This statement of scope was approved by the governor on April 12, 2012.
Rule No.
Relating to
Farmland preservation planning and zoning and farmland preservation agreements.
Rule Type
Permanent.
Description of the Objective of the Rule
This rule is intended to interpret and clarify provisions of chapter 91 relating to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's certification of farmland preservation plans and farmland preservation zoning ordinances. The rule shall specify certification requirements to ensure that farmland preservation plans and farmland preservation zoning ordinances meet the goals of the program. This shall include a clarification that the rationale used to delineate the farmland preservation areas should serve to preserve farmland. The rule shall also provide clarity to zoning ordinance standards and requirements for farmland preservation agreement applications. Under s.
91.02, Stats., the agency is granted the authority to promulgate rules for the administration of chapter 91. This includes rules to set forth technical specifications for farmland preservation zoning maps, rules to identify uses allowed in farmland preservation zoning districts, rules that specify requirements for certification of plans and ordinances, rules to require information on applications for farmland preservation agreements, and rules that clarify provisions of the statute.
Description of Existing Policies Relevant to the Rule, Proposed Policies to be Included in the Rule, and an Analysis of Policy Alternatives
History and background. Wisconsin's Farmland Preservation program was repealed and recreated under
2009 Wis. Act 28. The law was updated to acknowledge the growing pressures on farmland across the state and to curb the increasing conversion of farmland out of agricultural use.
The law now requires all Counties to update their farmland preservation plans before January 1, 2016. The farmland preservation planning process ensures that local governments evaluate the agricultural land within their boundaries and consider the role that agriculture plays in their local economy. Counties must submit farmland preservation plans to DATCP for certification. To be certified, the plan must meet certain statutory requirements such as describing the rationale used to determine the areas that the County intends to preserve for agriculture.
Farmland preservation zoning is an optional tool that local governments can take advantage of to protect farmland. Under the law, those local governments that choose to adopt farmland preservation zoning ordinances must update and submit their zoning ordinances to the state. Similar to farmland preservation plans, DATCP ensures that each zoning ordinance meets certain statutory requirements before it is certified. The certification process ensures that only compatible uses are allowed in the farmland preservation district to limit pressures on active agriculture created by the presence of incompatible uses. Once a zoning ordinance is certified, landowners within the farmland preservation district are eligible to collect tax credits.
Another tool available to landowners under the law is the farmland preservation agreement. By law, any new agreement must be located in a landowner-initiated and state-designated Agricultural Enterprise Area (AEA), and those areas must first be planned as Farmland Preservation Areas in county plans. Landowners with farmland preservation agreements are eligible to collect farmland preservation tax credits. By clustering agreements in these areas that are primarily devoted to agricultural use, farmland can be better protected under the recognition that a concentration of agriculture provides landowners with the confidence that the surrounding land will remain in agriculture. This confidence encourages landowners to not only continue farming but to make additional investments in their agricultural operations as well.
Proposed policies. The farmland preservation plan serves as the foundation to all other parts of the farmland preservation program. Land may only be zoned for farmland preservation or designated as an agricultural enterprise area (and covered by a farmland preservation agreement) if it is also planned for farmland preservation. It is critical, as a result, that an honest, objective planning process occurs in order to make sufficient land available for these other farmland preservation tools.
Planning that evaluates objective factors such as current land use, available agricultural infrastructure, and appropriate soil types also serves to ensure that the appropriate lands are included in the planned area and thus available to take advantage of those preservation tools. Through this rule, DATCP will specify that farmland preservation plans must contain a rationale that not only accurately describes the farmland preservation area, but is based on such objective factors to ensure that farmland is being preserved.
To aid local governments and landowners in taking advantage of farmland preservation tools once the planning process is complete, this rule will also seek to clarify the description of uses allowed in the farmland preservation zoning program as well as applications for entering into farmland preservation agreements. This part of the rule will be designed to recognize that uses in the farmland preservation zoning district should be compatible with active agriculture and should facilitate the ability of farmers to keep their land in the agricultural district. Along those same lines, DATCP will clarify the information required in farmland preservation applications to make sure that agreements signed serve to preserve farmland.
Alternative Policies. If the department does not develop this rule, Counties, Towns, and Municipalities will continue to update their farmland preservation plans and ordinances. However, local governments and farmers would fail to benefit from the clarity and direction that this rule could provide, causing added staff time at both the local and state level. In addition, farmers will continue to sign farmland preservation agreements with the state. A lack of clarity in the information required, however, will result in added staff time at the state and local level to complete agreement applications and sign agreements.
Detailed Explanation of Statutory Authority for the Rule (Including the Statutory Citation and Language)
Sections
91.02 (1) and
(2), Stats., give the department specific and general authority to establish rules that will clarify aspects of the program.
91.02 Rule making. (1) The department shall promulgate rules that set forth technical specifications for farmland preservation zoning maps under s.
91.38 (1) (d).
(2) The department may promulgate rules for the administration of this chapter, including rules that do any of the following:
(e) Specify requirements for certification under s.
91.18 (1) (b).
(f) Require information in an application for certification of a farmland preservation plan or amendment under s.
91.20 (4).
(g) Specify types of ordinance amendments for which certification is required under s.
91.36 (8) (b) 3.
(i) Specify requirements for certification of a farmland preservation zoning ordinance under s.
91.38 (1) (i).
(j) Require information in an application for certification of a farmland preservation zoning ordinance or amendment under s.
91.40 (5).
(k) Authorize additional uses in a farmland preservation zoning district under s.
91.42 (4).
(L) Authorize additional uses as permitted uses in a farmland preservation zoning district under s.
91.44 (1) (g).
(m) Authorize additional uses as conditional uses in a farmland preservation zoning district under s.
91.46 (1) (j).
(p) Require information in an application for a farmland preservation agreement under s.
91.64 (2) (h).
Estimate of Amount of Time that State Employees will Spend Developing the Rule and of Other Resources Necessary to Develop the Rule
DATCP estimates that it will use approximately 0.5 FTE staff to develop this rule. This includes investigation, 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.
List with Description of All Entities that May be Affected by the Proposed Rule
Counties, Towns and Municipalities
Out of 72 Counties, 70 currently have farmland preservation plans. All Counties must update their farmland preservation plans before January 1, 2016. Counties work with towns, cities, and villages to establish what lands are in and should remain available for agriculture. The farmland preservation plan requires extensive public participation to accurately reflect farmland across a county. As a result, it can take counties well over a year to complete the farmland preservation planning process. Though a few Counties have completed the update to their plan, there are many Counties that are just beginning the process. Clarification of the statute, especially specification of certification requirements, will aid Counties in updating their plans.
Across the state, 31 counties, 119 towns, 18 villages, and 19 cities administer a certified farmland preservation zoning ordinance. These ordinances serve to implement the County farmland preservation plan and enable local governments to protect agricultural land within their boundaries by restricting conflicting uses from locating within agricultural districts.
Farmers and Other Landowners
Farmland Preservation Planning does not by itself control land use, but planning is a means of guiding future zoning decisions. Planning also enables lands to be designated as agricultural enterprise areas, which allow individual farmers to apply for a farmland preservation agreement. Alternatively, if a plan does not identify sufficiently sized blocks of land for farmland preservation, landowners are precluded from participating in agricultural enterprise areas and, by extension, farmland preservation agreements.
Any land that is included in the farmland preservation plan area may then be included in a farmland preservation zoning district or in an agricultural enterprise area and subsequently in a farmland preservation agreement. By clarifying the standards for uses that may be included in farmland preservation zoning ordinances and the requirements that the ordinances must meet in order to be certified, the proposed rule may encourage more local governments to zone land for farmland preservation. This, in turn, could enable more landowners to be eligible to collect farmland preservation tax credits. It could also encourage additional agricultural-related investment into local communities as landowners are assured that farming will continue in these areas. The same is true for providing rules to guide the information required to apply for a farmland preservation agreement – added clarity in the application process could encourage additional landowners to enter into farmland preservation agreements.
Agriculture-Related Business
As part of the farmland preservation planning process, Counties are required to inventory and evaluate agriculture-related businesses and services, including agricultural production and enterprises related to agriculture. This process helps to ensure that the impact of agriculture-related business can be measured within the community. Clarifying the significance of this requirement in the planning process may aid communities in accurately capturing the breadth of agriculture-related businesses within the area.
Clarity in the farmland preservation zoning standards may help local governments include these agriculture-related enterprises in the zoning district. Most agriculture-related businesses may be allowed in a farmland preservation zoning district either as an agriculture-related use or an accessory use. Though such businesses may or may not collect tax credits, their presence in the district may add additional certainty to farmers within the zoning district. Additional farms under farmland preservation agreements can also provide a customer base for area agriculture-related businesses. The presence of farmland preservation agreements in the vicinity may encourage agriculture-related businesses to locate or stay or expand in a community.
Summary and Preliminary Comparison of any Existing or Proposed Federal Regulation that is Intended to Address the Activities to be Regulated by the Rule
There are no existing or proposed federal regulations intended to address the activities to be regulated by this proposed rule.
Anticipated Economic Impact of Implementing the Rule (Note if the Rule is Likely to have a Significant Impact on Small Business)
The proposed rule should have minimal economic impact statewide.
Contact Person
Alison Volk, Division of Agricultural Resource Management, DATCP; Phone (608) 224-4634.
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
This statement of scope was approved by the governor on April 12, 2012.
Rule No.
Chapter
ATCP 127, Wis. Adm. Code (Existing)
Relating to
Regulating telephone solicitations.
Description of the Objective of the Rule
Recently enacted
2011 Wisconsin Act 197 prohibits text message solicitation to residential customers enrolled in the Wisconsin No Call program. The proposed rule change would update ATCP 127 (Direct Marketing) to align the rule with recent changes to s.
100.52, Stats., and to prohibit a telephone solicitation practice called “spoofing" that hides or provides a false telephone number for the telephone solicitor.
Description of Existing Policies Relevant to the Rule and of New Policies Proposed to be Included in the Rule and an Analysis of Policy Alternatives; the History, Background and Justification for the Proposed Rule
History and Background. The Wisconsin No Call program was established by statute in 2001 and the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) promulgated a rule to implement the program in 2002. Telephone solicitors are prohibited from calling residential customers on the state No Call list. Exceptions are made for calls made to current clients and for calls made on behalf of non-profit and political organizations. Solicitors are required to register with DATCP and to pay an annual or quarterly fee to solicit residential customers located in Wisconsin. Residential customers who do not want to receive unsolicited commercial calls must provide their telephone number and zip code to the department every two years to remain on the non-solicitation list. In 2008, the statute was amended to include cellular phones.
2011 Wisconsin Act 197 further amended the statute to include regulation of text messages. This proposed rule change would align the rule with the statute.
Current s.
ATCP 127.04 requires that a telephone solicitor identify the name of the person making the solicitation and the name of the principal seller. It also prohibits the use of a fictitious name by the telephone solicitor. The proposed rule would prohibit the practice of “spoofing" that transmits misleading or inaccurate caller identification information.
Proposed Policies. The rule will regulate text messages as required by
2011 Wisconsin Act 197 and will modify the existing solicitor registration fee structure as necessary to register solicitors that send commercial text messages to residential customers. The rule will also regulate the practice of “spoofing".
Policy Alternatives. Do nothing. If the department does not modify the rule to incorporate text messaging, businesses attempting to comply with the law may find the requirements confusing. The department would also have difficulty enforcing the No Call program since solicitors that use voice communication would be covered by the rule, while businesses that solicit via text would be regulated only by statute. If the department does not modify the existing solicitor registration fee structure, businesses that solicit residential customers via text message may not be required to pay a registration fee to the department, while solicitors that use voice communication will continue to pay registration fees.
If the department does not prohibit “spoofing", recipients may continue to receive telephone solicitations which lack accurate identification of the caller's telephone number.
Statutory Authority for the Rule (Including the Statutory Citation and Language)
93.07 Department duties. It shall be the duty of the department:
(1) REGULATIONS. To make and enforce such regulations, not inconsistent with law, as it may deem necessary for the exercise and discharge of all the powers and duties of the department, and to adopt such measures and make such regulations as are necessary and proper for the enforcement by the state of chs.
93 to
100, which regulations shall have the force of law.
100.20 (2) (a) The department, after public hearing, may issue general orders forbidding methods of competition in business or trade practices in business which are determined by the department to be unfair. The department, after public hearing, may issue general orders prescribing methods of competition in business or trade practices in business which are determined by the department to be fair.
100.52 (2) (b) The department shall promulgate rules for establishing, maintaining and semiannually updating a directory that includes listings of residential customers who do not wish to receive telephone solicitations made on behalf of telephone solicitors.
Estimate of the Amount of Time that State Employees will Spend to Develop the Rule and of Other Resources Necessary to Develop the Rule
DATCP estimates that it will use approximately .02 FTE staff to develop this rule. This includes time required for research and analysis, rule drafting, preparing related documents, holding public hearings and communicating with affected persons and groups. DATCP will use existing staff to develop this rule.
Description of All Entities that May be Impacted by the Rule
The part of this rulemaking related to text messaging will impact any businesses that solicit Wisconsin residential customers through text messages. It will not impact entities that solicit residential customers that are current clients or non-profit and political organizations that solicit residential customers via text message. The part of this rule related to “spoofing" will impact businesses that conduct telephone or text message solicitations of Wisconsin residential customers.
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 federal CAN-SPAM Act prohibits sending commercial electronic mail (e-mail) messages to wireless devices, including cellular phones and pagers, unless the recipient provided prior authorization to receive such messages. In addition, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules prohibit sending unwanted text messages to a wireless phone number if they are sent using an auto dialer. Finally, FCC rules prohibit sending unwanted text messages to a telephone number on the national Do Not Call list.
Anticipated Economic Impact
DATCP anticipates that the proposed rule will have minimal economic impact statewide and locally.
Contact Person
Sandy Chalmers, Administrator of the Division of Trade and Consumer Protection, DATCP; Phone (608) 224-4929.
Natural Resources
Fish, Game, etc., Chs.
NR 1—
This statement of scope was approved by the governor on April 12, 2012.
Rule No.
