1. Description of the Objective of the Rule
This proposed rule would modify current trade and consumer protection rules related to mobile air conditioners. Currently, ch.
ATCP 136, Wis. Adm. Code., requires businesses that install, repair or service mobile air conditioners to pay an annual registration fee and obtain an annual registration certificate from the department. The rule also requires businesses to register their mobile air service technicians, and for those technicians to successfully complete a department-approved training course or satisfy other training requirements.
2013 Act 312 eliminated the annual registration and modified the technician training requirements to harmonize state policy with federal requirements and reduce the overall regulatory burden on this industry. The statute also eliminated DATCP's authority to establish requirements for mobile air conditioner technician training. This rulemaking will revise the existing rule to implement these statutory changes. The department will also remove references to obsolete Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) licensing requirements and make other minor modifications needed to ensure uniformity between the statute and rule.
2. Description of Existing Policies Relevant to the Rule and of New Policies Proposed to be Included in the Rule and an Analysis of Policy Alternatives; the History, Background and Justification for the Proposed Rule
History and background. This rule, along with its enabling statute s.
100.45, Wis. Stats., regulates the sale and distribution of refrigerants used in motor vehicle air conditioners and trailer refrigeration equipment. It also requires businesses (such as automobile repair shops) and technicians who service this equipment to be registered with DATCP. Technicians must also complete a training course or satisfy other training requirements. In 2012, 3122 businesses holding 3602 licenses (160 businesses held more than one location license) and about 11,000 technicians registered with the department.
2013 Act 312 eliminated the annual registration program and modified technician training requirements to harmonize state policy with federal requirements and reduce the overall regulatory burden on this industry. The statutory change also eliminated DATCP authority to establish technician training requirements.
Proposed policies. DATCP proposes to modify the rule to implement the recent changes in state statute, including eliminating rule language related to the annual business registration program and technician training requirements. DATCP also proposes to modify the rule to removed outdated references and make any other minor revisions that may be necessary to harmonize the statute and rule.
Policy Alternatives. None. The department must modify the rule to be consistent with statutory requirements.
3. Statutory Authority for the Rule (Including the Statutory Citation and Language)
93.07 Department duties. It shall be the duty of the department:
(1) REGULATIONS. To make and enforce such regulations, not inconsistent with law, as it may deem necessary for the exercise and discharge of all the powers and duties of the department, and to adopt such measures and make such regulations as are necessary and proper for the enforcement by the state of chs.
93 to
100, which regulations shall have the force of law.
100.45 Mobile air conditioners
(5) Department duties. The department shall do all of the following:
(a) Promulgate rules for the administration of this section including establishing all of the following:
1. A standard of purity for recycled refrigerant from mobile air conditioners that is based on recognized national industry standards.
3. Fees to cover the costs of administering this section.
4. Estimate of the Amount of Time that State Employees Will Spend to Develop the Rule and of Other Resources Necessary to Develop the Rule
DATCP estimates that it will use approximately 0.25 FTE staff to develop this rule. That includes time required for investigation and analysis, rule drafting, preparing related documents, holding public hearings and communicating with affected persons and groups. DATCP will use existing staff to develop this rule.
5. Description of all Entities that may be Impacted by the Rule
There are approximately 3600 mobile air conditioning repair and servicing businesses and 11,000 technicians impacted by the statute and rule. The proposed rule will harmonize with existing state law, so the rule change itself will have no effect on the industry.
6. Summary and Preliminary Comparison of any Existing or Proposed Federal Regulation that is Intended to Address the Activities to be Regulated by the Rule
At the national level, the EPA requires mobile air technicians to be trained and certified by an EPA-approved organization. The training must cover specific content areas, and technicians must pass a test demonstrating competency to be certified. Wisconsin technicians are required to meet the EPA training requirement.
7. Anticipated Economic Impact
The proposed rule creates no economic impact.
Contact Person
Jennifer Heaton-Amrhein, Program and Planning Analyst, DATCP; Phone (608) 224-5164.
Children and Families
Safety and Permanence, Chs.
35—59
This statement of scope was approved by the governor on May 8, 2014.
Rule No.
Relating to
Extension of out-of-home care, subsidized guardianship, and adoption assistance to age 21.
Rule Type
Emergency and Permanent.
1. Finding/Nature of the Emergency (Emergency Rule Only)
2. Detailed Description of the Objective of the Emergency and Proposed Rules
The emergency and proposed rules will make the changes necessary to implement extended out-of-home care under s.
48.366, Stats., as created by
2013 Wisconsin Act 334. The rules will make changes to existing rules affecting foster homes, kinship care relatives, group homes, and residential care centers. The rules will allow a child to remain in the care of these out-of-home care providers until age 21 if the child is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical equivalent and there is an individualized education program in effect for the child. The child-placing agency rules will also be amended to include the same definition of “child" that will be in the foster care and group home rules. Child-placing agencies license foster homes and place children in foster homes and group homes.
In addition, the adoption assistance and subsidized guardianship rules will be amended to allow payments to continue to adoptive parents and subsidized guardians or interim caretakers if the adoption assistance or subsidized guardianship agreement became effective after the child attained 16 years of age; the child is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical equivalent; and there is an individualized education program under s.
115.787, Stats., in effect for the child. Federal law requires that any extension of foster care to children over 18 years of age also apply to adoption assistance and subsidized guardianship if the agreement became effective after the child attained 16 years of age.
A new ch.
DCF 21 will be created to set forth the conditions under which a person who has terminated a voluntary transition-to-independent-living agreement under s.
48.366 (3), Stats., and the agency primarily responsible for providing services under the agreement may enter into a new voluntary transition-to-independent-living agreement under s.
48.366 (3) (c), Stats.
The rules will also repeal provisions in s.
DCF 52.62 (4) (b) affecting amendment of a license to operate a residential care center. Provisions on amending a license for a change in the ownership of a center or change in the address of the center will be repealed because s. 48.66 (1) (c), Stats., prohibits the transfer of a license to operate a residential care center.
3. Detailed Explanation of Statutory Authority for the Rules
Sections
48.366 and
938.366, Stats., as created by
2013 Wisconsin Act 334, permit a child placed in out-of-home care who is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical equivalent and for whom an individualized education program (IEP) is in effect to continue in out-of-home care until the child is granted a high school or high school equivalency diploma or reaches 21 years of age, whichever occurs first, under either an extended dispositional order of the juvenile court or a voluntary transition-to-independent-living agreement between the child, or the child's guardian on behalf of the child, and the agency primarily responsible for providing services to the child under the dispositional order.
A person who terminates a voluntary transition-to-independent-living agreement, or the person's guardian on behalf of the person, may request to enter into a new agreement at any time before he or she is granted a high school or high school equivalency diploma or reaches 21 years of age, whichever occurs first, so long as he or she is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical equivalent and an IEP remains in effect.
Sections
48.366 (4) and
938.366 (4), Stats., as created by
2013 Wisconsin Act 334, provide that the department shall promulgate rules to implement the extended out-of-home care program that include all of the following:
• Rules permitting a foster home, group home, or residential care center for children and youth to provide care for persons who agree to continue in out-of-home care under an extension of an order described in s.
48.366 (1), Stats., or a voluntary agreement under s.
48.366 (3), Stats.
• Rules setting forth the conditions under which a person who has terminated a voluntary agreement under s.
48.366 (3), Stats., and the agency primarily responsible for providing services under the agreement may enter into a new voluntary agreement under s.
48.366 (3) (c), Stats.
Section
48.975 (3m), Stats., provides that adoption assistance may be provided after the adoptee reaches the age of 18 if the adoptee is a full-time high school student.
The department administers the subsidized guardianship program under ss.
48.623, Stats., and
48.62 (5), 2009 Stats.
Section
227.11 (2) (a), Stats., expressly confers rule-making authority on each agency to promulgate rules interpreting the provisions of any statute enforced or administered by the agency.
4. Estimate of Amount of Time that State Employees Will Spend Developing the Rules and of Other Resources Necessary to Develop the Rules
175 hours.
5. List with Description of all Entities that may be Affected by the Emergency and Proposed Rules
Residential care centers for children and youth; foster parents; group home providers; adoptive parents who are receiving adoption assistance; kinship care relatives; subsidized guardians; child-placing agencies; and children who are eligible for extended out-of-home care, subsidized guardianship, or adoption assistance under s.
48.366, Stats., or
938.66, Stats., and
42 USC 675; county departments of social services; county departments of health and human services; and licensed child welfare agencies.
6. Summary and Preliminary Comparison with any Existing or Proposed Federal Regulation that is Intended to Address the Activities to be Regulated by the Proposed And Emergency Rules
In general, a state can be eligible for federal funding under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act for foster care assistance if all of the following apply:
• The child was removed and placed in foster care in accordance with either of the following:
• A voluntary placement agreement between the state agency, or any other agency acting on behalf of the state, and the parents or guardians. If the child has remained in voluntary placement for a period in excess of 180 days, a judicial determination must be made.
• A judicial determination that:
• The placement is in the best interests of the child.
• Continuation in the home from which removed would be contrary to the welfare of the child and that reasonable or, in the case of an Indian child, active efforts have been made to preserve and unify the family, with the child's health and safety as the paramount concern.
•
The child's placement and care are the responsibility of the state agency or any other public agency with which the state has made an agreement.
• The child has been placed in a foster home, group home, shelter care, or residential care center for children and youth.
• The child, while in the home, would have met the eligibility criteria for Aid to Families with Dependent Children as the program existed on July 16, 1996.
Under 42 USC 675, the definition of “child" that applies to assistance under Title IV-E is the following:
A. Subject to subparagraph B, an individual who has not attained 18 years of age.
B. At the option of a State, the term shall include an individual
for whom the following applies:
(i)
(I) The individual is in foster care under the responsibility of the State.
(II) There is an adoption assistance agreement under
42 USC 673 in effect for the individual, and the agreement became effective after the individual attained 16 years of age.
(III) There is a kinship guardianship assistance agreement under
42 USC 673 (d) in effect for the individual, and the agreement became effective after the individual attained 16 years of age.
(ii) The individual has attained 18 years of age.
(iii) The individual has not attained 19, 20, or 21 years of age, as the State may elect.
(iv) The individual is any of the following as the state may elect:
(I) Completing secondary education or a program leading to an equivalent credential.
(II) Enrolled in an institution which provides post-secondary or vocational education.
(III) Participating in a program or activity designed to promote, or remove barriers to, employment.
(IV) Employed for at least 80 hours per month.
(V) Incapable of doing any of the activities described in subclauses (I) through (IV) due to a medical condition, which incapability is supported by regularly updated information in the case plan of the child.
42 USC 675 (B) (i) requires that any extension of foster care to children over 18 years of age also apply to adoption assistance and subsidized guardianship agreements that became effective after the child attained 16 years of age. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau, Program Instruction,
Guidance on the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, ACYF-CB-PI-10-11, July 9, 2010.
7. Anticipated Economic Impact of Implementing the Rule (Note if the Rule is Likely to Have a Significant Economic Impact on Small Businesses)
None or minimal.
Contact Person
For foster care, kinship care, adoption assistance, and subsidized guardianship:
Jonelle Brom
