AB100: Bill Text Engrossed

AB100-engrossed,576,10 4. That the claimant agrees to accept any wildlife damage abatement measures offered by the department under sub. (4) (c).

AB100-engrossed,576,14 (d) Payment of claims. The department shall pay wildlife damage claims based on the amount claimed if the claim meets all of the requirements of par. (c). In calculating the amount to be paid for a claim, the department shall determine the amount as follows:

AB100-engrossed,576,16 1. If the amount of the claim is $250 or less, the claimant will receive no payment.

AB100-engrossed,576,18 2. If the amount of claim is more than $250 but not more than $5,250, the claimant will be paid 100% of the amount of the claim that exceeds $250.

AB100-engrossed,576,21 3. If the amount of the claim is more than $5,250, the claimant will be paid the amount calculated under subd. 2., plus 80% of the amount of the claim that exceeds $5,250, subject to subd. 4.

AB100-engrossed,576,23 4. The total amount paid to a claimant under this paragraph may not exceed $15,000 for each claim.

AB100-engrossed,577,3 (dm) Deadline for payment. The department shall pay wildlife damage claims to the claimants no later than June 1 of the calendar year after the claim is submitted.

AB100-engrossed,577,7 (e) Proration. For a given fiscal year, if the total amount remaining under the appropriation under s. 20.370 (5) (fq) after making the payments required under sub. (4) is insufficient to pay the total amount payable in wildlife damage claims under par. (d), the department shall prorate the payments for the damage claims.

AB100-engrossed,577,10 (4) Wildlife damage abatement. (a) Persons eligible. An owner or lessee of land, a person who controls land or an apiary or livestock owner is eligible for wildlife damage abatement assistance under this subsection.

AB100-engrossed,577,16 (am) Type of damage eligible. The type of wildlife damage that is eligible for wildlife damage abatement assistance shall be limited to damage to commercial seedings or crops growing on agricultural land, damage to crops that have been harvested for sale or further use but that have not been removed from the agricultural land, damage to orchard trees or nursery stock or damage to apiaries or livestock.

AB100-engrossed,577,19 (b) Abatement requests. A person who is eligible under par. (a) may request that the department approve wildlife damage abatement measures and may apply for funding for the approved measures.

AB100-engrossed,577,22 (c) Abatement for wildlife damage claims. 1. The department may offer wildlife damage abatement measures to any person who is eligible under par. (a) as a condition for receiving a claim payment under sub. (3).

AB100-engrossed,578,2 2. If a person refuses to accept the wildlife damage abatement measures offered by the department under subd. 1., the person may not receive a claim payment under sub. (3) for the land, apiaries or livestock that would have been subject to the abatement measures.

AB100-engrossed,578,7 (d) Payment. The department may offer or approve only those wildlife damage abatement measures that are cost-effective in relation to the wildlife damage claim payments that would be paid if the wildlife damage abatement measures are not implemented. The department shall provide funding for the entire cost of any wildlife damage abatement measures implemented under this subsection.

AB100-engrossed,578,19 (5) Land required to be open to hunting; penalties. (a) Requirements. A person who receives wildlife damage abatement assistance or wildlife damage claim payments and any other person who owns, leases or controls the land where the wildlife damage occurred shall permit hunting of the wild animals causing the wildlife damage on that land and on contiguous land under the same ownership, lease or control. In order to satisfy the requirement to permit hunting under this subsection, the land shall be open to hunting during the appropriate open season. The department, shall determine the acreage of land suitable for hunting. This subsection does not prohibit a person who owns, leases or occupies land on which wildlife damage occurs and who does not have the authority to control entry on the land for the purposes of hunting from receiving wildlife damage abatement assistance or wildlife damage claim payments.

AB100-engrossed,578,23 (am) Exemption. The requirements to allow hunting under par. (a) do not apply to a person seeking wildlife damage abatement assistance if the person does not have authority to control entry on the land that is subject to those requirements and if the damage on the land is damage to apiaries.

AB100-engrossed,578,25 (b) Penalties. If any person who is required to permit hunting on land as required under par. (a) fails to do so, the person is liable for all of the following:

AB100-engrossed,579,1 1. Repayment of any money paid for a wildlife damage claim.

AB100-engrossed,579,3 2. Payment of the cost of any abatement funding or measures paid for by the department under this section.

AB100-engrossed,579,6 3. Payment of the costs to the department for reviewing and approving the wildlife damage claim or abatement measure or abatement funding and the costs to the department in investigating the failure to permit hunting on the land.

AB100-engrossed,579,14 (6) Amount of funding. In each fiscal year, the department shall submit to the joint committee on finance a proposal for the amount of funds to be expended under the wildlife damage claim and abatement program. The department may not expend any moneys in any fiscal year for the program until the joint committee on finance has approved the proposal for that fiscal year. The department may request the joint committee on finance to amend the amount of any expenditure approved under this subsection for a fiscal year and the committee may thereafter approve a revised amount for expenditure in that fiscal year.

AB100-engrossed,579,18 (7) Review. The department's determination of the amount of wildlife damage, the amount of a wildlife damage claim or the requirements for and funding of wildlife damage abatement measures shall be treated as final decisions for purposes of review.

AB100-engrossed,579,22 (8) Records; entry to land. (a) Records. A person receiving wildlife damage abatement assistance or wildlife damage claim payments and a wildlife damage estimator shall retain all records as required by the department and make them available to the department for inspection at reasonable times.

AB100-engrossed,579,25 (b) Entry to land. The department may enter and inspect, at reasonable times, any land for which a wildlife damage claim has been submitted or for which wildlife damage abatement measures have been implemented.

AB100-engrossed,580,5 (c) Responsibilities. No person may refuse entry or access to or withhold records from the department under this subsection. No person may obstruct or interfere with an inspection by the department. The department, if requested, shall furnish to the person a report setting forth all of the factual findings by the department that relate to the inspection.

AB100-engrossed,580,12 (9) Audits. The department shall conduct random audits of claims paid and abatement measures offered or approved under this section. The department shall conduct audits of all claims submitted by and payments made under sub. (3) to department employes or wildlife damage estimators certified under sub. (2) (c) and of all abatement measures for the benefit of crops, livestock or apiaries owned or controlled by these employes or damage estimators for which funding was provided under sub. (4).

AB100-engrossed,580,19 (10) Negligence; fraud; penalties. (a) Joint and several liability. For a given claim or request for wildlife damage claim payments or abatement funding under the wildlife damage claim and abatement program, if the person filing the claim or requesting the funding or the wildlife damage estimator negligently makes, or causes to be made, a false statement or representation of a material fact in making the claim or request, the person and the wildlife damage estimator are jointly and severally liable for all of the following:

AB100-engrossed,580,20 1. Repayment of any money paid to the person filing the claim.

AB100-engrossed,580,22 2. Payment of the cost of any abatement funding or measures paid for by the department under this section.

AB100-engrossed,581,2 3. Payment of the costs to the department for reviewing and approving the wildlife damage claim or abatement measure or abatement funding and the costs to the department in investigating and determining whether a false statement or representation was made.

AB100-engrossed,581,5 (b) Fraud. No person may knowingly make or cause to be made any false statement or representation of material fact under the wildlife damage claim and abatement program.

AB100-engrossed,581,7 (c) Fraud; penalties. A court finding a person to be in violation of par. (b) may order any of the following:

AB100-engrossed,581,8 1. That the person make any of the payments under par. (a) 1. to 3.

AB100-engrossed,581,11 2. That the person pay a forfeiture equal to 2 times the total amount of wildlife damage claim payments received and the value of any wildlife abatement measures implemented, plus an amount not to exceed $1,000.

AB100-engrossed,581,14 3. The revocation of the person's privileges or approvals under s. 29.99 (12) if the person violating par. (b) owns, leases or controls land, or owns livestock or apiaries, to which the false statement or representation relates.

AB100-engrossed,581,17 4. That the person be prohibited from receiving any benefits under the wildlife damage claim and abatement program for a period of 10 years commencing after the day that the false statement or representation occurred.

AB100-engrossed,581,20 (d) Penalties; fraud; damage estimators. The department shall revoke the certification under sub. (2) (c) of a wildlife damage estimator whom a court finds to be in violation of par. (b).

AB100-engrossed,582,2 (e) Other liability. Any person who owns, leases or controls land or owns livestock or apiaries for which a benefit was received in violation of par. (b) is not eligible for any benefits under the wildlife damage claim and abatement program for a period of 10 years commencing after the day on which the false statement or representation occurred, regardless of whether the person knew or should have known of the false statement or misrepresentation.

AB100-engrossed,582,5 (11) Annual report. (a) Contents. The department shall prepare an annual report concerning wildlife damage and the wildlife damage claim and abatement program, including a summary of each of the following:

AB100-engrossed,582,6 1. All of the wildlife damage believed to have occurred in the state.

AB100-engrossed,582,7 2. The wildlife damage claims that were submitted under this section.

AB100-engrossed,582,9 3. The wildlife damage abatement measures that were offered or approved under this section.

AB100-engrossed,582,11 4. The percentage of the total number of submitted wildlife damage claims that are rejected for failure to meet the requirements of the program.

AB100-engrossed,582,13 5. The percentage of the total number of wildlife damage claims for which the amount of the payment to the claimant was prorated under sub. (3) (e).

AB100-engrossed,582,18 (b) Submission; distribution. 1. The department shall submit the report under this subsection no later than January 1 of each year for distribution to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature in the manner provided under s. 13.172 (3). Except as provided in subd. 2., the report shall cover the 12-month period ending on the October 31 that immediately precedes the date of the report.

AB100-engrossed,582,20 2. The report that is submitted before January 1, 1999, shall cover the 10-month period ending on October 31, 1998.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139s Section 1139s. 29.60 (2g) of the statutes is created to read:

AB100-engrossed,582,24 29.60 (2g) (a) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to toxicants placed in the waters of a self-contained fish rearing facility or a state or municipal fish hatchery if the toxicants are necessary to the operation of the fish farm or fish hatchery.

AB100-engrossed,583,4 (b) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to toxicants placed in the waters of a preexisting fish rearing facility that is an artificial body of water if the toxicants are necessary to the operation of the fish farm and the department has issued a permit under s. 283.31 for the preexisting fish rearing facility.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139tm Section 1139tm. 29.62 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB100-engrossed,583,9 29.62 (1) The department may take rough fish by means of seines, nets or other devices, or cause rough fish to be taken, from any of the waters of this state, other than waters in a self-contained fish rearing facility or in a preexisting fish rearing facility that is barrier equipped and that is an artificial body of water.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139um Section 1139um. 29.623 of the statutes is renumbered 29.623 (1).

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139ur Section 1139ur. 29.623 (2) of the statutes is created to read:

AB100-engrossed,583,14 29.623 (2) Subsection (1) does not authorize the department to remove fish from a self-contained fish rearing facility or from a preexisting fish rearing facility that is an artificial body of water unless one or more of the following apply:

AB100-engrossed,583,18 (a) The fish are of a species that is not native to this state and the department determines that having the fish in that particular self-contained fish rearing facility or preexisting fish rearing facility poses a risk of being detrimental to the waters of the state.

AB100-engrossed,583,21 (b) The department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection has requested that the department of natural resources remove the fish to address a problem affecting fish health.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139v Section 1139v. 29.645 of the statutes is amended to read:

AB100-engrossed,584,2 29.645 Larceny of game. A person who, without permission of the owner, molests, disturbs or appropriates any wild animal or its carcass that has been lawfully reduced to possession by another shall forfeit not less than $1,000 nor more than $2,000. This section does not apply to farm-raised deer or farm-raised fish.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139vv Section 1139vv. 29.65 (1) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB100-engrossed,584,9 29.65 (1) (intro.) The department may bring a civil action in the name of the state for the recovery of damages against any person unlawfully killing, wounding, catching, taking, trapping, or having unlawfully in possession or possessing in violation of this chapter any of the following named protected wild animals, birds, or fish, or any part of an animal, bird or fish, and the sum assessed for damages for each wild animal, bird, or fish shall be not less than the amount stated in this section:

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139w Section 1139w. 29.99 (15) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB100-engrossed,584,18 29.99 (15) In any prosecution under this section it is not necessary for the state to allege or prove that the animals were not farm-raised deer, farm-raised fish or domesticated animals;, that they were not taken for scientific purposes, or that they were taken or in possession or under control without a required approval. The person claiming that these animals were farm-raised deer, farm-raised fish or domesticated animals, that they were taken for scientific purposes or that they were taken or in possession or under control under the required approval, has the burden of proving these facts.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139w Section 1139w. 30.12 (4) (bn) of the statutes is created to read:

AB100-engrossed,584,24 30.12 (4) (bn) Any interdepartmental liaison procedures established under par. (b) that relate to mitigation of wetland loss may not regulate or give priority to sites for the wetlands to be created or restored based solely on proximity of the sites to the wetlands to be lost except that the procedures may give priority to sites that are in the same watersheds or aquifers as are the wetlands to be lost.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139x Section 1139x. 30.1255 (1) (intro.) and (a) of the statutes are consolidated, renumbered 30.1255 (1) and amended to read:

AB100-engrossed,585,7 30.1255 (1) (title) Definitions Definition. In this section: (a) "Aquatic, "aquatic nuisance species" means a nonindigenous species that threatens the diversity or abundance of native species or the ecological stability of infested waters or that threatens a commercial, agricultural, aquacultural or recreational activity dependent on infested waters.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139y Section 1139y. 30.1255 (1) (b) of the statutes is repealed.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139z Section 1139z. 30.1255 (2) of the statutes is repealed.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139zb Section 1139zb. 30.1255 (3) (a) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB100-engrossed,585,12 30.1255 (3) (a) (intro.) After consulting with the council, the The department shall submit periodically to the legislature reports describing all of the following:

AB100-engrossed, s. 1139zm Section 1139zm. 30.135 of the statutes is created to read:

AB100-engrossed,585,17 30.135 Regulation of water ski platforms and jumps. (1) When permit required. (a) A riparian proprietor may place a water ski platform or water ski jump in a navigable waterway without obtaining a permit if all of the following requirements are met:

AB100-engrossed,585,19 1. The platform or jump does not interfere with public rights in navigable waters.

AB100-engrossed,585,21 2. The platform or jump does not interfere with rights of other riparian proprietors.

AB100-engrossed,585,23 3. The platform or jump is located at a site that ensures adequate water depth and clearance for safe water skiing.

AB100-engrossed,585,25 (b) If the department determines that any of the requirements under par. (a) are not met, the riparian owner shall submit a permit application to the department.

AB100-engrossed,586,11 (2) Notice and hearing procedure. (a) Upon receipt of a complete permit application, the department shall either order a hearing or provide notice stating that it will proceed on the application without a hearing unless a substantive written objection to issuance of the permit is received within 30 days after publication of the notice. The department shall provide a copy of the notice to the applicant for the permit, the clerk of each municipality in which the water ski platform or water ski jump is to be located and to any other person required by law to receive notice. The department may provide notice to other persons as it considers appropriate. The applicant shall publish the notice as a class 1 notice under ch. 985 in a newspaper designated by the department that is likely to give notice in the area affected. The applicant shall file proof of publication with the department.

AB100-engrossed,586,15 (b) If the department receives no substantive written objection to the permit and proceeds on the permit application without a hearing, the department shall approve or disapprove the permit within 5 days after the date that the 30-day period under par. (a) expires.

AB100-engrossed,586,25 (c) If the department orders a hearing on the permit application, the hearing shall be scheduled within 30 days after the date on which the department orders the hearing. The division of hearings and appeals shall mail copies of the written notice of the hearing at least 10 days before the hearing to each person provided the notice under par. (a). The division of hearings and appeals shall mail the copies at least 10 days before the hearing except that it shall mail the copy to the applicant for the permit at least 20 days before the hearing. The applicant shall publish the notice as a class 1 notice under ch. 985 in a newspaper designated by the department that is likely to give notice in the area affected. The applicant shall file proof of the publication with the hearing examiner at or prior to the hearing.

AB100-engrossed,587,3 (3) Rules. (a) The department shall promulgate a rule listing specific reasons that will support a substantive written objection to the placement of a water ski platform or water ski jump.

AB100-engrossed,587,6 (b) The department shall promulgate rules specifying the information that shall be disclosed in an notice under sub. (2) (a). The disclosed information shall include all of the following:

AB100-engrossed,587,9 1. A statement explaining what constitutes a substantive written objection and the list of specific reasons that support a substantive written objection that is promulgated under par. (a).

AB100-engrossed,587,11 2. The fact that the department may decide to proceed on the application without a hearing.

AB100-engrossed,587,13 3. The fact that a decision to proceed on an application without a hearing under subd. 2. is subject to review under ch. 227.

AB100-engrossed,587,15 (4) Exemption. Section 30.02 does not apply to permit applications submitted under this section.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1140 Section 1140. 30.277 (3) (k) of the statutes is created to read:

AB100-engrossed,587,18 30.277 (3) (k) Whether the project is related to brownfields redevelopment, as defined in s. 23.09 (19) (a) 1.

AB100-engrossed, s. 1141 Section 1141. 30.277 (6) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB100-engrossed,587,25 30.277 (6) Rules. The department shall promulgate rules for the administration of this section, including rules that specify the weight to be assigned to each criterion under sub. (3) and the minimum number of criteria under sub. (3) in which an applicant must perform satisfactorily in order to be awarded a grant. In specifying the weight to be assigned to the criteria under sub. (3), the department shall assign the greatest weight to the criterion under sub. (3) (k).