This bill eliminates the present value subsidy limit. Under the bill, the
legislature does not set a limit on how much financial assistance may be provided in
a biennium. During the biennium, if a sufficient amount is available to provide
financial assistance for a project under these programs, that amount must be
allocated for the project. As part of the budget process, DOA and DNR must still
prepare a biennial finance plan, which under this bill must include the amount DOA
determines will be available to provide financial assistance for projects under these
programs during the biennium.
Under the clean water fund program, financial assistance may only be provided
to construct water systems in an unsewered municipality if at least two-thirds of the
initial flow from the new system will be for wastewater from residences that have
been in existence since October 17, 1972. This bill instead requires at least
two-thirds of the initial flow to be from wastewater from residences in existence for
at least 20 years.
In addition, connection laterals and sewer lines that transport wastewater from
structures to municipally owned or individually owned wastewater systems are not
currently eligible for financial assistance under the clean water fund program.
Under this bill, connection laterals and sewer lines may be eligible if water other
than wastewater is entering the connection lateral or sewer line and interfering with
a publicly owned treatment work's compliance with a wastewater discharge permit.
This bill also provides that, if an amount has been allocated for a project under
the clean water fund program, but no amount has been distributed for the project by
the end of the fiscal year immediately following the biennium when the application
was submitted, the allocation is rescinded, and the applicant must reapply.
Currently, only local governmental units are eligible under the safe drinking
water loan program. This bill extends eligibility to certain businesses or nonprofit
organizations whose water systems are used by members of the public.
This bill also increases the general obligation bonding authority for the safe
drinking water loan program by $7,500,000 for the 2015-17 biennium.
Current law authorizes DNR to pay a portion of the costs of a project to remove
contaminated sediment from Lake Michigan or Lake Superior, or a tributary of
either lake, if the project is in a body of water that DNR has identified under the
federal Clean Water Act as being impaired and the impairment is caused by
contaminated sediment. This bill expands this eligibility to sediment removal
projects in any waters of the state.
This bill also increases the general obligation bonding authority for sediment
removal projects by $5,000,000.
Under current law, DNR administers a program that provides financial
assistance for projects that control pollution that comes from diffuse sources rather
than a single concentrated discharge source (nonpoint source water pollution). This
bill increases the general obligation bonding authority for these programs by
$7,000,000.
Under current law, DNR administers programs that provide financial
assistance for projects that manage urban storm water and runoff and for flood
control and riparian restoration projects. This bill increases the general obligation
bonding authority for these programs by $5,000,000.
Health and human services
Public assistance
Under current law, DCF administers the Transform Milwaukee Jobs program
in Milwaukee County and the Transitional Jobs program outside of Milwaukee
County, which provide work experience for unemployed individuals by providing a
subsidy for wages and other employment expenses to employers that employ the
individuals. Under the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program, DCF may provide job
search assistance, placement in a subsidized job, or a stipend for up to four months
to certain noncustodial parents. Also under current law, DCF may contract with any
county, tribal governing body, or W-2 agency to administer a work experience and
job training program for noncustodial parents who have failed to pay child support
due to unemployment or underemployment. Such individuals may be ordered by a
court to register for a work experience and job training program.
This bill requires every individual who applies to participate in the Transform
Milwaukee Jobs program or the Transitional Jobs program, who applies for W-2
services and benefits for noncustodial parents, or who applies for or is ordered by a
court to register for a work experience and job training program (collectively, a
program), to complete a questionnaire that screens for the abuse of a controlled
substance. If, based on the answers to the questionnaire, DCF or the administrating
agency with which DCF has contacted determines that there is a reasonable
suspicion that an individual is abusing a controlled substance, the individual must
undergo a test for the use of a controlled substance. If the test results are positive
and the individual does not present satisfactory evidence that he or she has a valid
prescription for the controlled substance, the individual must participate in
substance abuse treatment to remain eligible for a program. If, at the end of
treatment, the individual tests negative, or positive with a valid prescription for the
controlled substance, he or she will have satisfactorily completed the substance
abuse screening and testing and treatment requirements for the program.
Under current law, DHS pays, within specified limits, funeral, burial, and
cemetery expenses for decedents who, during life, received certain public assistance
benefits, such as W2 benefits or Medical Assistance benefits, and whose estates at
death are insufficient to pay those expenses. This bill provides that, if an eligible
decedent, or the decedent's spouse or another person, owns a life insurance policy
insuring the decedent's life and the face value is more than $3,000, any amount that
DHS would otherwise pay for the decedent's funeral, burial, or cemetery expenses
will be reduced by one dollar for each dollar that the insurance policy exceeds $3,000.
The bill also requires DHS to pursue recovery of the amount of funeral, burial,
and cemetery expenses provided on behalf of a decedent by making a claim in the
decedent's estate and in the estate of the decedent's spouse. As with estate recovery
for other types of public assistance benefits, DHS may recover from all property of
the decedent or the decedent's spouse, and there is a presumption that all property
in the spouse's estate was marital property held with the decedent and that 100
percent of the property in the spouse's estate is subject to the claim of DHS. Unlike
estate recovery for other types of public assistance benefits, however, the claim for
funeral, burial, and cemetery expenses must be allowed even if the decedent in whose
estate the claim is made has a surviving spouse or a surviving child who is under the
age of 21 or disabled and DHS is not permitted to waive recovery if DHS determines
that recovering the amount paid on the decedent's behalf would work an undue
hardship in a particular case.
Under current law, the federal food stamp program, now known as the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and called FoodShare in this
state, assists eligible low-income individuals (recipients) to purchase food. SNAP
benefits are paid entirely with federal moneys. The cost of administration is split
between the federal and state governments. The program is administered in this
state by DHS. Under current law, DHS may require a recipient of SNAP benefits who
is able and who is 18 to 60 years of age to participate in the FoodShare employment
and training program (FSET) to be eligible for SNAP benefits, unless the recipient
is participating in a Wisconsin Works employment position, is the caretaker of a child
under the age of six years, or is enrolled at least half time in school or in a training
program or an institution of higher education.
This bill requires DHS to submit to the secretary of the federal Department of
Agriculture (USDA) a request for a waiver that would authorize DHS to screen and,
if indicated, test participants in the FSET program for illegal use of a controlled
substance without presenting evidence of a valid prescription. If the waiver is
approved, DHS must then screen and, if indicated, test FSET participants for illegal
use of a controlled substance without presenting evidence of a valid prescription.
The bill also requires that if the waiver is approved in the 2015-17 fiscal biennium,
DHS must address any future fiscal impact resulting from the requirements in its
biennial budget request for the 2017-19 fiscal biennium.
Wisconsin Works
The Wisconsin Works (W-2) program under current law, which is administered
by DCF, provides work experience and benefits for low-income custodial parents who
are at least 18 years old. Generally, under current law, to be eligible for a W-2
employment position and a job access loan, the total length of time in which an
individual or an adult member of the individual's family has participated in or
received benefits under certain W-2 programs may not exceed 60 months. A W-2
agency may extend this time limit if the agency determines that unusual
circumstances exist that warrant an extension of the participation period.
Under this bill, the time limit on participating in or receiving benefits under
these W-2 programs is 48 months. The bill allows a W-2 agency to extend this time
limit if it determines that the individual is experiencing hardship or that the
individual's family includes an individual who has been battered or subjected to
extreme cruelty.
W-2 provides work experience to participants through placement in one of a
number of different employment positions, including Trial Employment Match
Program jobs, community service jobs, and transitional placements. Current law
provides that a participant who refuses to participate in any employment position
is ineligible to participate in W-2 for three months. This bill makes the following
changes to the behaviors that constitute refusal to participate:
1. Currently, it is a refusal to participate if a participant expresses verbally or
in writing that he or she refuses to participate. The bill removes this behavior as an
option for demonstrating a refusal to participate.
2. Currently, it is a refusal to participate if a participant fails, without good
cause, to appear for an interview with a prospective employer or if a participant in
a transitional placement fails, without good cause, to appear for an assigned activity.
The bill makes it a refusal to participate to fail, without good cause, to appear for an
interview with a prospective employer, whether subsidized or not, or with a work
experience provider, for an assigned work activity, as defined under applicable
federal law, or for an activity assigned by a W-2 agency.
3. Currently, it is a refusal to participate if a participant voluntarily leaves
appropriate employment or training without good cause. The bill makes it a refusal
to participate if a participant leaves, without good cause, appropriate employment,
whether subsidized or not, or training or an appropriate assigned work experience
activity or a work experience site.
4. Currently, it is a refusal to participate if a participant loses employment as
a result of being discharged for cause. The bill also makes it a refusal to participate
if a participant is discharged from appropriate training for cause or from a work
experience site for cause.
Currently under W-2, a W-2 agency pays an employer that employs an
individual placed in a Trial Employment Match Program job a wage subsidy amount
negotiated between the W-2 agency and the employer, that may not be less than the
federal or state minimum wage that applies to the individual. The employer must
pay the individual at least the minimum wage that applies to the individual. Also
under current law, DCF pays an employer that employs an individual participating
in the Transform Milwaukee Jobs Program or Transitional Jobs Program a subsidy
equal to the wages that the employer pays the individual for hours actually worked,
up to 40 hours per week at the federal or state minimum wage that applies to the
individual. The employer must pay the individual not less than the applicable
federal or state minimum wage for hours actually worked, but the employer may pay
the individual more than the amount of the wage subsidy that DCF pays to the
employer.
This bill authorizes a W-2 agency to negotiate with the employer of an
individual in a Trial Employment Match Program job, and DCF to negotiate with the
employer of an individual in a job under the Transform Milwaukee Jobs Program or
Transitional Jobs Program, a wage subsidy amount that the W-2 agency or DCF will
pay to the employer that may not be more than the minimum wage. The employer
must still pay the individual for hours actually worked at not less than the federal
or state minimum wage that applies to the individual.
Currently under W-2, an individual who is the parent of a child under the age
of 13 or, if the child is disabled, under the age of 19, who needs child care services to
participate in various educational or work activities, and who satisfies other
eligibility criteria may receive a child care subsidy for child care services under the
W-2 program. This child care subsidy program is known as Wisconsin Shares.
Under current law, in all areas of the state except Milwaukee County, DCF must
enter into a contract with a county department or agency to make an initial
determination about whether individuals who are in a particular geographic region
or who are members of a particular Indian tribal unit are eligible for the child care
subsidies under Wisconsin Shares. Also under current law, the same county
department or agency must administer Wisconsin Shares for that geographic region
or Indian tribal unit. Current law requires DCF, to the extent practicable and with
certain restrictions, to allocate funds for the administration of Wisconsin Shares in
a geographic region or Indian tribal unit in the same proportion as the geographic
region's or Indian tribal unit's proportionate share of all statewide child care subsidy
authorizations and eligibility redeterminations in the 12-month period prior to the
start of the contract period.
Under this bill, DCF has the option to make child care subsidy eligibility
determinations, to contract with a county department or agency to make these
determinations, or to contract with a county department or agency to share in
making these determinations. If DCF contracts with a county department or agency
for the eligibility determination function, the bill requires DCF to allocate funds for
this function under the contract.
The bill also requires DCF to allocate funds for a county department's or
agency's administration of Wisconsin Shares in the same proportion as the
geographic region's or Indian tribal unit's proportionate share of all funding
allocated for eligibility determination functions. Alternatively, the bill allows DCF
to elect to allocate these funds in the same proportion as the geographic region's or
Indian tribal unit's proportionate share of all children for whom a child care subsidy
was issued in the most recent 12-month period for which applicable statistics are
available prior to the start of the contract period.
Under current law, if a W-2 agency plans to take action against an individual
who participates in W-2 that would result in a 20 percent or more reduction in the
participant's benefits or in termination of the participant's eligibility to participate
in W-2, the agency must provide written notice of the proposed action and reasons
for the action and allow the participant a reasonable time after providing the notice
to rectify the deficiency, failure, or other behavior to avoid the proposed action. This
draft removes these notice and rectification requirements.
Under current law, the Learnfare program requires school age children of W-2
participants, with some exceptions, to meet certain school enrollment standards.
Current law requires certain individuals who are subject to the school attendance
requirement to participate in case management provided under the Learnfare
program, including minor parents, habitual truants, and dropouts. This bill also
requires a child who is subject to the school attendance requirement and whose W-2
group includes an individual who has been unable to participate in W-2 activities
due to the child's school-related problems to participate in case management
provided under the Learnfare program.
Under current law, DCF contracts with a W-2 agency to administer W-2 in a
geographical area. Within 60 days of being awarded a W-2 contract, a W-2 agency
is required to establish a community steering committee to focus on job creation, job
training, and other employment-related services for persons who are eligible for
trial employment match program jobs or community service jobs. Current law
requires the W-2 agency to recommend members of the committee to the chief
executive officer (CEO) of each county the agency serves, who then appoints
members to the committee in proportion to the population of that county relative to
the population of each other county served by the W-2 agency. Under this bill, a W-2
agency appoints the members of a community steering committee, following certain
requirements to allow representation of each county the agency serves.
Medical Assistance
Currently, DHS administers the Medical Assistance (MA) program, which is a
joint federal and state program that provides health and long-term care services to
individuals who have limited resources. Under current law, under an approved
waiver of federal law, DHS administers a demonstration project under MA that
provides health care coverage to low-income adults under the age of 65 who do not
have children and who are not otherwise eligible for MA.
This bill requires DHS to submit to the secretary of the federal Department of
Health and Human Services an amendment to the waiver that was already approved
that would authorize DHS to do all of the following under the demonstration project:
1) impose monthly premiums as determined by DHS; 2) impose higher premiums for
enrollees who engage in behaviors that increase their health risks, as determined by
DHS; 3) require a health risk assessment for all enrollees; 4) limit eligibility to no
more than 48 months; and 5) require a drug screening assessment and, if indicated,
a drug test as a condition of eligibility. DHS must implement any changes that are
approved. If the amendment is approved, in whole or in part, in the 2015-17 fiscal
biennium, DHS must identify any costs incurred or savings resulting from the new
requirements in the quarterly report on MA changes that DHS must submit to JCF
under current law, as well as address any future fiscal impact resulting from the
requirements in its biennial budget request for the 2017-19 biennium.
To be eligible for certain MA programs, especially those providing long-term
care services, including family care, an individual must satisfy certain income and
asset requirements. This bill provides that, when determining or redetermining an
individual's financial eligibility for an MA long-term care program, or any other MA
program that counts assets for determining or redetermining financial eligibility,
DHS must include as a countable asset a promissory note for which the individual
or his or her spouse provided the goods, money loaned, or services rendered, that is
entered into or purchased on or after the effective date of the 2015-17 budget act,
that is negotiable, assignable, and enforceable, and that does not contain any terms
making the note unmarketable. The bill provides that a promissory note is presumed
to be negotiable and that its value is the outstanding principal balance at the time
of the individual's application or redetermination of eligibility for MA, unless the
individual shows by credible evidence from a knowledgeable source that the note is
nonnegotiable or has a different current market value, which will then be considered
the note's value.
Under current law, with certain exceptions, if an institutionalized, or
noninstitutionalized, individual or his or her spouse transfers assets for less than
fair market value on or after a specific date (which is generally 60 months before the
individual applies for MA), the institutionalized or noninstitutionalized individual
is ineligible for certain MA services for a specified period of time. Under current law,
the purchase by an individual or his or her spouse of a promissory note is a transfer
of assets for less than fair market value that triggers a period of ineligibility for MA
unless all of the following apply: the repayment term is actuarially sound; the
payments are to be made in equal amounts during the loan's term with no deferral
and no balloon payment; and the loan's terms prohibit cancellation of the balance
upon the death of the lender. This bill provides that if an individual or his or her
spouse enters into or purchases a promissory note on or after the effective date of the
2015-17 budget act, it is a transfer of assets for less than fair market value that
triggers a period of ineligibility for MA unless all of the following apply to the
promissory note: it satisfies the previously stated requirements under current law;
and it is negotiable, assignable, and enforceable and does not contain any terms
making the note unmarketable.
Currently, some MA services are provided through programs that operate
under a waiver of federal Medicaid laws, including services provided through the
BadgerCare Plus (BC+) program. Under current law, certain individuals are
ineligible for BC+ for three months while they have access to certain health
insurance coverage during specified time periods. Certain other individuals are also
subject to three months of ineligibility under current law if the federal Department
of Health and Human Services approves. This bill eliminates the three months of
ineligibility for all of those individuals whose access to other health insurance has
ended.
Subject to any necessary federal approval, this bill adds licensed midwife
services, as well as substance abuse treatment services provided by a medically
monitored treatment service or a transitional residential treatment service to other
services paid for currently under the MA program. This bill also requires, subject
to federal approval, DHS to provide MA reimbursement to pharmacists who meet
certain requirements specified by DHS for administering vaccines to people 6 to 18
years of age.
This bill makes additional changes to the MA program, including: 1) requiring
DHS to increase the MA reimbursement rate in Brown, Polk, and Racine counties
to providers of pediatric dental care and adult emergency dental services, if DHS
receives any necessary federal approval for the increased rate; 2) allocating moneys
for the fiscal biennium for DHS to make supplemental payments to certain hospitals
that have a disproportionate share of low-income patients and setting specifications
for those payments; and 3) directing that the state share of payments for health care
services provided in a school to children who are eligible for MA in excess of a certain
amount be deposited in the MA trust fund and expended for reducing waiting lists
for children's long-term care services and other children's services.
Mental illness and developmental disabilities
Currently, a law enforcement officer or certain other persons, in counties other
than Milwaukee County, may take an individual into custody for emergency
detention if the officer or other person has cause to believe that the individual is
mentally ill, drug dependent, or developmentally disabled, and that the individual
shows other evidence of the standards for emergency detention. The county
department of community programs in the county in which the individual was taken
into custody must approve the need for detention, and for evaluation, diagnosis, and
treatment if permitted, before the law enforcement officer or other person delivers
the individual to the detention facility. In Milwaukee County, currently, the law
enforcement officer or other person must sign a statement of emergency detention
and delivers the statement of emergency detention along with the individual to the
detention facility. The treatment director of the facility must determine whether the
individual is detained or detained, evaluated, diagnosed, and treated. Currently, a
pilot program in Milwaukee County grants authority for a treatment director or
designee, or certain physicians or psychologists, to take an individual into custody
for emergency detention under the same standards as a law enforcement officer.
This bill eliminates the emergency detention procedure and the pilot program
in Milwaukee County and applies the existing procedure for emergency detentions
in other counties to Milwaukee County. The bill adds that a physician who has
completed a residency in psychiatry, a psychologist, or a licensed mental health
professional must perform a crisis assessment on the individual and agree with the
need for detention in order for the county department to approve the detention.
Under current law, if a skilled nursing facility or an intermediate care facility
is found to meet the classification of an institution for mental diseases, DHS must
pay for care in the community or in that institution for mental diseases for
individuals meeting certain criteria. Current law also requires DHS to pay for
relocations of certain individuals who have mental illness to the community. The bill
eliminates both of these requirements.
Children
Under current law, monthly subsidized guardianship payments may be made
to the guardian of a child who has been adjudged to be in need of protection or services
if certain additional conditions have been met. In addition, current law permits DCF
to provide payments to the adoptive parents of a child with special needs to assist in
the cost of care of the child (adoption assistance). Subject to certain exceptions,
subsidized guardianship payments and adoption assistance end when the child
attains 18 years of age.
This bill permits subsidized guardianship payments to be made or adoption
assistance to be provided until a child attains 21 years of age if the child is a full-time
student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical equivalent (full-time
student), an individualized education program (IEP) is in effect for the child, and the
subsidized guardianship or adoption assistance agreement for the child became
effective after the child attained 16 years of age. (An IEP is a written statement for
a child with a disability developed by an IEP team appointed by the child's local
educational agency that includes, among other things, the child's level of academic
achievement and functional performance, measurable goals for the child, the special
education and related services to be provided to the child, and how the child's
progress toward attaining those goals will be measured.)
Under current law, monthly kinship care payments may be made to a relative
of a child (kinship care relative) who is providing care for the child if certain
additional conditions have been met. Kinship care payments generally end when the
child attains 18 years of age, except that those payments may be made until a child
attains 21 years of age if the child is a full-time student and an IEP is in effect for
the child.
This bill requires, as an additional condition for eligibility for kinship care
payments under that exception, that the child be placed in the home of the kinship
care relative under an order of the court assigned to exercise jurisdiction under the
Children's Code and the Juvenile Justice Code (juvenile court) or under a voluntary
transition-to-independent-living agreement, which is an agreement under which
a child over 18 years of age may continue in out-of-home care and receive services
to assist the child in transitioning to independent living until the child attains 21
years of age, is granted a high school or high school equivalency diploma, or
terminates the agreement, whichever occurs first.
Under current law, a permanency plan must be prepared for a child who is
placed outside the home under a juvenile court order or under a voluntary
agreement. (A permanency plan is a plan designed to ensure that a child who is
placed outside the home is reunified with his or her family whenever appropriate or
that the child quickly attains a placement providing long-term stability.)
This bill requires a permanency plan to be prepared for a child who is placed
outside the home under a voluntary transition-to-independent-living agreement.
The bill also, with respect to voluntary transition-to-independent-living
agreements: 1) requires the juvenile court, by no later than 180 days after the date
of the agreement, to determine whether placement of the child in out-of-home care
under the agreement is in the best interests of the child; 2) provides that if DCF, DOC,
or a county enters into such an agreement with a child, the agreement must
specifically state that DCF, DOC, or the county has placement and care
responsibility for the child and has primary responsibility for providing services to
the child; and 3) grants to any person who is aggrieved by an agency's failure to enter
into such an agreement or termination of such an agreement the right to a contested
case hearing under the state administrative procedures laws.
Under current law, subject to certain exceptions, a facility where five or more
adults who do not require care above intermediate level nursing care reside and
receive care, treatment, or services that are above the level of room and board must
be licensed as a community-based residential facility (CBRF). This bill provides that
a facility licensed as a foster home, group home, or residential care center for children
and youth (facility) that provides care for a person 18 years of age or over, but under
21 years of age, who is placed in the facility under an order of the juvenile court, a
voluntary transition-to-independent-living agreement, or the placement and care
responsibility of another state is not required to also be licensed as a CBRF.
Under current law, if an agency to which a report of child abuse is made
determines that a child is in need of services, the agency must offer to provide
appropriate services or make arrangements for the provision of services. This bill
appropriates general purpose revenues to DCF to purchase or provide treatment and
services for children who are the victims of sex trafficking. The bill requires DCF,
within the availability of that funding, to ensure that such treatment and services
are available to children in all geographic areas of the state, including both urban
and rural communities.
Under current law, DCF, a county, or an agency contracted with to certify child
care providers must require any person applying for issuance, continuation, or
renewal of a child care provider license, certificate, or contract to complete a
background information form. This bill exempts these persons from completing such
a form when applying to continue or renew a license, certification, or contract.
Under current law, every four years an entity that provides care for children
must require all of its caregivers and nonclient residents to complete a background
information form provided by DCF, except that a child care provider must require the
form to be completed every year. This bill exempts child care providers from the
four-year requirement and instead obligates them to require any new caregiver or
nonclient resident to complete the form.
Health
Under current law, DHS administers the Senior Care program, which provides
assistance to the elderly in the purchase of prescription drugs. To be eligible for
Senior Care, a person must be a resident of the state, be at least 65 years of age, not
be a recipient of prescription drug coverage through Medical Assistance, have a
household income that does not exceed 240 percent of the federal poverty line, and
pay a program enrollment fee. This bill adds as a requirement for eligibility for
Senior Care that the person must apply for and, if eligible, enroll in Medicare Part
D, which is a federal prescription drug assistance program.
Currently, DHS administers community-based, long-term care programs
including: the Family Care program which provides long-term care to frail elders
or adults with physical or developmental disabilities in certain counties; the
self-directed services option known as IRIS; the Community Options Program
(COP); and the Family Care Partnership Program (FCPP) and the Program of
All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). In addition to long-term care services,
FCPP and PACE also provide primary and acute health care services.
Family Care currently operates under a waiver of federal Medicaid law and is
funded jointly by the federal government and the state MA program. A care
management organization (CMO) enrolls individuals in the Family Care program
and administers the Family Care benefit under a contract with DHS. DHS may
contract with a county, a long-term care district, a governing body of a tribe or band
or the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, a joint association of those entities, or a
private organization to be a CMO.
The bill requires DHS to obtain the necessary federal approval to implement
changes to Family Care, FCPP, and PACE including all of the following changes:
eliminating long-term care districts; allowing DHS to add primary and acute health
care services to the Family Care benefit, allowing CMOs to provide services
statewide and not only in a specified geographic area; allowing DHS to contract with
any applicants that it certifies as meeting the requirements to be a CMO and
eliminates the requirement that DHS solicit proposals for contracts; generally
allowing Family Care enrollees to switch CMOs only in an open enrollment period;
and requiring administration of Family Care statewide. The bill eliminates the
separate IRIS program but specifies that individuals may self-direct their services
within the Family Care program. The bill also eliminates the requirement that
CMOs obtain a permit from OCI but specifies that when the Family Care program
begins to operate statewide CMOs are insurers and may be regulated as insurance
by OCI. Once Family Care operates statewide, DHS is allowed to discontinue
enrollment in certain other long-term care programs as specified in the bill.
Resource centers currently provide information and referral services among
other functions, including determining eligibility and assisting individuals to enroll
in a CMO. Currently, resource centers are required to provide all services specified
by law. The bill allows DHS to contract with a resource center or a private entity for
some or all of the services. The bill also eliminates the requirement that a resource
center has a governing board and eliminates the requirement to create long-term
care advisory committees.
COP is one of the programs that DHS may discontinue once Family Care is
available. The bill also creates a Children's Community Options Program
(Children's COP) that provides long-term community support services to
individuals up to age 22 who have a disability. Children who seek services are
assessed for Children's COP and a county department or private nonprofit agency
will create a case plan and arrange for services. The bill requires DHS to create a
scale for assessment of a fee for Children's COP based on ability to pay. DHS seeks
a waiver of federal Medicaid law to obtain federal funding for Children's COP. The
bill eliminates the Family Support Program.
Under current law, DHS must, after the start of each fiscal year, estimate the
total amount of its expenditures for department operations for that fiscal year. Based
on that estimate, DHS assesses certain health care providers for the estimated total
amount, less certain amounts received for administrative purposes. This bill
eliminates the authorization for DHS to charge assessments to health care
providers.
Other health and human services
The bill transfers oversight of restaurants, lodging, and recreation from DHS,
which currently regulates those areas, to DATCP. In addition, the bill transfers
oversight of tattooing, body piercing, and tanning from DHS to the new Department
of Financial Institutions and Professional standards.
Under current law, for cases in which the payee is receiving services under
DCF's child and spousal support and establishment of paternity and medical support
liability program or in which the state is a real party in interest as specified under
current law, DCF must certify to DOR, for purposes of collection through intercepting
state income tax refunds, delinquent payments of child support, family support,
maintenance, past support, medical expenses, birth expenses, and centralized
receipt and disbursement fees, which must be paid annually by persons who are
obligated to pay support or maintenance. This bill provides that DCF must also, at
least annually, certify to DOR delinquent payments of centralized receipt and
disbursement fees that are owed by all other persons not already subject to the
certifications.
Under current law, if a person who owes child support under a court order is
delinquent in the payment of support, the amount of the delinquent support is
entered on the statewide support lien docket and becomes a lien in favor of the DCF.
DCF may enforce the lien by sending a notice of levy to a financial institution at
which the person has an account. DCF may also send to a financial institution a
request from another state to enforce a child support lien in favor of the other state.
Under this bill, in addition to sending child support to another state to enforce the
other state's lien in response to a request sent by DCF, a financial institution is
required to honor a notice of levy or request to enforce a lien in favor of another state
that it receives directly from the other state.
Under current law, DWD assists individuals with disabilities in gaining
employment through its vocational rehabilitation (VR) program, which is funded
through a combination of state and federal matching dollars. In addition, DWD
receives certain moneys from the federal government as reimbursement for the fact
that individuals who gain employment with assistance from the VR program no
longer receive certain benefits from social security. DWD must allocate $600,000 of
those reimbursement dollars and, using the moneys so allocated, make grants to
independent living centers for providing nonresidential services to severely disabled
individuals. Also under current law, DHS must make general purpose revenue
(GPR)-funded grants to independent living centers for providing nonresidential
services to severely disabled individuals. An independent living center, in order to
receive a grant from either DWD or DHS, must comply with certain requirements
under state and federal law. Also, under federal law, states may receive financial
assistance for purposes including providing, expanding, and improving independent
living services.
This bill, instead of requiring that DWD allocate $600,000 in social security
reimbursement funds to provide these grants, requires DWD to transfer $600,000 of
those moneys to DHS and allows DHS to provide grants using those moneys, as well
as the federal independent living center financial assistance moneys.
Insurance
Under current law, a local governmental unit may insure its property in the
local government property insurance fund (fund), which is managed by the
commissioner of insurance and provides protection for the property insured in the
fund against fire and extended coverage perils. The bill provides that no new
coverage may be issued under the fund on or after July 1, 2015; no coverage may be
renewed after December 31, 2015; no coverage may extend beyond December 31,
2016; all claims must be filed by July 1, 2017, or they will not be covered under the
fund; and any moneys remaining after all fund operations cease will be distributed
among the local governmental units that were insured on July 1, 2015.
Justice
This bill requires DOJ to provide grants to state agencies, local units of
government, and private organizations to support the investigation, prosecution, or
prevention of crime; to enhance public safety; to facilitate information sharing
among jurisdictions and among agencies; to support crime victims; and to reduce
recidivism and crime. DOJ must consult with local law enforcement, district
attorneys, the secretary of corrections, the director of state courts, and the public
defender to develop a strategic plan for the grants.
This bill transfers, from DOA to DOJ, the state prosecutor office, which
provides administrative and legal support to district attorneys statewide.
The bill allows the attorney general to appoint, in the unclassified service of the
state civil service system, a solicitor general and up to three deputy solicitors general
and to assign assistant attorneys general to assist the solicitor general.
Under the bill, DOJ transfers a portion of the moneys it receives from a crime
laboratory surcharge and from a deoxyribonucleic acid analysis surcharge paid by
persons who commit certain offenses to the appropriation account that pays for crime
laboratory equipment.
local government
This bill creates a sports and entertainment district (district) with powers and
duties to facilitate the construction of a basketball arena, as well as other sports and
entertainment facilities (facilities), in a county with a population of more than
500,000 that has a first class city (collectively, local units) in which a professional
basketball team's home arena is currently located. Generally, the district is governed
by a board of nine members nominated by the governor and confirmed by of the
senate. Also under the bill, the county executive and mayor of a local unit may each
appoint one additional member to the board if the local unit provides funding to the
district.
Board members must be Wisconsin residents, have executive and managerial
experience, and may not be elective office holders or candidates for elective office.
The district may not incur debt or impose taxes and may operate and manage the
basketball arena and other facilities. The bill permits the Bradley Center Sports and
Entertainment Corporation, which currently owns the Bradley Center, to transfer
the ownership and debt of the Bradley Center to the district.
The bill authorizes the state to issue or contract $220,000,000 in appropriation
obligations to be used as a grant to assist a district in the construction of facilities,
including the acquisition or lease of property. Under the bill, the state may only
provide such a grant if the district has secured additional funding for the project in
an amount at least equal to $300,000,000.
Any lease between the team and the district for the use of the facilities must
provide that, if the team fails to fulfill its obligations under the lease, the team will
pay the state an amount that is sufficient to pay off the appropriation obligations.
Generally under current law, if a municipality (a city, village, or town) changes
its boundaries or its name, or if it changes status, the municipality must file a
certified copy of the change with the secretary of state. Depending on the type of
municipal action taken, the secretary of state may be required to notify other state
agencies and may be required to issue a certificate of incorporation to the
municipality. Under this bill, certified copies of such changes, and related
certificates of incorporation changes, must be filed with, and issued by, the secretary
of DOA.
Under current law, a person who is convicted of a crime is generally ordered to
pay various surcharges that fund a variety of programs related to criminal justice.
The bill creates a surcharge of $20 for each felony and misdemeanor that the clerk
of court forwards to the county treasurer, for retention in a crime prevention fund.
Moneys from the fund are distributed as grants at the direction of a crime prevention
funding board (CPFB).
Under the bill, a CPFB is created in every county whose treasurer receives
funds from the surcharge. Each CPFB consists of seven members, who serve for a
term that is determined by the CPFB: the presiding judge of the circuit court, or his
or her designee; the district attorney, or his or her designee; the sheriff, or his or her
designee; the county executive, county administrator, or county board chairperson,
or his or her designee; the chief elected official of the city, village, or town with the
largest population in the county, or his or her designee; a person chosen by a majority
vote of the top law enforcement officials of the departments that are located in the
county; and a person chosen by the county's public defender's office. Members of a
CPFB may be reimbursed for expenses but may not receive any other compensation.
A CPFB may solicit grant applications from certain specified entities and may
award grants to such entities. At least one-half of the funds must go to one or more
private, nonprofit organizations that has as its primary purpose preventing crime,
providing a funding source for crime prevention programs, encouraging the public
to report crime, or assisting law enforcement agencies in the apprehension of
criminal offenders. A CPFB may direct that the rest of the funds be distributed to
a law enforcement agency that has a crime prevention fund, if the contribution is
credited to the crime prevention fund and is used for crime prevention purposes.
The bill requires that a CPFB and any entity that receives a grant from a CPFB
must submit an annual report to certain specified entities detailing the amounts
spent, the purposes for which the grants were spent, and contact information for the
entity and the entity's leaders. The reports must be distributed to the clerk of court
for the county that distributed the funds, the county board, and the governing bodies
of the cities, villages, and towns in the county.
