1. Rules were adopted creating s. ATCP 21.15, relating to potato late blight.
Finding of Emergency
The state of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection finds, pursuant to s. 224.24 (1), Stats., that an emergency rule is necessary to preserve the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The following circumstances justify the emergency rule:
1) In recent years, new forms of the highly virulent “Irish potato famine” fungus, Phytophthora infestans, have caused increasingly devastating losses to potato and tomato growers in the United States and Canada. The fungus causes a disease of potato plants which is commonly known as “late blight.”
2) The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture reports that late blight epidemics in 1992, 1993 and 1994 were the worst in decades, and that some individual farm losses have amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single year. The University of Wisconsin estimates that Wisconsin growers lost up to $10 million in 1994 and $6 million in 1995 due to late blight.
3) The potato industry is one of Wisconsin's most important agricultural industries. In 1995, Wisconsin was the 3rd leading state in the nation in potato production. Cash receipts to Wisconsin potato growers totalled over $150 million in 1995. Potatoes are an important food source for the people of Wisconsin and other states. Potato production also supports important processing and distribution industries in Wisconsin. The uncontrolled spread of late blight would have a devastating impact on Wisconsin potato growers, and would seriously affect the public health, safety and welfare.
4) Late blight appears on potato plant leaves, stems and tubers. It causes foliar lesions which are followed by severe defoliation in wet weather. It can also reduce marketable yield by directly infecting and rotting potato tubers. Once late blight appears, it spreads rapidly and can cause total crop loss.
5) Late blight fungal spores can be carried to other plants by many things, including wind, rain, machinery, workers, wildlife and infected seed potatoes. The University of Wisconsin reports that spores can be transported over 25 miles by storms.
6) There are very few registered fungicides in the United States that are effective in controlling the new forms of late blight fungus.
7) Because of the lack of registered fungicides, and the ease with which the late blight fungus spreads, potato growers must mitigate the spread of the disease by removing sources of the overwintering inoculum. Among other things, potato growers must properly dispose of potato cull piles and potato plants which germinate from waste potatoes.
8) If individual potato growers fail to implement necessary cultural practices to mitigate the spread of late blight, that failure will have a potentially devastating impact on other growers and on the Wisconsin potato industry as a whole.
9) In order to ensure that growers take adequate steps to mitigate the spread of late blight, it is necessary to adopt rules that spell out critical problems and establish sanctions for growers who fail to comply. Because of the imminent threat of harm to the potato industry, rules are urgently needed prior to the 1996 planting and growing season.
10) Under normal rulemaking procedures, it is not possible for the Department to adopt rules prior to the 1996 planting and growing season. Pending the adoption of permanent rules, the following emergency rules are needed to protect the public health, safety and welfare, and to mitigate the spread of late blight during the 1996 planting and growing season.
Publication Date:
May 1, 1996
Effective Date:
May 1, 1996
Expiration Date:
September 28, 1996
Hearing Dates:
May 30, 1996
2. Rules adopted revising chs. ATCP 10 to 12, relating to animal health.
Finding of Emergency
The state of Wisconsin department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection (“department”) finds that an emergency exists and that an emergency rule is necessary to protect public health, safety and welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
(1) 1995 Wis. Act 79 was published December 8, 1995. Under its provisions, no person may keep farm-raised deer in Wisconsin after June 1, 1996, unless that person is registered with the department.
(2) 1995 Wis. Act 79 requires the department to adopt rules which specify the fee for registration. In addition, rules are necessary to establish the mechanism for registration.
(3) Prior to 1995 Wis. Act 79, persons who kept farm-raised deer were required to be licensed by the department of natural resources (DNR). Many persons who keep farm-raised deer will have become licensed with DNR for calendar year 1996. Those licenses will be transferred to the department as registrations.
(4) Permanent rules implementing 1995 Wis. Act 79 will not take effect until on or about January 1, 1997. This emergency rule establishes an interim procedure for registering herds of farm-raised deer, pending the effective date of the permanent rules. Without this emergency rule, no person would be able to start a farm-raised deer herd in Wisconsin between June 1, 1996, and the effective date of the permanent rules, because there would be no way to register that herd.
(5) 1995 Wis. Act 79 also requires animal owners to provide a means of testing those animals for tuberculosis without endangering the animal or the person performing the test. In addition, a non-statutory provision of that Act requires all keepers of farm-raised deer to have the deer tested for tuberculosis between December 8, 1995, and June 30, 1997.
(7) Concerns for the safety of farm-raised deer during testing prohibit testing during significant periods of the year. For example, deer should not be tested during the birthing season, the rut season and the season in which the animals are in velvet. Therefore testing is restricted to periods in late August to early October or during January and February.
(8) The department anticipates that many keepers of farm-raised deer will perform their testing in July, August or September of 1996, before a permanent rule can be adopted. This emergency rule establishes three alternative ways in which the animal owner can insure the safety of the persons doing the testing. This is necessary to insure the safety of the person conducting the test and to permit the keeper of farm-raised deer to know what constitutes adequate restraint of the animals.
(9) In September, 1995, the United States department of agriculture adopted new regulations relating to identification and slaughter shipment of bovines or cervidae which are reactors or suspects for bovine tuberculosis. Wisconsin's current administrative rules are in conflict with the current federal regulations. This emergency rule will make Wisconsin's rules consistent with the federal regulations, so that persons who comply with federal law will not be placed in violation of state law.
(10) In March 1996, the department was advised by the United States department of agriculture that the Russian federation intends to prohibit shipment of poultry meat into the Russian federation from any state which does not require veterinarians to report the presence of specific poultry diseases to the state animal health agency. Wisconsin's current administrative rules do not require reporting of 5 of the diseases which concern the Russian federation.
(11) Wisconsin poultry producers ship poultry meat valued in excess of $1 million per year to the Russian federation. By adopting a provision requiring veterinarians to report the existence of 5 diseases to the department, the department will protect the poultry producers' export market in the Russian federation. The department has proposed a permanent rule requiring reporting of the diseases. This emergency rule protects the export market during the period before the permanent rule is effective.
Publication Date:
June 3, 1996
Effective Date:
June 3, 1996
Expiration Date:
October 31, 1996
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Department of Corrections
Rules adopted creating s. DOC 309.05 (2)(d), relating to inmate mail.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Corrections finds an emergency exists and that a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is:
Wisconsin state prison inmates outgoing mail is generally not reviewed or censored. Inmates have used mail to:
1. Contact the victims of their crimes, which has caused severe emotional distress;
2. Threaten and harass elected officials, law enforcement officers, and other persons; and
3. Defraud mail order and other businesses.
Since November 1, 1993, pursuant to Internal Management Procedure #35, the department has stamped outgoing inmate mail to indicate that the mail was sent from the Wisconsin state prison system. IMP #35 was adopted to protect victims of crime, the public, and businesses from inmate harassment and fraud.
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled in an unpublished decision that IMP #35 had to be promulgated as an administrative rule.
In order to protect the public welfare of the state, it is necessary for the department to adopt the following emergency rule to ensure that victims of crime are not further victimized by inmate mail, that members of the public are not threatened or harassed, and that businesses are not defrauded.
Publication Date:
August 15, 1996
Effective Date:
August 15, 1996
Expiration Date:
January 12, 1997
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT (3)
Health and Social Services
(Community Services, Chs. HSS 30--)
1. Rules were adopted revising ss. HSS 55.70 to 55.76, relating to administration of child care funds.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
The Legislature in s. 275 (2) of 1995 Wis. Act 289 directed the Department to promulgate rules relating to public assistance required under chs. 46, 48 and 49, Stats., as affected by the Acts of 1995, before July 1, 1996, for the period before permanent rules take effect, by using emergency rulemaking procedures but without having to make a finding of emergency. These are public assistance-related rules. They are for administration of health care funds. They will take effect on July 1, 1996.
Analysis
The Department's rules for county agency, tribal agency and other child care administrative agency administration of funds for child day care under s. 46.98, Stats., are revised by this order to bring the rules into compliance with statute changes made by 1995 Wis. Acts 27 and 289 and changes in federal regulations, including federal regulations for child care and development block grant funding, 45 CFR Parts 98 and 99, and at-risk child care, 45 CFR Part 257, since the rules were last revised in late 1991; to made policies relating to eligibility for low-income child care more like child care eligibility policies under the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) training program under 42 USC 682 and s. 49.193, Stats.; to prevent and deal with fraud; and to clarify the applicability of certain policies.
Key changes are the following:
1. Income Eligibility
Income eligibility for low income child care is changed to be in compliance with changes made in s. 46.98 (4), Stats., by Act 289.
2. Costs Charged to Parents
Parent co-payment responsibilities are revised to be those established in state law based on family income and the cost of care.
3. Eligibility for Parents in Training or Educational Programs
Parent eligibility to received low-income child care funds when the parents are in training or educational programs is modified so that only parents under 20 years of age enrolled in high school or an equivalent program are eligible, in compliance with Act 289 changes in the statutes.
4. Loss of Eligibility
A local agency is permitted to determine that a parent is no longer eligible for child care funds if the parent fails to make required co-payments or provides false information to the agency about income or other matters affecting eligibility.
5. Recovery of Funds
Rules are added in compliance with 1995 Wis. Act 27 to provide for recovery of funds from a parent if the parent was not eligible for child care funds, and for recovery of an overpayment made to a provider when the provider is responsible for the overpayment.
6. Reimbursement
Local agencies are permitted to reimburse parents under certain circumstances for the cost of health care services or to make funds available to parents for the purchase of child care services, and local agencies are directed when to reimburse child care providers on the basis of authorized units of service or for days of attendance.
7. Authorized Child Care Providers
Local agencies are permitted to make payments, under certain conditions, to child care providers who are not licensed or certified, including:
a. When an AFDC recipient is involved in orientation, enrollment or initial assessment in the JOBS program.
b. When child care is on-site and short-term for parents in training or education programs.
c. When short-term care is needed for a child who is ill and not allowed to receive care from a regulated provider.
8. Higher Rates for Higher Quality Care
Local agencies are required to pay higher for child care to providers who meet higher quality of care standards, as allowed under federal regulations.
9. Reimbursement Rate Categories
Reimbursement rates are required to two age categories and five provider types, a change from earlier policy.
10. Elimination of Rules for Respite Child Care
Rules for respite child care are eliminated, now that there is no longer a separate fund program. The 1995-97 state budget folded funding for respite child care into general community aids allocations for counties.
Publication Date:
June 29, 1996
Effective Date:
July 1, 1996
Expiration Date:
November 28, 1996
2. Rules adopted revising ss. HSS 55.55 to 55.63, relating to certification of child care providers.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
The Legislature in s. 275 (2) of 1995 Wis. Act 289 directed th Department to promulgate rules relating to public assistance required under chs. 46, 48 and 49, Stats., as affected by the Acts of 1995, before July 1, 1996, for the period before permanent rules take effect, by using emergency rulemaking procedures but without having to make a finding of emergency. These are public assistance-related rules. They are for certified child care. They will take effect on July 1, 1996.
Analysis
The Department's current rules for certification of family day care providers, in-home day care providers and school-age day care programs are amended by this order to bring the rules into compliance with recent statute changes, in particular the changes made by 1995 Wis. Act 289 in establishing Wisconsin Works (W-2), a new system of assistance for families with dependent children which will replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and to add needed protections for children, reduce or eliminate unnecessary requirements and clarify the authority of certifying agencies.
