Effective Date:
July 1, 1999
Expiration Date:
November 28, 1999
Hearing Date:
September 9, 1999
2. Rules adopted creating s. HSS 122.10, relating to distribution of 3 closed nursing home beds to a nursing home that serves only veterans.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that the adoption of the rules is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
These rules are for the one-time distribution of 3 closed nursing home beds to a nursing home or nursing homes that serve only veterans. Following distribution of the 3 beds, the rules will be allowed to lapse.
Section 150.31, Stats., establishes a statewide bed limit for nursing homes as one means of controlling nursing home costs and Medical Assistance program expenditures. Within that bed limit a facility may close or its bed capacity may be reduced, in which case beds are freed up and may be redistributed by the Department under s. HSS 122.05(1)(c).
The Wisconsin Veterans Home at King has 4 separately licensed nursing home buildings on its grounds, and a total licensed capacity of 718 beds. It is operating at 99.9 percent of capacity with a long waiting list for admission. Managers of the Wisconsin Veterans Home have decided to close their underutilized 3 bed hospital operation at King. The 3 hospital beds are currently located in Stordock Hall. The 3 nursing home beds will replace the hospital beds. Because of the burgeoning population of older veterans, whose active service was during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and the immediate pressure on admissions to the facility, and the desirability of having flexibility when moving residents, Wisconsin Veterans Home managers have asked that the space previously used for hospital beds be converted to nursing home space and that 3 closed nursing home beds be transferred to the Veterans Home. These beds could be put on line immediately and provide some relief to those awaiting admission.
This rulemaking order establishes a process for considering applications for 3 closed nursing home beds to be made available to a nursing home or nursing homes that serve only veterans, that ask for no more than 3 beds and that do not require space to be added to the building in which the beds will be located to accommodate those beds.
Publication Date:
August 3, 1999
Effective Date:
August 3, 1999
Expiration Date:
December 31, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Higher Educational Aids Board
Rules adopted amending s. HEA 11.03 (3) and creating s. HEA 11.03 (5), relating to the Minority Teacher Loan Program.
Finding of Emergency
The 1989 Wis. Act 31 created s. 39.40, Stats., which provides for loans to minority students enrolled in programs of study leading to licensure as a teacher. The Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) administers this loan program under s. 39.40 and under ch. HEA 11. Current rules require that a student be enrolled full time and show financial need to be considered for participation in the Minority Teacher Loan Program. Students who did not enroll full time and did not show financial need were allowed to participate in the program in the past when part of the program was administered by another administrative body. These students are enrolled in teacher education programs that train teachers specifically for the school districts named in the statutes that outline the intent of the Minority Teacher Loan Program. Unless the Board changes its rules, many participating students will lose their eligibility in the program. This will cause a hardship to those students who relied on the interpretation of the prior system administration. Revising the rules would allow students who participated in the program in the past to continue to participate. The proposed revision will not affect expenditures of State funds for the Minority Teacher Loan Program.
Publication Date:
August 6, 1999
Effective Date:
August 6, 1999
Expiration Date:
January 3, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Insurance
Rules adopted amending ss. Ins 17.01 (3) (intro.) and17.28 (6a) repealing and recreating s. Ins 17.28 (6), relating to annual patients compensation fund and mediation fund fees for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1999.
Finding of Emergency
The commissioner of insurance (commissioner) finds that an emergency exists and that promulgation of this emergency rule is necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
The commissioner was unable to promulgate the permanent rule corresponding to this emergency rule, clearinghouse rule No. 99-70, in time for the patients compensation fund (fund) to bill health care providers in a timely manner for fees applicable to the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1999.
The commissioner expects that the permanent rule will be filled with the secretary of state in time to take effect September 1, 1999. Because the fund fee provisions of this rule first apply on July 1, 1999, it is necessary to promulgate the fee portion of the rule on an emergency basis. A hearing on the permanent rule, pursuant to published notice thereof, was held on May 17, 1999.
Publication Date:
June 4, 1999
Effective Date:
July 1, 1999
Expiration Date:
November 28, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT (2)
Natural Resources
(Environmental Protection-Water Regulation,
Chs. NR 300-)
1. Rules adopted creating ch. NR 303, relating to department determinations of navigability for farm drainage ditches.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
The Department was directed by the JCRAR under s. 227.26 (2) (b), Stats., to promulgate emergency rules regarding navigability
Analysis prepared by the Department of Natural Resources
Statutory authority: s. 227.26 (2)(b)
Statute interpreted: s. 30.10 (4)(c)
This order codifies present department program guidance for staff making navigability determinations for farm drainage ditches, identifying various methods and information to be relied on when making such determinations.
Publication Date:
May 1, 1999
Effective Date:
May 1, 1999
Expiration Date:
September 28, 1999
Hearing Dates:
June 16 and 17, 1999
2. Rules adopted creating ch. NR 328, relating to regulation of water ski platforms and water ski jumps.
Analysis by the Department of Natural Resources
Statutory authority: ss. 30.135, 227.11 (2) (a) and 227.24
Statutes interpreted: ss. 30.66, 30.69 and 30.135
Chapter NR 328 describes the conditions where a water ski jump or platform will require a permit. It explains what constitutes a substantive written objection to a water ski jump or platform and provides a list of reasons that support a substantive written objection. It specifies the contents of a public notice and the process for making a substantive written objection. It details how the department will respond to complaints about an existing water ski jump or platform.
These rules were promulgated as emergency rules at the direction of the joint committee for review of administrative rules.
Publication Date:
July 9, 1999
Effective Date:
July 9, 1999*
Expiration Date:
December 6, 1999
*Rule suspended by Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules on July 5, 1999.
Statements of Scope of Proposed Rules
Health and Family Services
(Community Services, Chs. HFS 30--)
Subject:
Ch. HFS 97 - Relating to complaint procedures for inmates of the Wisconsin Resource Center (WRC).
Description of policy issues:
Description of the objective(s) of the proposed rule:
To revise ch. HFS 97, relating to complaint procedures for inmates of the Wisconsin Resource Center, to the extent necessary to make it conform with recent changes to ch. DOC 310, relating to complaint procedures for inmates of adult correctional institutions.
Description of policies--relevant existing policies, proposed new policies and policy alternatives considered:
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has a process by which inmates of adult correctional institutions may file complaints and have them expeditiously investigated and decided. The procedures are specified in ch. DOC 310. Periodically, inmates are transferred for treatment to the Wisconsin Resource Center (WRC), a mental health treatment facility administered by the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS). Occasionally, an inmate transferred to the Center will have an outstanding grievance that was initiated when the inmate was at the inmate's correctional facility. In addition, an inmate receiving treatment at the WRC may initiate a grievance while at the Center. To ensure continuity of the handling of grievances between DHFS and DOC, the Department of Health and Family Services has maintained an inmate complaint resolution process that is virtually the same as that specified by the Department of Corrections in ch. DOC 310. The DHFS version of the process was created in December 1990, a few months after the adult corrections program was separated from the predecessor agency to DHFS to become the Department of Corrections.
Effective May 1, 1998, the Department of Corrections sought to improve how its inmate complaint review system works by significantly modifying ch. DOC 310. The changes included the following:
- Permitting institution complaint examiners to reject complaints that they determine are frivolous.
- Limiting the number of complaints an inmate may file to 2 complaints in a calendar week.
- Requiring the Department to make the written complaint procedures available to all inmates.
- Permitting the institution complaint examiner to accept late complaints for good cause.
- Generally prohibiting inmates from using language that is profane, obscene, abusive or threatens others when filing a complaint.
- Permitting the Secretary to extend the timelines for cause and upon notice to the inmate and all interested parties.
- Permitting the Department to reveal the identity of complainants and the nature of the complaints to the extent reasonable and appropriate for thorough investigation and implementation of the remedy.
- Removing language that permits the corrections complaint examiner (CCE) to order an evidentiary hearing.
- Requiring that all records of an inmate complaint be kept for at least 3 years after disposition of the complaint.
- Allowing the Secretary to suspend the rules in an emergency and defining an emergency.
- Eliminating redundant and confusing language and clarifying some language and using current terminology.
Given that the DOC has made a variety of changes to its grievance process in 1998, DHFS proposes to make comparable changes to ch. HFS 97 so that ch. HFS 97 is, once again, consistent with ch. DOC 310. Such revisions to ch. HFS 97 will ensure that the same process will be available to a correctional inmate, whether the inmate is at a DOC institution or at the WRC.
Statutory authority:
Sections 46.056 (1) and 227.11 (2), Stats.
Estimates of staff time and other resources needed to develop the rules:
Estimated 10 total hours of Division of Care and Treatment Facilities staff time to develop the rules in preparation for Department review.
Pharmacy Internship Board
Subject:
