Expiration Date:
December 30, 1997
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Department of Transportation
Rules adopted revising ch. Trans 300, relating to school buses.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Transportation finds that an emergency exists and that a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public safety. The amendments are needed to assure that school bus operators can purchase school buses manufactured using the latest in construction technology and providing equal strength and safety. Currently, there are estimated to be 60 buses on order by operators. Without this emergency rule, these buses could not be used in Wisconsin when the school year begins in August 1997. Therefore, schools will start using alternative vehicles (production vans) because of the unavailability of the smaller school buses built to the safer school bus standards.
Publication Date:
July 1, 1997
Effective Date:
July 1, 1997
Expiration Date:
November 29, 1997
Hearing Date:
August 26, 1997
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Veterans Affairs
Rules were adopted revising ch. VA 12, relating to the personal loan program.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
1997 Wis. Act 27, s. 9154 authorizes the department to promulgate rules for the administration of the personal loan program using the emergency rule procedures without providing evidence of the necessity of preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare.
Analysis
By repealing and recreating ch. VA 12, Wis. Adm. Code, the department establishes the underwriting and other criteria necessary for the administration of the personal loan program. The personal loan program was authorized by the legislature and governor through the amendment of s 45.356, Stats., upon enactment of 1997 Wis. Act 27.
Publication Date:
October 17, 1997
Effective Date:
October 17, 1997
Expiration Date:
March 17, 1998
Statements of Scope of Proposed Rules
Commerce
Subject:
Ch. Comm 7 - Relating to explosive materials.
Description of policy issues:
Description of the objective of the rule:
The objective of the rule is to update the provisions of the Department's administrative rules relating to explosive materials. An advisory council will be formed to review the rules and identify potential rule revisions.
Description of existing policies relevant to the rule and of new policies proposed to be included in the rule and an analysis of policy alternatives:
The current rules of ch. Comm 7 are based on federal regulations issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The rules cover the manufacture, storage and use of explosive materials, including the regulation of blasting resultants. Because it has been several years since ch. Comm 7 was revised, it is anticipated that the review will result in change proposals to bring the rules into conformance with current national standards. Avoiding this update will result in continuing to have rules that are not consistent with currently recognized national standards and practices.
Statutory authority for the rule:
Section 101.15 (2) (e), Stats.
Estimate of the amount of time that state employes will spend to develop the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule:
The Department estimates that it will take approximately 500 hours to develop this rule. This time includes forming and meeting with an advisory council, then drafting the rule and processing the rule through public hearings and legislative review. The Department will assign existing staff to develop the rule. There are no other resources necessary to develop the rule.
Commerce
Subject:
Ch. ILHR 32 - Relating to public employe safety and health.
Description of policy issues:
Description of the objective of the rule:
The objective of the rule is to update the provisions of the Department's administrative rules relating to occupational safety and health standards for public employes. This update will include adoption by reference of the current applicable federal standards and may include revision of the confined spaces rules.
Description of existing policies relevant to the rule and of new policies proposed to be included in the rule and an analysis of policy alternatives:
Section 101.055, Stats., requires the Department to provide public sector employes with safety and health protection at least equivalent to that afforded to private sector employes under standards adopted by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Currently, ch. ILHR 32 adopts the 1994 edition of the federal OSHA safety and health standards. The proposed rule would adopt the most recent federal OSHA safety and health standards, including new provisions relating to:
⍽ Scaffolds used in construction,
⍽ Exposure to 13 carcinogens,
⍽ Access to employe records,
⍽ Ionizing radiation, and
⍽ Occupational exposure to methylene chloride.
The alternative of not updating ch. ILHR 32 would result in public employes not being provided with safety and health protection equivalent to that afforded to private sector employes.
Statutory authority for the rule:
Section 101.055 (3), Stats.
Estimate of the amount of time that state employes will spend to develop the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule:
The Department estimates that it will take approximately 400 hours to develop this rule. This time includes forming and meeting with an advisory council, then drafting the rule and processing the rule through public hearings and legislative review. The Department will assign existing staff to develop the rule. There are no other resources necessary to develop the rule.
Health & Family Services
Subject:
Ch. HFS 89 - Relating to residential care apartment complexes (formerly, Assisted Living Facilities).
Description of policy issues:
Description of objective(s):
To bring ch. HFS 89 into conformity with two changes made in the program statute by 1997 Wis. Act 13, namely, a change in the generic name of these facilities from “assisted living facility” to “residential care apartment complex” and establishment in statute of a definition of “stove” that is different from the definition of stove currently in the rules.
Description of policies:
The policy changes are statutory. The rule changes will simply bring the rules into conformity with the revised statutes.
The effect of the change in the generic name of the facilities is to permit a facility to offer what it calls “assisted living services” and even call itself an “assisted living facility” without necessarily being subject to regulation under ch. HFS 89.
The new statutory definition of “stove,” as the term is used in the definition of “residential care apartment complex,” which was formerly the definition of “assisted living facility,” has displaced the definition of “stove” that is now in the rules. Before 1997 Wis. Act 13 went into effect in September 1997, there was no definition of “stove” in the program statute. Chapter HFS 89 defined “stove” as a cooking appliance consisting of burners and an oven, with the oven permitted to be a separate microwave oven. Section 50.01 (1d), Stats., as amended by Act 13, states that a stove is a cooking device that is either a microwave oven of at least 1,000 watts or consists of burners and an oven.
Statutory authority:
Section 50.034 (2), Stats., as amended by 1997 Wis. Act 13.
Estimated staff time and other resources needed to develop the rules:
10 hours of staff time.
Health & Family Services
Subject:
Ch. HFS 90 - Relating to the birth to 3 program.
Description of policy issues:
Description of objective(s):
Chapter HFS 90, the Department's rules for administration of the program of early intervention services for children birth to age 3 with developmental needs, needs to be revised to incorporate changes made in Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 USC 1400, by Public Law 105-17. These changes are related to resolution of disputes between parents and county administrative agencies and the provision of services to children and their families in “natural environments”.
Changes in ch. HFS 90 will be:
1) Establishment of a state-level process for resolution of disputes between parents and county administrative agencies and
2) Improvement in the required documentation that natural environments are being used, to the maximum extent appropriate, as the locations for provision of early intervention services to children.
The federal government requires that these policy changes be in effect on July 1, 1998.
Description of policies--relevant existing policies, proposed new policies and policy alternatives considered:
Procedural Safeguards. Section HFS 90.12 (5) describes the current process for resolution of parent complaints. It provides for appointment by the county administrative agency of an impartial decisionmaker who is to offer mediation and, if accepted, to identify a mediator or to schedule and conduct a hearing on the complaint.
The rule changes will change the process. There will be a statewide system of mediation. The Department will maintain a list of individuals who are qualified mediators and knowledgeable in laws and regulations relating to the provision of early intervention services, and will bear the cost of the mediation process. The Department will likely use the mediation system under development by the State Department of Public Instruction for mediation of special education disputes.
For hearings, the Department will likely use the impartial due process hearing procedures developed by the state Department of Public Instruction for appeals under s. 115.81, Stats. The Department will receive notice of a dispute from the county administrative agency and will make use of administrative law judges through the State Department of Administration to schedule and conduct the hearing. The county administrative agency will bear the cost of the hearing process, as it does now.
Natural Environments. The Department is required under federal law to establish policies and procedures to ensure that, to the maximum extent appropriate, early intervention services are provided in “natural environments”. Services may be provided in a setting other than a natural environment only when early intervention cannot be achieved satisfactorily in a natural environment. “Natural environment” is defined in s. HFS 90.03 (25) as a setting that is natural or normal for the child's age peers who have no disability. The Department will amend current language in ch. HFS 90 to improve the process for determining settings for early intervention services and for documenting that natural environments are being used.
Statutory authority:
Section 51.44 (5) (a), Stats.
Estimates of staff time and other resources needed to develop the rules:
