The Division recently adopted for January 1, 2000 effectiveness as part of its annual rule revision process for 1999, a new administrative rule in s. DFI-Sec 5.01(3) that prescribes a new examination requirement for investment advisers and investment adviser representatives seeking licensure in Wisconsin on or after January 1, 2000. That new examination requirement, which includes completely revised Series 65 and Series 66 examinations, was developed over a 3-year period by a Project Group of the North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”).
The new NASAA examination requirement (which also included certain “grandfathering”/examination-waiver provisions) was approved by vote of NASAA member states (including Wisconsin) at the NASAA 1999 Spring Conference to become effective on December 31, 1999. The NASAA membership vote was accompanied by a recommendation that for uniformity purposes, each NASAA member state complete the necessary steps to adopt and have effective by January 1, 2000, the new examination requirement conforming to the NASAA format in all respects.
Following the adoption on November 18, 1999 by the Division of the new investment adviser examination requirement in s. DFI-Sec 5.01(3) as part of the Division's annual rule revision process, it was noted that the “grandfathering”/examination waiver provisions that had been included in s. DFI-Sec 5.01(4) did not track the NASAA Model language in two respects.
Because it is critical that the grandfathering provisions for the new Wisconsin investment adviser examination requirement be uniform with those of the other NASAA member states as of the coordinated January 1, 2000 date so that applicants for licensing in Wisconsin receive equivalent treatment to that accorded them by other states in which they may be seeking licensure, this emergency rulemaking for January 1, 2000 effectiveness is necessary.
The emergency rulemaking action is comprised of two provisions which do the following: (1) provide an examination waiver in new section DFI-Sec 5.01(4)(e) for any applicant licensed as an investment adviser or investment adviser representative in any jurisdiction in the U.S. on January 1, 2000; and (2) provide an examination waiver in amended section DFI-Sec 5.01(4)(b) for any applicant that has been licensed as an investment adviser or investment adviser representative in any jurisdiction in the U.S. within two years prior to the date the application is filed.
Publication Date:
December 28, 1999
Effective Date:
January 1, 2000
Expiration Date:
May 30, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Gaming Division
Rules adopted creating ch. Game 27, relating to the conduct of pari-mutuel snowmobile racing.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Administration's Division of Gaming finds that an emergency exists and that rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is:
In January of 2000 a snowmobile promoter proposes to offer pari-mutuel wagering on snowmobile races conducted in Wisconsin. Section 562.124, Stats., allows for pari-mutuel snowmobile racing with the requirement that the Division of Gaming regulate the racing and promulgate all rules necessary to administer the statutory provision in the statutes.
Since this will be the first occasion within the United States that there will be pari-mutuel wagering on a motor sport or mechanical event, the Division of Gaming took extra time in preparing and reviewing the proposed rules with emphasis and attention directed toward the health, welfare and safety of the participants, workers and the public. Additionally, the Division of Gaming is incorporating standards by reference, specifically the Oval Sprint Racing Rules; Sno-Cross Racing Rules; and the General Competition Rules, excluding Enforcement, Discipline and Violation, of International Snowmobile Racing, Incorporated as identified in the 1999-2000 ISR Snowmobile Racing Yearbook. These rules, which were made public in October of 1999 were reviewed extensively, once again with an emphasis on the health, welfare and safety of the prior noted individuals.
The conduct of pari-mutuel snowmobile racing will create additional jobs, increase tourism within the State of Wisconsin and generate revenues for the Division of Gaming.
Publication Date:
December 23, 1999
Effective Date:
December 23, 1999
Expiration Date:
May 21, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Health & Family Services
(Management, Technology, etc., Chs. HFS 1-)
A rule was adopted revising chapter HFS 12, Appendix A, relating to caregiver background checks.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that the rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
Since October 1, 1998, the Department has been implementing statutes that became effective on that date that require use of uniform procedures to check the backgrounds of persons who apply to the Department, to a county social services or human services department that licenses foster homes for children and carries out adoption home studies, to a private child-placing agency that does the same or to a school board that contracts for day care programs, to provide care or treatment to persons who need that care or treatment, or who apply to a regulated entity to be hired or contracted with to provide services to the entity's clients or who propose to reside as a non-client at the entity. The statutes, ss. 48.685 and 50.065, Stats., direct the regulatory agencies and regulated entities to bar persons, temporarily or permanently, depending on the conviction, finding or charge, who have in their backgrounds a specified conviction, finding or charge substantially related to the care of clients, from operating a service provider organization, providing care or treatment to persons who need that care or treatment or otherwise having contact with the clients of a service provider.
The new statutes, commonly referred to as the Caregiver Law, were effective on October 1, 1998, for applicants on or after that date for licensure, certification or other agency approval, and for persons applying to be hired by or to enter into a contract with a regulated entity on or after that date to provide services to clients or to take up residence as a non-client at a regulated entity.
For regulated agencies approved before October 1, 1998, and for persons employed by, under contract to or residing as non-clients at regulated entities before October 1, 1998, the Caregiver Law's required uniform procedures and “bars” are to apply beginning on October 1, 1999. That is to say, by October 1, 1999, background checks, using the uniform procedures, are to be completed for all service providers who were approved before October 1, 1998, and for all employes, contractors and non-client residents employed by, under contract to or living at a regulated entity before October 1, 1998, and action taken to withdraw approval, terminate employment or end a contract, as appropriate.
To implement the new Caregiver Law, the Department on October 1, 1998, published administrative rules, ch. HFS 12, Wis. Adm. Code, by emergency order. Chapter HFS 12 included an appendix which consisted of a list of crimes. The original list specified 159 crimes for conviction of any one of which a person would be barred permanently (45 crimes), all programs, or would be barred temporarily, all programs, pending demonstration of rehabilitation, from being approved to be a service provider or from providing care or treatment to clients or otherwise having access to clients. The October 1998 emergency rules were modified in December 1998 and February 1999 by emergency order, and were replaced by permanent rules effective July 1, 1999. The Crimes List in the current permanent rules specifies 117 crimes with 9 being permanent bar crimes for all programs.
This order again modifies ch. HFS 12, but only the Crimes List and not the text of the chapter. The number of specified crimes is reduced to 79, with 6 of them, all taken from ss. 48.685 and 50.065, Stats., being permanent bar crimes for all programs. The change to the ch. HFS 12 Crimes List is being made at this time because the 1999-2001 Budget Bill, now before the Legislature but not likely to take effect before October 1, 1999, is expected to provide for a more modest Crimes List than the one now appended to ch. HFS 12. This means that the Legislature intends that some persons who under the current rules would lose their jobs effective October 1, 1999, will be able to keep their jobs. The Department has the authority to further modify the Crimes List so that it corresponds to how the Legislature, after having heard arguments since October 1998 about how the Caregiver Law should be amended and implemented, wants it to work. This is what the Department is doing through this order.
Publication Date:
September 16, 1999
Effective Date:
September 16, 1999
Expiration Date:
February 13, 2000
Hearing Date:
October 28, 1999
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Health & Family Services
(Community Services, Chs. HFS 30-)
Rules adopted revising ch. HFS 50, relating to adoption assistance programs.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
This rulemaking order amends ch. HFS 50, the Department's rules for facilitating the adoption of children with special needs, to implement changes to the adoption assistance program statute, s. 48.975, Stats., made by 1997 Wisconsin Act 308. Those changes include permitting a written agreement for adoption assistance to be made following an adoption, but only in “extenuating circumstances;” permitting the amendment of an adoption assistance agreement for up to one year to increase the amount of adoption assistance for maintenance when there is a “substantial change in circumstances;” and requiring the Department to annually review the circumstances of the child when the original agreement has been amended because of a substantial change in circumstances, with the object of amending the agreement again to either continue the increase or to decrease the amount of adoption assistance if the substantial change in circumstances no longer exists. The monthly adoption assistance payment cannot be less than the amount in the original agreement, unless agreed to by all parties.
The amended rules are being published by emergency order so that adoption assistance or the higher adoption assistance payments, to which adoptive parents are entitled because of “extenuating circumstances” or a “substantial change in circumstances” under the statutory changes that were effective on January 1, 1999, may be made available to them at this time, now that the rules have been developed, rather than 7 to 9 months later which is how long the promulgation process takes for permanent rules. Act 308 directs the Department to promulgate rules that, among other things, define extenuating circumstances, a child with special needs and substantial change in circumstances.
Publication Date:
November 16, 1999
Effective Date:
November 16, 1999
Expiration Date:
April 13, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT (2)
Health & Family Services
(Medical Assistance, Chs. HFS 101-108)
1. Rules were adopted revising chs. HFS 101 to 103, and 108, relating to operation of BadgerCare health insurance program.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that the rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
This order creates rules that specify how a new program called BadgerCare, established under s. 49.665, Stats., will work. Under BadgerCare, families with incomes up to 185% of the federal poverty level, but not low enough to be eligible for regular Medical Assistance (MA) coverage of their health care costs, and that lack access to group health insurance, are eligible to have BadgerCare pay for their health care costs. The order incorporates the rules for operation of BadgerCare into chs. HFS 101 to 103 and 108, four of the Department's chapters of rules for operation of the MA program.
BadgerCare is projected to cover over 40,000 currently uninsured Wisconsin residents, including more than 23,000 children, by the end of 1999.
Benefits under BadgerCare will be identical to the comprehensive package of benefits provided by Medical Assistance. The existing Wisconsin Medicaid HMO managed care system, including mechanisms for assuring the quality of services, improving health outcomes and settling grievances, will be used also for BadgerCare.
Department rules for the operation of BadgerCare must be in effect before BadgerCare may begin. The program statute, s. 49.665, Stats., was effective on October 14, 1997. It directed the Department to request a federal waiver of certain requirements of the federal Medicaid Program to permit the Department to implement BadgerCare not later than July 1, 1998, or the effective date of the waiver, whichever date was later. The federal waiver letter approving BadgerCare was received on January 22, 1999. It specified that BadgerCare was not to be implemented prior to July 1, 1999. Once the letter was received, the Department began developing the rules. They are now ready. The Department is publishing the rules by emergency order so that they will go into effect on July 1, 1999, rather than at least 9 months later, which is about how long the process of making permanent rules takes, and thereby provide already authorized health care coverage as quickly as possible to families currently not covered by health insurance and unable to pay for needed health care.
The rules created and amended by this order modify the current Medical Assistance rules to accommodate BadgerCare and in the process provide more specificity than s. 49.665, Stats., about the nonfinancial and financial conditions of eligibility for BadgerCare; state who is included in a BadgerCare group and whose income is taken into consideration when determining the eligibility of a BadgerCare group; expand on statutory conditions for continuing to be eligible for BadgerCare; exempt a BadgerCare group with monthly income at or below 150% of the federal poverty level from being obliged to contribute toward the cost of the health care coverage; and set forth how the Department, as an alternative to providing Medical Assistance coverage, will go about purchasing family coverage offered by the employer of a member of a family eligible for BadgerCare if the Department determines that purchasing that coverage would not cost more than providing Medical Assistance coverage.
Publication Date:
July 1, 1999
Effective Date:
July 1, 1999
Expiration Date:
November 28, 1999
Hearing Dates:
August 26, 27, 30 & 31, 1999
Extension Through:
January 26, 2000
2. Rules adopted creating ss. HFS 106.12 (9) and 108.02 (9)(f), relating to discovery rights in contested case proceeding involving health care providers under the MA program.
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:
In Wisconsin, contested case proceedings for which state agencies must hold administrative hearings are by statute divided into three categories. Class 1 cases involve situations in which the agency has substantial discretionary authority (such as rate setting or the grant or denial of a license) but no imposition of a sanction or penalty is involved; Class 2 contested cases involve the imposition of a sanction or penalty; and Class 3 cases are those not included in Class 1 or Class 2. Under s. 227.45(7), Stats., in a Class 2 proceeding the parties have an automatic right to take and preserve evidence prior to the hearing by using discovery procedures such as depositions and interrogatories, but in a Class 1 or Class 3 proceeding the parties generally do not have the right to use discovery unless rules of the agency specifically provide for that right.
The Department of Health and Family Services does not have rules providing for discovery in a Class 1 or Class 3 contested case. Accordingly, discovery has not been available for Class 1 or Class 3 cases except with respect to certain witnesses identified in s. 227.45 (7), Stats. The Department of Administration's Division of Hearings and Appeals handles cases delegated from this Department. Recently, a hearing examiner in the Division of Hearings and Appeals issued an order in a Class 3 case which held that, because the Division of Hearings and Appeals has its own rules allowing discovery in all cases, those rules override the absence of any mention of discovery in the Department of Health and Family Services' rules concerning hearing rights and procedures.
This Department believes that an emergency exists. If other hearing examiners issue similar rulings, the Department of Health and Family Services would be subject to discovery in all cases. This means that in the absence of Department rules that provide otherwise, the process of litigation for Class 1 and Class 3 cases would be significantly prolonged for all parties and the additional administrative costs to the Department associated with that process (including the need to hire additional program staff, attorneys, and support staff to handle the depositions, interrogatories, and other discovery procedures) would be considerable.
There is a particularly high volume of Class 1 and Class 3 cases involving Medical Assistance program providers. Accordingly, these rules are issued to make clear that discovery remains unavailable in Class 1 and Class 3 Medical Assistance contested case proceedings involving providers.
Publication Date:
December 23, 1999
Effective Date:
December 23, 1999
Expiration Date:
May 21, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Health and Family Services
(Health, Chs. HSS/HFS 110-)
Rules were adopted revising ch. HFS 119, relating to the Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
Section 149.143 (4), Stats., permits the Department to promulgate rules required under s. 149.143(2) and (3), Stats. by using emergency rulemaking procedures, except that the Department is specifically exempted from the requirement under s. 227.24(1) and (3), Stats., that it make a finding of emergency. These are the rules. Department staff consulted with the HIRSP Board of Governors on April 30, 1999 on the proposed rules, as required by s. 149.20, Stats.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Health and Family Services
The State of Wisconsin in 1981 established a Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan (HIRSP) for the purpose of making health insurance coverage available to medically uninsured residents of the state. One type of coverage provided by HIRSP is supplemental coverage for persons eligible for Medicare. This coverage is called Plan 2. Medicare (Plan 2) has a $500 deductible. Approximately 17% of the 7,291 HIRSP policies in effect on March 31, 1999 were of the Plan 2 type.
The Department through this rulemaking order is amending ch. HFS 119 in order to update HIRSP Plan 2 premium rates in accordance with the authority and requirements set out in s. 149.143 (2) (a) 2., Stats. The Department is required to set premium rates by rule. These rates must be calculated in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles. Policyholders are to pay 60% of the costs of HIRSP.
There are separate sets of tables in ch. HFS 119 that show unsubsidized and subsidized Plan 2 premium rates. Both sets of tables are amended by this order to increase the premium rates because Plan 2 costs, which historically have been running about 50% less than Plan 1 costs, began to increase several years ago and now are running at about 67% of Plan 1 costs. The Plan 2 premium rates need to be increased to cover increased costs of treatment for individuals enrolled under Plan 2. The order increases these premium rates by about 18%.
In January 1999, the Department published an emergency rule order to increase HIRSP unsubsidized Plan 2 premium rates by about 10%, with the intention of increasing those rates again in July 1999 to the level provided for in this order. However, in May 1999 the Legislature's Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) refused to extend the effective period of that part of the January 1999 emergency rule order relating to premium rate increases, with the result that effective May 31, 1999, the rates reverted back to the rates in effect before January 1, 1999. Consequently, to increase rates effective July 1, 1999, the Department through this rulemaking order has based the increased rates on the rates in effect prior to January 1, 1999.
The Department through this order is also adjusting the total HIRSP insurer assessments and provider payment rates in accordance with the authority and requirements set out in s. 149.143 (2)(a)3. and 4., Stats. With the approval of the HIRSP Board of Governors and as required by statute, the Department reconciled total costs for the HIRSP program for calendar year 1998. The Board of Governors approved a reconciliation methodology that reconciles the most recent calendar year actual HIRSP program costs, policyholder premiums, insurance assessments and health care provider contributions collected with the statutorily required funding formula. By statute, the adjustments for the calendar year are to be applied to the next plan year budget beginning July 1, 1999.
The result of this reconciliation process for calendar year 1998 indicated that insurance assessments collected were greater than the 20% of costs (net of the GPR contribution from appropriation s. 20.435(5)(af), Stats.), required of insurers. Also, the calendar year 1998 reconciliation process showed that an insufficient amount was collected from health care providers. As a result of this reconciliation, the insurer assessments for the time periods July 1, 1999 through December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000 through June 30, 2000, are reduced to offset the overpayment in 1998. The total adjustments to the provider payment rates for the same time periods are sharply increased in order to recoup the provider contribution that was not collected in calendar year 1998. The budget for the plan year ending June 30, 2000 and the calendar year 1998 reconciliation process were approved by the HIRSP Board of Governors in April 1999.
Publication Date:
June 30, 1999
Effective Date:
July 1, 1999
Expiration Date:
November 28, 1999
Hearing Date:
September 9, 1999
Extension Through:
January 26, 2000
