Effective Date:
October 5, 2004
Expiration Date:
March 4, 2005
Hearing Date:
November 12, 2004
Extension Through:
May 2, 2005
Revenue
Rules adopted revising
s. Tax 18.07, relating to the assessment of agricultural land.
Finding of emergency
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue finds that an emergency exists and that a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
Pursuant to s.
70.32 (2r) (c), the assessment of agricultural land is assessed according to the income that could be generated from its rental for agricultural use. Wisconsin Chapter
Tax 18 specifies the formula that is used to estimate the net rental income per acre. The formula estimates the net income per acre of land in corn production based on a 5-year average corn price per bushel, cost of corn production per bushel and corn yield per acre. The net income is divided by a capitalization rate that is based on a 50 year average interest rate for a medium-sized, 1-year adjustable rate mortgage and net tax rate for the property tax levy two years prior to the assessment year.
For reasons of data availability, there is a three-year lag in determining the 5-year average. Thus, the 2003 use value is based on the 5-year average corn price, cost and yield for the 1996-2000 period, and the capitalization rate is based on the 5-year average interest rate for the 1998-2002 period. The 2005 use value is to be based on the 5-year average corn price, cost and yield for the 1998-2002 period, and the capitalization rate is to be based on the 2000-2004 period.
The data for the 1998-2002 period yields negative net income per acre due to declining corn prices and increasing costs of corn production. As a result, reliance on data for the 1998-2002 period will result in negative use values.
The department is issuing this emergency rule in order to ensure positive and stable assessments of agricultural land for 2005.
Publication Date:
December 29, 2004
Effective Date:
December 29, 2004
Expiration Date:
May 28, 2005
Transportation (3)
1. Rules adopted creating
ch. Trans 135, relating to creation of a school bus oxidation catalyst grant program in certain counties.
Exemption from finding of emergency
The Legislature, by Section
2r of
2003 Wis. Act 220, provides an exemption from a finding of emergency for the adoption of the rule.
Analysis prepared by the Department of Transportation
Plain Language Analysis:
2003 Wis. Act 220 requires the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, to develop and administer a program to provide grants for the purchase and installation of oxidation catalysts on school buses customarily kept in the counties identified in s.
110.20 (5), Stats.: Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha. Act 220 amends s.
20.395 (5) (hq), Stats., to provide funds for the grant program under WisDOT's vehicle inspection/maintenance (I/M) program appropriation.
Publication Date:
September 1, 2004
Effective Date:
September 1, 2004
Hearing Date:
September 14, 2004
2. Rules adopted revising
ch. Trans 112, relating to medical standards for driver licensing and general standards to school bus endorsements.
Exemption from finding of emergency
The Legislature, by Section
30 of
2003 Wis. Act 280, provides an exemption from a finding of emergency for the adoption of the rule.
Analysis prepared by the Department of Transportation
Under current law, a person may not operate a school bus without a school bus endorsement issued by the Department of Transportation (DOT). DOT may issue a school bus endorsement to a person's valid motor vehicle operator's license if the person meets certain qualifications, including being free of conviction for certain crimes. A school bus endorsement is valid for the eight–year duration of the person's operator's license. Under certain circumstances, DOT must cancel the operator's license of a person to whom a school bus endorsement has been issued.
2003 Wisconsin Act 280 modified the existing criminal history requirements, and imposed additional requirements for the initial issuance or renewal of a school bus endorsement. That act prohibits DOT from issuing or renewing a school bus endorsement to an applicant if the applicant has been convicted of or adjudicated delinquent for any specified disqualifying crime or offense within a prior minimum specified time. These disqualifying crimes and offenses and minimum time periods for disqualification include those specified under current statutes, including various crimes against children. The act also authorizes DOT to specify by rule additional disqualifying crimes and offenses and the time period during which the disqualification applies.
Prior to Act 280, persons were not eligible for a school bus endorsement if he or she has been convicted of listed offenses (including a felony or an “offense against public morals") within the past five years, if the circumstances of the offense are “substantially related" to the circumstances of operating a school bus, or was convicted of specified offenses (including OWI and operating with a suspended or revoked license) within the past two years, regardless of whether the circumstances of the offense are “substantially related" to the circumstances of operating a school bus. Thus, Act 280 lengthened the periods of disqualification for some offenses, and listed some offenses that arguably are not “substantially related" to the circumstances of operating a school bus.
This rule establishes three periods of disqualification from eligibility for a school bus driver endorsement for conviction of listed felonies and misdemeanors. A lifetime disqualification is imposed on any person convicted of violent crimes resulting in death or serious physical injury to another, of sex offenses involving children and other vulnerable persons, or of other crimes involving predation or victimization of children or other vulnerable persons. A five-year disqualification is imposed on any person convicted of other crimes against life and bodily security, of other crimes against children, of crimes involving use of a motor vehicle, including operating while intoxicated (OWI), of possession of illegal weapons or of similar offenses likely to result in serious injury to others. A two-year disqualification is imposed on any person convicted of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, of obstructing emergency and rescue personnel or of other crimes.
Many of the listed offenses comprise felonies and misdemeanors. Under the rule, if a person provides evidence to the Department that his or her conviction of a listed offense is a misdemeanor conviction, the disqualification period is shortened to the next shorter disqualification period. However, there is no reduced disqualification period for misdemeanor sexual assault convictions, and the minimum period of disqualification for any listed offense (whether felony or misdemeanor) is two years.
The rule requires the Department to conduct a criminal history record search of every applicant for initial issuance or renewal to determine whether the person is convicted of disqualifying offenses. Although a school bus endorsement is renewed every eight years, DOT must conduct a criminal history search four years after the person obtains a school bus endorsement and, if appropriate, cancel the endorsement.
The rule also requires any person applying for initial issuance or renewal of a school bus endorsement to certify whether he or she has been convicted of any disqualifying offense, and allows the department to disqualify the person for the appropriate period based on that certification.
The rule requires any person who has resided in another state within the previous two years to notify the department of those other states, and requires the department to make a god faith effort to obtain the criminal history records from those other states, including submitting the persons fingerprints to the Department of Justice for a nationwide criminal history search.
The rule allows DOT to require every applicant for initial issuance or renewal of a school bus endorsement to provide two sets of fingerprints, and to pay fees for the two criminal history records searches that will be completed at initial issuance or renewal, and four years after the person obtains the school bus endorsement.
This rule also makes minor changes to medical standards for school bus drivers not required under
2003 Wis. Act 280, including the following:
1. Allows physician to certify driver is following treatment plan for cerebrovascular function, without such certification of the patient.
2. Shortens from 12 to 6 months the period during which a school bus driver must be free of any cerebrovascular incident.
3. Eliminates the 12 month period during which school bus driver must be free of destructive behavior or suicidal tendencies, instead making eligible a driver who is free of such behaviors or tendencies at the time of application.
4. Provides that a license restriction imposed on a physician's recommendation may be lifted only by the physician that recommended the restriction or by the Department following its evaluation of the person's ability to drive.
5. Provides that a person who does not meet minimum waiting periods following certain medical disqualifications cannot request a medical review board assessment of those disqualifications, because those waiting periods cannot be waived.
Publication Date:
November 4, 2004
Effective Date:
November 4, 2004
Hearing Date:
November 15, 2004
3. Rules adopted creating
ss. Trans 254.12 (6) and 255.12 (17), relating to the issuance of single and multiple trip oversize and overweight permits.
Finding of emergency
The Department of Transportation finds that an emergency exists and that the rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public safety and welfare. Although the Department will pursue promulgation of this rule through normal procedure, the Department finds an emergency exists for the following reasons: (1) current administrative rules have size limitations that prevent the use of the Milwaukee Expressway for vehicles or load or dimensions greater than 11 feet in width, 13½ feet in height, or 100 feet in length on the Milwaukee Freeway; (2) structural beams and girders that exceed the above transport limits are currently being manufactured for the initial stages of construction of the Marquette Interchange Reconstruction project; and (3) these steel and concrete bridge components must be delivered to the construction site beginning in February 2005 to keep the project on time and on-budget. Routing these oversized loads on the Milwaukee surface street system may not be possible due to the load lengths and the turning radiuses required. If the street geometry does allow the movement, these street systems may not be designed to carry the weight of such loads. Doing so will result in unsafe and possible permanent damage to the surface street system. Without this rule amendment, the other alternative is to reduce the size of these structural members (beams and girders) to meet these existing size limitations which will significantly increase the total projects costs and the time required to complete the project because of the necessary redesign.
Publication Date:
February 1, 2005
Effective Date:
February 1, 2005
Expiration Date:
July 1, 2005
Hearing Date:
March 1, 2005
Veterans Affairs
Finding of emergency
The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs finds that an emergency exists and that a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. A statement of the finding of emergency is:
The department operates two community-based residential care facilities and a residential care apartment complex facility in Union Grove. As a condition of admission and continued residency at the facilities a veteran must be able to pay the full cost of his or her care from income and other resources.
Care rates at the facilities were raised across-the-board in October 2004. Several current residents do not now have sufficient income or other resources to fully pay their cost of care. Furthermore, several recent applicants with limited income and resources have been denied admission because they fall just short of meeting their care costs. Both groups of veterans do not have adequate housing available for their needs, other than residency at the Union Grove facilities.
In light of these circumstances, the department determines that the health and safety of the current and prospective residents is threatened unless adequate funding is made available. Enactment of the emergency will permit the department to provide the subsidy necessary to address these concerns.
Publication Date:
January 3, 2005
Effective Date:
January 3, 2005
Expiration Date:
June 1, 2005
Hearing Date:
February 16, 2005
Workforce Development
(Labor Standards, Chs. DWD 270-279)
Rules adopted revising
ss. DWD 274.015 and 274.03 and creating
s. DWD 274.035, relating to overtime pay for employees performing companionship services.
Finding of emergency
The Department of Workforce Development finds that an emergency exists and that the attached rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare. A statement of facts constituting the emergency is:
On January 21, 2004, pursuant to s.
227.26(2)(b), Stats., the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules directed the Department of Workforce Development to promulgate an emergency rule regarding their overtime policy for nonmedical home care companion employees of an agency as part of ch.
DWD 274.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Workforce Development
Section
103.02, Stats., provides that “no person may be employed or be permitted to work in any place of employment or at any employment for such period of time during any day, night or week, as is prejudicial to the person's life, health, safety or welfare." Section
103.01 (3), Stats., defines “place of employment" as “any manufactory, mechanical or mercantile establishment, beauty parlor, laundry, restaurant, confectionary store, or telegraph or telecommunications office or exchange, or any express or transportation establishment or any hotel."
Chapter
DWD 274 governs hours of work and overtime. Section
DWD 274.015, the applicability section of the chapter, incorporates the statutory definition of “place of employment" and limits coverage of the chapter to the places of employment delineated in s.
103.01 (3), Stats., and various governmental bodies. Section
DWD 274.015 also provides that the chapter does not apply to employees employed in domestic service in a household by a household.
Section
103.02, Stats., directs that the “department shall, by rule, classify such periods of time into periods to be paid for at the rate of at least one and one-half times the regular rates." Under s.
DWD 274.03, “each employer subject to this chapter shall pay to each employee time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week." Section
DWD 274.04 lists 15 types of employees who are exempt from this general rule and s.
DWD 274.08 provides that the section is inapplicable to public employees.
Nonmedical home care companion employees who are employed by a third-party, commercial agency are covered by the overtime provision in s.
DWD 274.03. Section
DWD 274.03 applies to all employees who are subject to the chapter and not exempt under ss.
DWD 274.04 or
274.08. The chapter applies to companion employees of a commercial agency because under s.
DWD 274.015 a commercial agency is considered a mercantile establishment. Section
DWD 270.01 (5) defines a mercantile establishment as a commercial, for-profit business. The chapter does not apply to companion employees of a nonprofit agency or a private household. In addition, none of the exemptions to the overtime section in ss.
DWD 274.04 or
274.08 apply to companion employees of a commercial agency.
The Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules has directed DWD to promulgate an emergency rule regarding the overtime policy for nonmedical home care companion employees of an agency. This provision is created at s.
DWD 274.035 to say that employees who are employed by a mercantile establishment to perform companionship services shall be subject to the overtime pay requirement in s.
DWD 274.03. “Companionship services" is defined as those services which provide fellowship, care, and protection for a person who because of advanced age, physical infirmity, or mental infirmity cannot care for his or her own needs. Such services may include general household work and work related to the care of the aged or infirm person such as meal preparation, bed making, washing of clothes, and other similar services. The term “companionship services" does not include services relating to the care and protection of the aged or infirm person that require and are performed by trained personnel, such as registered or practical nurses.
This order also repeals and recreates the applicability of the chapter section and the overtime section to write these rules in a clearer format. There is no substantive change in these sections.
Publication Date:
March 1, 2004
Effective Date:
March 1, 2004*
Expiration Date:
July 29, 2004
* On April 28, 2004, the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules suspended s.
DWD 274.035 created as an emergency rule.
Workforce Development
(Public Works Construction, Chs. DWD 290-294)
A rule was adopted amending
s. DWD 290.155 (1), relating to the adjustment of thresholds for application of prevailing wage rates.
Finding of emergency
The Department of Workforce Development finds that an emergency exists and that the attached rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare. A statement of facts constituting the emergency is:
