free loans
to political subdivisions for projects to remedy contamination at sites owned by the
political subdivisions where the contamination has affected, or threatens to affect,
groundwater or surface water. This bill sets the present value of the Land Recycling
Loan Program subsidies that may be provided during the 2005-07 biennium at
$3,300,000.
Current law authorizes DNR to remedy environmental contamination in some
situations. This bill increases the authorized general obligation bonding authority
to finance that remedial action by $3,000,000.
This bill authorizes DNR to contract with a nonprofit organization for services
to assist businesses to reduce the amount of solid waste they generate or to reuse or
recycle solid waste.
