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.
For the purpose of determining a school district's revenue limit, this bill
includes in the school district's state aid amount all federal moneys received by the
school district under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that are
distributed as general equalization aid or based upon a school district's share of
funding under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Current law exempts a school district from the revenue limit if its per pupil
revenue is less than a statutory revenue ceiling, currently set at $9,000. This bill
increases the per pupil revenue ceiling to $9,400 for the 2009-10 school year and to
$9,800 for any subsequent school year.
This bill clarifies the correct method for calculating the revenue limit of a
consolidated school district.
Under current law, the members of the school boards of consolidating school
districts serve as a joint interim school board of the new school district until the
election of members to the school board of the new school district. This bill clarifies
that a member of the school board of one of the consolidating school districts who has
been newly elected to the school board of the new school district may continue to serve
on the school board of the consolidating school district after the election of the new
school district board members and until the effective date of the consolidation.
This bill makes changes to the laws governing the Milwaukee Parental Choice
Program (MPCP), under which a pupil who resides in the city of Milwaukee may
attend a private school at state expense under certain conditions.
Under current law, a private school participating in the MPCP must achieve
accreditation by an accrediting organization or association by December 31 of the
third school year following the first school year in which it participates in the MPCP.
This bill requires the private school to attain accreditation by August 1 of the school
year in which the school first participates in the MPCP.
Currently, teachers at private schools participating in the MPCP are required
to have graduated from high school or to have been granted a declaration of
equivalency of high school graduation. Beginning in the 2010-11 school year, this
bill directs each private school participating in the MPCP to ensure that every
teacher and administrator at the private school has at least a bachelor's degree from
an accredited institution of higher education.
Under current law, a school board must schedule at least 1,050 hours of direct
pupil instruction in grades one to six and at least 1,137 hours of direct pupil
instruction in grades seven to twelve. This bill requires private schools participating
in the MPCP to comply with these requirements.
Under current law, enrollment in the MPCP is capped at 22,500 pupils. If the
enrollment cap is reached, DPI must issue an order prohibiting the enrollment of
additional pupils until the number of pupils falls below 22,500. This bill provides
that, if the number of pupils enrolled in the program falls below 22,500, participating
private schools may admit additional pupils under the program but must give first
priority to returning MPCP pupils, second priority to siblings of enrolled MPCP
pupils, and third priority to pupils selected at random under a procedure established
by DPI by rule.
Current law requires each private school participating in the MPCP to
administer a nationally normed standardized test in reading, mathematics, and
science to pupils attending the school under the program in the fourth, eighth, and
tenth grades. This bill requires each private school participating in the MPCP to
administer the examinations adopted or approved by DPI.
Current law requires each school board to adopt either its own academic
standards or the academic standards contained in the governor's executive order
issued on January 13, 1998. Identical provisions exist under current law for
independent charter schools. This bill requires the governing body of each private
school participating in the MPCP to adopt academic standards.
Under current law, each school board and the operator of each independent
charter school must administer a standardized reading test developed by DPI to all
pupils enrolled in the third grade. This bill requires private schools participating in
the MPCP to administer this test.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires public school assessments in
reading and mathematics in each of grades three to eight and at least once in grades
ten to twelve; and in science at least once in grades three to five, six to nine, and ten
to twelve. This bill imposes these requirements on private schools participating in
the MPCP for pupils attending the schools under the MPCP.
Under current law, each school board and the operator of each independent
charter school must develop written policies specifying criteria for granting a high
school diploma. Neither a school board nor the operator of an independent charter
school may grant a high school diploma to any pupil unless the pupil has satisfied
the criteria. Similarly, each school board and each independent charter school must
adopt policies specifying criteria for promoting a pupil from the fourth grade to the
fifth grade and from the eighth grade to the ninth grade. A pupil may not be
promoted unless he or she satisfies the promotion criteria. This bill imposes upon
private schools participating in the MPCP the same prohibitions against graduation
and promotion for pupils attending the private school under the MPCP that are
imposed upon school boards and independent charter schools.
The bill requires a private school participating in the MPCP to maintain
progress records for each pupil attending the school under the MPCP while the pupil
attends the school and for at least five years thereafter. The bill requires the private
school to provide a copy of the records to the pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian
upon request and, if the school closes, to transfer the records to the Milwaukee Public
Schools (MPS). The bill also requires the private school to issue a high school
diploma or certificate to each pupil attending the school under the MPCP who
satisfies all of the requirements necessary for high school graduation.
Current law requires a school district to transfer to another school or school
district, within five working days, all pupil records relating to a specific pupil if the
transferring school district has received notice from the pupil (if he or she is adult),
from the pupil's parent or guardian (if the pupil is a minor), or from the other school
or school district that the pupil intends to enroll or has enrolled in the other school
or school district. This bill makes this requirement applicable to the private schools
participating in the MPCP.
The bill also requires each MPCP school to provide each applicant to the school
with all of the following: 1) a list of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers
of the members of the governing body of the school; 2) a notice stating whether the
school is an organization run for profit or not for profit, and, if the school is nonprofit,
proof of its federal tax-exempt status; 3) a copy of the appeals process used if the
school rejects an applicant for admission; 4) a statement that the school agrees to be
subject to the open meetings and open records requirements applicable to public
bodies; 5) graduation requirements; 6) a copy of the non-harassment policy and
procedures used by the school; 7) suspension and expulsion policies and procedures;
and 8) policies for accepting or denying the transfer of credits for coursework
completed by pupils at other schools. In addition, upon request of any person, the
school must provide to that person the information above, as well as the number of
pupils enrolled in the private school in the previous school year; the number of pupils
enrolled in the private school under the MPCP in the previous school year; pupil
scores on standardized tests administered in the previous school year; a copy of the
academic standards adopted by the private school; the number of pupils who have
graduated from the private school in every year in which the private school has
participated in the MPCP; and the rates of promotion of 4th and 8th grade pupils
enrolled in the private school.
This bill requires each private school that applies to participate in the MPCP
to pay to DPI a nonrefundable fee each year in an amount determined by DPI. DPI
must use the fees to evaluate the financial audits and evidence of sound fiscal
practices submitted to DPI by participating private schools.
Under the current school aid formula, the state establishes a guaranteed tax
base, known as the guaranteed valuation. The rate at which a school district's costs
are aided through the formula is determined by comparing the school district's per
pupil tax base (or equalized valuation) to the guaranteed valuation. State aid is
provided to make up the difference between the school district's actual tax base and
that state guaranteed level. A school district's guaranteed valuation is determined
by multiplying the guaranteed valuation per pupil (set by statute) by the district's
enrollment.
This bill provides that for MPS, the guaranteed valuation is determined by
multiplying the valuation per member by the district's enrollment plus 50 percent
of the number of pupils attending a private school under the MPCP. The 50 percent
figure is phased in over a five-year period.
This bill directs the Legislative Reference Bureau, at the direction of the
secretary of administration, to prepare a bill for introduction during the 2009
legislative session that addresses the findings of a review of the finances and
operations of the MPS conducted at the request of the governor and the mayor of
Milwaukee.
This bill changes the funding source for pupil transportation aid from the
general fund to the transportation fund.
Currently, state aid to public library systems is funded using both general
purpose revenue and revenue in the universal service fund. The universal service
fund consists of moneys that are required to be contributed by certain
telecommunications providers. The fund is used for promoting universal
telecommunications service and for other specified purposes. This bill funds public
library aid exclusively from the universal service fund.
Current law directs DPI to contract with the public library in the city of
Milwaukee to provide library services to physically handicapped persons and to
contract for services with libraries to serve as resources of specialized library
materials and information not available in DPI's reference and loan library. The cost
of these contracts is paid with general purpose revenue. Under this bill, the cost of
these contacts is paid from the universal service fund.
This bill directs DPI to award grants to school districts or cooperative
educational service agencies, acting in conjunction with tribal education authorities,
to support innovative, effective instruction in one or more American Indian
languages. The grants are funded with Indian gaming receipts.
Under current law, DPI may award grants to nonprofit organizations to support
adult literacy programs. No grant may exceed $10,000. This bill eliminates the
$10,000 limit.
This bill extends DPI's authority to award annual grants to Project Lead the
Way through the 2010-11 fiscal year in order to provide discounted professional
development services and software to participating high schools.
Higher education
This bill allows the Board of Regents of the UW System to award grants to
undergraduate resident students who do not receive a Wisconsin higher education
grant awarded by the Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB). The amount of a
grant must correspond to increases, or portions of increases, in tuition charged the
student.
The bill requires the Board of Regents to allocate $8,198,200 to support
interdisciplinary research into biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information
technologies that enhance human health and welfare.
The bill requires the Board of Regents to allocate $2,000,000 in the 2009-10
fiscal year to support the establishment of the Wisconsin Genomics Initiative.
Under current law, the Board of Regents may not create a new school that has
graduate, professional, or post-baccalaureate academic programs. This bill allows
the Board of Regents to create the following schools at UW-Milwaukee: 1) a school
of public health; and 2) a school of freshwater sciences.
Under current law, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health must submit biennial
reports to the governor and JCF on specified topics, including the following: 1)
Wisconsin resident enrollment numbers and percentages; 2) placement of graduates
of doctor of medicine and residency training programs; and 3) financial summaries
for the college and school. This bill eliminates the requirement for reports on the
foregoing topics.
Under current law, the Board of Regents is allowed to create or abolish full-time
equivalent (FTE) positions that are funded from a number of specified
appropriations, including one appropriation that is funded with segregated fund
revenues. This bill allows the Board of Regents to create or abolish FTE positions
that are funded from any appropriation to the board that is funded with segregated
fund revenues. The bill also makes an appropriation from the recycling and
renewable energy fund to the board to support research under the Wisconsin
Bioenergy Initiative.
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 declaration of equivalency of high school
graduation from Wisconsin; 2) was continuously present in Wisconsin for at least
three years following the first day of attending a Wisconsin high school or
immediately preceding receipt of a declaration of equivalency of high school
graduation; 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 the
person 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.
In general, current law provides that if a technical college district board wishes
to make a capital expenditure exceeding $1,000,000 or to borrow more than
$1,000,000, it must adopt a resolution to do so and submit the resolution to the
electors of the district for approval. This bill raises the amount from $1,000,000 to
$1,500,000.
Current law requires the Wisconsin Technical College System Board (WTCS
Board) to establish tuition for resident and nonresident students. For a resident
student, the WTCS Board must comply with requirements that depend on whether
the student is enrolled in a liberal arts collegiate transfer program or in a
postsecondary or vocational-adult program. For a nonresident student, the WTCS
Board must establish tuition based on 100 percent of the statewide cost per full-time
equivalent student for operating the program in which the student is enrolled.
This bill requires the WTCS Board to establish tuition for nonresident students
based on 150 percent of the program fees that the WTCS Board is required to
establish for resident students.
Current law allows the WTCS Board to award grants to technical college
district boards (district boards) for skills training related to the needs of business.
Current law prohibits the WTCS Board from awarding a grant unless the business
is located in this state, has no more than 100 employees, and has no more than
$10,000,000 in gross annual income. Also, current law prohibits using a grant to pay
more than 80 percent of the cost of training the spouse or child of the business owner,
or to pay wages or compensate for lost revenue in connection with providing the
training. In addition, current law prohibits the WTCS Board from awarding more
than $1,000,000 in grants in a fiscal year.
This bill eliminates all of the prohibitions described above. In addition, the bill
eliminates the requirement that district boards submit reports to the WTCS Board
on how grants are used.
Currently, under certain circumstances, the UW System and each technical
college must provide full remission of fees for 128 credits or eight semesters,
whichever is longer, to an eligible veteran or to the spouse, unremarried surviving
spouse, or child of an eligible veteran (dependent). An eligible veteran is one who
died on active duty, died as the result of a service-connected disability, died in the
line of duty while on duty for training purposes, or has been awarded at least a 30
percent service-connected disability rating.
This bill requires a veteran or dependent to apply to the payment of those fees
all educational assistance to which that person is entitled under the federal
Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, commonly referred to as the
"New GI Bill." This requirement applies notwithstanding that the veteran or
dependent may be entitled to educational assistance under the federal Montgomery
GI Bill Act of 1984 or the federal Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance
Program (collectively referred to as the "Old GI Bill") as well as under the New GI
Bill. For a veteran or dependent who is entitled to educational assistance under both
the Old GI Bill and the New GI Bill, if the amount of educational assistance, other
than educational assistance for tuition, to which the veteran or dependent is entitled
under the Old GI Bill is greater than the amount of educational assistance, other
than educational assistance for tuition, to which the veteran or dependent is entitled
under the New GI Bill, HEAB must reimburse the veteran or dependent for the
difference in those amounts of educational assistance.
Under current law, beginning in the 2011-12 academic year, HEAB must award
Wisconsin covenant scholar grants to undergraduates enrolled at least half time at
nonprofit public or private institutions of higher education or at tribally controlled
colleges in this state. Current law requires HEAB to promulgate rules to implement
that grant program.
This bill requires a student to be designated as a Wisconsin covenant scholar
by the Office of the Wisconsin Covenant Scholars Program in DOA (office) in order
to be eligible for a Wisconsin covenant scholar grant. The bill also requires DOA,
rather than HEAB, to promulgate rules to implement the grant program and
requires those rules to include eligibility criteria for designation as a Wisconsin
covenant scholar.
Under current law, HEAB 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 $3,000 for an academic year. This bill permits HEAB to
establish the maximum amount of a WHEG grant, but prohibits HEAB from
increasing that maximum amount unless HEAB determines that as many students
will be awarded WHEG grants in the current academic year as in the previous
academic year. The bill also funds those grants in fiscal year 2009-10 in part from
moneys received by the UW System for auxiliary enterprises, such as dining halls
and parking facilities.
Current law requires HEAB to establish plans to be administered by HEAB for
participation by this state under any federal acts relating to higher education. This
bill requires HEAB to obtain the approval of DOA before HEAB may expend any
discretionary federal economic stimulus funds for any higher education capital or
modernization project.
Under current law, DOA administers an Educational Telecommunications
Access Program under which DOA provides Internet access to educational agencies.
Currently, an educational agency that is provided Internet access under the program
may not provide that access to any for-profit business entity. This bill permits an
educational agency to provide such Internet access to a for-profit business entity
that is broadcasting an event sponsored by the educational agency if the business
entity reimburses DOA for its proportionate share of the cost of the data line used
to broadcast the event.
Eminent Domain
Currently, whenever an entity with the power of condemnation seeks to acquire
property by condemnation, it must provide the property owner with an appraisal of
the property and pay for the owner to acquire his or her own appraisal. This bill
provides that, if the property is being acquired for sewers or transportation facilities,
the owner may use an appraisal prepared by the owner or condemnor during the
period preceding negotiations in any subsequent appeal only if the appraisal was
provided to the other party during that period.
Currently, if a property owner agrees voluntarily to convey the property to the
condemnor at an agreed-upon price, the owner has the right, within six months, to
appeal the issue of the amount of compensation paid by the condemnor. This bill
eliminates this right for owners whose property is being acquired for sewers or
transportation facilities. The bill does not eliminate the owner's right to appeal the
amount of compensation within two years if his or her property is condemned.
Currently, a property owner who on appeal is awarded more in compensation
than was offered by the condemnor is entitled to litigation expenses, including
reasonable attorney fees, if the award exceeds the offer by at least $700 and at least
15 percent. This bill provides that, in such a case, the amount of attorney fees
included in litigation expenses may not exceed one-third of the difference between
the offer and the award, except that if one-third of that difference is less than $5,000,
the amount of attorney fees included in litigation expenses may not exceed $5,000.
Currently, a person displaced by the acquisition of property by an entity that
is vested with the power of condemnation is entitled to certain benefits from the
condemnor, including relocation assistance, assistance in the acquisition of
replacement housing, and moving expenses. The person must file a claim for such
benefits within two years of being displaced. If the claim is not allowed within 90
days, the claimant may file an appeal in circuit court. Currently, there is no deadline
for filing an appeal. This bill provides that the claimant must file the appeal within
two years.
Under current law, Commerce may make investigations to determine whether
a condemnor is complying with the laws relating to relocation benefits and may seek
an order from a circuit court requiring compliance with those laws or discontinuance
of work on that part of the project that is not in compliance. This bill eliminates this
authority.
Currently, a person displaced by the acquisition of property by a condemnor
may petition Commerce for review of his or her complaint. Commerce may attempt
to negotiate an acceptable solution with the condemnor. This bill eliminates these
provisions.
Current law directs the attorney general, at the request of Commerce, to
prosecute all necessary actions or proceedings for the enforcement of the laws
relating to relocation benefits. This bill eliminates this directive.
