Emergency rules now in effect
Under s. 227.24, Stats., state agencies may promulgate rules without complying with the usual rule-making procedures. Using this special procedure to issue emergency rules, an agency must find that either the preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare necessitates its action in bypassing normal rule-making procedures.
Emergency rules are published in the official state newspaper, which is currently the Wisconsin State Journal. Emergency rules are in effect for 150 days and can be extended up to an additional 120 days with no single extension to exceed 60 days.
Occasionally the Legislature grants emergency rule authority to an agency with a longer effective period than 150 days or allows an agency to adopt an emergency rule without requiring a finding of emergency.
Extension of the effective period of an emergency rule is granted at the discretion of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules under s. 227.24 (2), Stats.
Notice of all emergency rules which are in effect must be printed in the Wisconsin Administrative Register. This notice will contain a brief description of the emergency rule, the agency finding of emergency or a statement of exemption from a finding of emergency, date of publication, the effective and expiration dates, any extension of the effective period of the emergency rule and information regarding public hearings on the emergency rule.
Copies of emergency rule orders can be obtained from the promulgating agency. The text of current emergency rules can be viewed at www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/code.
Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection (2)
1.
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
2.
Rules adopted creating
ch. ATCP 112, Wis. Adm. Code, relating to credit report security freezes.
Finding of Emergency
(1) The Wisconsin department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection (“DATCP") will administer s.
100.54, Stats. as of January 1, 2007. DATCP is required under s.
100.54 (12), Stats. to adopt rules related to identification required of consumers requesting credit report security freezes.
(2) As of January 1, 2007, s.
100.54, Stats. will be in effect, however without an emergency rule the statute will be unclear regarding what constitutes proper identification for purposes of creating a security freeze, temporarily releasing a security freeze or permanently removing a security freeze from a consumer credit report.
(3) DATCP is adopting this emergency rule for the sole purpose of allowing consumers to clearly place a security freeze on their consumer credit report while the permanent rulemaking process is completed.
Publication Date:
January 19, 2007
Effective Date:
January 19, 2007
Expiration Date:
June 18, 2007
Hearing Date: February 12, 2007
[See Notice this Register]
Dentistry Examining Board
Rules were adopted amending
ch. DE 11, relating to better identifying the different levels of anesthesia, including nitrous oxide, anxiolysis, conscious sedation-enteral, conscious sedation-parenteral, deep sedation, and general anesthesia, and the requirements for each level.
Finding of Emergency
The board finds that failure to delay the effective date of
CR04-095, from January 1, 2007, to July 1, 2007, will create a danger to the public health, safety and welfare. The extra six months are needed to allow the implementation of the rule to occur and to ensure the continued use of conscious sedation for dental patients.
Publication Date:
December 21, 2006
Effective Date:
December 29, 2006
Expiration Date:
May 28, 2007
Hearing Date: January 31, 2007
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
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
(Environmental Protection - Hazardous Waste, Chs.
NR 600—)
Rules adopted revising
chs. NR 660 to 665, relating to hazardous waste management.
Exemption from Finding of emergency
The Department of Natural Resources finds that an emergency exists and the foregoing rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. A statement of facts constituting the emergency is:
In 2001, EPA proposed regulations to change the hazardous waste manifest requirements under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to eliminate all state-specific manifest requirements and to require electronic submittal of the manifests. The EPA's final rule was published March 4, 2005, with correcting amendments published on June 16, 2005, and the effective date is September 5, 2006. The new regulations require the use of standardized manifest forms in all states and require certification from EPA in order to print the manifest forms. (Final action on the e-manifest was postponed.) Unlike most RCRA rules, this federal regulation will take effect, nation-wide, on the effective date. The new federal requirements will apply in all states, including Wisconsin, but will not override or supersede Wisconsin's state-specific hazardous waste manifest requirements. Accordingly, the potential exists for conflicting or additional state manifest requirements to exist beginning on that date, and the advantages of a single, uniform nationwide rule will be lost.
The normal administrative rulemaking process cannot be completed in time to conform Wisconsin's hazardous waste manifest requirements to the new EPA manifest regulations by their September 5, 2006 effective date. However, failure to adopt the new federal requirements as state rules by this date may cause legal uncertainty and potential confusion among hazardous waste generators, transporters and treatment, storage and disposal facility operators, as well as state regulatory program staff. This could interfere with interstate commerce and the orderly functioning of government, imposing unnecessary regulatory costs on Wisconsin individuals and businesses and out-of-state companies doing business in Wisconsin, to the detriment of the public welfare. More importantly, the potential confusion caused by different state and federal manifest requirements could lead to improper transportation and management of hazardous wastes, resulting in a threat to public health or safety and the environment.
Publication Date:
September 2, 2006
Effective Date:
September 5, 2006
Expiration Date:
February 2, 2007
Hearing Date: September 26, 2006
Optometry Examining Board
A rule was adopted creating
ch. Opt 8, relating to continuing education.
Exemption from finding of emergency
“(3) Continuing education rules. (b)
…Notwithstanding section
227.24 (1) (a),
(2) (b), and
(3) of the statutes, the optometry examining board is not required to provide evidence that promulgating a rule under this paragraph as an emergency rule is necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare and is not required to provide a finding of emergency for a rule promulgated under this paragraph."
Plain language analysis
Chapter
Opt 8 is being created to incorporate the continuing education requirements that optometrists must complete in order to renew their registrations. As a result of the changes made to ch.
449, Stats., by
2005 Wisconsin Act 297, all optometrist will now be required to complete 30 hours of continuing education. Previously, only optometrists who were certified to use diagnostic pharmaceutical agents (DPA) and therapeutic pharmaceutical agents (TPA) were required to complete continuing education course work.
Publication Date:
November 8, 2006
Effective Date:
November 8, 2006
Expiration Date:
April 7, 2007
Hearing Date: December 7, 2006
Regulation and Licensing
Rules adopted creating
chs. RL 160 to 168, relating to substance abuse professionals.
Exemption from finding of emergency
Section
9140 (1q) of
2005 Wisconsin Act 25 states in part: “Notwithstanding section
227.24 (1) (a),
(2) (b), and
(3) of the statutes, the department is not required to provide evidence that promulgating a rule under this subsection as an emergency rule is necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare and is not required to provide a finding of emergency for a rule promulgated under this subsection."
Plain language analysis
2005 Wisconsin Act 25 created Subchapter VII of chapter 440, Stats., Substance Abuse Counselors, Clinical Supervisors, and Prevention Specialists. This Act transferred the certification and regulation of Alcohol and other Drug Abuse (AODA) counselors from the Department of Health and Family Services to the Department of Regulation and Licensing, effective 2006. This proposed rule-making order creates rules relating to definitions, requirements for certification, supervised practice, scope of practice, education approval and professional liability insurance for substance abuse professionals.
Publication Date:
November 27, 2006
