1. Projects that result in the creation and maintenance of jobs paying wages
and providing benefits at a level approved by Commerce.
2. Projects that involve a significant investment of capital in new equipment,
machinery, real property, or depreciable personal property.
3. Projects that involve significant investments in the training or reeducation
of employees for the purpose of improving the productivity or competitiveness of the
business of the person.
4. Projects that will result in the location or retention of a person's corporate
headquarters in Wisconsin or that will result in the retention of employees if the
person's corporate headquarters are located in Wisconsin.
Commerce may allocate tax benefits under the consolidated program up to the
total amount remaining to be allocated under the five development zone programs
on the effective date of this bill. Tax benefits are allocated under the bill only after
the person has verified to Commerce that the person has met the performance
obligations established under the contract.
The value of tax benefits for which a person is eligible under the new tax credit
program depends on the number of jobs created, the amount of the capital
investment made, the amount of training or reeducation provided to the employees,
or the number of jobs retained by having corporate headquarters located in
Wisconsin.
Under the bill, Commerce may award additional tax benefits to a person that
conducts eligible activities in an economically distressed area or if the eligible
activities benefit members of a targeted group. The bill requires Commerce to
develop a methodology for designating an area as an "economically distressed area."
Targeted groups include persons who reside in an area designated by the federal
government as an economic revitalization area, persons who are eligible for child
care assistance, persons who are food stamp recipients, or persons who are
economically disadvantaged.
The bill requires the Legislative Audit Bureau to prepare a financial and
program evaluation audit of the consolidated economic development tax benefit
program created by the bill no later than July 1, 2012.
This bill creates the Jobs Tax Benefit. A person may be certified to receive tax
benefits under this program if the person operates or intends to operate a business
in Wisconsin and will increase its net employment of full-time employees in
Wisconsin. A person certified under the program may receive per-employee tax
benefits of up to 10 percent of the wages paid to a full-time employee who earns
wages of at least $20,000 but not more than $100,000 if employed in a Tier I county
or municipality and who earns wages of at least $30,000 but not more than $150,000
if employed in a Tier II county or municipality. A person certified under the program
may also receive tax benefits for providing employee job training. The bill requires
Commerce to define Tier I and Tier II counties and municipalities and establish
conditions for the revocation of a certification and the repayment of tax benefits.
This bill authorizes Commerce to award a grant to a research institution or
nonprofit organization involved in economic development for: 1) expanding access
to capital networks; 2) creating or running a network to connect businesses and
entrepreneurs with capital; or 3) creating an activity, event, or strategy to connect
businesses and entrepreneurs with capital. The bill authorizes grants to provide
matching funds for funding a new business or determining the feasibility of a new
business idea if Commerce determines a grant will increase funding for new
businesses or will leverage private investment and job creation.
Currently, Commerce may charge a recipient of a grant or loan from the
Wisconsin development fund a 2 percent origination fee if the grant or loan amount
equals or exceeds $200,000. This bill lowers the threshold amount to $100,000.
Under current law, Commerce awards grants and makes loans to qualified
businesses for economic diversification and brownfield remediation, and to
businesses that have been negatively affected by a casino. Commerce also awards
grants for specific economic development projects in specific locations in this state.
This bill authorizes Commerce to collect a 2 percent origination fee on certain of these
grants and loans of $100,000 or more.
Under current law, Commerce may certify a business that is at least 51 percent
owned, controlled, and actively managed by an eligible minority group member or
members as a minority business. A business certified by Commerce may receive
certain preferences in governmental procurement.
This bill permits Commerce to certify a business that is at least 30 percent
owned by an eligible minority group member or members, provided the minority
group member or members control the day-to-day operations of the business,
control at least 51 percent of the voting rights of the equity shares of the business,
and appoint no less than 51 percent of the members of the board of directors of the
business.
Under current law, Commerce may award grants for the redevelopment of
"brownfields," which include facilities or sites that are idle or underused because of
environmental contamination. Commerce may award a brownfields redevelopment
grant only if certain persons responsible for the contamination of the project site are
financially unable to pay the costs to remediate or redevelop the site. Commerce
must consider four criteria when awarding brownfields redevelopment grants and
must accord different values to the criteria.
This bill eliminates the requirement that the person who caused the
environmental contamination be financially unable to pay the costs to redevelop the
site. The bill also changes the criteria to be considered by Commerce when making
awards and eliminates the requirement that different criteria be accorded different
values.
This bill authorizes Commerce to award grants for film-related or
video-related projects that create long-term jobs in this state.
This bill requires the Department of Tourism to annually make a grant of at
least $200,000 to Native American Tourism of Wisconsin.
This bill eliminates annual funding from Commerce to the Manufacturing and
Advanced Technology Training Center; the Northwest Regional Planning
Commission; Oneida Small Business, Inc. and Project 2000; and a nonprofit
organization that provides assistance to organizations and individuals in urban
areas.
Under current law, Commerce may award a grant or make a loan to a business
or researcher to fund certain renewable energy projects. Currently, repayments of
the loans are deposited into the general fund. This bill appropriates the repayments
to Commerce to fund additional renewable energy grants and loans and certain other
economic development grants and loans.
Buildings and safety
Under current law, the Building Inspector Review Board is required to review
complaints concerning possible incompetent, negligent, or unethical conduct by
building inspectors and to revoke the certification of a building inspector who has
engaged in such conduct. The review board may reverse or modify decisions made
by building inspectors that the review board determines are in error. This bill
eliminates the review board.
Under current law, Commerce is generally required to regulate the
construction of public buildings and places of employment. Current law also
authorizes Commerce to issue certain credentials to persons engaged in the
construction trades, such as plumbers and electricians. Current law establishes the
maximum fees that Commerce may charge for certain services it provides including
administering examinations and issuing licenses. This bill eliminates the
mandatory caps on the amounts that Commerce may charge for these services and
instead provides that the fees must as closely as possible equal the cost of providing
the services.
Commerce
Securities
This bill increases from $750 to $1,000 the securities registration and notice
filing fee paid to DFI and, for investment companies such as mutual funds, increases
the minimum and maximum annual sales fee from a minimum of $150 and a
maximum of $1,500 to a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $10,000.
This bill increases from $30 to $60 the license fee paid to DFI for securities
agents and investment adviser representatives. The bill also increases from $30 to
$60 the broker-dealer and investment adviser branch office filing fee.
Under current law, Commerce awards grants to eligible applicants for the
purchase of devices that provide heat, air conditioning, or electricity to a diesel truck
when the main drive engine of the truck is not operating. Currently, the program
sunsets at the end of fiscal year 2010-11. This bill eliminates this grant program.
Under current law, Commerce contracts with Forward Wisconsin, Inc., to
establish and implement a nationwide business development promotion campaign.
This bill deletes authorization and funding for Commerce's contracts with Forward
Wisconsin, Inc.
Correctional System
Adult correctional system
Under current law, a person who is imprisoned for a felony he or she committed
prior to December 31, 1999, may petition the Parole Commission in DOC to be
released to parole after the person has served 25 percent of his or her sentence. The
Parole Commission determines whether, and under what conditions, the person
should be released to parole. A person who committed a felony on or after December
31, 1999, is sentenced to a bifurcated sentence, with the first portion of the sentence
served in confinement and the second portion served under extended supervision in
the community.
A person who is serving a bifurcated sentence is not eligible for parole and, with
few exceptions, must serve the entire confinement portion of his or her sentence
before being released to extended supervision. A person's confinement portion may
be extended if he or she violates a prison regulation. If a person's confinement
portion is extended for such a violation, current law requires his or her extended
supervision portion to be reduced so that the total length of the person's sentence
remains unchanged.
Current law allows a person who is sentenced to a bifurcated sentence for a
Class C to Class I felony to petition the sentencing court to adjust his or her sentence
and release the person from prison to extended supervision if he or she has served
85 percent (for Class C to Class E felonies) or 75 percent (for Class F to Class I
felonies) of the confinement portion of the sentence. If a person's confinement portion
is reduced by the sentencing court, current law requires his or her extended
supervision portion to be extended so that the total length of the person's sentence
remains unchanged.
Under current law, a person who is released to extended supervision must serve
his or her entire sentence before extended supervision terminates.
Under this bill, a person who commits a misdemeanor and is sentenced to
imprisonment, or who commits a nonviolent Class F to Class I felony, except for
certain sex offenders and persons who committed a prior violent offense or are
determined by DOC to pose a high risk of reoffending, may earn "positive adjustment
time" in the amount of one day for every two days he or she is incarcerated without
violating a prison rule or regulation. The bill requires DOC to release the person to
extended supervision when he or she serves his entire incarceration period, minus
positive adjustment time earned. Under the bill, if a person's incarceration period
is reduced by positive adjustment time, his or her period of extended supervision is
increased so that the length of the sentence does not change.
Under the bill, a person who commits a violent Class F to Class I felony or a
nonviolent Class F to Class I felony, but was determined by DOC to pose a high risk
of reoffending, except for certain sex offenders, may earn positive adjustment time
in the amount of one day for every three days he or she is incarcerated without
violating a prison rule or regulation, and a person who commits a Class C to Class
E felony, except for certain sex offenders, may earn positive adjustment time in the
amount of one day for every 5.7 days he or she is incarcerated without violating a
prison rule or regulation.
The bill renames the Parole Commission the Earned Release Review
Commission (ERRC) and, in addition to performing the Parole Commission's current
duties, the ERRC may consider a petition for release from a person who commits a
violent Class F to Class I felony or a Class C to Class E felony after the person serves
his entire incarceration period, minus positive adjustment time earned. The bill
eliminates the authority of the trial court to adjust sentences. Under the bill, if the
ERRC reduces the term of confinement portion of a person's sentence because the
person has earned positive adjustment time, the person's term of extended
supervision is increased so that the length of the sentence does not change.
Under current law, a person who is serving the term of confinement portion of
a bifurcated sentence for a felony that is not classified as a Class A or Class B felony
may petition the sentencing court for release to extended supervision for the
remaining term of his or her sentence if the person has a terminal condition, reaches
age 65 after serving at least five years of his or her term of confinement portion, or
reaches age 60 after serving at least ten years of his or her term of confinement
portion. Under this bill, the petition must be submitted to DOC instead of to the
sentencing court.
This bill permits DOC to release to extended supervision a person serving the
confinement portion of a bifurcated sentence if the person is not confined following
a felony assault, the person is believed to be able to live in the community without
assaulting another, and the release will not be more than 12 months before the date
that the person otherwise would be eligible for release to extended supervision. If
DOC releases a person, his or her term of extended supervision must be extended by
the length of time he or she was originally sentenced to confinement so that the total
length of the sentence does not change.
Under this bill, a person who is released to extended supervision for a
misdemeanor or a nonviolent Class F to Class I felony may earn "good time" toward
discharge from extended supervision in the amount of one day for every day he or she
serves on extended supervision without violating a condition of extended
supervision. The bill requires DOC to discharge from extended supervision a person
who serves his or her entire extended supervision time, minus good time earned.
Under the bill, a person who is released to extended supervision for a violent
Class F to Class I felony may earn good time toward discharge from extended
supervision in the amount of one day for every three days he or she serves on
extended supervision without violating a condition of extended supervision. A
person who is released to extended supervision for a Class C to Class E felony may
earn good time toward discharge from extended supervision in the amount of one day
for every 5.7 days he or she serves on extended supervision without violating a
condition of extended supervision. Under the bill, a person convicted of a violent
Class F to Class I felony may petition the ERRC for discharge after he or she has
served 75 percent of his or her extended supervision time. A person convicted of a
Class C to Class E felony may petition the ERRC for discharge after he or she serves
85 percent of his or her extended supervision time.
Currently, if a person sentenced to a bifurcated sentence violates any condition
of his or her release to extended supervision, the person's extended supervision is
revoked, he or she is returned to prison, and the Division of Hearings and Appeals
within DOA or DOC (reviewing authority) makes a recommendation to the court that
convicted the person as to how long the person should remain in prison. After it
receives the reviewing authority's recommendation, the court may order the person
to remain in prison for a period of time that does not exceed the time remaining on
his or her bifurcated sentence.
Under this bill, the reviewing authority determines how long to imprison the
person whose extended supervision is revoked and enters its own order for the person
to remain in prison for a period of time that does not exceed the time remaining on
his or her bifurcated sentence.
Current law requires DOC to maintain active lifetime global positioning system
(GPS) tracking of sex offenders who have been committed as sexually violent persons
(SVP) and certain sex offenders who have committed specified sex offenses against
a child. Unless the tracked person has been committed as an SVP, the tracking
requirement can be terminated or modified in the following ways: 1) after 20 years
of being tracked, the person may petition the court to terminate tracking; 2) DOC
may petition the court to terminate tracking if the person is physically incapacitated;
and 3) DOC may passively track, versus actively track, the person after the person
completes his or her sentence, including any parole or extended supervision.
Under this bill, DOC may passively track, versus actively track, any person
subject to tracking without regard to the person's supervision status if DOC
determines that passive positioning tracking is appropriate for the person and the
person has been subject to active tracking for at least 12 months.
Under current law, with certain exceptions, a trial court may sentence a person
who has been convicted of a crime to probation instead of imprisonment. A person
who is on probation is supervised by DOC and is subject to conditions and rules
established by the sentencing court and by DOC.
This bill requires DOC to establish a risk assessment system to determine how
likely a person on probation is to commit another offense. The bill requires DOC to
categorize the person who is on probation for committing a misdemeanor according
to his or her risk. Under the bill, DOC may not supervise a person who is on probation
for committing a misdemeanor unless one of the following applies: 1) the person is
at a high level of risk; 2) the person is required to register as a sex offender; 3) the
person had been charged with a felony for the conduct that resulted in the
misdemeanor conviction; or 4) the person has ever committed a crime against the life
or bodily security of another person, a domestic violence offense, a burglary of a
home, a crime involving a weapon, or certain serious drug offenses.
Under current law, DOC and DHS provide substance abuse treatment
programs for prison inmates within certain designated correctional or mental health
facilities. If DOC determines that an inmate has successfully completed a substance
abuse treatment program, the inmate is released early to parole or extended
supervision. As is the case under DOC's Challenge Incarceration Program
(described below), inmates convicted of certain violent crimes or certain offenses
against children are not eligible for early release under this program. Inmates who
are sentenced under the Truth in Sentencing law are eligible only if the court
authorizes their participation.
This bill authorizes DOC to provide rehabilitative programs that do not
necessarily include substance abuse treatment within a correctional facility for
inmates who may be eligible for early release. The bill eliminates administration by
DHS of substance abuse programs and allows an inmate to qualify for early release
if DOC determines that the inmate successfully completed a rehabilitation program.
DOC currently operates the Challenge Incarceration Program for adults who
opt to participate. Participants must be no more than 40 years old and have a
substance abuse problem. A 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
program is released to parole or extended supervision, regardless of how much of his
or her sentence the person has served.
This bill allows an inmate who does not have a substance abuse problem, but
is otherwise eligible, to participate in the Challenge Incarceration Program. The bill
requires DOC to assess each inmate who volunteers to participate in the program to
determine if he or she has a substance abuse problem that requires an intensive level
of treatment, a substance abuse problem that does not require intensive treatment
and is not directly related to the inmate's criminal behavior, or another treatment
need that is not related to substance abuse and that is directly related to the inmate's
criminal behavior. The bill requires DOC to provide appropriate treatment and
education, based on its assessment of a participant's treatment needs, to each
participant in the Challenge Incarceration Program.
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 by law. This bill increases most of those assessments.
Under current law, funds are appropriated to DOC for juvenile correctional
services, juvenile residential aftercare services, and juvenile corrective sanctions
services. This bill provides that, if there is a deficit in the juvenile correctional
services appropriation account at the close of fiscal year 2008-09, any unencumbered
balances in the juvenile residential aftercare services and juvenile corrective
sanctions services appropriation accounts at the close of that fiscal year, up to the
amount of the deficit, are transferred to the juvenile correctional services
appropriation account.
courts and procedure
Circuit courts
Under current law, a court is required to instruct the jury on the law involved
in the case before the jury. In addition, the court provides the jury with a complete
set of written instructions that provides the burden of proof and the substantial law
to be applied in the case. This bill adds a requirement, in civil actions involving
contributory negligence, that the court explain to the jury the effect on awards and
liabilities of the percentage of negligence found by the jury to be attributable to each
party.
Under current law, in a civil action involving negligence, the injured party may
recover damages resulting from the negligence of another person if the injured
party's negligence is not greater than the negligence of the person against whom
recovery is sought. Currently, the negligence of the person seeking recovery is
measured separately against the negligence of each person whose negligence caused
the damages. If the causal negligence of the person against whom recovery is sought
is less than 51 percent of the total negligence, that person's liability is limited to the
percentage of negligence attributable to that person. Currently, if the person's causal
negligence is 51 percent or more of the total negligence, that person is jointly and
severally liable for the damages, which means that the person may be liable for all
of the damages, reduced by the percentage of negligence attributable to the person
seeking recovery. Current law also provides that if two or more parties act in concert,
those parties are jointly and severally liable for all of the damages resulting from that
action, except punitive damages.
This bill eliminates the provision regarding persons acting in concert, the
provision that the negligence of the person seeking recovery is compared to each
person who was negligent separately, the provision that the liability of a person who
is less than 51 percent negligent is limited to that person's percentage of the total
negligence, and the provision that the liability of a person whose causal negligence
is 51 percent or more is jointly and severally liable. Instead, the bill allows an injured
person to recover damages if that person's negligence is not greater than the
combined negligence of all of the persons against whom recovery is sought. The bill
also provides that any person whose causal negligence is equal to or greater than the
causal negligence of the person seeking recovery is jointly and severally liable for the
damages awarded to the person seeking recovery.
Currently, the state reimburses counties for the actual expenses paid to
interpreters used by the circuit courts. This bill raises the mileage reimbursement
rate for interpreters from 20 cents per mile to that paid for state employee travel,
which is currently 48.5 cents per mile.
This bill allows the director of state courts to establish a two-year pilot program
in the seventh judicial administrative district (Buffalo, Crawford, Grant, Iowa,
Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Pepin, Pierce, Richland, Trempealeau, and Vernon
counties) under which the director pays court interpreters based on a schedule the
director creates.
Under current law, when a person is found guilty of a misdemeanor that the
person committed before he or she was 21, the sentencing court may order that the
record of the conviction be expunged when the person completes his or her sentence.
The court must find that expungement would benefit the person and not harm
society and the person may not commit another crime or have his or her probation
revoked in order to be eligible for expungement.
Under this bill, a person is eligible to have his or her record of a conviction
expunged if the conviction is for a misdemeanor or a nonviolent Class H or Class I
felony that was committed before the person reached the age of 25 and the other
current requirements for expungement are met.
This bill defines a "surviving domestic partner" as a person who was the
domestic partner, as defined in the bill, of the decedent at the time of the decedent's
death. The bill provides the following inheritance rights for a surviving domestic
partner, which are equivalent to the rights of a surviving spouse:
1. The surviving domestic partner of a decedent who dies intestate is entitled
to inherit all of the decedent's estate unless the decedent had children that were not
also the children of the surviving domestic partner, in which case the surviving
domestic partner receives half of the intestate estate.
2. A surviving domestic partner may petition the court for the full property
interest the decedent had in a home, subject to payment to the estate under a
governing instrument or under intestacy.
3. If a decedent executed his or her will before the registration of the domestic
partnership, the surviving domestic partner is entitled to what the share would be
if the decedent died intestate, unless the will was executed in contemplation of the
domestic partnership or was intended to apply notwithstanding the decedent
subsequently entering into a domestic partnership.
4. A surviving domestic partner may petition the probate court for an allowance
for support, limited by court-ordered charge against interest or principal from the
estate to which the surviving domestic partner is entitled and against amounts owed
for assuming the decedent's full interest in a home.
5. A surviving domestic partner may select from the estate certain personal
items and may be entitled to household items necessary for the maintenance of the
home, notwithstanding that those items were bequeathed to another heir.
6. A surviving domestic partner may petition the court to set aside an amount
for his or her support of up to $10,000 in value that will be exempt from the claims
of the estate's creditors.
7. If the value of the decedent's estate does not exceed $50,000, a surviving
domestic partner may settle the estate under summary procedures without the need
to appoint a personal representative of the estate.
Under current law, a court reviewing a settlement or monetary judgment for the
plaintiff in a wrongful death action may set aside an amount of up to 50 percent of
the net settlement or judgment for the support of the decedent's surviving spouse or
minor children. Current law permits a surviving spouse to bring a wrongful death
action and to satisfy and discharge the claims of the estate in settling the wrongful
death claims of the surviving spouse. This bill allows the decedent's surviving
domestic partner to file an action for wrongful death, to petition the court to set aside
amounts of up to 50 percent of the net settlement or judgment of the wrongful death
claims for the support of the domestic partner, and to discharge the claims of the
estate in settling the domestic partner's wrongful death claims.
Under current law, a person may prevent the person's current or former spouse
from testifying about private communications between the spouses or former
spouses. Under this bill, a person may prevent the person's current or former
domestic partners from testifying about private communications between the
domestic partners or former domestic partners.
District attorneys
This bill requires the Office of Justice Assistance (OJA) to fund 1.0 assistant
district attorney position in St. Croix County and 0.25 assistant district attorney
position in Chippewa County. The bill also requires DOJ to fund 1.0 assistant district
attorney position to prosecute drug crimes in St. Croix County.
Additionally, the bill requires DOA to allocate funds from OJA and DOJ
appropriations to fund 2.0 assistant district attorney positions in Milwaukee County
and 0.75 assistant district attorney position in Dane County to prosecute drug
crimes.
Public defender
Under current law, the State Public Defender (SPD) provides legal
representation to indigent defendants in criminal cases, to children and youth in
protective services and delinquency cases, and to persons in certain civil
commitment and paternity proceedings.
This bill requires the Public Defender Board to establish maximum fees that
the SPD may pay for copies of materials that are subject to discovery, and prohibits
persons from charging the SPD more than those fees.
Other courts and procedure
Under current law, when a person is convicted of a crime, or if a person was
charged with a crime but the criminal charge was amended to a civil offense and a
court finds that the person committed the civil offense, the person pays a crime victim
and witness assistance surcharge. The surcharge is $85 for each felony charge and
$60 for each misdemeanor charge. Current law splits the surcharge into two parts.
For each felony surcharge, $65 is used to provide compensation for crime victims and
$20 is used to provide grants to organizations that provide services for sexual assault
victims. For each misdemeanor surcharge, $40 is used to provide compensation for
crime victims and $20 is used to provide grants to organizations that provide services
for sexual assault victims.
This bill increases the crime victim and witness assistance surcharge to $90 for
each felony charge and $65 for each misdemeanor charge. Under the bill, $20 of each
surcharge is used to provide grants to organizations that provide services for sexual
assault victims and $5 is added to the amount currently used to provide
compensation for crime victims.
Education
Primary and secondary education
This bill directs DPI to use the federal funds received by the state pursuant to
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to make state aid payments
to schools in June 2009 and in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 fiscal years. The bill lapses
to the general fund $291,000,000 in state school aids in the 2008-09 fiscal year.
The bill also directs the secretary of administration, in formulating the 2011-13
biennial budget bill, to assume that the base level of funding for general school aid
in the 2011-13 fiscal biennium is the amount of general school aid appropriated in
the 2010-11 fiscal year plus the amount of federal aid distributed as school aid in the
2010-11 fiscal 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. Several
exceptions are provided. For example, if a school district increases the services that
it provides by adding responsibility for providing a service transferred to it from
another governmental unit, its revenue limit is increased by the cost of that service.
This bill provides revenue limit adjustments for the costs of school safety
equipment, the compensation costs of security officers, the costs of employing school
nurses, and pupil transportation costs. This bill phases in the adjustments over a
three-year period beginning in the 2010-11 school year.
