Scope statements
Financial Institutions
Subject
Section DFI—Bkg 73.03 (8), relating to adjustment service companies conducting business by mail.
Policy analysis
The objective of the rule is to repeal s. DFI—Bkg 73.03 (8). The purpose of the rule is to end a prohibition that a license shall not conduct a business by mail outside of the State of Wisconsin. This current section is out-of-date. At the time the section was promulgated, all adjustment service companies doing business in Wisconsin were located in Wisconsin. As the adjustment service industry has evolved since the promulgation of this section, almost one-half of all licensees are now located outside of Wisconsin, and almost one-half of all debtor funds are handled by licensees located outside of Wisconsin. The existence of this section serves no regulatory purpose and may have a negative impact on the regulated entity.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
40 hours.
Health and Family Services
Subject
To modify subchapter VI of ch.
HFS 124, relating to critical access hospitals to permit St. Mary's Hospital in Superior to be classified as a rural hospital and begin the approval process for designation as a Critical Access Hospital and to make needed minor changes so subch. VI more accurately reflects federal regulations.
Policy analysis
The federal Rural Hospital Flexibility Program promotes the continued viability of rural hospitals by allowing qualifying hospitals to receive cost-based reimbursement for their services if the hospital qualifies for and is approved to convert to what is known as a Critical Access Hospital (CAH). In Wisconsin, subchapter VI of ch.
HFS 124 governs the Department's designation and regulation of CAHs. Designation as a CAH and receipt of cost-based reimbursement promotes the hospital's continued viability. To date, 25 hospitals in Wisconsin have transitioned to CAH status, thereby ensuring continued acute care access for many rural residents.
The Department recently learned that the tenuous financial condition of St. Mary's Hospital in Superior jeopardizes its continued operation and places it in imminent danger of closing unless the hospital can be designated as a CAH and receive cost-based reimbursement. The closure of St. Mary's would reduce Douglas County residents' accessibility to acute care. Moreover, the loss of the facility would have a significant detrimental effect on the county because St. Mary's annual payroll is between $7-8 million and it employs the equivalent of about 160 persons full-time.
Federal regulations permit a hospital in an urban area such as Superior to be reclassified as a critical access hospital if the hospital is located in an area designated as rural under state law or regulation. The Department has determined that the current provisions in chapter HFS 124 preclude St. Mary's from being reclassified as a rural hospital and designated as a necessary provider of health services to area residents. However, St. Mary's Hospital meets “necessary provider" status in the Wisconsin rural health plan based on a number of other criteria about the area served and its economic and demographic characteristics. Therefore, through an emergency rulemaking order, the Department modified provisions in subchapter VI of chapter HFS 124 to permit St. Mary's Hospital to be classified as a rural hospital and begin the approval process for designation as a Critical Access Hospital. This Statement of Scope signals the Department's intent to propose to replace the emergency rules with permanent rules that not only incorporate the emergency order, but several other needed changes in subchapter VI.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
The Department anticipates no more than 10 hours of staff time will be required for this promulgation.
Natural Resources
Subject
Proposed revisions to ch.
NR 116, pertaining to costs of floodproofing nonconforming structures.
Policy analysis
The Bureau of Watershed Management has submitted a Rule Agenda/Board Action Checklist seeking approval to proceed with revisions to ch.
NR 116, Wis. Admin. Code, pertaining to costs of floodproofing nonconforming structures. This request is in response to a motion passed in February by the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR), requesting that the Department amend ch.
NR 116 to provide that ordinary maintenance and repairs, in a floodplain, to a nonconforming building or a building with a nonconforming use includes floodproofing. In response to the motion, the Department has agreed to begin the rule revision process.
Current Department policy does not include costs associated with floodproofing a nonconforming floodplain structure as “ordinary maintenance and repair." These costs have always been considered to be structural modifications and as such, have been limited to 50% of the assessed value of the structure, which is consistent with how other structural modifications, repairs and additions have been treated.
In response to the JCRAR motion, the Department will hold public hearings to solicit input on whether floodproofing costs should be excluded from the definition of structural repairs and modifications and not be counted against the 50% limit which is imposed on nonconforming structures.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 80 hours will be needed by the Department.
Natural Resources
Subject
Section
NR 140.10, Wis. Adm. Code, public health groundwater quality standards for arsenic.
Policy analysis
Amendments are being proposed to Wisconsin Administrative Code ch.
NR 140, Groundwater Quality to revise state groundwater quality standards for arsenic. Ch.
NR 140, Wis. Adm. Code, establishes Wisconsin state groundwater quality standards for both substances of public health concern and for substances of public welfare concern. Arsenic is a NR 140 substance of public health concern.
Chapter
NR 140, was adopted by the Natural Resources Board in 1985 to comply with Wisconsin Statute ch.
160. Chapter
160, Stats., was created in May of 1984, as part of the
1983 Wisconsin Act 410 (The Groundwater Bill), and requires the Department to develop groundwater quality standards for substances detected in, or having a reasonable probability of entering, the groundwater resources of the state.
The existing state groundwater quality standards for arsenic are, a preventive action limit (PAL) of 5 mg/L, and an enforcement standard (ES) of 50 mg/L. The federal drinking water maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic has recently been reduced from 50 mg/L to 10 mg/L. Chapter
160, Stats., requires that federal numbers be considered in establishing state groundwater quality standards. The Department has therefore requested that the Department of Health and Family Services review the new federal MCL for arsenic and make recommendations for revisions to existing NR 140 groundwater quality standards for this substance.
State groundwater quality standards apply to all regulated facilities, practices and activities which may impact groundwater quality. Revisions to state groundwater quality standards for arsenic may impact groundwater clean-up actions at facilities, practices, and activities where this substance is a contaminant of concern.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
Approximately 462 hours will be needed by the Department.
Natural Resources
Subject
Section
NR 404.04 pertaining to ambient air quality standards.
Policy analysis
National Ambient Air Quality Standards are established by USEPA for criteria pollutants. USEPA is required to periodically review these standards to see if they are sufficient to be protective of public health. These ambient air quality standards are incorporated into the Wisconsin Administrative Code in NR 404.04.
USEPA has established new ambient air quality standards for an 8-hour ozone concentration and for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). USEPA has also revised the precision of the standards for sulfur oxides and nitrogen dioxide.
Statutory authority
Staff time required
The Department will need approximately 115 hours.
Natural Resources
Subject
Arsenic in Drinking Water - Need to begin work to adopt arsenic regulation into the State Safe Drinking Water code Chapter
NR 809.
