When Aging and Disability Resource Centers become available in a county, the legislation requires nursing homes, community–based residential facilities, adult family homes and residential care apartment complexes to provide certain information to prospective residents and to refer them to the Resource Center. Penalties are provided for non-compliance.
These proposed rules interpret this new legislation, the main body of which is in newly enacted ss. 46.2805 to 46.2895, Stats. The Department of Health and Family Services is specifically directed to promulgate rules by ss. 46.286 (4) to (7), 46.288 (1) to (3), 50.02 (2) (d) and 50.36 (2) (c), Stats. Non-statutory provisions in section 9123 of 1999 Wis. Act 9 require that the rules are to be promulgated using emergency rulemaking procedures and exempts the Department from the requirements under s. 227.24 (1) (a), (2) (b) and (3) of the Stats., to make a finding of emergency. These are the rules required under the provisions cited above, together with related rules intended to clarify and implement other provisions of the Family Care legislation that are within the scope of the Department's authority. The rules address the following:
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Contracting procedures and performance standards for Aging and Disability Resource Centers.
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Application procedures and eligibility and entitlement criteria for the Family Care benefit.
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Description of the Family Care benefit that provides a wide range of long-term care services.
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Certification and contracting procedures for Care Management Organizations.
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Certification and performance standards and operational requirements for CMOs.
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Protection of client rights, including notification and due process requirements, complaint, grievance, Department review, and fair hearing processes.
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Recovery of incorrectly and correctly paid benefits.
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Requirements of hospitals, long-term care facilities and Resource Centers related to referral and counseling about long-term care options.
Publication Date:
February 1, 2000
Effective Date:
February 1, 2000
Expiration Date:
June 30, 2000
Hearing Dates:
April 25, & 27, May 2, 4 & 8, 2000
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
Hearing Dates:
February 24, & 28, 2000
Extension Through:
July 31, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Health & Family Services
(Medical Assistance, Chs. HFS 101-108)
Rules adopted revising chs. HFS 102, 103 and 108, relating to the medicaid purchase plan.
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 the manner in which a new program called the Medicaid Purchase Plan, established under s. 49.472, Stats., as created by 1999 Wis. Act 9, will operate. Under the Medicaid Purchase Plan, working adults with disabilities whose family net income is less than 250% of the poverty line are eligible to purchase Medical Assistance, the name given to Medicaid in Wisconsin, on a sliding-fee scale. The order incorporates the rules for operation of the Medicaid Purchase Plan into chs. HFS 101 to 103 and 108, four of the Department's chapters of rules for operation of the Medical Assistance program.
The Medicaid Purchase Plan is projected to provide health care coverage to 1,200 Wisconsin residents with disabilities by the end of Fiscal Year 2001.
Health care coverage under the Medicaid Purchase Plan is identical to the comprehensive package of services provided by Medical Assistance. Individuals enrolled in the Medicaid Purchase Plan would also be eligible for Wisconsin's home and community-based waivers under s. 46.27, Stats., provided they meet the functional criteria for these waivers.
Department rules for the operation of the Medicaid Purchase Plan must be in effect before the Medicaid Purchase Plan may begin. The program statute, s. 49.472, Stats., as created by Act 9, effective October 27, 1999, states that the Department is to implement the Medical Assistance eligibility expansion under this section not later than January 1, 2000, or 3 months after full federal approval, whichever is later. Full federal approval was received on January 7, 2000. The Department is publishing the rules by emergency order with an effective date of March 15, 2000 to meet the expected program implementation date and the legislative intent in order to provide health care coverage as quickly as possible to working people with disabilities.
The rules created and amended by this order modify the current Medical Assistance rules to accommodate the Medicaid Purchase Plan and in the process provide more specificity than s. 49.472, Stats., as created by Act 9, regarding the non-financial and financial conditions of eligibility for individuals under the Medicaid Purchase Plan; define whose income is used when determining eligibility and the monthly premium amount; explain statutory conditions for continuing eligibility; explain how the monthly premium amount is calculated; describe the processes associated with the independence account; and set forth how the Department, in addition to providing Medical Assistance coverage, is to purchase group health coverage offered by the employer of an eligible individual or an ineligible family member of an eligible member for the Medicaid Purchase Plan if the Department determines that purchasing that coverage would not cost more than providing Medical Assistance coverage.
Publication Date:
March 15, 2000
Effective Date:
March 15, 2000
Expiration Date:
August 12, 2000
Hearing Dates:
June 15, 16, 19 & 20, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Insurance
Rules were adopted revising ch. Ins 17, relating to annual patients compensation fund and mediation fund fees for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2000.
Finding of Emergency
The commissioner of insurance (commissioner) finds that an emergency exists and that promulgation of an emergency rule is necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
Actuarial and accounting data necessary to establish PCF fees is first available in January of each year. It is not possible to complete the permanent fee rule process 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, 2000.
The commissioner expects that the permanent rule corresponding to this emergency rule, clearinghouse No. 00-061, will be filed with the secretary of state in time to take effect September 1, 2000. Because the fund fee provisions of this rule first apply on July 1, 2000, it is necessary to promulgate the rule on an emergency basis. A hearing on the permanent rule, pursuant to published notice thereof, was held on May 5, 2000.
Publication Date:
May 22, 2000
Effective Date:
July 1, 2000
Expiration Date:
November 28. 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Natural Resources
(Environmental Protection - General,
Chs. NR 100-)
Rules adopted creating ch. NR 195, relating to establishing river protection grants.
Finding of Emergency
The department of natural resources finds that an emergency exists and a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are:
These grants are funded from a $300,000 annual appropriation that lapses into other programs at the end of each fiscal year. Due to delays in approving the biennial budget, there is not enough time remaining in the current fiscal year to develop a permanent rule, following standard procedures, to allow grants to be awarded with the current fiscal year appropriation. Potential river protection grant sponsors have been anticipating these grants and are ready to apply and make use of these funds. An emergency order will prevent the loss of $300,000 for protecting rivers that the legislature clearly intended to make available to these organizations. Initiating this much-anticipated program through emergency order, while permanent rules are being developed, is a positive step toward successful implementation.
Publication Date:
February 17, 2000
Effective Date:
February 17, 2000
Expiration Date:
July 16, 2000
Hearing Dates:
March 16, 17, 21 & 22, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Natural Resources
(Environmental Protection-Investigation and Remediation, Chs. NR 700-)
Rules adopted revising chs. NR 700, 716, 720, 722, 726 and creating ch. NR 746, relating to site contaminated with petroleum products discharged from petroleum storage tanks.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency (See section 9110 (3yu) 1999 Wis. Act 9)
The proposed ch. NR 746 is identical to ch. Comm 46 that is being promulgated by the Department of Commerce.
Chapter NR 746 provides that the Department of Natural Resources has authority for “high-risk sites" and that the Department of Commerce has authority for “low and medium risk sites." The rule requires the Department of Natural Resources to transfer authority for sites with petroleum contamination from petroleum storage tanks to the Department of Commerce once the site is classified, unless the site is classified as a “high-risk site" or the site is contaminated by one or more hazardous substances other than petroleum products discharged from a petroleum storage tank. The rule also establishes procedures for transferring sites from one agency to the other whenever new information relevant to the site classification becomes available.
Chapter NR 746 also provides jointly developed requirements for:
1. Selecting remedial bids and the setting of remediation targets for sites that are competitively bid or bundled with another site or sites.
2. Determining when sites may close.
3. Determining when remediation by natural attenuation may be approved as the final remedial action for a petroleum-contaminated site.
4. Tracking the achievement of remediation progress and success.
5. Reporting of program activities.
The amendments and new provisions that are proposed to be added to chs. NR 700, 716, 720, 722 and 726, as part of this rule package, consist of cross-references to ch. NR 746 that are proposed to be inserted in chs. NR 700, 716 and 726, and exemptions from the requirements in chs. NR 720 and 722 that would conflict with the requirements in ch. NR 746: that is, an exemption from the soil cleanup standards in ch. NR 720 and the remedial action option evaluation requirements in ch. NR 722 for those sites contaminated with petroleum products discharged from petroleum storage tanks that satisfy' the risk criteria in s. NR 746.06 and are eligible for closure under s. NR 746.07.
Publication Date:
May 17, 2000
Effective Date:
May 18, 2000
Expiration Date:
September 1, 2000
Hearing Dates:
June 15, July 10 & 12, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT (6)
Public Instruction
1. Rules adopted revising ch. PI 35, relating to the Milwaukee parental school choice program.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Public Instruction finds that an emergency exists and that a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety or welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is:
Emergency rules are necessary to clarify the eligibility criteria and requirements for parents and participating private schools in time for schools to properly establish procedures for the 2000-2001 school year. Furthermore, emergency rules are necessary to allow the private schools to begin planning summer school programs. The department is in the process of developing permanent rules, but such rules will not be in place prior to January 2000.
The requirements established under this rule have been discussed with the private schools and initial indications reflect an acceptance of these provisions.
