The bill eliminates the $20 application fee for an individual convicted of a crime
to apply for a certificate of qualification for employment. Under current law, certain
nonviolent offenders who have been released from confinement may apply to the
Council on Offender Employment for a certificate, and the council generally must
approve an offender's application if the council finds that the offender is not likely
to pose a risk to public safety, that the certificate will substantially assist the offender
in obtaining employment or occupational licensing or certification, and that the
offender is less likely to commit an additional criminal offense if the offender obtains
a certificate. Under current law, a certificate provides relief to an offender from
ineligibility for or disadvantage related to employment, occupational licensing, or
occupational certification that results from the offender's criminal record. A
certificate also incentivizes an employer to hire an offender by providing the
employer with limited immunity from civil liability related to acts or omissions of the
offender.
General courts and procedure
Extreme risk protection injunctions
Under current law, a person is prohibited from possessing a firearm, and must
surrender all firearms, if the person is subject to a domestic abuse injunction, a child
abuse injunction, or, in certain cases, a harassment or an individuals-at-risk
injunction. If a person surrenders a firearm because the person is subject to one of
those injunctions, the firearm may not be returned to the person until a court
determines that the injunction has been vacated or has expired and that the person
is not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm. A person who is prohibited
from possessing a firearm under such an injunction is guilty of a Class G felony for
violating the prohibition.
The bill creates an extreme risk protection temporary restraining order and
injunction to prohibit a person from possessing a firearm. Under the bill, either a
law enforcement officer or a family or household member of the person may file a
petition with a court to request an extreme risk protection injunction. The petition
must allege facts that show that the person is substantially likely to injure himself
or herself or another if the person possesses a firearm.
Under the bill, the petitioner may request the court to consider first granting
a temporary restraining order (TRO). If the petitioner requests a TRO, the petitioner
must include evidence that there is an immediate and present danger that the person
may injure himself or herself or another if the person possesses a firearm and that
waiting for the injunction hearing increases the immediate and present danger.
If the petitioner requests a TRO, the court must hear the petition in an
expedited manner. The judge must issue a TRO if, after questioning the petitioner
and witnesses or relying on affidavits, the judge determines that it is substantially
likely that the petition for an injunction will be granted and the judge finds good
cause to believe there is an immediate and present danger that the person will injure
himself or herself or another if the person has a firearm and that waiting for the
injunction hearing may increase the immediate and present danger. If the judge
issues a TRO, the TRO is in effect until the injunction hearing, which must occur
within 14 days. The TRO must require a law enforcement officer to personally serve
the person with the order and to require the person to immediately surrender all
firearms in his or her possession. If a law enforcement officer is unable to personally
serve the person, then the TRO requires the person to surrender within 24 hours all
firearms to a law enforcement officer or a firearms dealer and to provide the court
a receipt indicating the surrender occurred.
At the injunction hearing, the court may grant an extreme risk protection
injunction ordering the person to refrain from possessing a firearm if the court finds
by clear and convincing evidence that the person is substantially likely to injure
himself or herself or another if the person possesses a firearm. If the person was not
subject to a TRO, the court also must order the person to surrender all firearms he
or she possesses. An extreme risk protection injunction is effective for up to one year
and may be renewed. A person who is subject to an extreme risk protection
injunction may petition to vacate the injunction.
A person who possesses a firearm while subject to an extreme risk protection
TRO or injunction is guilty of a Class G felony. If a person surrenders a firearm
because the person is subject to an extreme risk protection TRO or injunction, the
firearm may not be returned to the person until a court determines that the TRO has
expired or the injunction has been vacated or has expired and that the person is not
otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm.
Finally, a person who files a petition for an extreme risk protection injunction,
knowing the information in the petition to be false, is guilty of the crime of false
swearing, a Class H felony.
Qui tam actions for false claims
The bill restores a private individual's authority to bring a qui tam claim
against a person who makes a false or fraudulent claim for Medical Assistance,
which was eliminated in
2015 Wisconsin Act 55, and further expands qui tam actions
to include any false or fraudulent claims to a state agency. A qui tam claim is a claim
initiated by a private individual on his or her own behalf and on behalf of the state
against a person who makes a false claim relating to Medical Assistance or other
moneys from a state agency. The bill provides that a private individual may be
awarded up to 30 percent of the amount of moneys recovered as a result of a qui tam
claim, depending upon the extent of the individual's contribution to the prosecution
of the action. The individual may also be entitled to reasonable expenses incurred
in bringing the action, as well as attorney fees. The bill includes additional changes
not included in the prior law to incorporate provisions enacted in the federal Deficit
Reduction Act of 2005 and conform state law to the federal False Claims Act,
including expanding provisions to facilitate qui tam actions and modifying the bases
for liability to parallel the liability provisions under the federal False Claims Act.
In addition to qui tam claims, DOJ has independent authority to bring a claim
against a person for making a false claim for Medical Assistance. The bill modifies
provisions relating to DOJ's authority to parallel the liability and penalty standards
relating to qui tam claims and to parallel the forfeiture amounts provided under the
federal False Claims Act.
DOT data sharing
Under current law, DOT annually transmits to the director of state courts a list
of persons residing in the state that includes certain information about those
persons. Each year, the director of state courts uses that information, along with
other information available to the director of state courts, to compile a master list of
potential jurors for use by the state circuit courts. The bill requires DOT to also send
that list to the clerks of court for the federal district courts within this state.
County law libraries
The bill creates an appropriation account to receive any amounts from counties
for providing materials or other services under contracts for county law libraries.
Crimes
Expungement
Under current law, a court may order a person's criminal record expunged of a
crime if all of the following apply:
1. The maximum term of imprisonment for the crime is six years or less (Class
H felony and below).
2. The person committed the crime before the age of 25.
3. The person had not been previously convicted of a felony.
4. The crime was not a violent felony.
Current law specifies that the expungement order must be made only at
sentencing and then the record is expunged when the person completes his or her
sentence. If the court does not order a criminal record expunged at sentencing,
current law generally does not provide for another means to expunge the criminal
record.
The bill makes several changes to the expungement process. The bill removes
the condition that the person committed the crime before the age of 25. (The bill
retains the requirements that the crime be no greater than a Class H felony, the
person had no previous felony convictions, and the crime was not a violent felony.)
The bill makes certain crimes ineligible for expungement, such as traffic crimes, the
crime of violating a domestic abuse restraining order or injunction, criminal
trespass, and criminal damage to a business. The bill also allows the sentencing
court to order that a person's record not be eligible for expungement.
The bill continues to allow the court to order at sentencing that the record be
expunged when the person completes his or her sentence. The bill also provides that,
if the court did not make an order at sentencing, the person may file a petition with
the sentencing court after he or she completes his or her sentence. Upon receipt of
the petition, the court must review the petition and then may order the record
expunged or may deny the petition. If the court denies the petition, the person may
not file another petition for two years. The person must pay a $100 fee to the county
for a second petition, and no person may file more than two petitions per crime. The
bill limits a person to one expungement. The changes described in this paragraph
retroactively apply to persons who were convicted of a crime before the bill takes
effect.
The bill provides that, if a record is expunged of a crime, that crime is not
considered a conviction for employment purposes and specifies that employment
discrimination because of a conviction record includes requesting a person to supply
information regarding a crime if the record has been expunged of the crime. Finally,
the bill provides that it is not employment discrimination because of conviction
record for the Law Enforcement Standards Board to consider a conviction that has
been expunged with respect to applying any standard or requirement for the
certification, decertification, or required training of law enforcement officers, tribal
law enforcement officers, jail officers, and juvenile detention officers.
Immunity for certain controlled substances offenses
Current law grants immunity from prosecution for possessing a controlled
substance to a person, called an aider, who summons or provides emergency medical
assistance to another person because the aider believes the other person is suffering
from an overdose or other adverse reaction to a controlled substance. Under
2017
Wisconsin Act 33, an aider was also immune from having probation, parole, or
extended supervision revoked for possessing a controlled substance under the same
circumstances. Act 33 also granted the aided person immunity from having
probation, parole, or extended supervision revoked for possessing a controlled
substance when an aider seeks assistance for the aided person. The immunity
applied only if the aided person completes a treatment program as part of his or her
probation, parole, or extended supervision. Act 33 also provided that a prosecutor
must offer an aided person who is subject to prosecution for possessing a controlled
substance a deferred prosecution agreement if the aided person completes a
treatment program.
The expanded immunities under Act 33 were temporary, and expired on August
1, 2020. The bill permanently restores these expanded immunities from Act 33.
Alternatives to prosecution for disorderly conduct
The bill requires a prosecutor to offer to certain disorderly conduct defendants
a deferred prosecution agreement or an agreement in which the defendant stipulates
to his or her guilt of a noncriminal ordinance violation. Under the bill, a prosecutor
must offer alternatives to prosecution to a person who has committed a disorderly
conduct violation if it is the person's first disorderly conduct violation, the person has
not committed a similar violation previously, and the person has not committed a
felony in the previous three years. Under the bill, if the person is offered a deferred
prosecution agreement, he or she must be required to pay restitution, if applicable.
education
Primary and secondary education: general school aids and revenue limits
School district revenue limits; per pupil increase
Current law generally limits 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 allowed per pupil in the previous school year plus a per pupil
adjustment, if any, as provided by law. Current law does not provide a per pupil
adjustment in the 2021-22 school year and any school year thereafter.
For purposes of calculating school district revenue limits, the bill provides a per
pupil increase of $350 for the 2023-24 school year and $650 for the 2024-25 school
year. Under the bill, in the 2025-26 school year and thereafter, the per pupil
adjustment is the per pupil increase for the previous school year as adjusted for any
increase in the consumer price index.
Low revenue ceiling; per pupil amount and restrictions
Current law provides a minimum per pupil revenue limit for school districts,
known as the revenue ceiling. Under current law, the per pupil revenue ceiling is
$10,000 in the 2020-21 school year and each school year thereafter. The bill
increases the per pupil revenue ceiling to $10,450 for the 2023-24 school year and
to $11,200 for the 2024-25 school year and, beginning in the 2025-26 school year,
annually adjusts the revenue ceiling for any increase in the consumer price index.
Current law also provides that during the three school years following a school
year in which an operating referendum fails in a school district, the school district's
revenue ceiling is the revenue ceiling that applied in the school year during which
the referendum was held. The bill eliminates the provision under which a school
district's revenue ceiling is the revenue ceiling from a previous school year because
an operating referendum failed in the school district.
Counting pupils enrolled in four-year-old kindergarten
The bill changes how a pupil enrolled in a four-year-old kindergarten is
counted by a school district for purposes of state aid and revenue limits. Under
current law, beginning with state aid paid in the 2024-25 school year and revenue
limits calculated for the 2024-25 school year, a pupil enrolled in a four-year-old
kindergarten program is counted as 0.5 pupil unless the program provides at least
87.5 additional hours of outreach activities, in which case the pupil is counted as 0.6
pupil. Under the bill, if the four-year-old kindergarten program requires full-day
attendance by pupils for five days a week, a pupil enrolled in the program is counted
as one pupil.
High poverty aid
Under current law, if at least 50 percent of a school district's enrollment is
eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch under the federal school lunch program, the
school district is eligible for a prorated share of the amount appropriated as high
poverty aid. For school districts other than a first class city school district (currently
only Milwaukee Public Schools), high poverty aid is considered state aid for purposes
of revenue limits. For MPS, high poverty aid must be used to reduce the school
property tax levied for the purpose of offsetting the aid reduction attributable to the
Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. The bill eliminates high poverty aid beginning
in the 2023-24 school year.
Primary and secondary education: categorical aids
Per pupil aid
Under current law, per pupil aid is a categorical aid paid to school districts. Per
pupil aid is funded from a sum sufficient appropriation and is not considered for
purposes of revenue limits. Under current law, the amount of per pupil aid paid to
a school district is calculated using a three-year average of the number of pupils
enrolled in the school district and a per pupil amount set by law. Under current law,
in the 2022-23 school year and each school year thereafter, the per pupil amount is
$742. Under the bill, the per pupil amount is $766 in the 2023-24 school year and
$811 in the 2024-25 school year and each year thereafter.
Funding for special education and school age parents programs
The bill changes the rate at which the state reimburses school boards, operators
of independent charter schools, cooperative educational service agencies (CESAs),
and county children with disabilities education boards (CCDEBs) for costs incurred
to provide special education and related services to children with disabilities and for
school age parents programs (eligible costs). Under current law, the state reimburses
the full cost of special education for children in hospitals and convalescent homes for
orthopedically disabled children. After those costs are paid, the state reimburses
remaining eligible costs from the amount remaining in the appropriation account at
a rate that distributes the full amount appropriated. DPI estimates that, in the
2022-23 school year, the reimbursement rate is 31.7 percent.
The bill changes the appropriation to a sum sufficient and provides that,
beginning in the 2023-24 school year, after full payment of hospital and convalescent
home costs, the remaining costs are reimbursed at 60 percent of eligible costs.
Currently, DPI provides 1) special education aid to school districts, independent
charter schools, CESAs, and CCDEBs; 2) aid to school districts, CESAs, and
CCDEBs for providing physical or mental health treatment services to private school
and tribal school pupils; and 3) aid for school age parents programs to school districts
only.
High-cost special education aid
The bill changes the rate at which the state reimburses school boards, operators
of independent charter schools, CESAs, and CCDEBs for nonadministrative costs in
excess of $30,000 incurred for providing special education and related costs to a child
(aidable costs). Under current law, 90 percent of aidable costs are paid from a sum
certain appropriation. If the amount of the appropriation is insufficient to pay the
full 90 percent of aidable costs, DPI prorates payments among eligible applicants.
For the 2022-23 school year, DPI estimates that the reimbursement rate is 39.5
percent of aidable costs under this aid program.
The bill changes the appropriation to a sum sufficient appropriation and
provides that aidable costs are reimbursed at the following rates:
1. In the 2023-24 school year, 45 percent of aidable costs.
2. In the 2024-25 school year and in each school year thereafter, 60 percent of
aidable costs.
Bilingual-bicultural education aids
The bill increases the reimbursement rate for a bilingual-bicultural education
program to 15 percent of qualifying costs in the 2023-24 school year and 20 percent
of qualifying costs in the 2024-25 school year and each school year thereafter.
Under current law, a bilingual-bicultural education program is a program
designed to improve the comprehension and the speaking, reading, and writing
ability of a limited-English proficient (LEP) pupil in the English language. A school
district is required to establish a bilingual-bicultural education program if it has a
certain amount of LEP pupils from the same language group within an individual
school in the district, described below. If DPI determines that a school district's
bilingual-bicultural education program meets all statutory requirements, DPI
reimburses the school district a percentage of qualifying costs of the
bilingual-bicultural education program. Under current law, the percentage that is
reimbursed is calculated by dividing the amount allocated in the biennial budget act
among all qualifying school districts. DPI estimates that qualifying school districts
received reimbursement for bilingual-bicultural education programs in the amount
of 7.7 percent of qualifying costs for the 2021-22 school year.
Aid for English language acquisition
The bill creates a new categorical aid for school districts and independent
charter schools to offset the costs of educating LEP pupils.
Under current law, a school board is required to provide a bilingual-bicultural
education program to LEP pupils who attend a school in the school district if the
school meets any of the following thresholds:
1. Within a language group, 10 or more LEP pupils are enrolled in kindergarten
to grade 3.
2. Within a language group, 20 or more LEP pupils are enrolled in grades 4 to
8.
3. Within a language group, 20 or more LEP pupils are enrolled in grades 9 to
12.
All school boards are required to educate all LEP pupils, but only school boards
that are required to provide bilingual-bicultural education programs are eligible
under current law for categorical aid targeted toward educating LEP pupils. Under
current law, in each school year, DPI distributes $250,000 among eligible school
districts whose enrollments in the previous school year were at least 15 percent LEP
pupils, and DPI distributes the amount remaining in the appropriation account to
eligible school districts on the basis of the school districts' expenditures on the
required bilingual-bicultural education programs during the prior school year.
Under the bill, beginning in the 2024-25 school year, DPI must annually pay
each school district and each operator of an independent charter school an amount
equal to $500 times the number of LEP pupils enrolled in the school district or at the
charter school in the previous school year. Under the bill, DPI must pay a school
district or independent charter school that had at least one but no more than 20 LEP
pupils in the previous school year $10,000. This new categorical aid is in addition
to aid already paid under current law and is not conditioned on whether the school
board or independent charter school is required to provide a bilingual-bicultural
education program.
Pupil transportation aid
Under current law, a school district or an operator of a charter school that
provides transportation to and from a school receives a state aid payment for
transportation. The amount of the aid payment depends on the number of pupils
transported and the distance of each pupil's residence from the school. The bill
increases aid payments for pupils who reside more than 12 miles from the school
from $375 per pupil to $400 per pupil, beginning in the 2023-24 school year.
High cost transportation aid; stop-gap payments
Under current law, a school district is eligible for high cost transportation aid
if 1) the school district has a pupil population density of 50 or fewer pupils per square
mile and 2) the school district's per pupil transportation cost exceeds 140 percent of
the statewide average per pupil transportation cost. Current law also provides aid,
known as a “stop-gap payment,” to any school district that qualified for high cost
transportation aid in the immediately preceding school year but is ineligible to
receive aid in the current school year. The stop-gap payment is equal to 50 percent
of the amount the school district received in the preceding school year. Current law
specifies that no more than a total of $200,000 may be paid in stop-gap payments in
any fiscal year. The bill removes the $200,000 limitation on high cost transportation
aid stop-gap payments. The bill also specifies that, if the amount appropriated for
all high cost transportation aid payments, including stop-gap payments, in any
fiscal year is insufficient, all high cost transportation aid payments must be
prorated.
Sparsity aid; stop-gap payments
Under current law, a school district is eligible for sparsity aid if the number of
pupils per square mile in the school district is less than 10 and the school district's
membership in the previous school year did not exceed 1,000 pupils. The amount of
aid is $400 per pupil if the school district's membership in the previous school year
did not exceed 745 pupils and $100 per pupil if the if the school district's membership
in the previous school year was between 745 and 1,000 pupils. Current law also
provides a reduced payment, known as a stop-gap payment, to a school district that
was eligible to receive sparsity aid in the previous school year but is not eligible to
receive sparsity aid in the current school year because it no longer satisfies the
pupils-per-square-mile requirement. The amount of the stop-gap payment is 50
percent of the amount of sparsity aid the school district received in the previous
school year.
Under the bill, beginning in the 2023-24 school year, a school district is eligible
for a sparsity aid stop-gap payment if the school district is ineligible for sparsity aid
in the current school year because it no longer satisfies the pupils-per-square-mile
requirement or the membership requirement.
School mental health and pupil wellness; categorical aid
The bill changes the types of expenditures that are eligible for reimbursement
under the state categorical aid program related to pupil mental health.
Under current law, DPI must make payments to school districts, independent
charter schools, and private schools participating in parental choice programs (local
education agency) that increased the amount they spent to employ, hire, or retain
social workers. Under current law, DPI first pays each eligible local education
agency 50 percent of the amount by which the eligible local education agency
increased its expenditures for social workers in the preceding school year over the
amount it expended in the school year immediately preceding the preceding school
year. If, after making those payments, there is money remaining in the
appropriation account for that aid program, DPI makes additional payments to
eligible local education agencies. The amount of those additional payments is
determined based on the amount remaining in the appropriation account and the
amount spent by eligible local education agencies to employ, hire, and retain social
workers during the previous school year.
The bill expands eligibility for the payments under the aid program to include
spending on school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and
school nurses (pupil services professionals). The bill also eliminates the two-tier
reimbursement structure of the aid program and eliminates the requirement that a
local education agency is eligible for the aid only if the local education agency
increased its spending. Under the bill, any local education agency that made
expenditures to employ, hire, or retain pupil services professionals during the
previous school year is eligible for reimbursement under the aid program.
Aid for comprehensive school mental health services
Under current law, DPI administers a $10,000,000 annual competitive grant
program to school districts and independent charter schools for the purpose of
collaborating with community mental health agencies to provide mental health
services to pupils. The bill eliminates this grant program and replaces it with new
categorical aid for comprehensive school mental health services to school districts
and independent charter schools.
Under the bill, beginning in the 2023-24 school year, DPI must annually
reimburse a school board or the operator of an independent charter school for costs
incurred for mental health services during in-school or out-of-school time, up to
$100,000 plus $100 per pupil who was enrolled in the school district or independent
charter school in the prior year. If the amount appropriated for this purpose is
insufficient, DPI must prorate the reimbursements.
Supplemental nutrition aid
The bill creates supplemental nutrition aid, a categorical aid to reimburse
educational agencies for school meals provided to pupils who satisfy the income
criteria for a reduced-price lunch under the federal school lunch program and pupils
who do not satisfy the income criteria for a free or reduced-price lunch under the
federal school lunch program. An educational agency is eligible for supplemental
nutrition aid if the educational agency does not charge pupils for school meals for
which the educational agency receives reimbursement from the federal government.
Under the bill, the amount of aid is equal to the sum of 1) the number of school meals
provided in the previous school year to pupils who satisfy the income criteria for a
reduced-price lunch multiplied by the difference between the free-meal
reimbursement amount and the reduced-price-meal reimbursement amount and 2)
the number of school meals provided in the previous year to pupils who do not satisfy
the income criteria for a free or reduced-price lunch multiplied by the difference
between the free-meal reimbursement amount and the reimbursement amount for
a paid school meal. Supplemental nutrition aid is first paid to educational agencies
in the 2024-25 school year for school meals provided during the 2023-24 school year.
Under the bill, supplemental nutrition aid is funded by a sum sufficient
appropriation, which ensures that educational agencies receive the full amount of
aid to which they are entitled.
The bill defines a “school meal” as a school lunch or snack under the federal
school lunch program and a breakfast under the federal school breakfast program
and an “educational agency” as a school board, an operator of an independent charter
school, the director of the Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and
Hard of Hearing, the director of the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually
Impaired, an operator of a residential care center for children and youth, a tribal
school, or a private school.
School breakfast program
The bill expands eligibility for reimbursement under the school breakfast
program to include operators of independent charter schools, the director of the
Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the
director of the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and operators
of residential care centers for children and youth. The bill also prohibits DPI from
making a reimbursement for a breakfast served at a school in the previous school
year if that school ceased operations during the prior school year. This prohibition
does not apply to reimbursements to a school district.
Locally sourced food incentive payments
