Scope statements
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Subject
Pesticide Product Restrictions.
Objectives of the rule. Modify the rule to create restrictions on the use of pesticides applied as fumigants that contain Chloropicrin as an active ingredient.
Policy analysis
DATCP regulates distribution and use pesticides under s.
94.67-
94.71, Stats. Pesticides are substances or mixtures of substances labeled or intended for use in preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest, or as a plant regulator, defoliant or desiccant. Chloropicrin is a pesticide applied as fumigant.
Chlorpicrin is a highly toxic pesticide that has been registered for use as a fumigant by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA approved label for this registration specifies use directions and precautions to be followed by persons applying the pesticide. The compound has been used to a limited extent in Wisconsin to treat fields on which potatoes will be grown. The compound has also been used on strawberries, nursery crops and seed beds. During 2003, several people became ill related to exposure to the fumigant following an application made to a potato field located across the road. The EPA approved label directions and precautions appear inadequate to fully protect the public from exposure under Wisconsin conditions. It is likely that use of Chlorpicrin will increase in Wisconsin due to pest problems.
The registration for Chlorpicrin will be reviewed again by EPA, but no timeline for this process has been established by EPA. No other restrictions, outside of the registered label, are in place or are being proposed by EPA.
DATCP has adopted rules under ch.
ATCP 30, Wis. Adm. Code, to regulate the use of specific pesticides to address product specific issues. Restrictions on the use of the fumigant Metam-sodium became effective on June 1, 1998 to address similar human exposure issues. The Metam-sodium related problems have not reoccurred.
DATCP proposes to revise the current rule to impose restrictions and other requirements including:
• Mandatory setbacks between treatment sites and residences, schools and similar areas to reduce the potential for human exposure.
• Modification of use and post-treatment practices.
• Clarification of weather and site related limitations on use.
• Clarification of posting and other pre-application notification requirements.
• Specification of application monitoring, response and reporting requirements.
• Specification of reporting requirements.
• Other appropriate requirements based on evaluation of stakeholder input.
Policy Alternatives
No change. Use of the fumigant in Wisconsin is expected to increase. Current label restrictions do not appear adequate to prevent human exposure. If DATCP takes no action, it is likely that human exposure to the fumigant and subsequent adverse effects will increase.
Summary and comparison of existing or proposed federal regulation
See policy analysis.
Statutory authority
DATCP proposes to revise chapter ATCP 30, Wis. Adm. Code, under authority of ss.
93.07 and 94.69, Stats.
Staff time required
DATCP estimates that it will use approximately 0.5 FTE staff to develop this rule. This includes time required for investigation and analysis, rule drafting, preparing related documents, coordinating advisory committee meetings, holding public hearings and communicating with affected persons and groups. DATCP will use existing staff to develop this rule.
Chiropractic Examining Board
Subject
Qualifications for instructors of continuing education for chiropractors and qualifications for instructors of unlicensed personnel.
Objective of the rule. The proposed rule requires that instructors providing continuing education to chiropractors and training to unlicensed personnel meet certain qualifications.
Policy analysis
To assure that the continuing education that is provided to chiropractors and the training to unlicensed personnel is taught by qualified and knowledgeable instructors in the areas that are being presented.
Summary and comparison of existing or proposed federal regulation
A search was made for existing or proposed federal regulation and none was located.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
100 hours.
Health and Family Services
Subject
To amend ch.
HFS 196, relating to restaurants, and the Appendix to HFS 196, known as the Wisconsin Food Code.
This is a revision to a Statement of Scope the Department originally published in the mid-December Wisconsin Administrative Register.
Policy analysis
The Department will propose to revising ch.
HFS 196, relating to restaurants, including its Appendix, known as the Wisconsin Food Code.
The vast majority of the proposed rule changes pertain to the Wisconsin Food Code Appendix to ch.
HFS 196. The Department, which regulates Wisconsin restaurants, and the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP), which regulates retail food establishments, such as grocery stores, both use the Food Code for their respective regulatory activities and jointly adopted the Wisconsin Food Code in 2001 for their respective regulatory activities. The existing Wisconsin Food Code is modeled after the 1999 Food and Drug Administration Model Food Code. The FDA last revised its Model Food Code in 2001. The Department proposes to update the Wisconsin Food Code to the 2001 FDA Model Food Code, which reflects the most currently available science and trends in food safety. In addition, the Department proposes to clarify or correct areas of the Wisconsin Food Code that do not reflect current Department policy. Revisions to the Wisconsin Food Code will also reflect modifications from both the Wisconsin Conference on Food Protection and the National Conference on Food Protection (NCFP), as well as mutually agreed upon suggestions derived from two years of field application by both the Department and DATCP.
The Department will also propose minor revisions to the body of HFS 196 for the purposes of:
- changing the use of the term “limited term restaurant" to “pre-packaged restaurant;"
- defining the terms “caterer," “contract cook" and “pre-packaged restaurant;"
- modifying table HFS 196.04 to eliminate reference to the term “limited;"
- clarify that caterers operating from their permitted restaurants need not obtain additional permits for locations where the caterer serves food; and
- specifying acceptable operating requirements for contract cooks and clarifying that contract cooks are not required to obtain restaurant permits.
The Department believes that periodic rule updates are necessary for Wisconsin's food industry to remain competitive on a nationwide basis. Failure to update the current rules may pose risks to Wisconsin's retail and restaurant industry by not providing a current and updated regulation. These changes, which both the Department and DATCP intend to promulgate simultaneously, will positively affect operators of food service operations, state and local health inspectors, and the general public throughout the state by simplifying and clarifying the language of the Code. In addition, the proposed changes will allow health inspectors to spend more time in complex or problematic food establishments, thereby promoting a safer public food supply.
Statutory authority
Comparison to federal regulations
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publishes the Food Code, a model that assists food control jurisdictions at all levels of government by providing them with a scientifically sound technical and legally enforceable basis for regulating the retail and food service segment of the industry. Local, state, tribal, and federal regulators use the FDA Food Code as a model to develop or update their own food safety rules and to be consistent with national food regulatory policy. Wisconsin is one of 43 states that have adopted administrative rules patterned after a version of the federal Model Food Code. The Food Code also serves as a reference of best practices for the retail and food service industries (restaurants and grocery stores and institutions such as nursing homes) on how to prevent foodborne illness. Many of the over 1 million retail and food service establishments apply Food Code provisions to their own operations.
Staff time required
One FTE for approximately 40 hours.
Natural Resources
Subject
Chapter
NR 10 pertaining to seasons and daily bag limits for migratory game bird hunting.
Policy analysis
Attached for your review is the department's request to begin the rules process for the 2004 migratory bird hunting season. As you know, we process both an emergency and permanent rule order simultaneously. I would like to bring the initial order to the May Natural Resources Board meeting for approval to go to public hearings. The hearings will be held in early August when my staff has returned from the Mississippi Flyway Council meetings and have received the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service season framework proposals.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 120 hours will be needed by the Department to develop the rule prior to and following the hearings.
Summary and comparison with existing or proposed federal regulations:
Under international treaty and Federal law, migratory game bird seasons are closed unless opened annually via the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regulations process. In order to comply with the mandated Federal system, we must adopt all state regulations by emergency order at the August NRB meeting and follow the emergency rule with a permanent rule order. All seasons, bag limits and regulations included in this rule are established within the parameters recommended by the Mississippi Flyway Council and established by the FWS under
50 CFR 20.
Natural Resources
Subject
Policy analysis
The issues needing to be addressed are routine and technical within the Managed Forest Law (MFL) program.
The department is required to assess the value of cut wood products based on the current stumpage value schedule. Current stumpage values are determined each year by surveying industry, private forestry consultants and DNR field staff on the prices obtained the previous year for wood products by species, product type, and zone. These values are recalculated annually using a weighted three-year average and published in s.
NR 46.30. The stumpage value charts are used to determine severance and yield tax for participants in the Forest Tax Law programs. It is important to adjust these values annually so that landowners are not paying too much in yield tax or too little.
NR 46.18 (1) (a) relates to a very specific component of the program dealing with the scale of property maps that must be submitted with the landowner's management plan for entry into the MFL. Currently only a scale of 8 inches to the mile is allowed. This scale is not the best for fitting all property sizes and shapes unto a mapped page. There are new map preparing programs that can produce a superior product but with different scales. The DNR would like to entertain suggestions from the public on how this requirement could be modified while still meeting the recording requirements by the Registers of Deeds.
Summary and comparison of applicable federal regulations
There are no known federal rules which apply to stumpage rates or map scales.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 31 hours will be needed by the department.
Veterans Affairs
Subject
Objective of the rule. The Department seeks to amend the rules related to the Tuition and Fee Reimbursement Grant and the Part Time Study Grant programs to replicate, to the extent possible, the participation requirements of the National Guard Tuition Grant program.
Policy analysis
As a result of the enactment of
2003 Wis. Act 83, Guard members who have appropriate federal active duty service are now eligible for the Tuition and Fee Reimbursement Grant program. They continue to be eligible for the National Guard Tuition Grant program. Veterans eligible for both programs may use only one of the programs in the same semester. The Department believes that making the participation requirements similar for these programs, as well as the Part time Study Grant program, to the extent permissible under the relevant statutes, will provide a more equitable basis to determine whether an applicant is eligible for any of the grants.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 5 hours of Department of Veterans Affairs staff time will be needed to promulgate the rules.
Summary and preliminary comparison of any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the rule.
The educational programs are entirely administered under the authority of state law. There is no existing or proposed federal regulation that has any bearing upon the proposed rule.
Veterans Affairs
Subject
Objective of the rule. The creation of ch.
VA 18 would implement the legislature's authorization to administer a stipend program for the training and recruitment of registered nurses at the Wisconsin Veterans Homes at King and Union Grove. The legislature authorized the program in the
2003 Wis. Act 33. The statute creating the program, s.
45.365 (7), authorized the department to “promulgate administrative rules related to the program, including the application process, eligibility criteria, stipend amount, repayment provisions, and other provisions that the department determines are necessary to administer the program." The objective is to create a stipend program that fulfills the legislature's directive while identifying the department's greatest need relating to recruitment and continued employment.
Policy analysis
The need for qualified registered nurses at the Homes is significant. In a position paper dated May 7, 2003, prepared by the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) for the Joint Committee on Finance, the LRB identified significant vacancy rates, turnover rates, and projected retirement rates for registered nurses at the Veterans Home at King (Home). The vacancy rate for registered nurse at the Home at the end of 2001-02 was 30%. Although no specific turnover rates were identified, the LRB noted that the Home indicated that turnover rates were significantly higher with newer employees. Finally, the LRB noted that approximately half of the current nurse positions at the Home are 50 years of age or older.
The data supports an aggressive registered nurse recruitment and retention program at the Home. A stipend program has been used successfully by other employers and will provide the Home with a competitive tool to recruit and retain registered nurses.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 40 hours of Department of Veterans Affairs staff time will be needed to promulgate the rules.
Summary and preliminary comparison of any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the rule.
The stipend program is entirely administered under the authority of state law. There is no existing or proposed federal regulation that has any bearing upon the proposed rule.
Workforce Development
Subject
Policy analysis
The proposed rule will include the following issues related to migrant labor camps:
• Provide that newly-constructed migrant housing must be at least 500 feet from livestock and existing migrant housing must be at least 200 feet from livestock. Federal law requires migrant housing to be at least 500 feet from livestock. Current DWD informal policy requires housing to be at least 200 feet from livestock.
• Define what constitutes recruitment for the purpose of the worker agreement requirement
• Require that the ending date of a work agreement be specific
• Clarify that a worker must come to Wisconsin for employment covered by the migrant labor laws to be considered a migrant worker
• Define what is considered a single family for the purpose of determining who may live in single-family housing
• Clarify that each worker must receive an individual wage statement showing wages earned and any other amounts deducted
• Describe where smoke detectors in migrant housing units must be located
• Replace obsolete ILHR building code references with current Commerce building code references
• Repeal obsolete compliance dates in the code
Statutory authority
Staff time required
75 hours.
Summary and preliminary comparison of any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the rule.
Federal regulations do not address issues in the proposed rule other than the distance of migrant housing from livestock.
