SB362: Bill Text

LRB-4311/7

ALL:all:all

1997 - 1998 LEGISLATURE

 

1997 Senate BILL 362

November 19, 1997 - Introduced by Senator Burke. Referred to Joint committee on Finance.

SB362,3,3 An Act to amend 20.865 (4) (u), 20.865 (4) (u), 20.923 (1), 44.72 (4) (b), 44.72 (4) (d), 46.81 (2), 46.81 (5), 48.561 (3) (a), 48.57 (3p) (d), 49.141 (1) (p), 49.141 (7) (c) (intro.), 59.53 (5), 71.06 (2s) (a), 71.07 (2dx) (a) 5., 71.28 (1dx) (a) 5., 71.47 (1dx) (a) 5., 71.64 (9) (b), 77.54 (20) (c) 5., 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., 166.215 (5), 180.1130 (10m), 196.218 (3) (a) 3., 287.23 (3) (a) 2., 287.23 (5) (c) 2., 287.23 (7), 299.80 (16), 560.785 (1) (c) 1., 560.785 (1) (c) 2., 973.09 (3) (bm) 3. and 973.09 (3) (bm) 4.; 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) (qm), 25.40 (2) (b) 20s. 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; nontarget population members; 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; reports concerning the environmental cooperation pilot program; funding for air and solid and hazardous waste programs; studies of fish in the Great Lakes; 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; eliminating cross-references to the Wisconsin works health plan; computing the aviation fuel tax; a sales tax and use tax exemption for samples of medicine and registration for use tax purposes; the international fuel tax agreement; the department of revenue's expenses to administer the fee on vehicle rentals; 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; the sales of food by institutions of higher learning; 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.

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.

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 public service commission (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.

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

Under current law, an individual may receive a child care subsidy under the Wisconsin works program for child care needed to obtain a high school diploma or to participate in a course of study for a declaration of equivalency of high school graduation (GED), if the individual meets certain eligibility requirements. Among other things, the individual must be under 20 years of age and must reside in certain types of supervised living arrangements. These supervised living arrangements include residency with a custodial parent or a kinship care relative and residency in a foster home, a group home or an independent living arrangement supervised by an adult. This bill modifies these eligibility requirements so that the supervised living arrangement requirement applies only to persons under 18.

Currently, DHFS must allocate $1,224,000 of general purpose revenues in each fiscal year to county aging units to provide benefit specialist services for persons who are aged at least 60. DHFS must also allocate $132,500 in each fiscal year to area agencies on aging for training, supervision and legal back-up services for benefit specialists. Under 1997 Wisconsin Act 27 (the biennial budget act), although the appropriation amount for these purposes was increased, after partial veto, to provide $2,348,400 in each fiscal year for elderly benefit specialist services, the statutes authorizing this program were not correspondingly changed.

This bill requires DHFS to allocate $2,298,400 in general purpose revenues to counties in each fiscal year to provide elderly benefit specialist services. The bill also requires DHFS to allocate $182,500 in general purpose revenues to area agencies on aging in each fiscal year for training, supervision and legal back-up services for benefit specialists.

Under current law, on January 1, 1998, DHFS takes over from the Milwaukee County department of social services the responsibility for providing child welfare services in Milwaukee County. Current law requires Milwaukee County to contribute $31,280,700 in state fiscal year 1997-98 and $62,561,400 in state fiscal year 1998-99 for the provision of those services. This bill adjusts those amounts to $30,489,200 in state fiscal year 1997-98 and $60,978,400 in state fiscal year 1998-99.

Under current law, a county department of human services or social services (county department) must conduct a criminal background investigation of all persons applying for kinship care payments (kinship care relatives), of all employes and prospective employes of a kinship care relative who have or would have regular contact with the child for whom the kinship care payments are being made and of all adult residents and prospective adult residents of the home of a kinship care relative. As part of the background investigation, the county department must require the person being investigated to be photographed and fingerprinted, if the person is, or within the last 5 years has been, a nonresident or if the county department determines that there is a reasonable basis for further investigation. This bill eliminates the requirement that a county department require a person meeting any of those criteria be photographed.

1997 Wisconsin Act 27 (the budget act) eliminated the Wisconsin works health plan. This bill eliminates cross-references to the Wisconsin works health plan that erroneously remained in the budget act.

Taxation and tax administration

This bill makes a technical correction to make the administration of the aviation fuel tax consistent.

This bill responds to uncertainty about the validity of 2 vetoes to 1997 Wisconsin Act 27. The bill provides that any person who is not otherwise required to collect sales taxes or use taxes may register with the department of revenue and that medicines that may not be dispensed without a prescription and that are furnished without charge to a physician, nurse, nurse anesthetist, advanced practice nurse, osteopath, dentist, podiatrist or optometrist are exempt from the sales tax and the use tax.

The rate of taxation under current law, for taxable years beginning before January 1, 1998, for the lowest income tax bracket for single individuals, certain fiduciaries, heads of households and married persons is 4.9% of taxable income, the rate for the middle bracket is 6.55% and the rate for the highest bracket is 6.93%.