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.
Current law imposes a recycling fee of $3 per ton on most solid waste that is
disposed of at a landfill. This bill exempts from the recycling fee waste material that
is disposed of by companies that make paper or paperboard from wastepaper, that
cannot be used to make paper or paperboard, and that was acquired in the normal
course of recycling.
Current law authorizes persons, including government agencies, to use
electronic means to conduct transactions. This bill authorizes DNR to charge fees
to cover the costs of electronically conducting transactions under the environmental
programs administered by DNR.
Gambling
Current law prohibits any employee in the Lottery Division of DOR (division)
from being employed by a lottery vendor while an employee in the division and for
two years following the person's termination of employment. This bill eliminates the
two-year provision if DOR has entered into a contract with the vendor to perform
lottery functions that were previously performed by the employee while he or she was
employed in the division. In addition, the bill provides that DOR may not enter into
a contract for lottery services unless the contract requires the vendor to offer
employment to those employees in the division who performed those services and
whose positions were terminated.
Under current law, DOR may contract with retailers to sell lottery tickets.
However, DOR may not contract with retailers who are delinquent in paying state
taxes or in making contributions to the unemployment reserve fund. This bill
prohibits DOR from contracting with retailers who owe payments to the work injury
supplemental benefit fund as a result of the death or maiming of an employee or who
owe payments to the uninsured employers fund (which is used to pay compensation
to injured employees of employers who do not have worker's compensation
insurance).
This bill authorizes DOR to use the procedures under current law for assessing,
collecting, and reviewing delinquent income and franchise taxes to assess, collect,
and review any unpaid amount owed by a retailer to DOR in connection with the
state lottery.
health and human services
Medical Assistance
Under current law, DHFS must collect and analyze health care information
from health care providers other than hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers and,
from the data collected, prepare certain reports. The Board on Health Care
Information, attached to DHFS, advises DHFS on the collection, analysis, and
dissemination of health care information, oversees the reports issued by DHFS, and
develops direction for health care information collection.
This bill eliminates the Board on Health Care Information on October 1, 2005,
and replaces it with a nine-member Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Board
(HCQPSB), attached to DOA, which assumes the duties and powers of the Board on
Health Care Information. In addition, the bill directs the HCQPSB to study and
make recommendations concerning the feasibility of creating a centralized physician
information database; study and make recommendations regarding the rules
required and authorized to be promulgated by DHFS concerning the collection,
analysis, and dissemination of health care information; develop a plan to deploy
health care information systems technology for health care quality, safety, and
efficiency; annually assess the extent to which health care providers use automated
information and decision support systems; develop a plan to automate all health care
systems by 2010; and award grants or make loans to clinics, health maintenance
organizations, hospitals, or physicians for various projects.
The bill prohibits DHFS from enforcing rules promulgated before the date this
bill becomes law that relate to the collection from physicians of workforce and
practice information, health care plan affiliations, and hospital privileges and from
dentists, chiropractors, and podiatrists of workforce and practice information.
Beginning July 1, 2007, the bill also prohibits DHFS from enforcing rules
promulgated before that date that relate to physician claims data. DHFS may
promulgate rules that relate to the collection and dissemination of health care
information only after HCQPSB approves them.
The bill creates the health care quality improvement fund, a segregated fund
that consists of moneys transferred from the injured patients and families
compensation fund, the net proceeds of certain revenue obligations, a portion of the
annual assessments levied on health care providers other than hospitals and
ambulatory surgery centers, the repayment of any loans made by the HCQPSB, and
any moneys transferred by the secretary of administration. Moneys in the health
care quality improvement fund are used for the general program operations of the
HCQPSB, for grants awarded or loans made by the HCQPSB, and for benefits under
the Medical Assistance (MA) program, including payments for direct graduate
medical education, a major managed care supplement, a pediatric services
supplement, rural hospital supplements, and an essential access city hospital.
Under current law, WHEFA provides financial assistance to health facilities
and hospitals. This bill prohibits WHEFA from providing financial assistance unless
the health facility or hospital demonstrates to the HCQPSB that the health facility
or hospital is making progress to improve medical information systems technology.
Under current law, certain health care providers are required to carry health
care liability insurance with specified liability limits. The injured patients and
families compensation fund pays, on behalf of a health care provider who is subject
to the health care liability insurance requirements, the portion of a medical
malpractice claim that exceeds the limits of the health care provider's health care
liability insurance. Moneys in the fund are derived from annual assessments paid
by the health care providers who are subject to the health care liability insurance
requirements.
This bill transfers $169,703,400 in fiscal year 2005-06 and $9,714,000 in fiscal
year 2006-07 from the injured patients and families compensation fund to the health
care quality improvement fund, as created in the bill.
This bill creates a program for the issuance of revenue obligations to fund MA
costs. The amount of expenditures for the program that may be paid from these
revenue obligations may not exceed $130,000,000. The bill provides that the
principal and interest costs on the revenue obligations are to be paid from excise
taxes that are currently imposed on the sale of liquor, fermented malt beverages,
cigarettes, and tobacco products.
Currently, DHFS administers several programs under waivers of federal
Medicaid laws under which MA recipients who reside in certain institutions or who
meet certain levels of care requirements are relocated into their communities and
provided home and community-based services and long-term care support services.
This bill authorizes DHFS to request a waiver of federal Medicaid laws to
provide home or community-based services to MA recipients who have serious
mental illnesses and who meet certain level of care requirements for services in
nursing homes. If DHFS receives the waiver, DHFS may use federal Medicaid funds
to contract with a county or a private agency to administer the home or
community-based services under the Community Opportunities and Recovery
Program created in the bill.
This bill requires DHFS to collect assessments on health maintenance
organizations (HMOs) that contract with DHFS to provide health care to recipients
of MA or the Badger Care health care program (BadgerCare). The assessment is 6
percent of each HMO's annual gross revenues. The first assessment is due on March
31, 2006. The assessments are deposited into the MA trust fund, from which DHFS
annually must distribute moneys to supplement MA payments and BadgerCare
payments to HMOs, to assist in meeting increasing costs, and for other
reimbursement needs that DHFS identifies.
Under current law, a family, or a child who does not reside with his or her
parent, may be eligible for health care coverage under BadgerCare if the child's or
family's income does not exceed 185 percent of the federal poverty line and the child
or family meets certain nonfinancial criteria.
This bill expands BadgerCare to provide health care coverage to an unborn
child whose mother is not eligible for BadgerCare or for MA, except for certain
emergency services. Current income requirements apply. The unborn child and the
unborn child's mother must also meet the current nonfinancial eligibility
requirements, except that the unborn child is not required to have a social security
number and the unborn child's mother need not be a U.S. citizen or a qualifying alien,
may be an inmate of a public institution, and need not provide a social security
number if she is not a U.S. citizen or qualifying alien.
Under current law, nursing homes and intermediate care facilities for the
mentally retarded (ICFMRs) must pay to the state an assessment on each bed for
which they are licensed. The assessments are $75 per calendar month per licensed
bed of a nursing home and $445 per calendar month per licensed bed of an ICFMR.
A portion of the bed assessment revenue is used to pay MA benefits.
This bill increases the amount of the assessment per licensed bed of a nursing
home to up to $125 per calendar month and the amount of the assessment per
licensed bed of an ICFMR to up to $523 per calendar month in fiscal year 2005-06
and up to $587 per calendar month in fiscal year 2006-07.
Under current law, DHFS reimburses school districts, cooperative educational
service agencies (CESAs), and DPI 60 percent of the amount that the state receives
as federal Medicaid reimbursement for health care services that school districts,
CESAs, and DPI provide in schools to pupils who are eligible for MA. DHFS may
supplement MA payments for these services if the total of the reimbursement and
the supplements does not exceed federal Medicaid payment limitations. This bill
eliminates the authority for DHFS to supplement MA payments for school-based
services provided to pupils who are eligible for MA.
Currently, DHFS administers a Community Integration Program (CIP II),
under which MA is paid to counties to provide home and community-based services
to elderly and physically disabled persons who meet the requirements for
MA-reimbursed nursing home care or who are relocated from facilities to the
community.
This bill authorizes DHFS to provide enhanced CIP II funding for home and
community-based services to an MA-eligible person who relocates from a facility to
the community, if the number of people served does not exceed the number of nursing
home beds delicensed by DHFS.
Under current law, DHFS provides MA payments to nursing homes and some
community-based residential facilities under a detailed formula that assigns
cost-based payment for certain items and flat-rate payment for others. Beginning
July 1, 2006, this bill changes the payment formula from cost-based to flat-rate for
nonbillable direct care costs for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and
nurse's assistants.
Currently, in calculating amounts payable for direct care costs, DHFS must
establish separate standards for facilities that primarily serve the developmentally
disabled. Further, DHFS must establish the direct care component of the facility
payment rate for each facility by comparing actual allowable direct care cost
information for that facility, as adjusted for inflation, to the applicable standard.
Beginning July 1, 2006, this bill eliminates differences in standards for payment of
direct care costs between facilities that primarily serve the developmentally disabled
and those that do not, and eliminates the requirement that DHFS compare a
facility's actual allowable direct care costs to the standard.
Under current law, children who are in foster care and under the age of 18 are
eligible to receive MA. This bill extends eligibility for MA on January 1, 2007, to an
individual who is 18 or 19 years old, and on January 1, 2008, to an individual who
is 20 years old, and who on his or her 18th birthday was in foster care or treatment
foster care.
Current law authorizes DHFS to recover overpayments that DHFS made under
MA that resulted from a misstatement or omission of fact by an applicant that would
have affected an MA recipient's eligibility for MA benefits.
This bill provides that DHFS may also recover MA overpayments that resulted
from the failure of a recipient to report changes in status that would have affected
the recipient's eligibility for benefits or his or her cost-sharing requirements. The
bill provides that DHFS may recover BadgerCare overpayments for the same
reasons for which DHFS may recover MA overpayments.
The bill also provides that if an MA or BadgerCare recipient fails to repay the
overpaid amount, DHFS may bring an action to enforce repayment or issue an order
to compel repayment. This bill provides for the recovery of overpayments through
a state income tax refund setoff process.
Under current law, the Community Aids Program (CAP) is funded from state
general purpose revenues and federal block grant moneys; under it, DHFS
distributes moneys to county departments of social services, human services,
community programs, and developmental disabilities services for community social,
mental health, developmental disabilities, and alcohol and other drug abuse services
and certain other services. Until January 1, 2006, DHFS may, from general purpose
revenues for CAP, pay for certain MA services provided by the county departments
and by local health departments and pay providers of MA personal care, home
health, and respiratory care services. This bill eliminates the January 1, 2006,
sunset on these payments.
Under current law, during 2006, DHFS must make payments from the MA
trust fund to hold county departments and local health departments harmless for the
elimination, from July 26, 2003, to January 1, 2006, of the community services deficit
reduction benefit (CSDRB), under which counties and local health departments
could claim federal Medicaid matching funds to cover costs for MA services provided
that were not fully reimbursed. This bill eliminates that requirement, authorizes
payments from the general purpose revenues for CAP to city health departments for
this purpose, and eliminates the recommencement of CSDRB.
Current law prohibits DHFS from reimbursing a provider for certain elective
surgical procedures under MA unless the patient receives a second medical opinion
regarding the appropriateness of the procedure. This bill eliminates the
requirement for second medical opinions for elective surgical procedures under MA.
Under current law, as a benefit under MA, DHFS pays the charge for
transportation by an emergency medical vehicle to obtain emergency medical care
and transportation by a specialized medical vehicle or, if first approved by the county
department of human services or social services (county department), by a common
carrier or private motor vehicle to obtain nonemergency medical care. Under the bill,
DHFS pays on behalf of an MA recipient the charge for transportation by an
emergency medical vehicle to obtain emergency medical care and to obtain
nonemergency medical care if transportation by other means is contraindicated.
Otherwise, DHFS pays the charge for transportation to obtain nonemergency
medical services only if it is provided through an entity with which DHFS has
contracted to manage transportation services for MA.
Under BadgerCare, a child or family with an income of at least 150 percent of
the federal poverty level is required to contribute up to 5 percent of income to the cost
of the health care, including a copayment of $1 for each prescription for a generic
drug and a copayment of $3 for each prescription for a brand name drug.
This bill directs DHFS to request one or more waivers from the federal
Department of Health and Human Services to implement cost-saving measures
under BadgerCare that may include: 1) a three-tiered prescription drug copayment
requirement that does not exceed the maximum copayment amount established by
the Group Insurance Board for state employees; 2) a benchmark plan, which is
described in federal regulations as health care coverage that is substantially equal
to the health care coverage offered to federal or state employees or to a health
insurance plan offered by a health maintenance organization that has the largest
commercial enrollment in the state of persons who do not have coverage under; and
3) mandatory copayments for benefits in addition to the copayments for prescription
drugs.
Also under current law, when an MA recipient or a person with coverage under
BadgerCare or SeniorCare, which provides prescription drug assistance for
low-income elderly persons, purchases a prescription drug, he or she pays a
copayment and then DHFS reimburses the pharmacy an amount that is based on a
national average wholesale price, plus a percentage or amount for a dispensing fee.
Under this bill, DHFS must investigate alternatives to using this methodology for
reimbursement for brand name drugs purchased or dispensed under MA,
BadgerCare, and SeniorCare, and must report its findings, conclusions, and
recommendations to DOA.
Currently under CIP, MA recipients who reside in state centers for the
developmentally disabled or other institutions or who meet certain levels of care are
relocated into their communities and provided home and community-based services
by counties. DHFS reimburses the counties. Counties may not use the money to
purchase land or construct buildings. This bill permits counties to use the moneys
to purchase land or construct buildings if the purchase or construction is determined
necessary by DHFS.
Public assistance
Under current law, DHFS administers a number of public assistance programs
under which eligible persons receive financial, health care, or other types of
assistance. This bill authorizes DHFS to recover benefits incorrectly paid under any
of these assistance programs, and provides that DHFS may recover overpayments
by reducing the benefits of a family or individual who received the overpayments and
who is still receiving benefits. The bill authorizes DHFS to specify by rule other
methods for recovering incorrectly paid benefits, and provides for recovery of these
incorrectly paid benefits through a state income tax refund setoff process.
Current law directs DWD to investigate suspected fraud on the part of
participants in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Program and
participants in the Wisconsin Works (W-2) Program and to reduce payment errors
in W-2. DHFS may contract with DWD for DWD to investigate suspected fraud and
to conduct activities to reduce payment errors under MA and the food stamp
program, both of which DHFS administers.
Under the bill, DHFS must investigate suspected fraud and reduce payment
errors in the programs that it administers, and DWD may contract with DHFS for
DHFS to investigate suspected fraud and conduct payment error reduction activities
in the programs that DWD administers. In addition, the bill adds three
DHFS-administered programs to the programs for which fraud must be investigated
and payment error reduction activities must be conducted: BadgerCare, the
program under which DHFS provides state supplemental payments to persons
eligible to receive supplemental security income (SSI), and the program under which
DHFS makes monthly payments for the support of dependent children to custodial
parents who are receiving SSI or state supplemental payments.
Under current law, DHFS contracts with county departments, and may
contract with American Indian tribal governing bodies, to administer MA,
BadgerCare, the food stamp program, and the cemetery, funeral, and burial expenses
program, known collectively as "income maintenance" programs, and reimburses the
county departments and tribal governing bodies for their costs of administering
those programs.
This bill provides that DHFS, a county department, or a tribal governing body
may request from any person information that is appropriate and necessary for
determining or verifying eligibility or benefits for a recipient under any of the income
maintenance programs. A person who receives a request for information must
provide the information. The bill also authorizes DHFS, a county department, or a
tribal governing body to compel production of evidence for determining or verifying
eligibility or benefits for an income maintenance program recipient, and prohibits
DHFS, a county department, or a tribal governing body from disclosing, for any
purpose not connected with administration of the income maintenance program,
information obtained as a result. In addition, the bill provides that no person is liable
for allowing access to information in response to a request from DHFS, a county
department, or a tribal governing body or for any other action taken in good faith to
comply with such a request.
Under current law, DHFS reimburses pharmacists and pharmacies for
prescription drugs purchased by persons enrolled in SeniorCare. The
reimbursement rate is equal to 105 percent of the prescription drug reimbursement
rate under MA, plus a dispensing fee, and minus a copayment paid by the SeniorCare
enrollee. This bill reduces the reimbursement rate under SeniorCare to 100 percent
of the prescription drug reimbursement rate under MA, plus the dispensing fee, and
minus the copayment.
Under current law, for each fiscal year DWD allocates moneys, including
federal Child Care Development Funds (CCDF) and federal moneys received under
the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program,
for various public assistance programs and for child care-related purposes. This bill
sets the amounts of these allocations for fiscal years 2005-06 and 2006-07 and adds
an allocation to pay for a share of the costs of a mail-order lending library and
information center operated by DPI's Division for Libraries, Technology, and
Community Learning. The bill eliminates an allocation for grants for developing
early childhood centers for providing outreach and training for parents and training
for child care providers, and eliminates the program.
Under current law, county departments pay cemetery, funeral, and burial
expenses for decedents who received certain public assistance benefits and whose
estates are insufficient to pay those expenses. DHFS must reimburse the county
departments for those payments. This bill provides that DHFS must reimburse the
county departments for those payments only to the extent that funds are available
for this purpose.
This bill appropriates moneys to DWD from recovered overpayments and
incorrect or disallowed payments and voluntary repayments of federal CCDF block
grant moneys, federal TANF block grant moneys, and state moneys paid to meet the
maintenance-of-effort requirements under those two federal block grant programs.
The federal block grant moneys and state maintenance-of-effort moneys are used
for various public assistance programs. The appropriation may be used for the
recovery costs, activities to reduce errors in W-2 and the child care subsidy program,
and any of the other purposes for which CCDF and TANF moneys are used.
Wisconsin Works
Under current law, a person who is eligible for W-2 and who is the custodial
parent of a child who is not more than 12 weeks old may receive a monthly grant of
$673 and may not be required to work in a W-2 employment position. Current law
also provides generally that the period during which one receives a monthly grant
as the custodial parent of an infant counts toward the limits that apply to the period
during which an individual may receive certain benefits only if the child was born
more than ten months after the date on which the individual was first determined
to be eligible for W-2.
Under the bill, a custodial parent of a child who is not more than 26 weeks old
may receive the monthly grant. The custodial parent is not required to work in a W-2
employment position only if the child is not more than 12 weeks old. In addition, the
bill provides that an unmarried woman who would be eligible for W-2 except that
she is not a custodial parent, and who is in the third trimester of a medically verified
pregnancy that is at risk and renders the woman unable to participate in the
workforce, may also receive a monthly grant of $673 and not be required to work in
a W-2 employment position. Under the bill, the period during which one receives a
monthly grant as the custodial parent of an infant counts toward the limits that
apply to the period during which an individual may receive certain benefits
regardless of when the child was born in relation to when the individual was first
determined to be eligible for W-2. If a pregnant woman who is not a custodial parent
receives a monthly grant, however, the period does not count.
Current law directs DWD to continue the creation and implementation of a
subsidized work program under W-2. This bill eliminates this directive and instead
requires DWD to conduct, from January 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, a pilot project for
a trial jobs plus program. The pilot project must be limited to 1,000 participants and
must be conducted in at least one of the geographical areas established for
administering the W-2 program that is located in Milwaukee County and in at least
two of those geographical areas that are not in Milwaukee County. Under the project,
a W-2 agency pays a wage subsidy, as well as a reimbursement of up to 100 percent
of federal social security taxes, state and federal unemployment contributions, and
worker's compensation insurance premiums, to an employer that employs a project
participant and that agrees to make a good faith effort to retain the participant as
an unsubsidized employee after the wage subsidy ends if the participant completes
the trial job plus. The wage subsidy may not exceed the federal minimum wage for
up to 30 hours of work per week, and any required training activities are counted
toward the participant's work hours. An individual may participate in a trial job plus
for up to six months, with a possible three-month extension.
Under current law, DWD makes job access loans to persons who are eligible for
W-2 and who need such loans to obtain or continue employment. The loans are
funded with federal TANF block grant moneys, general purpose revenue, and job
access loan repayments. This bill eliminates the federal moneys and the general
purpose revenue as funding for job access loans, and provides that job access loan
repayments may be used for administrative costs associated with collecting
delinquent job access loan repayments as well as for job access loans.
Under current law, a child care subsidy is available under W-2 to an individual
who needs child care to maintain employment or pursue basic or technical college
education. Under this subsidy program, DWD reimburses child care providers
directly and distributes funds to county departments and American Indian tribal
governing bodies for child care services. County departments are required to set
maximum reimbursement rates for child care providers under the subsidy program.
This bill authorizes DWD to establish a tiered reimbursement system for the
child care subsidy program, under which the amount that a child care provider would
be reimbursed is based on a child care quality rating system established by DWD.
The amount paid to a child care provider under the tiered reimbursement system
may exceed the maximum reimbursement rate set by the county department.
This bill changes the procedure for collecting benefits that were overpaid under
W-2. Under current law, DWD semiannually pays fees to the clerk of circuit court
for filing warrants constituting liens on the real and personal property of overpaid
persons but pays fees for filing satisfactions, releases, or withdrawals of warrants
when those documents are filed. The bill makes the payment of filing fees for
satisfactions, releases, and withdrawals of warrants semiannual also.
Under current law, DWD must issue and file a notice of withdrawal of a warrant
if a person who received an overpayment complies with a payment schedule
arranged with DWD. This bill makes the issuing and filing of a notice of withdrawal
discretionary with DWD.
