Hearing Date: August 15, 2006
2.
Rules adopted amending
s. ATCP 10.47 (2) (c) and (3) (b) 3., relating to minimum acreage requirements for farm-raised deer hunting preserves.
(1) The Wisconsin department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection (“DATCP") administers state laws related to farm-raised deer. DATCP currently licenses deer farms and issues certificates for deer hunting preserves, pursuant to s.
95.55, Stats., and ch.
ATCP 10, Wis. Adm. Code.
(2) Current law generally prohibits deer hunting preserves smaller than 80 acres. However,
2005 Wis. Act 359 (enacted effective May 3, 2006) provides a limited “grandfather" exemption for certain white-tailed deer hunting preserves previously licensed by the Department of Natural Resources (“DNR"). Under Act 359, a white-tailed deer hunting preserve is exempt from the 80-acre minimum size requirement if,
among other things, the acreage of the hunting preserve is “not less than the acreage subject to the deer farm license on December 31, 2002." This rule clarifies that the “acreage subject to the deer farm license on December 31, 2002" means the
hunting acreage subject to the deer farm license on December 31, 2002. Without this interpretation, Act 359 would have no practical effect and would be rendered a nullity.
(3) The “grandfather" exemption in Act 359 is limited to hunting preserve operators who apply by November 1, 2006. DATCP must act on applications within 90 business days. Action may affect an operator's ability to operate during the 2006 hunting season. DATCP is adopting this rule as an emergency rule, in order to facilitate timely action on applications. DATCP could not adopt this rule by normal rulemaking procedures in time to implement Act 359.
Publication Date:
October 9, 2006
Effective Date:
October 9, 2006
Expiration Date:
March 7, 2007
Hearing Date: November 13, 2006
Commerce
(Financial Resources for Businesses and Communities, Chs.
Comm 105 to
131)
Rule adopted creating
ch. Comm 131, relating to diesel truck idling reduction grants.
Exemption from Finding of Emergency
The legislature by Section 9108 (1w) in
2005 Wisconsin Act 25, provides an exemption from a finding of emergency for the adoption of this rule.
The rules specify who is eligible for receiving a grant in this program for purchasing and installing diesel truck idling reduction equipment. Eligible costs are also specified, along with how to apply for the grants. Parameters for awarding the grants are likewise specified. These parameters include (1) disallowing grants to any applicant who is failing to comply with any conditions imposed on any previous grant received in this program; and (2) alerting applicants that the Department may (a) refuse to award grants for idling reduction equipment on truck tractors that do not have a sleeper berth, (b) annually allocate up to 25 percent of the grant funding to applicants who
own and operate 50 or fewer truck tractors, and (c) set deadlines for submitting applications, and then prorate the awards to the applicants if the total funding requested in the applications exceeds the available revenue.
Publication Date:
June 30, 2006
Effective Date:
July 1, 2006
Expiration Date:
November 28, 2006
Hearing Date: July 25, 2006
Corrections
A rule was adopted creating
s. DOC 332.19, relating to a sex offender registration fee.
Finding of Emergency
The department of corrections finds that an emergency exists and that rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, safety and welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is: Under
2005 WI Act 25, the legislature authorized the department to establish a sex offender registration fee. If the rule is not created promptly and immediately, the department will not be able to collect the fees which are to be used to offset the costs of monitoring probationers, parolees, or persons on extended supervision, which could result in a lessening of supervision due to budget limitations.
The purpose of the emergency rule is to establish an annual sex offender registration fee to partially offset the costs of monitoring persons who are on probation, parole, or extended supervision. The permanent rule process has been started. However, the permanent rule process will take approximately nine months to complete. Emergency rules are necessary to respond promptly to the collection of fees while permanent rules are being developed.
Publication Date:
June 8, 2006
Effective Date:
June 8, 2006
Expiration Date:
November 5, 2006
Hearing Date: July 18, 2006
Extension Through:
January 3, 2007
Elections Board
Rules were adopted creating s. ElBd 3.04, relating to election day registration and the requirement to provide a driver's license number or other form of identification to register at the polls.
Finding of Emergency
The Elections Board finds that an emergency exists in the 2002 change in federal law that requires persons who have been issued a current and valid driver's license to list that number in completing a voter registration application or their registration may not be processed.
In 2002, Congress enacted the Help America Vote Act to address problems and issues that surfaced in the 2000 presidential election. Section 303(a)(5)(A)(i) of the Act provided that “an application for voter registration for an election for Federal office may not be accepted or processed by a state unless the application includes – in the case of an applicant who has been issued a current and valid driver's license, the applicant's driver's license number." To comply with federal law, but also to avoid disenfranchising those Wisconsin election day registrants who have been issued a current and valid Wisconsin driver's license but do not provide that number on their registration form, the Board has adopted s. ElBd 3.04, providing for the issuance of a provisional ballot to those registrants, pursuant to s.
6.97, Stats. Under that statute, the provisional ballot will be counted if the registrant provides, by any means feasible, his or her driver's license number to the clerk of the municipality in which the registrant has voted, not later than 4:00 p.m., on the day following the election.
Previously, the Board's policy had been to process the election day registration of those registrants who failed to list their driver's license number on their registration application, if they had provided, on their registration form, a Wisconsin-issued Identification Card Number or the last four digits of their Social Security Number. Whether that policy complied with federal law had been in issue. Assuring that Wisconsin's practice complies with federal law and obtaining that assurance before election day, by the promulgation of this emergency rule, is found to be in the public interest.
Publication Date:
July 31, 2006
Effective Date:
July 31, 2006
Expiration Date:
December 28, 2006
Hearing Date: October 4, 2006
Financial Institutions - Banking
Rules were adopted revising ch. DFI—Bkg 77, relating to pawnbrokers.
Finding of Emergency
The effect of
2005 Wisconsin Act 158 is that pawnbrokers licensed by the department under s.
138.09, Stats., are exempt from s.
138.10, Stats., effective October 1, 2006. Under statutory procedures, however, a permanent rule regulating these pawnbrokers is unlikely to be effective until mid-2007, leaving the public without the safeguards of the permanent rule until that time. Thus the preservation of public safety and welfare necessitates enacting the safeguards of the emergency rule until a permanent rule is in effect.
Publication Date:
September 25, 2006
Effective Date:
October 1, 2006
Expiration Date:
February 28, 2007
Hearing Date: December 13, 2006
Health and Family Services
(Health, Chs.
HFS 110—)
Rules adopted creating
ch. HFS 137, relating to prescribing forms for use by physicians, technicians and tissue bank employees when removing organs and tissue, other than cardiovascular tissue from decedents.
Exemption from Finding of Emergency
The legislature by
2005 Wisconsin Act 230 requires these rules to be promulgated as emergency rules and exempts the Department from making a finding of emergency or providing evidence that these rules as emergency rules is necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare.
Plain language analysis:
The Department is required by
2005 Wisconsin Act 230 to appoint an advisory committee to assist the Department in prescribing, by rule, a form for removal of organs and a form for removal of tissue, other than cardiovascular tissue, for use by physicians, technicians, and tissue bank employees under section
157.06 (4m) (e) of the statutes, as created by Act 230. Section
157.06 (4m) (e), Stats., requires a physician who removes tissue or an organ from a decedent or a technician or tissue bank employee who removes tissue from a decedent under s.
157.06 (4m), Stats., to complete the form created by the Department and transmit the form to the coroner or medical examiner with jurisdiction over the decedent.
As required by section. 12. (1) (b) of Act 230, the Department intends to promulgate permanent rules that are substantially identical to the emergency rules.
Because these rules only prescribe forms, the Department will, as allowed under s.
227.23, Stats., promulgate these rules without adhering to the notice and public hearing requirements set forth under ch.
227, Stats. Also, as allowed under s.
227.23, Stats., the forms prescribed by the proposed rules will not be published in the Wisconsin administrative code or the Wisconsin Administrative Register, but will be listed by title and description with a statement as to how the forms may be obtained.
Publication Date:
July 24, 2006
Effective Date:
August 1, 2006
Expiration Date:
December 29, 2006
Insurance (2)
1.
Rules adopted creating
ss. Ins 9.25 (8) and 9.27 (4), Wis. Adm. Code, relating to preferred provider plan applicability dates and affecting small business plan limited exemption.
Finding of Emergency
The Commissioner of Insurance finds that an emergency exists and that the attached rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare. Facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
The rule identifies a limited group of policies issued by licensed insurers offering preferred provider plans that do not comply with newly promulgated ch.
Ins 9, Wis. Adm. Code. In compliance with the request of the Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR), this rule must be issued as an emergency rule and permanent rule. It is not possible to complete the permanent rule process prior to the effective date of the chapter, January 1, 2007, therefore this emergency rule is necessary.
The commissioner has filed a notice of scope for drafting the permanent rule corresponding to this emergency rule and will continue with the permanent rule making process. It is intended that one rule hearing can be held to comply with both the emergency rule and permanent rule requirements.
Publication Date:
August 31, 2006
Effective Date:
September 1, 2006
Expiration Date:
January 29, 2007
Hearing Date: December 12, 2006
2.
Rules adopted revising
s. Ins 6.77, relating to underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage in umbrella and commercial policies.
Finding of Emergency
The Commissioner of Insurance finds that an emergency exists and that the attached rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare. Facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
These changes will modify the rule in light of the recent Supreme Court decisions,
Rebernick v American Family Mutual Ins Company, 2006 WI 27 and
Rocker v USAA Casualty Ins Company,
2006 WI 26. In Rebernick, the court held that s.
632.32 (4m), Stats, applies to personal umbrella policies. In Rocker, the court held that s.
632.32 (6) (a), Stats, applies to commercial general liability policies and commercial umbrella policies. These interpretations are inconsistent with current insurer practices and OCI's expectation of what would be covered in these types of policies.
Compliance with this interpretation would create significant, if not impossible compliance problems for insurers. Many insurers who write umbrella coverage do not write and are not even licensed to write automobile coverage. A second, difficult issue is that the limits for umbrella coverages are generally very high, $1,000,000. It is unclear how an umbrella policy would reconcile these limits with the underlying auto policy and underinsured motorist coverage. For this reason, OCI had previously by rule exempted umbrella policies from the similar requirements of the uninsured motorist coverages in s.
632.32, Stats. For similar reasons, the same revision is being made for commercial liability policies.
Publication Date:
September 29, 2006
Effective Date:
September 29, 2006
Expiration Date:
February 26, 2007
Hearing Date: December 11, 2006
Natural Resources
(Fish, Game, etc., Chs.
NR 1—)
Rules adopted revising
ch. NR 10, relating to the 2006 migratory game bird seasons.
Finding of Emergency
The emergency rule procedure, pursuant to s.
227.24, Stats., is necessary and justified in establishing rules to protect the public welfare. The federal government and state legislature have delegated to the appropriate agencies rule-making authority to control the hunting of migratory birds. The State of Wisconsin must comply with federal regulations in the establishment of migratory bird hunting seasons and conditions. Federal regulations are not made available to this state until mid-August of each year. This order is designed to bring the state hunting regulations to conformity with the federal regulations. Normal rule-making procedures will not allow the establishment of these changes by September 1. Failure to modify our rules will result in the failure to provide hunting opportunity and continuation of rules which conflict with federal regulations.
Publication Date:
August 31, 2006
Effective Date:
August 31, 2006
Expiration Date:
January 28, 2007
Hearing Date: October 11, 2006
Natural Resources
(Environmental Protection - Water Regulation, Chs.
NR 300—)
Rules adopted creating
ss. NR 328.31 to 328.36, relating to shore erosion control on rivers and streams.
Finding of Emergency
The emergency rule procedure, pursuant to s.
227.24, Stats., is necessary and justified in establishing rules to protect the public health, safety and welfare. The Wisconsin Legislature enacted
2003 Wisconsin Act 118 to streamline the regulatory process for activities in public trust waters. The state has an affirmative duty to administer the law in a manner consistent with the public trust responsibilities of the State of Wisconsin under Article IX, Section I of the Wisconsin Constitution.
Act 118 identifies certain activities that may be undertaken as exempt from a permit, or under a general permit. There are no statutory exemptions for shore protection on rivers and streams. Without emergency rules to create general permits, all shore protection projects on rivers and streams require an individual permit with an automatic 30-day public notice. The required 30-day comment period will unnecessarily delay projects that otherwise could go ahead with prescribed conditions established in a general permit. To carry out the intention of Act 118 to speed decision-making but not diminish the public trust in state waters, these emergency rules are required to establish general permits to be in effect for the 2006 construction season, with specific standards for shore erosion control structures on rivers and streams.
