Children and Families
Subject
Revises Chapter
DCF 53, relating to adoption record searches.
Policy Analysis
Medical information. Under s.
48.432, Stats., adults who were adopted in Wisconsin or who were not adopted but whose birth parents' parental rights were terminated may obtain from Department files relevant medical or genetic information about themselves or their birth parents. This information is also available to adoptive parents, guardians, offspring, and assigned agency or social workers.
If the Department does not have the information on file, a search for the birth parents may be requested to obtain the information. The request must be accompanied by a statement from a physician certifying either that the adoptee or individual who was not adopted but whose birth parents' parental rights were terminated has or may have acquired a genetically transferable disease or that the adoptee's or individual's medical condition requires access to the information. Before the information is released, the name and address of the birth parent and the identity of any health care provider is deleted.
Identifying information. Under s.
48.433, Stats., a birth parent whose parental rights have been terminated may file an affidavit authorizing the department or agency to provide the child with his or her original birth certificate and any other available information about birth parent's identity and location. This affidavit may be revoked at any time.
The Department or agency may disclose this information to adults whose birth parents' parental rights were terminated if it has unrevoked affidavits from both parents or an unrevoked affidavit from one of the birth parents and the other birth parent was unknown at the time of the termination of parental rights.
If the Department or agency does not have an affidavit on file from each known birth parent, a search for each birth parent who has not filed an affidavit may be requested. Upon locating a birth parent, the department or agency shall notify the parent of the request for information and the right to file an affidavit. If, after a search, a known birth parent cannot be located, the department or agency may disclose the information if the other birth parent has filed an unrevoked affidavit.
If the department or agency may not disclose the information requested, it shall provide requester with any nonidentifying social history information about either of the birth parents that it has on file.
The proposed rules will update and clarify the rules implementing these statutory provisions.
Statutory Authority
Comparison with Federal Regulations
None.
Entities Affected by the Rule
County agencies and licensed child-placing agencies.
Estimate of Time Needed to Develop the Rule
150 hours.
Contact Information
Judy Ranney
Adoption Record Search
Phone: (608) 264-9852
Children and Families
Subject
Revises Chapter
DCF 201, relating to establishing and adjusting child care subsidy authorizations.
Policy Analysis
Section
49.155 (1m) (a), Stats., provides the work, training, and educational activities for which an eligible individual can receive a subsidy for child care. A child care administrative agency determines the hours of child care authorized per week and authorizes payment to a child care provider.
Maximum number of authorized hours. Section
49.155 (6g) (a), Stats., as created by
2009 Wisconsin Act 28, provides that no more than 12 hours of child care per day per child may be authorized unless the parent provides written documentation of work or transportation requirements that exceed 12 hours in a day. The child care administrative agency may authorize more than 12 hours, not exceeding 16 hours, of child care per day for a child whose parent provides written documentation of work or transportation requirements that exceed 12 hours in a day. If the authorized hours of child care per day for a child will be reduced from more than 12 to 12 or less because the child's parent does not provide the written documentation, the child care administrative agency shall provide to the child's parent and to the child care provider 4 weeks' notice of the reduction in authorized hours before actually reducing the child's authorized hours.
Adjusting authorized hours. Under s.
DCF 201.04 (2) (d), payment to a licensed child care provider is generally based on authorized hours of child care. If the schedule of child care to be used is expected to vary widely or the child care administrative agency has documented 3 separate occasions where a licensed child care provider significantly overreported the attendance of a child, payment is based on attendance.
Section
49.155 (6g) (am) and
(b), Stats., as created by
2009 Wisconsin Act 28, provides that if payment to a child care provider is based on authorized hours of child care, the department shall do all of the following with respect to establishing and adjusting the number of authorized hours per child:
•
The department shall track a child's hourly usage of child care authorizations over a 6-week period.
•
If the child's hourly usage tracked is less than 60 % of the authorized hours of child care, the department shall reduce the authorized hours of child care for the child to 90% of the maximum number of hours of child care that the child attended during that 6-week period.
•
The department shall provide written notice of the proposed adjustment to the child's parent, the child care provider, and the applicable county department or agency.
•
The department shall provide a grace period after the number of authorized hours are reduced during which time the child care subsidy amount paid to the child care provider for the child shall remain the same as before the reduction in authorized hours was made.
The department shall exclude from a child's hourly usage calculation all of the following:
•
One week per year of vacation time for the child care provider.
•
One week per year of sick time for the child care provider.
•
Two weeks per year of vacation time for the child's parent.
The proposed rules will specify how these requirements will be implemented.
Statutory Authority
Comparison with Federal Regulations
None.
Entities Affected by the Rule
Counties, tribes, child care providers, parents, and children.
Estimate of Time Needed to Develop the Rule
80 hours.
Contact Information
Pirkko Moilanen
Division of Early Care and Education
Email: (608) 261-4595
Commerce
Financial Resources for Businesses and Communities, Chs.
Comm 104—
Subject
Creates Chapter
Comm 137, relating to reallocations for recovery zone facility bonds.
Objective of the Rule
These permanent rules are expected to replace emergency rules that establish a system for reallocating waived allocations for recovery zone facility bonds, as defined under
26 USC 1400U-3(b)(1).
These permanent rules may include procedures and conditions for the granting of a reallocation, as deemed by the Department to be in the best interest of the State, and may establish the rate for any cash deposit that will be a condition for receiving a reallocation.
Policy Analysis
The Department currently administers chapter Comm 113 for the allocation of volume cap on tax-exempt private activity bonds, which relates to the Department's annual allocation of bonding authority for its Industrial Revenue Bond program, pursuant to
26 USC 146.
The Department also currently administers chapter Comm 136, which addresses Wisconsin's one-time allocation of bonding authority for issuance of Midwestern disaster area bonds for the purposes of
26 USC 1400N(a), as modified and applied by section 702(d)(intro.) and (1) of the federal Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008, Public Law 110-343, title VII, subtitle A. These are private activity bonds that are designed to facilitate the recovery and rebuilding of areas which in 2008 were declared by the President as being major disaster areas because of severe storms, tornados or flooding.
The alternative of not promulgating these rules would conflict with a directive in section
560.033 of the Statutes, as established in
2009 Wisconsin Act 112, that requires this rulemaking.
Statutory Authority
Comparison with Federal Regulations
The federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) authorizes certain local governments to issue a limited amount of tax-exempt, recovery zone facility bonds. Through each State, the ARRA allocates to counties, and to cities with a population of at least 100,000, the limited amount of bonds that may be issued. The ARRA also authorizes these counties and cities to then waive some or all of their allocation, in which case the State in which the local units are located may reallocate the waived allocation to other units of government in that State.
Entities Affected by the Rule
The proposed rules may affect any of the following entities that choose to apply for the reallocated bonding authority: a city, village, town, county; a special purpose district; a state authority, such as the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, the Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority, or the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority; or a local housing, redevelopment, or community development authority.
The proposed rules may also affect owners or developers of any facility that is constructed using the proceeds from this reallocated bonding authority.
Estimate of Time Needed to Develop the Rule
The staff time needed to develop these rules is expected to range from 40 to 80 hours, depending upon the associated complexity. This includes processing the rules through public hearings, legislative review, and adoption. There are no other resources necessary to promulgate the rules.
Health Services
Subject
Revises Chapter
DHS 172, relating to the safety, maintenance and operation of public swimming pools and water attractions.
Objective of the Rule
To revise the chapter for clarity and to address substantive issues that have arisen as a result of Department and industry concerns.
Policy Analysis
Under the authority of s.
254.47, Stats., the Department regulates the operation of all public swimming pools in the state. The Department's regulatory oversight is to ensure that public swimming pools maintain operating practices that protect the public's health. The public's health is maintained at public swimming pools to the extent that the public does not contract waterborne illnesses at pools. Waterborne illnesses result from unsanitary pool conditions or malfunctioning pool equipment, which, in turn, are normally a result of poor pool maintenance practices. The public's health is also maintained at public swimming pools to the extent that the public does not suffer physical or submersion injuries. Physical and submersion injuries are caused or aggravated by poor safety equipment maintenance and a lack of adequate supervision.
Under its statutory authority, the Department promulgated ch.
DHS 172 to regulate the operation of public swimming pools and water attractions for the purpose of protecting the public health. The Department made significant changes to ch.
DHS 172 in 2007. Since then, a number of issues have arisen regarding the clarity and scope of the rule. The Department proposes to change the existing rule to address these issues and others deemed appropriate by a committee of industry and regulatory personnel convened by the Department.
The primary purpose of the proposed rulemaking is to revise the chapter for clarity and analyze parts of the code that have caused concern among regulated parties. This includes correcting and adding definitions to reflect national standards and Department of Commerce language, addressing omissions revolving around the lifeguarding rules and refining them to lessen the burden they create, assessing the application of code requirements to existing pools, rewriting the required safety equipment section to better reflect current standards of rescue, evaluating new technology such as automated operating systems and resolve conflicts regarding its use, updating the reports and records section to require retention of federally required information, modifying the labeling requirements to reflect federal standards, adjusting chemical standards to more accurately reflect the recommendations of national standards and other state codes, and addressing concerns generated by the advisory committee.
Statutory Authority
Comparison with Federal Regulations
