Emergency Rules Now in Effect
Under s. 227.24, Stats., state agencies may promulgate rules without complying with the usual rule-making procedures. Using this special procedure to issue emergency rules, an agency must find that either the preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare necessitates its action in bypassing normal rule-making procedures.
Emergency rules are published in the official state newspaper, which is currently the Wisconsin State Journal. Emergency rules are in effect for 150 days and can be extended up to an additional 120 days with no single extension to exceed 60 days.
Occasionally the Legislature grants emergency rule authority to an agency with a longer effective period than 150 days or allows an agency to adopt an emergency rule without requiring a finding of emergency.
Extension of the effective period of an emergency rule is granted at the discretion of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules under s. 227.24 (2), Stats.
Notice of all emergency rules which are in effect must be printed in the Wisconsin Administrative Register. This notice will contain a brief description of the emergency rule, the agency finding of emergency or a statement of exemption from a finding of emergency, date of publication, the effective and expiration dates, any extension of the effective period of the emergency rule and information regarding public hearings on the emergency rule.
Copies of emergency rule orders can be obtained from the promulgating agency. The text of current emergency rules can be viewed at www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/code.
Beginning with rules filed with the Legislative Reference Bureau in 2008, the Legislative Reference Bureau will assign a number to each emergency rule filed, for the purpose of internal tracking and reference. The number will be in the following form: EmR0801. The first 2 digits indicate the year of filing and the last 2 digits indicate the chronological order of filing during the year.
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (2)
Finding of Emergency
Recently, the National Conference of Interstate Milk Shippers voted to relax the standard for somatic cells in grade A goat milk, from 1,000,000 somatic cells per ml to 1,500,000 per ml. The United States Food and Drug Administration accepted this change and will include it in the next edition of the Interstate Pasteurized Milk Ordinance. The United States Department of Agriculture is adopting the same standard for grade B goat milk, as part of its standards for “Milk for Manufacturing Purposes and its Production and Processing."
Wisconsin rules currently establish a limit of 1,000, 000 somatic cells per ml in goat milk, which is more stringent than the new national standard of 1,500,000 per ml. The more stringent Wisconsin standard, if not modified to conform to the new national standard, will put Wisconsin dairy goat milk producers at a significant financial, operational, and competitive disadvantage compared to producers in other states.
This emergency rule modifies Wisconsin's current standard, and makes it consistent with the new national standard. The department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection (DATCP) is adopting this rule as a temporary emergency rule, pending rulemaking proceedings to modify the standard on a more “permanent" basis. “Permanent" rulemaking proceedings normally require over a year to complete. This emergency rule is needed to mitigate a potential hardship to Wisconsin producers of dairy goat milk, pending the adoption of “permanent" rules.
Publication Date:
February 4, 2010
Effective Dates:
February 4, 2010
through July 3, 2010
Finding of Emergency
(1)
The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) administers state food processing plant license requirements under s.
97.29, Stats.
(2) Recent legislation (
2009 Act 101, enacted on February 4, 2010) created a limited exemption from food processing plant license requirements under s.
97.29, Stats., for persons who home-can limited quantities of acidic, acidified or fermented vegetable and fruit products for retail sale at community and social events or at farmers' markets.
(3) Home-canned food products, if not properly canned, may pose a risk of serious food safety hazards such as botulism.
(4) DATCP has received many requests for clarification of the new license exemption under Act 101. In order to facilitate compliance and protect consumers from potentially serious food safety hazards, DATCP must adopt administrative rules to clarify the scope, application and terms of the new license exemption.
(5) Implementing rules are urgently needed because of the seriousness of the potential food safety hazards, and the seasonal nature of the farmers' markets and other events at which home-canned products may be sold. The normal rulemaking process takes over a year to complete, and cannot be completed in time for this summer's farmers' markets (which begin as early as mid-April or May). Persons who wish to sell home-canned food products must clearly understand the scope of the license exemption, and the food safety standards that must be met in order to qualify.
(6) This temporary emergency rule clarifies the scope, application and terms of the new license exemption under Act 101, pending the completion of “permanent" rules by the normal rulemaking process. This emergency rule is needed to protect the public health, safety and welfare, and to facilitate fair and orderly implementation of the new license exemption.
(7) This emergency rule also exempts, from food processing plant license requirements under s.
97.29, Stats., a person who collects and processes relatively small quantities of maple sap to produce maple syrup or concentrated maple sap for sale to other processors for further processing. These small-scale processing activities pose minimal food safety risks, and the current license requirement imposes an unnecessary cost and compliance burden. An emergency rule is needed to relieve these cost and compliance burdens for the maple sap collection and processing season that typically begins in March. This emergency rule creates a temporary license exemption, pending the completion of “permanent" rules by the normal rulemaking process. This emergency rule clearly defines the scope, application and terms of the exemption, in order to protect public health, safety and welfare.
Publication Date:
April 22, 2010
Effective Dates:
April 22, 2010 through
September 18, 2010
Children and Families
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Children and Families finds that an emergency exists and that an emergency rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or welfare. A statement of facts constituting the emergency is:
2009 Wisconsin Act 28 assumes that court-ordered kinship care relatives will be applying for a license to operate a foster home beginning after January 1, 2010, and continuing throughout 2010. This rule creates the first two levels of the new levels of care system for foster care. The newly-licensed kinship care relatives will be incorporated into the foster care program. Licensing these relatives will allow the state to claim an additional $6.5 million in Title IV-E funds for 2010. Act 28 appropriates this $6.5 million to be expended in 2011.
Publication Date:
December 30, 2009
Effective Dates:
January 1, 2010 through
May 30, 2010
Hearing Dates:
March 17, March 31,
April 8, 2010
Commerce
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Commerce finds that an emergency exists within the state of Wisconsin and that adoption of an emergency rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is as follows.
1. Implementation of the federal Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act necessitates most existing public swimming pools and water attractions to undergo physical modifications to reduce the risk of entrapment at suction outlets.
2. The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act has a compliance date of December 19, 2008.
3. The department estimates that 3,700 existing pools and water attractions will need to be modified in order to comply with the federal act. As of December 1, 2009, approximately 1,800 pool modifications have been submitted to the department for review and approval.
4. There are claims that the availability of parts to make the necessary modifications is limited.
5.
The current department plan review fees and inspection fees under s.
Comm 2.68 reflect an estimated average time and cost to provide those services. For the types of pool and water attraction modifications necessary to comply with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, the department believes that the time and cost to provide the service will be below the averages reflected under the current fee structure of section
Comm 2.68.
6.
The department believes that a fee reduction to facilitate plan review and inspection relative to the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act is in alignment with the direction provided under s.
101.19, Stats., of keeping fees consistent with the costs of providing service.
Publication Date:
January 1, 2010
Effective Dates:
January 1, 2010 through
May 30, 2010
Hearing Date:
January 21, 2010
Commerce (5)
Financial Resources for Businesses and Communities, Chs.
Comm 104—
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
The Legislature, by section 9110 (4) in
2009 Wisconsin Act 2, exempts the Department from providing evidence that this emergency rule is necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare; and exempts the Department from providing a finding of emergency for the adoption of this rule.
Publication Date:
June 30, 2009
Effective Dates:
June 30, 2009 through
July 1, 2010 or the date
permanent rules take
effect, whichever is sooner
Hearing Date:
September 15, 2009
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Commerce finds that an emergency exists and that an emergency rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of public welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows.
Between June 14 and July 9, 2008, thirty Wisconsin counties were declared major disaster areas by the President as a result of severe storms, tornados or flooding in 2008 that caused extensive damage to communities, residents, businesses, the economy and critical infrastructure. Subsequently, the federal Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008 was enacted, authorizing the Governor of Wisconsin to designate up to $3,830,112,000 in Qualified Midwestern Disaster Area Bonds, which must be issued before January 1, 2013, for the purpose of encouraging economic development and recovery in the 30 counties.
To implement the provisions this federal Act, Governor Jim Doyle issued Executive Order #288, directing the Department to promulgate rules for allocating Wisconsin's Qualified Midwestern Disaster Area Bonding Authority, and including the necessary provisions to ensure that bonds are allocated to eligible projects on the basis of providing assistance to areas in the order in which the assistance is most needed. This rule is the result of that directive.
Publication Date:
November 9, 2009
Effective Dates:
November 9, 2009 through
April 7, 2010
Extension Through:
June 6, 2010
Hearing Date:
January 25, 2010
emergency_rules EmR1006
3.
EmR1006— Rule adopted to create
Chapter Comm 137, relating to reallocations for recovery zone facility bonds as established under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and affecting small businesses.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
The Legislature, by Section 5 (1) (b) in
2009 Wisconsin Act 112, exempts the Department from providing evidence that this emergency rule is necessary for the preservation of public peace, health, safety or welfare; and exempts the Department from providing a finding of emergency for the adoption of this rule.
Publication Date:
March 5, 2010
Effective Dates:
March 5, 2010 through
August 1, 2010
(subject to 2009 Wis. Act 112, s. 5)
Hearing Date:
May 13, 2010
(See the Notice in this Register)
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
