LRB-0972/P1
KRP:emw
2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
DOA:......Schmidt, BB0105 - Certificates of Qualification for Employment
For 2023-2025 Budget -- Not Ready For Introduction
An Act ...; relating to: the budget.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Courts and procedure
Circuit courts
Certificates of qualification for employment
This bill eliminates the $20 application fee for an individual convicted of a crime to apply for a certificate of qualification for employment. Under current law, certain nonviolent offenders who have been released from confinement may apply to the Council on Offender Employment for a certificate, and the council generally must approve an offender's application if the council finds that the offender is not likely to pose a risk to public safety, that the certificate will substantially assist the offender in obtaining employment or occupational licensing or certification, and that the offender is less likely to commit an additional criminal offense if the offender obtains a certificate. Under current law, a certificate provides relief to an offender from ineligibility for or disadvantage related to employment, occupational licensing, or occupational certification that results from the offender's criminal record. A certificate also incentivizes an employer to hire an offender by providing the employer with limited immunity from civil liability related to acts or omissions of the offender.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
Section
1. 20.625 (1) (h) of the statutes is repealed.
****Note: This Section
involves a change in an appropriation that must be reflected in the revised schedule in s. 20.005, stats.
Section
2. 973.25 (4) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
973.25 (4) (a) An offender may file an application for a certificate of qualification for employment with the council on offender employment on a form to be provided by the director of state courts along with an application fee of $20 that shall be deposited in the appropriation under s. 20.625 (1) (h). The council may waive the fee if the offender submits an affidavit along with the application in which he or she swears or affirms that he or she is unable to pay the application fee.
Section 9207.
Fiscal changes; Circuit Courts.
(1) Certificates of qualification for employment appropriation. The unencumbered balance in s. 20.625 (1) (h), 2021 stats., is transferred to s. 20.625 (1) (g).
Section 9307.
Initial applicability; Circuit Courts.
(1) Certificates of qualification for employment. The treatment of s. 973.25 (4) (a) first applies to an application submitted on the effective date of this subsection.
(End)
