Staff time required
Approximately 30 hours to prepare a draft rulemaking order.
Insurance
Subject
Section
Ins 8.49, Wis. Adm. Code, relating to timely processing of applications for small employer health insurance.
Policy analysis
Objective of the rule. To comply with the Governor's Task Force Report on Small Employer Health Insurance recommendation to develop a voluntary uniform application for small employers and require insurers to process applications and make offers to small employers applying for health insurance coverage with a specified time period.
Current rules require that coverage be extended in a timely fashion but do not cover the actual rate quote which may be delayed, this interferes with the ability of the small employer to obtain and compare rates in order to choose the most competitive rate, this new rule will reflect the policy recommendation of the Governor's Task Force Report that the use of a uniform application and rules requiring processing of applications and offers within a specified time period will reform the application process so as to ease the burden of small employers.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
40 hours.
Natural Resources
Subject
Laboratory Certification Program fee adjustments.
Policy analysis
NR 149.05 (1) (b), Wis. Adm. Code, requires annual Laboratory Certification program fee adjustments be approved by the Natural Resources Board. Timing is critical to the fee approval process. Laboratories are billed each year in May, with payment due in full by the certification period's August 31 end-date. If the proposed budget and fees are not approved at the March Natural Resources Board meeting, it will be difficult for the program to mail bills in time to collect the revenue necessary to operate the program during the coming fiscal year. In accordance with s.
NR 149.05 (1) (b), the fee adjustment proposal will be reviewed by the Laboratory Certification Standards Review Council prior to the March Natural Resources Board meeting. The Council's comments regarding the program's fee adjustment proposal will be summarized and addressed for presentation to the Natural Resources Board.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 115 hours of Department time will be needed.
Natural Resources
Subject
Snowmobile railroad crossings.
Policy analysis
Major changes to the enabling legislation that created the Department's role in regulating snowmobile railroad crossings that are not located on public roads occurred in the spring session of the 2001 Legislature.
2001 Wisconsin Act 14 was signed into law on August 17, 2001. This legislation resolves a lawsuit against the Department and the Governor filed in 1999 by the Soo Line Railroad. The resulting legislative changes were the product of negotiations between the Association of Snowmobile Clubs, the Department, the Attorney General's Office, the Office of the Commission of Rails and railroad company representatives. The major changes in the legislative modification that impact the way the Department will administer the snowmobile rail crossing law include removal of snowmobile clubs from the responsibility of the construction activity within 4 feet of each rail. This construction will now be done by the railroad authority. This will result in the removal of construction standards from the rules. The railroad will also be able to recoup a fee for the use of their property for the crossing. The permit application and review procedure for new crossings is also modified so that the railroad interests have more standing in the siting and approval of a new crossing.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 130 hours will be needed by the Department.
Natural Resources
Subject
City of Oconomowoc Police Department boat patrol designated as the water safety patrol for Lac LaBelle.
Policy analysis
The City of Oconomowoc has a long history of operating a municipal water safety patrol on Lac LaBelle. Lac LaBelle is located within the jurisdictions of the City of Oconomowoc, Town of Oconomowoc and Village of Lac LaBelle. In the past, the three municipalities split the cost of operating the patrol. During the summer of 2001, the Village of Lac LaBelle initiated its own water safety patrol which operated on the portion of Lac LaBelle that was contiguous to the Village. The City of Oconomowoc has petitioned the Department to designate its water safety patrol as the only patrol that has jurisdiction on Lac LaBelle.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 3 hours will be needed by the Department.
Natural Resources
Subject
Aquatic Plant Management and Protection.
Policy analysis
2001 Wis. Act 16 included new legislative language for the protection of native aquatic plant communities and control of invasive aquatic plant species. The department is directed, under s.
23.24, Stats., to establish a program to protect and develop diverse and stable communities of native aquatic plants, to regulate how aquatic plants are managed, and to provide education and conduct research concerning invasive aquatic plants in waters of this state. The department is directed to designate by rule which aquatic plants are invasive species and to administer and establish by rule procedures and requirements for issuance of aquatic plant management permits.
The Department intends to work with lake, river and wetland interest as well as the regulated community and providers of aquatic plant management services and equipment to revise ch.
NR 107. Under the new law, traditional aquatic plant control activities that previously have been unregulated now require a permit from the Department. To allow beneficial aquatic plant control activities to continue through the 2002 growing and high water season (May through September), an emergency rule is proposed.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 50 hours will be needed by the Department.
Natural Resources
Subject
Technical corrections to the hazardous waste rules (NR 600 series) and used oil standards (NR 590) and updating the rules to comply with federal requirements.
Policy analysis
The Department is proposing the make the technical corrections and revisions necessary to comply with federal requirements for program authorization.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Over 1,000 hours will be needed by the Department.
Natural Resources
Subject
Updating the Wisconsin-Specific (Universal) waste rules (ch.
NR 690).
Policy analysis
The Department is proposing the make the technical corrections and revisions necessary to comply with federal requirements for program authorization.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 325 hours will be needed by the Department.
Natural Resources
Subject
Exemptions for and delineation of nonfederal wetlands and permit decision time limits.
Policy analysis
Wisconsin Act 6 requires the department to submit rules within 13 months to incorporate “existing federal law or interpretation" for exempting certain activities in nonfederal wetlands from needing a water quality certification. Wisconsin Act 6 also requires that the department use the procedures contained in the 1987 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wetland delineation manual for nonfederal wetlands.
Also because Wisconsin Act 6 and
1999 Wisconsin Act 147 and chs.
NR 299 and
300 contain time limits for making wetland water quality certification decisions, it is proposed that ch.
NR 300 include all water quality certification time limits required by law.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
The Department will need approximately 350 hours.
Regulation and Licensing
Subject
Disclosure of agency by real estate licensees and relating to several other provisions in ch.
RL 24.
Objective of the Rule. Amend rules in order to clarify issues relating to the time when a real estate licensee must disclose to the parties in a real estate transaction the nature of the agency relationship the licensee has with a party.
Policy analysis
Section
RL 24.07 (8) contains general requirements for disclosing agency and it describes requirements pertaining to listing contracts, offers to purchase and option contracts, subagency contracts, and listings for lease and property management contracts. Section
RL 24.13 (3) (b) permits a broker to arrange for a guaranteed sale at the time of listing.
Section
RL 24.07 (8) would be amended to more clearly describe circumstances when the disclosure of agency should be made, such as open houses, meetings with clients and customers and other showings of property. Section
RL 24.13 (3) (b) would be amended by removing the following five words at the end of the last sentence: “...at the time of listing."
Statutory authority
Staff time required
80 hours.
