Business organizations and financial institutions
This bill specifies one-hour and four-hour expedited processing fees for
business entity filings with DFI. Under current law, DFI establishes all expedited
processing fees by rule.
Correctional system
Adult correctional system
This bill eliminates the parole commission as of January 1, 2018, and transfers
to DOC the responsibility for interviewing inmates who are eligible for parole,
making parole decisions, and determining appropriate programming for inmates
seeking to be paroled. Under current law, a person who is convicted of committing
a crime before December 31, 1999, may become eligible for parole after being
confined in prison, a county house of corrections, or certain other facilities for a
portion of his or her sentence for the crime. When he or she becomes eligible for
parole, an eight-member parole commission within DOC consisting of a chairperson
nominated by the governor and seven commission members appointed by the
chairperson handles parole matters.
This bill directs the Legislative Audit Bureau to conduct a study of the policies
and procedures of DOC and the Division of Hearings and Appeals in DOA for the
probation and parole revocation process.
Juvenile correctional system
This bill increases from 16 to 18 the age under which a person who is sentenced
to the Wisconsin state prisons must be placed at a juvenile correctional facility or a
secured residential care center for children and youth, unless DOC determines based
on various factors that placement in a state prison, other than the Wisconsin Secure
Program Facility, is appropriate.
This bill changes the amounts that DOC charges, or that DCF deducts from
allocations, to counties for the costs of certain juvenile correctional services DOC
provides according to per person daily cost assessments (daily rates). The bill
establishes the following daily rates:
1. For fiscal year 2017-18, the daily rate is $344 for care in a Type 1 juvenile
correctional facility, and $344 for care for juveniles transferred from a juvenile
correctional institution.
2. For fiscal year 2018-19, the daily rate is $352 for care in a Type 1 juvenile
correctional facility, and $352 for care for juveniles transferred from a juvenile
correctional institution.
Courts and procedure
Public defender
This bill consolidates several appropriations to the Office of the State Public
Defender into one general appropriation to cover all operational costs of the Office
of the State Public Defender. The bill also allows the Public Defender Board to
request authorization for certain additional full-time or part-time positions to be
funded from general purpose revenues from the governor rather than from JCF.
Other courts and procedure
This bill also authorizes the Joint Committee on Employment Relations to
review and establish annual salaries for judges and justices under a proposal
submitted by the director of state courts. Under current law, annual salaries for
judges and justices are reviewed and established in the state compensation plan in
the same manner as positions in the state classified service.
This bill moves the appropriations for administering the Judicial Commission
to the Supreme Court. Under current law, the Judicial Commission investigates any
misconduct or permanent disability of a judge or court commissioner. The Supreme
Court reviews and determines the appropriate discipline or action to take in
response to the Judicial Commission's investigation.
Generally under current law, when a petition is filed for judicial review of an
agency action, the agency must provide the court with a typewritten or printed record
of the agency's administrative proceeding. The bill allows the Division of Hearings
and Appeals to instead provide a court with a copy of an audio or video recording of
the proceeding, unless the court orders the preparation of a transcript.
This bill eliminates the Judicial Council and its appropriations.
Education
Primary and secondary education
This bill modifies the Youth Options Program, under which a pupil enrolled in
a public school may take one or more courses at an institution of higher education
for high school or postsecondary credit, and renames the program to be the Early
College Credit Program.
Under the current Youth Options Program, any pupil in the 11th or 12th grades
may apply to an institution of higher education to take one or more courses at the
institution. If the course satisfies high school graduation credits and is not
comparable to a course offered by the school district, the school board must pay the
institution of higher education on behalf of the pupil. If the course is comparable to
a course offered by the school district or is taken for postsecondary credit, the pupil
is responsible for paying for the course.
This bill opens the ECCP to pupils in all high school grades, and explicitly
authorizes a pupil to participate in the ECCP in a summer session or semester. The
bill also changes the method for determining the cost of a college course, assigns a
certain portion of the cost to the state, and specifies the maximum cost to be paid by
the school board, the state, and, for a course taken only for postsecondary credit, by
the pupil. In addition, the bill directs DWD to pay the state's portion of the cost of
tuition. Finally, the bill requires an institution of higher education to admit a pupil
under the program if certain conditions are met.
This bill also restores the part-time Open Enrollment Program to its status
prior to the enactment of the 2013-15 Biennial Budget Act (
2013 Act 20). Prior to
the enactment of
2013 Act 20, a high school pupil could, under the part-time Open
Enrollment Program, apply to take one or two courses at a public school located
outside the pupil's school district of residence under certain circumstances. Under
the part-time OEP, the pupil's resident school board was required to pay to the
nonresident school board an amount equal to the cost of providing the course to the
pupil, as determined by DPI. Also under the part-time OEP, the resident school
board could reject the pupil's application if either of the following applied: 1) the
resident school board determined that the course conflicted with the pupil's
individualized education program; or 2) the cost of paying for the pupil to attend the
course would impose an undue financial burden on the resident school district.
This bill requires DPI to include in the annual accountability reports prepared
for schools and school districts additional information about high school pupils,
including the number of pupils attending a course through the part-time OEP or
ECCP programs, the number of pupils participating in a youth apprenticeship, and
the number of pupils earning industry-recognized credentials.
This bill eliminates various requirements that apply to school boards, including
1) that a school board annually schedule a minimum number of hours of direct pupil
instruction; 2) that a school board hold a monthly regular school board meeting; 3)
that a school board not enter into an employment contract with a school
administrator for a term that exceeds two years; and 4) that a school district clerk
submit a statement of the school district's indebtedness to the secretary of state,
upon request.
This bill allows a school board to contract with one or more school boards to
satisfy the school board's obligations to provide a variety of services and programs,
including providing instruction on lifesaving skills, providing emergency nursing
services and guidance and counseling services, establishing a bilingual-bicultural
education program, establishing a technical preparation program in each high
school in the school district, ensuring access to programs for gifted and talented
pupils, designating a school attendance officer for the school district, and employing
a certified reading specialist.
This bill eliminates the school district revenue limit adjustment for projects to
implement energy efficiency measures or to purchase energy efficiency products, but
permits a school district that adopted a resolution to initiate an energy efficiency
project before the effective date of the bill to increase the school district revenue limit
by the amount spent on the energy efficiency project in a school year for the
remainder of the term of the bond, note, or trust fund loan.
This bill requires DWD to award a grant to a school district that partners with
either the UW System or the flexible option program in the UW Extension to design
and implement a teacher development program. The teacher development program
must be designed to prepare school district employees who are not teachers to obtain
a teaching permit or initial teaching license.
This bill eliminates the requirement that an individual who currently holds a
valid and current initial teaching license, a professional teaching license, a master
educator license, or an administrator license, issued by DPI, renew that license. In
addition, the bill eliminates renewal requirements for licenses issued after the
effective date of the bill. The bill makes no changes to the substantive requirements
for initial licensure or to the conditions for revocation of these licenses. However, the
bill does transfer responsibility for periodically conducting background checks on
individuals who hold a license from DPI to the school board in which the individual
is employed.
This bill allows a faculty member in the UW System, the TCS, or any private,
nonprofit member of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and
Universities to teach at a public high school without a license to teach issued by DPI
if the faculty member is in good standing and possesses a bachelor's degree.
For a license to teach based on reciprocity and for an administrator's license
based on reciprocity, this bill eliminates the requirement that an applicant must
have received an offer to teach or to be an administrator in a school located in this
state in order to qualify for the license.
This bill permits a school district to provide compensation to a student teacher
for time spent in a classroom that involves direct interaction with pupils.
This bill provides additional per pupil aid of $188 in the 2017-18 school year
and $380 in the 2018-19 school year and in each school year thereafter to a school
district that certifies all of the following:
1. In the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years, school district employees will be
required to pay at least 12 percent of health care coverage costs.
2. The school district will distribute the additional per pupil aid to a school in
the school district in an amount equal to the number of pupils enrolled in the school.
In addition, this bill requires DPI to increase the additional per pupil aid by $12
in the 2017-18 school year and by $24 in the 2018-19 school year if the Group
Insurance Board executes a contract to provide self-insured group health plans to
state employees for the 2018 and 2019 calendar years.
This bill makes certain additional school districts eligible for sparsity aid.
Under current law, a school district is eligible for sparsity aid in the amount of $300
per pupil if the school district's membership in the previous school year does not
exceed 745 pupils and if the membership divided by the school district's area in
square miles is less than ten. The bill increases the per pupil payment to $400. Also
under this bill, a school district with the same density of pupils per square miles and
with a membership in the previous school year of more than 745 students but no more
than 1,000 students is eligible for sparsity aid in the amount of $100 per pupil.
This bill increases the reimbursement rate to school districts and independent
charter school operators for transporting a pupil who lives more than 12 miles from
the school the pupil attends from $300 per school year to $365 per school year; and
increases the reimbursement rate to school districts for transportation to and from
summer classes from $4 to $10 for a pupil who lives at least two miles but not more
than five miles from the school the pupil attends and from $6 to $20 for a pupil who
lives more than five miles from the school the pupil attends. The bill also eliminates
the requirement that DPI reduce the amount of state aid a charter school operator
receives for transporting a pupil if the pupil is transported for less than a full school
year because the pupil is not enrolled in the school district or independent charter
school for the entire school year.
As part of the Technology for Educational Achievement program, known as
TEACH, DOA awards information technology block grants for improving
information technology infrastructure to school districts that have 13 pupils per
square mile or less. Under current law, the information technology block grant
program ends on July 1, 2017. This bill continues the information technology block
grant program until July 1, 2019, and expands the permitted uses of grants under
the program to include providing mobile hotspots on buses and purchasing mobile
hotspots for individuals to borrow from schools. In addition, the eligibility for these
grants in the 2017-18 school year is expanded to include school districts that have
up to 26 pupils per square mile.
This bill requires DPI to develop, implement, and administer a program to
award grants to school districts and independent charter schools for the purpose of
collaborating with community mental health providers to provide mental health
services to pupils.
This bill requires DPI to provide trainings on evidence-based strategies related
to addressing mental issues in schools to school district personnel and independent
charter school personnel. Under the bill, these trainings must include at least the
following evidence-based strategies: screening, brief intervention, and referral to
treatment, known as SBIRT; trauma sensitive schools; and youth mental health first
aid.
This bill requires DPI to make payments to school districts and independent
charter schools that increased the amount the school district or independent charter
school spent to employ, hire, or retain social workers over the amount spent by the
school district or independent charter school to employ, hire, or retain social workers
in the immediately preceding school year.
This bill creates a grant program for public schools, including independent
charter schools, and a private school participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice
Program that are located within the geographic boundaries of a first class city school
district (currently, only the school district operating in the city of Milwaukee,
Milwaukee Public Schools). Under the grant program, DPI provides awards to
schools that were placed in a performance category of “significantly exceeds
expectations" or “exceeds expectations" on the most recent accountability report and
to schools that improved their score on the most recent accountability report by at
least three points over the previous accountability report. In each school year, the
bill prohibits DPI from making awards under the program until DOA approves
award amounts calculated under the grant program. Finally, the bill requires a first
class city school board to distribute any funds it receives under this grant program
to the school administrator of the school that earned the award.
This bill requires the MPS school board to develop and implement a grant
program to award grants to public schools, except independent charter schools,
located in Milwaukee for the purpose of developing, redesigning, or implementing a
summer school program. Additionally, the bill requires DPI to annually distribute
funding to the MPS board for this purpose.
This bill expands the entities to which DPI must award grants for the purpose
of providing services and activities to gifted and talented pupils to include all school
districts. Under current law, DPI is required to provide these grants to nonprofit
organizations, cooperative educational service agencies, institutions in the UW
System, and a school district operating in a first class city.
This bill creates a program in DPI to award grants to a nonprofit organization
to provide training and an online bullying prevention curriculum to pupils in grades
kindergarten to 8.
This bill explicitly authorizes DPI to request that DOA reimburse charter
schools, including independent charter schools, charter schools under contract with
the director of the Office of Educational Opportunity, and noninstrumentality
charter schools, for certain costs incurred in connection with a special education
program and the provision of special education and related services by the charter
school. Current law allows DPI to reimburse school districts, cooperative
educational service agencies, and county children with disabilities education boards
for the same services under the same conditions.
This bill requires a private school participating in the Special Needs
Scholarship Program to obtain verification that a child with a disability who has
applied to attend the private school under the program has an Individualized
Education Program or services plan in effect before notifying DPI that the private
school intends to accept the application of the child. Under current law, DPI must
verify that an IEP or services plan is in effect. The bill also allows an IEP team
appointed by a nonresident school board to conduct a reevaluation of a child with a
disability who is attending a private school under the program in the nonresident
school district. Current law requires the IEP team appointed by the resident school
board to reevaluate such a child. Finally, the bill permits the state superintendent
of public instruction to bar a private school from participating in the program if the
private school misrepresents information required under the program.
If the federal government permits entities other than public entities to receive
federal funding for providing equitable services to children with disabilities who are
enrolled by their parents in private schools, the bill requires an ombudsman
designated by DPI to identify a private fiscal agent to receive such federal funding.
This bill makes the following changes to the Milwaukee parental choice
program, the Racine parental choice program, and the statewide parental choice
program:
1. Eliminates the requirement that a private school participating in a parental
choice program must annually satisfy at least one of the following standards: a) at
least 70 percent of the pupils in the program advance one grade level each year; b)
the private school's average attendance rate for the pupils in the program is at least
90 percent; c) at least 80 percent of the pupils in the program demonstrate significant
academic progress; or d) at least 70 percent of the families of pupils in the program
meet parent involvement criteria established by the private school.
2. Eliminates the requirement that a private school participating in a parental
choice program provide a minimum number of hours of direct pupil instruction.
3. Requires a private school participating in a parental choice program to
conduct a background investigation of teachers and administrators who are
currently employed by the private school and to conduct a background investigation
of teachers and administrators hired after the date on which the bill is enacted as
part of the hiring process. Additionally, the bill requires the private school to conduct
an additional background investigation at least once every five years if a teacher or
administrator continues to be employed by the private school.
4. Allows DPI to bar a private school from participating in a parental choice
program in the current school year and the following school year for misrepresenting
any information required under the program.
5. Prohibits DPI from requiring a private school participating in a parental
choice program to submit an annual operating budget to DPI as evidence of the
private school's fiscal and internal control practices or of its financial viability. The
prohibition applies only if the private school is not a new private school and the
private school is in good standing with DPI.
6. Allows an applicant for a parental choice program to receive directly from
DOR a determination about the applicant's income eligibility for the parental choice
program as part of the application process.
7. Requires a private school that is continuing to participate in a parental
choice program to submit certain school policies at DPI's request, instead of
submitting all of the policies to DPI each year as required under current law, and to
provide to DPI only signatures of new members of its governing board, rather than
signatures from all of the members of its governing body each year. For a private
school that did not participate in a parental choice program in the previous year, the
bill requires the private school to submit all of its policies and signatures from all of
the members of its governing body to DPI by January 10 of the immediately
preceding school year.
This bill eliminates the requirement that a virtual charter school ensure that
its teachers are available to provide a minimum number of hours of direct pupil
instruction and prohibits the governing body of a virtual charter school from allowing
a pupil to start attending the virtual charter school during a semester in which the
pupil has had four or more unexcused absences from school.
Higher education
This bill requires the Board of Regents of the UW System to allocate a specified
portion of its annual general purpose revenue funding to distribute among the UW
institutions, which are the individual four-year universities and the two-year UW
Colleges as a whole, based on their performance in the prior fiscal year regarding
specified criteria. In each fiscal year, the Board of Regents must allocate $21,250,000
of its annual general purpose revenue funding for making the distributions.
However, if the Board of Regents does not begin making the distributions until fiscal
year 2018-19, then, in that fiscal year, the Board of Regents must allocate
$42,500,000 of its general purpose revenue funding for the 2017-19 fiscal biennium
for making the distributions.
This bill requires the following percentages of the portion allocated to be
distributed according to an institution's performance regarding each of the following
sets of criteria:
1. Thirty percent: length of time to obtain a degree; student participation in
dual enrollment programs; percentage of students completing degrees within three,
four, and six years; percentage of students awarded degrees in healthcare, science,
technology, engineering, or mathematics; low-income student graduation rate; and
faculty instructional hours.
2. Fifteen percent: average number of high-impact practices experienced by
undergraduates and percentage of students who participated in internships during
undergraduate enrollment.
3. Thirty percent: percentage of students who obtained full-time postgraduate
employment; percentage of students who obtained full-time postgraduate
employment in fields related to their degrees; percentage of the state workforce who
graduated from the institution in the five prior fiscal years; percentage of students
who are employed or continue their education within one year of graduation; and the
number of degrees awarded in high-demand fields as determined by DWD.
4. Ten percent: minimization of expenditures for supplies, services, personnel,
and other administrative expenses.
5. Five percent: number of state residents served by the UW-Extension or
outreach programs at the institution and expenditures on noncredit student
community service programs.
6. Ten percent: two additional criteria specified by the Board of Regents.
This bill requires the Board of Regents to establish formulas for distributing the
above percentages among institutions based on their rankings regarding
performance for each of the above sets of criteria. However, the Board of Regents
must control for the number of students enrolled at each institution so that larger
institutions are not advantaged over smaller institutions. In addition, the Board of
Regents may substitute criteria for the UW Colleges or exempt the UW Colleges from
a ranking and distribution. No later than January 1, 2018, the Board of Regents
must submit a plan to the secretary of administration for making the distributions.
The plan must include the method used for ranking performance. Within 30 days of
receipt of the plan, the secretary of administration must approve the plan or require
resubmittal. The bill prohibits the Board of Regents from implementing the plan
until approved by the secretary.
Beginning in fiscal year 2018-19, this bill requires the Board of Regents to
require each institution to prepare an annual “Performance Funding Report Card”
that summarizes performance regarding the above criteria and other metrics. In
addition, the Board of Regents must publish data regarding each institution's
performance on the UW System Accountability Dashboard that the Board of Regents
maintains on the UW System's Internet site.
This bill makes changes to performance funding requirements for technical
college districts. Current law required the TCS Board to submit a plan to JCF by
March 31, 2014, for allocating general state aid to technical college districts based
on performance with respect to specified criteria. Upon approval by JCF, current law
required the TCS Board to allocate the general state aid among the districts so that,
by fiscal year 2016-17, 30 percent of the aid was allocated according to the plan and
70 percent was allocated according to a formula for equalizing the aid based on
district property values. Under current law, after fiscal year 2016-17, none of the
aid is allocated according to the plan and 100 percent is allocated according to the
equalization formula.
Under this bill, in fiscal year 2017-18, 30 percent of the aid is allocated
according to the plan and 70 percent is allocated according to the equalization
formula. For subsequent fiscal years, the bill requires the TCS Board to allocate 70
percent of the aid to technical college districts according to the equalization formula
and to submit a new plan to the secretary of administration for allocating the
following percentages of the aid based on a district's performance regarding the
following sets of criteria, which are based on the criteria specified under current law:
1. Ten and one-half percent: participation in dual enrollment programs and the
development and implementation of a policy to award course credit for educational
experience and training not obtained through an institution of higher education.
2. Ten and one-half percent: student placement in jobs related to the students'
programs of study; number of degrees and certificates awarded in high-demand
fields, as jointly determined by DWD and the TCS Board; number of programs or
courses with industry-validated curriculum; and workforce training provided to
businesses and individuals.
3. Six percent: number of adults served by specified basic adult education,
skills, and training courses and the success rate of adult students completing the
courses; transition of adult students from basic education to skills training; and
training and other service provided to special populations or demographic groups
that are unique to a technical college district.
4. Three percent: participation in statewide or regional collaboration of
efficiency initiatives.
This bill requires the TCS Board to submit the above plan to the secretary of
administration by March 31, 2018. The TCS Board may not implement the plan
unless approved or modified by the secretary of administration. Beginning in fiscal
year 2018-19, the bill requires the TCS Board to submit an annual report to the
secretary of administration regarding the allocations made under the plan and
district performance regarding the criteria. The bill also requires each technical
college district to prepare an annual “Performance Funding Report Card” that
summarizes district performance with respect to the above criteria.
This bill requires the TCS Board to submit an accountability report by
December 31 of each year to the governor and the legislature. The report must
include information regarding the following: 1) graduation rates and related data;
2) postgraduation state residency of students; 3) the number of degrees, diplomas,
and certificates awarded in high-demand fields; 4) financial reports; 5) student
family income and minority group membership; 6) student transfers; 7) costs for
resident students; 8) the collegiate transfer program; 9) faculty profiles; 10)
partnerships and collaborative relationships among technical colleges, employers,
state or local governments, or school districts; and 11) incentive grants made under
current law. specified under current law.
In academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19, this bill prohibits technical college
district boards from charging fees to resident students for liberal arts, collegiate
transfer, postsecondary, or vocational-adult programs that exceed the fees charged
in the 2016-17 academic year. In those same academic years, the bill also prohibits
the boards from charging materials fees to any student that exceed the fees charged
in the 2016-17 academic year. In addition, the bill allows technical college district
boards to charge students who reside in their districts uniform program and material
fees that are less than the uniform fees established by the TCS Board.
This bill makes payment by students of allocable segregated fees at UW schools
optional. The bill defines “allocable segregated fees" as segregated fees that provide
substantial support for campus student activities and that students are responsible
for allocating, in consultation with the school's chancellor and subject to
confirmation of the Board of Regents.
This bill prohibits four-year UW schools from awarding a bachelor's degree to
a student unless the student has had an internship experience or work experience.
The Board of Regents must establish policies for determining whether a student has
satisfied this internship or work requirement.
This bill requires the Board of Regents and the TCS Board to enter into an
agreement that, beginning in the 2018-19 academic year, ensures that not fewer
than 60 core general education course credits are transferable within and between
each UW school and technical college. Current law required such an agreement for
30 credits beginning in the 2014-15 academic year. As under current law, the bill
requires the two boards to ensure that in-state tribally controlled colleges and
certain private schools have an opportunity to participate in the agreement. The bill
also requires the Board of Regents to measure the effectiveness of policies the board
has established under current law for the appropriate transfer of credits between
institutions within the system. In addition, the bill requires the board to submit a
report to the legislature that describes any barriers to credit transferability.
This bill requires each university in the UW System to submit statements to the
Board of Regents regarding completion of majors for baccalaureate degrees within
three academic years. By January 1, 2018, the bill requires a university to submit
statements for at least 10 percent of its baccalaureate degree programs. By June 30,
2020, the bill requires a university to submit statements for at least 60 percent of
such programs. Upon submitting a statement, a university must post the statement
on the university's Internet site. The Board of Regents must provide copies to the
state superintendent of public instruction for further distribution. The bill also
requires the Board of Regents and UW-Madison chancellor to include information
about baccalaureate degrees awarded within three academic years in annual
accountability reports that must be submitted to the governor and legislature under
current law.
This bill requires the Board of Regents to develop and implement a plan no later
than January 1, 2018, that includes specified policies for each institution within the
UW System, including UW-Madison, for monitoring faculty and instructional
academic staff teaching workloads. The plan must also include policies for
rewarding faculty and instructional academic staff who teach more than a standard
academic load. The Board of Regents and the chancellor of UW-Madison must revise
their personnel systems and employment relation policies and practices as necessary
to be consistent with the plan. In addition, the Board of Regents and UW-Madison
chancellor must include aggregate data on faculty and instructional academic staff
teaching hours in annual accountability reports required under current law. The
Board of Regents must also publish the aggregate data on the accountability
dashboard on the UW System's Internet site and provide links to individual faculty
and academic staff member teaching hours on that dashboard.
This bill makes a change to the residency requirement for the fee remission
program for veterans' spouses and children at UW schools and technical colleges.
Under the bill, this fee remission program for a veteran's spouse and children applies
if the veteran was not a resident of this state when he or she entered the armed forces
but resided in this state for at least five consecutive years immediately preceding
registration at a UW school or technical school.
This bill requires the Board of Regents and each UW school to be committed to
freedom of expression and inquiry and to protect and promote this freedom for
members of the UW System's community.
This bill transfers responsibility for leases of real property occupied by the
Board of Regents for use as student housing from DOA to the Board of Regents.