Wisconsin Legislature: 20,1285

20,1269 Section 1269. 48.47 (3) of the statutes is created to read:

48.47 (3) Trustee duty. When ordered by the court, act as trustee of funds paid for the support of any child if appointed by the court or a circuit court commissioner under s. 767.82 (7).

20,1270 Section 1270. 48.47 (4) of the statutes is created to read:

48.47 (4) Education and prevention. Develop and maintain education and prevention programs that the department considers to be proper.

20,1271 Section 1271. 48.47 (7) (title) of the statutes is created to read:

48.47 (7) (title) Children and youth.

20,1272 Section 1272. 48.48 (2b) of the statutes is created to read:

48.48 (2b) To accept gifts, grants, or donations of money or of property from private sources to be administered by the department for the execution of its functions. All moneys so received shall be paid into the general fund and may be appropriated from that fund as provided in s. 20.437 (1) (i).

20,1273 Section 1273. 48.48 (4) of the statutes is created to read:

48.48 (4) In order to discharge more effectively its responsibilities under this chapter and other relevant provisions of the statutes, to study causes and methods of prevention and treatment of problems among children and families and related social problems. The department may utilize all powers provided by the statutes, including the authority to accept grants of money or property from federal, state, or private sources, and enlist the cooperation of other appropriate agencies and state departments.

20,1274 Section 1274. 48.48 (12) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.48 (12) (a) To enter into an agreement to assist in the cost of care of a child after legal adoption when the department has determined that such assistance is necessary to assure the child's adoption. Agreements under this paragraph shall be made in accordance with s. 48.975. Payments shall be made from the appropriation under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (dd).

20,1275 Section 1275. 48.48 (17) (am) of the statutes is created to read:

48.48 (17) (am) The requirement of statewide uniformity with respect to the organization and governance of human services does not apply to the administration of child welfare services under par. (a).

20,1276 Section 1276. 48.48 (17) (c) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.48 (17) (c) (intro.) From the appropriations under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (cx), (gx), (kw), and (mx), the department may provide funding for the maintenance of any child who meets all of the following criteria:

20,1277 Section 1277. 48.48 (17) (c) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.48 (17) (c) 3. Received funding under s. 20.437 (1) (cx) or 48.569 (1) (d) or under s. 20.435 (3) (cx), 2005 stats., or 46.495 (1) (d), 2005 stats., immediately prior to his or her 18th birthday.

20,1278 Section 1278. 48.48 (17) (d) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.48 (17) (d) The funding provided for the maintenance of a child under par. (c) shall be in an amount equal to that which the child would receive under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (cx), (gx), (kw), and (mx) or 46.495 48.569 (1) (d) if the child were 17 years of age.

20,1279 Section 1279. 48.48 (18) of the statutes is created to read:

48.48 (18) To contract with public or voluntary agencies or others for the following purposes:

(a) To purchase in full or in part care and services that the department is authorized by any statute to provide as an alternative to providing that care and those services itself.

(b) To purchase or provide in full or in part the care and services that county agencies may provide or purchase under any statute and to sell to county agencies such portions of that care and those services as the county agency may desire to purchase.

(d) To sell services, under contract, that the department is authorized to provide by statute, to any federally recognized tribal governing body.

20,1283 Section 1283. 48.547 (2) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.547 (2) Department responsibilities. Within the availability of funding under s. 20.435 (7) 20.437 (1) (mb) that is available for the program, the department shall select counties to participate in the program. Unless a county department of human services has been established under s. 46.23 in the county that is seeking to implement a program, the application submitted to the department shall be a joint application by the county department that provides social services and the county department established under s. 51.42 or 51.437. The department shall select counties in accordance with the request for proposal procedures established by the department. The department shall give a preference to county applications that include a plan for case management.

20,1284g Section 1284g. 48.55 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.55 (1) The department shall establish a state adoption information exchange for the purpose of finding adoptive homes for children with special needs who do not have permanent homes and a state adoption center for the purposes of increasing public knowledge of adoption and promoting to adolescents and pregnant women the availability of adoption services. From the appropriation under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (dg), the department may provide not more than $163,700 in fiscal year 2001-02 and not more than $171,300 in each fiscal year thereafter as grants to individuals and private agencies to provide adoption information exchange services and to operate the state adoption center.

20,1285 Section 1285. 48.561 (3) (a) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.561 (3) (a) 1. Through a reduction of $37,209,200 from the amount amounts distributed to that county under s. ss. 46.40 (2) and 48.563 (2) in each state fiscal year.

20,1286 Section 1286. 48.561 (3) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.561 (3) (b) The department of administration shall collect the amount specified in par. (a) 3. from a county having a population of 500,000 or more by deducting all or part of that amount from any state payment due that county under s. 79.03, 79.04, 79.058, 79.06, or 79.08. The department of administration shall notify the department of revenue, by September 15 of each year, of the amount to be deducted from the state payments due under s. 79.03, 79.04, 79.058, 79.06, or 79.08. The department of administration shall credit all amounts collected under this paragraph to the appropriation account under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (kw) and shall notify the county from which those amounts are collected of that collection. The department may not expend any moneys from the appropriation account under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (cx) for providing services to children and families under s. 48.48 (17) until the amounts in the appropriation account under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (kw) are exhausted.

20,1287 Section 1287. 48.563 of the statutes is created to read:

48.563 Children and family aids funding. (1) Distribution limits. (a) Within the limits of available federal funds and of the appropriations under s. 20.437 (1) (b) and (o), the department shall distribute funds for children and family services to county departments as provided in subs. (2), (3), and (7m) and s. 48.986.

(d) If the department receives from the department of health and family services under s. 46.40 (1) (d) any federal moneys under 42 USC 1396 to 1396v in reimbursement of the cost of preventing out-of-home placements of children, the department shall use those moneys as the first source of moneys used to meet the amount of the allocation under sub. (2) that is budgeted from federal funds.

(2) Basic county allocation. For children and family services under s. 48.569 (1) (d), the department shall distribute not more than $67,452,000 in each fiscal year.

(14m) County children and family aids budgets. Before December 1 of each year, each county department and each tribal governing body shall submit to the department a proposed budget for the expenditure of funds allocated under this section, distributed under s. 48.565 (2) (a), or carried forward under s. 48.565 (3). The proposed budget shall be submitted on a form developed by the department and approved by the department of administration.

20,1288 Section 1288. 48.565 of the statutes is created to read:

48.565 Carry-over of children and family aids funds. Funds allocated by the department under s. 48.569 (1) (d) but not spent or encumbered by counties, governing bodies of federally recognized American Indian tribes, or private nonprofit organizations by December 31 of each year and funds recovered under s. 48.569 (2) (b) and deposited into the appropriation account under s. 20.437 (1) (b) lapse to the general fund on the succeeding January 1 unless carried forward to the next calendar year under s. 20.437 (1) (b) or as follows:

(3) At the request of a county, tribal governing body, or private nonprofit organization, the department shall carry forward up to 3 percent of the total amount allocated to the county, tribal governing body, or nonprofit organization for a calendar year. All funds carried forward for a tribal governing body or nonprofit organization and all federal child welfare funds under 42 USC 620 to 626 carried forward for a county shall be used for the purpose for which the funds were originally allocated. Other funds carried forward under this subsection may be used for any purpose under s. 20.437 (1) (b), except that a county may not use any funds carried forward under this subsection for administrative or staff costs. An allocation of carried-forward funding under this subsection does not affect a county's base allocation under s. 48.563 (2).

(6) The department may carry forward 10 percent of any funds specified in sub. (3) that are not carried forward under sub. (3) for emergencies, for justifiable unit services costs above planned levels, and for increased costs due to population shifts. An allocation of carried-forward funding under this subsection does not affect a county's base allocation under s. 48.563 (2).

20,1289 Section 1289. 48.567 of the statutes is created to read:

48.567 Expenditure of income augmentation services receipts. (1) From the appropriation account under s. 20.437 (3) (mp), the department shall support costs that are exclusively related to the ongoing and recurring operational costs of augmenting the amount of moneys received under 42 USC 670 to 679a and to any other purpose provided for by the legislature by law or in budget determinations. In addition, the department may expend moneys from the appropriation account under s. 20.437 (3) (mp) as provided in subs. (1m) and (2).

(2) If the department proposes to use any moneys from the appropriation account under s. 20.437 (3) (mp) for any purpose other than the purposes specified in subs. (1) and (1m), the department shall submit a plan for the proposed use of those moneys to the secretary of administration by September 1 of the fiscal year after the fiscal year in which those moneys were received. If the secretary of administration approves the plan, he or she shall submit the plan to the joint committee on finance by October 1 of the fiscal year after the fiscal year in which those moneys were received. If the cochairpersons of the committee do not notify the secretary of administration within 14 working days after the date of submittal of the plan that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the plan, the department may implement the plan. If within 14 working days after the date of the submittal by the secretary of administration the cochairpersons of the committee notify him or her that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the plan, the department may implement the plan only with the approval of the committee.

20,1290 Section 1290. 48.568 of the statutes is created to read:

48.568 Allocation of federal funds for children and family aids and child welfare. Subject to s. 48.563 (1) (b) and (c), if the department receives unanticipated federal foster care and adoption assistance payments under 42 USC 670 to 679a and it proposes to allocate the unanticipated funds so that an allocation limit in s. 48.563 is exceeded, the department shall submit a plan for the proposed allocation to the secretary of administration. If the secretary of administration approves the plan, he or she shall submit it to the joint committee on finance. If the cochairpersons of the committee do not notify the secretary of administration that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the plan within 14 working days after the date of his or her submittal, the department may implement the plan, notwithstanding any allocation limits under s. 48.563. If within 14 working days after the date of the submittal by the secretary of administration the cochairpersons of the committee notify him or her that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the plan, the department may implement the plan, notwithstanding s. 48.563, only with the approval of the committee.

20,1291 Section 1291. 48.569 of the statutes is created to read:

48.569 Distribution of children and family aids funds to counties. (1) (am) The department shall reimburse each county from the appropriations under s. 20.437 (1) (b) and (o) for children and family services as approved by the department under ss. 46.22 (1) (b) 2. f. and (e) 3. b.

(d) From the appropriations under s. 20.437 (1) (b) and (o), the department shall distribute the funding for children and family services, including funding for foster care, treatment foster care, or subsidized guardianship care of a child on whose behalf aid is received under s. 48.645 to county departments as provided under s. 48.563. County matching funds are required for the distribution under s. 48.563 (2). Each county's required match for the distribution under s. 48.563 (2) shall be specified in a schedule established annually by the department. Matching funds may be from county tax levies, federal and state revenue sharing funds, or private donations to the county that meet the requirements specified in sub. (1m). Private donations may not exceed 25 percent of the total county match. If the county match is less than the amount required to generate the full amount of state and federal funds distributed for this period, the decrease in the amount of state and federal funds equals the difference between the required and the actual amount of county matching funds.

(dc) The department shall prorate the amount allocated to any county department under par. (d) to reflect actual federal funds available.

(f) 1. If any state matching funds allocated under par. (d) to match county funds are not claimed, the funds shall be redistributed for the purposes the department designates.

2. The county allocation to match aid increases shall be included in the contract under s. 49.325 (2g), and approved by January 1 of the year for which funds are allocated, in order to generate state aid matching funds. All funds allocated under par. (d) shall be included in the contract under s. 49.325 (2g) and approved.

(1m) (a) A private donation to a county may be used to match the state grant-in-aid under sub. (1) (d) only if the donation is both of the following:

1. Donated to a county department and the donation is under the administrative control of that county department.

2. Donated without restrictions as to use, unless the restrictions specify that the donation be used for a particular service and the donor neither sponsors nor operates the service.

(b) Voluntary federated fund-raising organizations are not sponsors or operators of services within the meaning of par. (a) 2. Any member agency of such an organization that sponsors or operates services is considered to be an autonomous entity separate from the organization unless the board membership of the organization and the agency interlock.

(2) (a) The county treasurer and each director of a county department shall monthly certify under oath to the department, in the manner the department prescribes, the claim of the county for state reimbursement under this section, and if the department approves the claim it shall certify to the department of administration for reimbursement to the county for amounts due under this section and payment claimed to be made to the counties monthly. The department may make advance payments prior to the beginning of each month equal to one-twelfth of the contracted amount.

(b) To facilitate prompt reimbursement, the certificate of the department may be based on the certified statements of the county officers filed under par. (a). Funds recovered from audit adjustments from a prior fiscal year may be included in subsequent certifications only to pay counties owed funds as a result of any audit adjustment. By September 30 of each year the department shall submit a report to the appropriate standing committees under s. 13.172 (3) on funds recovered and paid out during the previous calendar year as a result of audit adjustments.

20,1292 Section 1292. 48.57 (1) (g) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (1) (g) Upon request of the department of health and family services or the department of corrections, to provide service for any child or expectant mother of an unborn child in the care of those departments.

20,1293 Section 1293. 48.57 (3) (a) 3. (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3) (a) 3. (intro.) Received funding under s. 48.569 (1) (d) or under s. 46.495 (1) (d), 2005 stats., immediately prior to his or her 18th birthday; and

20,1294 Section 1294. 48.57 (3) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3) (b) The funding provided for the maintenance of a child under par. (a) shall be in an amount equal to that which the child would receive under s. 46.495 48.569 (1) (d) if the child were 17 years of age.

20,1295 Section 1295. 48.57 (3m) (am) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3m) (am) (intro.) From the appropriation under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (kc), the department shall reimburse counties having populations of less than 500,000 for payments made under this subsection and shall make payments under this subsection in a county having a population of 500,000 or more. A county department and, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department shall make payments in the amount of $215 per month to a kinship care relative who is providing care and maintenance for a child if all of the following conditions are met:

20,1296 Section 1296. 48.57 (3m) (e) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3m) (e) The department shall determine whether the child is eligible for medical assistance under ss. 49.43 to 49.47 49.471.

20,1297 Section 1297. 48.57 (3n) (am) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3n) (am) (intro.) From the appropriation under s. 20.435 (3) 20.437 (1) (kc), the department shall reimburse counties having populations of less than 500,000 for payments made under this subsection and shall make payments under this subsection in a county having a population of 500,000 or more. A county department and, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department shall make monthly payments for each child in the amount specified in sub. (3m) (am) (intro.) to a long-term kinship care relative who is providing care and maintenance for that child if all of the following conditions are met:

20,1298 Section 1298. 48.57 (3n) (e) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3n) (e) The department shall determine whether the child is eligible for medical assistance under ss. 49.43 to 49.47 49.471.

20,1299 Section 1299. 48.57 (3p) (b) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3p) (b) 1. After receipt of an application for payments under sub. (3m) or (3n) or s. 48.62 (5) (a) or (b), the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department of health and family services, with the assistance of the department of justice, shall conduct a background investigation of the applicant.

20,1300 Section 1300. 48.57 (3p) (b) 2. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3p) (b) 2. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department of health and family services, with the assistance of the department of justice, may conduct a background investigation of any person who is receiving payments under sub. (3m) at the time of review under sub. (3m) (d) or at any other time that the county department or department of health and family services considers to be appropriate.

20,1301 Section 1301. 48.57 (3p) (b) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3p) (b) 3. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department of health and family services, with the assistance of the department of justice, may conduct a background investigation of any person who is receiving payments under sub. (3n) or s. 48.62 (5) (a) or (b) at any time that the county department or department of health and family services considers to be appropriate.

20,1302 Section 1302. 48.57 (3p) (c) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3p) (c) 1. After receipt of an application for payments under sub. (3m) or (3n) or s. 48.62 (5) (a) or (b), the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department of health and family services, with the assistance of the department of justice, shall, in addition to the investigation under par. (b) 1., conduct a background investigation of all employees and prospective employees of the applicant who have or would have regular contact with the child for whom those payments are being made and of each adult resident.

20,1303 Section 1303. 48.57 (3p) (c) 2. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3p) (c) 2. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department of health and family services, with the assistance of the department of justice, may conduct a background investigation of any of the employees or prospective employees of any person who is receiving payments under sub. (3m) who have or would have regular contact with the child for whom those payments are being made and of each adult resident at the time of review under sub. (3m) (d) or at any other time that the county department or department of health and family services considers to be appropriate.

20,1304 Section 1304. 48.57 (3p) (c) 2m. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3p) (c) 2m. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department of health and family services, with the assistance of the department of justice, may conduct a background investigation of any of the employees or prospective employees of any person who is receiving payments under sub. (3n) or s. 48.62 (5) (a) or (b) who have or would have regular contact with the child for whom payments are being made and of each adult resident at any time that the county department or department of health and family services considers to be appropriate.

20,1305 Section 1305. 48.57 (3p) (c) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3p) (c) 3. Before a person who is receiving payments under sub. (3m) or (3n) or s. 48.62 (5) (a) or (b) may employ any person in a position in which that person would have regular contact with the child for whom those payments are being made or permit any person to be an adult resident, the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department of health and family services, with the assistance of the department of justice, shall conduct a background investigation of the prospective employee or prospective adult resident unless that person has already been investigated under subd. 1., 2. or 2m.

20,1306 Section 1306. 48.57 (3p) (d) of the statutes is amended to read:

48.57 (3p) (d) If the person being investigated under par. (b) or (c) is a nonresident, or at any time within the 5 years preceding the date of the application has been a nonresident, or if the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department of health and family services determines that the person's employment, licensing or state court records provide a reasonable basis for further investigation, the county department or department of health and family services shall require the person to be fingerprinted on 2 fingerprint cards, each bearing a complete set of the person's fingerprints. The department of justice may provide for the submission of the fingerprint cards to the federal bureau of investigation for the purposes of verifying the identity of the person fingerprinted and obtaining records of his or her criminal arrest and conviction.