AB606: Bill Text

LRB-4274/1

ALL:all:all

1997 - 1998 LEGISLATURE

1997 Assembly BILL 606

November 13, 1997 - Introduced by Committee on Rules. Referred to Calendar.

AB606,4,5 An Act to repeal 66.46 (6) (dm) 3. b. and 86.195 (2) (ag) 16m.; to renumber and amend 48.685 (2) (b) 3. and 50.065 (2) (b) 3.; to consolidate, renumber and amend 66.46 (6) (dm) 3. (intro.) and a.; to amend 20.285 (1) (rc), 20.923 (1), 29.50 (1) (e), 44.72 (4) (b), 44.72 (4) (d), 46.81 (2), 46.81 (5), 48.561 (3) (a), 48.57 (3p) (d), 48.685 (1) (a), 48.685 (2) (am) (intro.), 48.685 (2) (b) 1. (intro.), 48.685 (2) (bg), 48.685 (2) (c), 48.685 (3) (a), 48.685 (3) (b), 48.685 (6) (b), 48.685 (7) (a), 49.141 (1) (p), 49.141 (7) (c) (intro.), 49.22 (2m), 49.45 (18) (b) 6., 50.065 (1) (b), 50.065 (1) (c) (intro.), 50.065 (1) (c) 3., 50.065 (2) (a) (intro.), 50.065 (2) (am) (intro.), 50.065 (2) (b) 1. (intro.), 50.065 (2) (bg), 50.065 (2) (c), 50.065 (3) (a), 50.065 (3) (b), 50.065 (5) (intro.), 50.065 (5m), 50.065 (6) (a), 50.065 (6) (b), 50.065 (7) (a), 59.53 (5), 66.46 (6) (c), 66.46 (7) (a), 70.375 (6), 71.06 (2s) (a), 71.07 (2dx) (a) 5., 71.28 (1dx) (a) 5., 71.47 (1dx) (a) 5., 71.64 (9) (b), 78.58 (3), 118.51 (4) (a) (intro.), 118.52 (4), 125.51 (3) (e) 3., 125.51 (4) (br) 1. b., c. and d., 146.40 (4r) (am), 166.215 (5), 180.1130 (10m), 196.202 (1), 196.218 (3) (a) 3., 287.23 (3) (a) 2., 287.23 (5) (c) 2., 287.23 (7), 299.80 (16), 348.27 (9m) (a) 3., 560.785 (1) (c) 1., 560.785 (1) (c) 2., 565.05 (1) (intro.), 565.05 (1) (a), 565.17 (5) (a), 632.746 (2) (b), 973.09 (3) (bm) 3., 973.09 (3) (bm) 4., 980.06 (2) (c) and 980.08 (5); to repeal and recreate 48.561 (3) (a), 49.155 (1m) (a) 1m., 77.53 (9m) and 77.54 (14) (f); to create 20.566 (1) (b), 36.54 (2) (f), 48.685 (5) (f), 48.685 (7) (am), 50.065 (1) (c) 6., 50.065 (2) (am) 5., 50.065 (2) (b) 1. e., 50.065 (5) (f), 50.065 (7) (am), 66.46 (6) (dp) and 196.218 (5) (a) 7. of the statutes; and to affect 1997 Wisconsin Act 27, section 9137 (9c) and 1997 Wisconsin Act 27, section 9143 (1m); relating to: the application of the business combination and the control share voting restriction provisions of the business corporation law; dry cleaning fees; the regulation of providers of domestic public commercial mobile radio service; nontarget population members; pregnancy as a preexisting condition; the date by which certain school board resolutions pertaining to the open enrollment programs must be adopted; loans made to school districts by the technology for educational achievement in Wisconsin board; the method for calculating contributions to the universal service fund; use of the universal service fund to make grants to certain school districts for telecommunications access; financial assistance for local recycling programs; funding for a boat landing located on the Wisconsin River in the town of Buena Vista; grants awarded by the environmental education board that are related to forestry; the transportation and sale of fish; reports concerning the environmental cooperation pilot program; funding for air and solid and hazardous waste programs; studies of fish in the Great Lakes; restrictions on the placement of sexually violent persons who are granted supervised release; provision of information necessary for the administration of child support and economic support programs; copayments under the medical assistance program for specialized medical vehicle services; eligibility for child care subsidies under the Wisconsin works program; increased funding for the benefit specialist program for older individuals; the amount that a county having a population of 500,000 or more must contribute for the provision of child welfare services in that county by the department of health and family services; the photographing of a person applying for or receiving kinship care payments, of employes and prospective employes of a person applying for or receiving kinship care payments and of adult residents and prospective adult residents of the home of a person applying for or receiving kinship care payments; criminal history and abuse record searches of persons applying to the department of health and family services for a license, certification or registration to operate certain entities that care for children or adults and of employes, prospective employes, adult residents and prospective adult residents of those entities; eliminating cross-references to the Wisconsin works health plan; the indexing of the mining tax; computing the aviation fuel tax; a sales tax and use tax exemption for samples of medicine and registration for use tax purposes; tax increment sharing for tax incremental financing districts in Oshkosh that contain polluted soil; changing conflict of interest provisions and lottery participation restrictions that affect certain employes of the department of revenue; the department of revenue's expenses to administer the fee on vehicle rentals; the international fuel tax agreement; directing the department of revenue to not adjust individual income tax withholding tables and making a technical adjustment in the calculation of income tax liability by individual nonresidents and part-year residents of this state; weight limitations for vehicles and combinations of vehicles transporting bulk potatoes; specific information signs along STH 172; salary-setting authority of certain state bodies; reserve "Class B" intoxicating liquor licenses; the abolishment of the emergency response board; revocation of probation for failure to pay supervision fees owed to the department of corrections; and making an appropriation.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

COMMERCE

Wisconsin's business corporations law contains various provisions which generally protect Wisconsin corporations from hostile take-overs. Prior to the enactment of 1997 Wisconsin Act 27 (the budget act), these antitake-over provisions used 2 different terms to describe the corporations to which these provisions applied. Certain provisions applied to "resident domestic corporations"; others applied to "issuing public corporations". The budget act revised these antitake-over provisions to use the term "resident domestic corporation" throughout. However, the revised definition inadvertently excludes publicly traded corporations and includes private corporations, when the reverse was intended. This bill corrects this error and modifies the definition of "resident domestic corporation" to apply only if the corporation has a class of voting stock that is registered or traded on a national securities exchange or that is registered under federal securities law.

Under current law, dry cleaners are subject to an annual fee of 1.8% of their previous year's gross receipts. Under this bill, for the first year of the fee (1998) it is equal to the gross receipts from the effective date of the 1997-98 biennial budget act (October 14, 1997) to December 31, 1997.

Under current law, a cellular mobile radio telecommunications utility is not subject to the same regulation by the public service commission as certain other providers of telecommunications services. A "cellular mobile radio telecommunications utility" is defined as a person authorized by the federal communications commission (FCC) to provide domestic public commercial mobile cellular radio telecommunications service under federal law.

This bill changes the definition of "cellular mobile radio telecommunications utility" to mean a person authorized by the FCC to provide domestic public commercial mobile radio service under federal law.

The department of commerce administers the development zone program. Generally, after the department of commerce designates an area as a development zone, a person that conducts economic development activity in the area is certified by the department of commerce as eligible for certain tax credits. A person may claim up to $6,500 in tax credits for creating or retaining a full-time job that is filled by an individual who is a member of the target population and up to $4,000 in tax credits for creating or retaining a full-time job that is filled by an individual who is not a member of the target population. (Members of the target population are specifically described in the statutes and targeted for economic benefit under the program.) This bill specifies that the individuals who are not members of the target population must be Wisconsin residents.

Under current law, a group health benefit plan, which is a health benefit plan that is issued to an employer on behalf of a group that consists of at least 2 employes, may not impose a preexisting condition exclusion related to pregnancy as a preexisting condition. This bill qualifies that requirement by specifying that the preexisting condition exclusion related to pregnancy may not be imposed for the purpose of coverage of expenses related to prenatal and postnatal care, delivery and complications of pregnancy.

Education

Under the full-time and part-time open enrollment programs, currently each school board is required to adopt a resolution by December 1997 specifying various school board criteria and policies relating to the programs.

This bill changes the date by which the resolution must be adopted to February 1, 1998.

Under current law, the technology for educational achievement in Wisconsin board (the TEACH board) may make subsidized loans to school districts and to public library boards for the purpose of upgrading the electrical wiring of school and library buildings and for the purpose of installing and upgrading computer network wiring. These subsidized loans are funded with public debt contracted by the state. Under current law, the term of the state public debt used to fund the subsidized loans may not exceed 10 years. This bill removes this restriction on the term of the public debt used to fund the subsidized loans and instead provides that the term of the subsidized loans made to school districts and public library boards may not exceed 10 years.

Under current law, the public service commission (PSC) must promulgate rules establishing an educational telecommunications access program under which certain educational entities, including private schools, are provided access to data lines and video circuits. The educational entities are required to pay a certain portion of the cost of such access. The costs in excess of this portion are paid from the universal service fund, which is also used to fund certain other programs. Certain telecommunications providers and other persons are required to contribute to the universal service fund. The PSC must designate a method for calculating the required contributions that ensures that the contributions are sufficient to pay the cost of the educational telecommunications access program that is in excess of the portion that is paid by educational entities that are not private schools.

Under this bill, the method for calculating the required contributions to the universal service fund must also ensure that the contributions are sufficient to pay the cost of the educational telecommunications access program that is in excess of the portion that is paid by private schools.

Under current law, the technology for educational achievement in Wisconsin board (board) awards grants from the universal service fund to certain school districts to pay a portion of the costs incurred under certain contracts for telecommunications access that the school districts entered into before October 14, 1997. The PSC is required to use the moneys in the universal service fund only for specified purposes which do not include the grants awarded by the board to the school districts. This bill specifies that the PSC may use the universal fund to make the grants awarded by the board to school districts.

Environment and natural resources

Under current law, this state awards grants to local governmental units for the operation of local recycling programs. The grants are funded through the year 2000.

This bill specifies that the eligibility requirements and the formula for determining the amount of the grant for the year 2000 are the same requirements and formula used for 1999. The bill also establishes the year 2000 as the sunset date of the grant program.

This bill corrects a reference to the location of a boat landing for which Richland County received funding under the recreational boating project program in the 1997 biennial budget act.

Current law authorizes the environmental education board to award grants to nonprofit corporations and public agencies to develop, disseminate and present environmental education programs. Moneys are appropriated from the conservation fund for such grants that are related to forestry.

This bill allows the environmental education board to use up to 5% of the amount appropriated from the conservation fund to administer the grants that are related to forestry.

Under current law, state fish hatcheries, the propagation, transportation and transplanting of fish by the department of natural resources (DNR), the removal of deleterious fish by DNR, the transportation of fish in or out of the state by other states or by the federal government and the transportation and sale of fish by any person are exempt from any law that protects wild animals. This bill limits this exemption for the transportation and sale of fish to those fish that are raised on fish farms.

This bill eliminates 2 references in the statutes to the environmental performance council, which was proposed to be created in the 1997 budget bill but was deleted from the budget bill in the legislative process.

This bill also makes 2 minor adjustments in appropriations to DNR.

This bill provides funding to the department of natural resources to study fish in the Great Lakes.

Social services

Currently, a person who is found by a jury or a judge to be be a sexually violent person must be committed to the custody of the department of health and family services (DHFS) for control, care and treatment. A sexually violent person is a person who has committed certain sexually violent offenses and who is dangerous because he or she suffers from a mental disorder that makes it substantially probable that the person will engage in acts of sexual violence. A person found to be a sexually violent person must be committed either to institutional care or for supervised release to the community. A person initially committed to institutional care is placed in a mental health facility by DHFS, but the person may later be given supervised release if it is no longer substantially probable that the person will engage in acts of sexual violence if he or she is not confined in a mental health unit or facility.

Generally, if a sexually violent person is given supervised release, the social services department of the person's county of residence must prepare a plan identifying the treatment and services the person will receive in the community. If the county of residence declines to prepare such a plan, DHFS must try to arrange for another county to prepare a plan for the person and accept the supervision and residence of the person.

However, if DHFS cannot get another county to prepare a plan, the court must designate a county to prepare a plan and place the person on supervised release in that county, except that the court may not designate the county where the facility in which the person was committed for institutional care is located unless that county is also the person's county of residence.

This bill provides that if a sexually violent person is being given supervised release and the court must designate a county to prepare a plan for and accept the supervision and residence of the person, the court may not designate any county where there is a facility in which persons are placed after being committed to institutional care for being a sexually violent predator, regardless of whether the person was actually placed in the facility of that county, unless that county is the person's county of residence.