The bill appropriates to DCF a sum sufficient for youth aids-related purposes
but only to reimburse counties, beginning on January 1, 2021, for costs associated
with juveniles who were alleged to have violated a state or federal criminal law or
any civil law or municipal ordinance at age 17. The bill also provides funding and
requires DCF to reimburse counties for one-time start-up costs incurred for youth
aids-related purposes in establishing, alone or jointly with one or more counties, a
secured residential care center for children and youth. The bill requires DCF to
consult with county representatives to determine those expenses that are eligible for
reimbursement and to evaluate modifications to the youth aids formula.
6. Eliminating report on reduced sentences
Current law requires DOC to submit a report to the legislature, upon request,
regarding individuals who, since the previous report or during a date range specified
in the request, were pardoned or released from imprisonment before completing
their sentences. The report must identify each individual by name, include the crime
for which he or she was convicted, and provide the name of the person who pardoned
the individual or authorized the early release. This bill eliminates this report.
Courts and procedure
Public defender
Public defender private attorney rate increase
This bill changes the rate at which the public defender must pay a private local
attorney to whom a case is assigned from $40 per hour for time spent related to a case,
excluding travel, to $70 per hour for time spent related to a case, excluding travel,
with certain exceptions. Under the bill, the rate must be adjusted biennially by a
percentage that correlates with the federal Department of Labor's consumer price
index.
Domestic relations
Elimination of birth cost recovery
This bill eliminates the requirement that a court include in a judgment or order
relating to paternity an order for a father to pay for a portion of pregnancy and birth
expenses. Under current law, a court is required to include in a paternity order an
order for the father to repay a portion of pregnancy and birth expenses, taking into
account the father's income and ability to pay. This bill eliminates orders relating
to pregnancy and birth expenses. The bill also expressly prohibits the state from
seeking recovery of birth expenses. Under current law, if the mother of a child was
enrolled in a health maintenance organization or other prepaid health care plan
under the Medical Assistance program at the time of the child's birth, the state could
seek to recover from the father the birth expenses incurred by the health
maintenance organization or other prepaid health care plan.
2. Child support custodial parent fee
This bill changes the annual fee collected from every individual receiving child
support or family support payments from $25 to $35 in order to conform to applicable
federal law, specifically changes enacted in the federal Bipartisan Budget Act of
2018.
General courts and procedure
Qui tam actions for false claims
This bill restores a private individual's authority to bring a qui tam claim
against a person who makes a false or fraudulent claim for medical assistance, which
was eliminated in
2015 Wisconsin Act 55, and further expands qui tam actions to
include any false or fraudulent claims to a state agency. A qui tam claim is a claim
initiated by a private individual on his or her own behalf and on behalf of the state
against a person who makes a false claim relating to medical assistance or other
moneys from a state agency. The bill provides that, of moneys recovered as a result
of a qui tam claim, a private individual may be awarded up to 30 percent of the
amount recovered, depending upon the extent of the individual's contribution to the
prosecution of the action. The individual may also be entitled to reasonable expenses
incurred in bringing the action, as well as attorney fees. The bill also includes
additional changes not included in the prior law to incorporate provisions enacted
in the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and conform state law to the federal False
Claims Act, including expanding provisions to facilitate qui tam actions and
modifying the bases for liability to parallel the liability provisions under the federal
False Claims Act. In addition to qui tam claims, DOJ has independent authority to
bring a claim against a person for making a false claim for medical assistance. The
bill modifies provisions relating to DOJ's authority to parallel the liability and
penalty standards relating to qui tam claims and to parallel the forfeiture amounts
provided under the federal False Claims Act.
crimes
Decriminalizing 25 grams or less of marijuana
Current law prohibits a person from possessing or attempting to possess;
possessing with the intent to manufacture, distribute, or deliver; and
manufacturing, distributing, or delivering marijuana. The penalties vary based on
the amount of marijuana or plants involved or the number of previous
controlled-substance convictions the person has. Current law also allows local
governments to enact ordinances prohibiting the possession of marijuana.
This bill eliminates a) the penalty for possession of marijuana if the amount of
marijuana involved is no more than 25 grams; b) the penalty for manufacturing or
for possessing with the intent to manufacture, distribute, or deliver if the amount of
marijuana involved is no more than 25 grams or the number of plants involved is no
more than two; and c) the penalty for distributing or delivering marijuana if the
amount of marijuana involved is no more than 25 grams or the number of plants
involved is no more than two. The bill retains the current law penalty for distributing
or delivering any amount of marijuana to a minor who is no more than 17 years of
age by a person who is at least three years older than the minor. The bill limits local
governments to enacting ordinances prohibiting only the possession of more than 25
grams of marijuana.
The bill also prohibits establishing probable cause that a person is violating the
prohibition against possessing more than 25 grams of marijuana by an odor of
marijuana or by the possession of not more than 25 grams of marijuana. Current law
requires that, when determining the weight of controlled substances, the weight
includes the weight of the controlled substance together with any compound,
mixture, or other substance mixed or combined with the controlled substance. Under
the bill, when determining the amount of tetrahydrocannabinols, only the weight of
the marijuana may be considered. Finally, the bill creates a process for expunging
or dismissing convictions involving less than 25 grams of marijuana that occurred
before this bill takes effect.
Education
Primary and secondary education: school district funding
School district funding; fair funding for our future
This bill makes a number of changes in the laws relating to public school
financing, including the following:
a. Currently, the amount appropriated each fiscal year for general school aid
is a sum set by law. Beginning in the 2020-21 school year, this bill directs DPI, DOA,
and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau annually to jointly certify to JCF an estimate of
the amount necessary to appropriate in the following school year to ensure that state
school aids equal two-thirds of partial school revenues (in general, the sum of state
school aids and school property taxes). Under the bill, JCF determines the amount
appropriated as general school aids in each odd-numbered fiscal year and the
amount is set by law in each even-numbered fiscal year.
b. For purposes of determining a school district's general school aid amount,
this bill changes how a pupil enrolled in a four-year-old full-day kindergarten
program is counted for purposes of general school aid from 0.5 pupil to one pupil.
Additionally, for purposes of the general school aid formula, the bill requires each
pupil who is eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch to be counted as an additional
0.2 pupil solely for the purpose of determining a school district's property value per
member.
c. Currently, if a school district would receive less in general state aid in any
school year than 85 percent of the amount it received in the previous school year, its
state aid for the current school year is increased to 85 percent of the aid received in
the previous school year. This bill increases the percentage to 90 percent.
d. This bill provides that a school district's state aid in any school year may not
be less than an amount equal to the school district's membership multiplied by
$3,000.
e. Under current law, there is no per pupil adjustment for purposes of
calculating a school district's revenue limit. This bill provides a per pupil adjustment
of $200 per pupil for the 2019-20 school year and $204 for the 2020-21 school year.
Under the bill, in the 2021-22 school year and thereafter, the per pupil adjustment
is the per pupil adjustment for the previous school year as adjusted for any increase
in the consumer price index.
f. Current law provides a minimum per pupil revenue limit for school districts,
known as the revenue limit ceiling. Under the bill, the revenue limit ceiling for school
districts is $9,700 in the 2019-20 school year and $10,000 in the 2020-21 school year
and each school year thereafter. Under current law, the revenue limit ceiling is
$9,500 in the 2019-20 school year, and increases by $100 each school year until the
ceiling reaches $9,800 in the 2022-23 school year. Current law also provides that
during the three school years following a school year in which an operating
referendum fails in a school district, the school district's revenue limit ceiling is the
revenue limit ceiling that applied in the school year during which the referendum
was held. This bill eliminates this consequence for a failed operating referendum.
g. This bill creates a revenue limit adjustment for a school district that incurs
costs to remediate lead contamination in drinking water in the school district,
including costs to test for the presence of lead in drinking water, to provide safe
drinking water, and to replace lead pipe water service lines to school buildings in the
school district.
h. Currently, if at least 50 percent of a school district's enrollment is eligible for
a free or reduced-price lunch under the federal school lunch program, the school
district is eligible for a prorated share of the amount appropriated as high-poverty
aid. This bill eliminates this aid beginning in the 2020-21 school year. The bill
provides additional state aid for the 2020-21 school year to hold school districts
harmless from the loss of high-poverty aid.
i. Currently, $75,000,000 in general school aid payments is delayed until the
following school year. Under the bill, there are no delayed payments in the 2019-20
school year. Beginning in the 2020-21 school year, this bill delays $1,090,000,000
in general school aid payments until the following school year.
j. In the school district equalization aid formula, the guaranteed evaluations
represent the amount of property tax base support that the state guarantees behind
each pupil. There are three guaranteed valuations used; each applies to a different
level of expenditures. The first level is for expenditures up to the primary cost ceiling
of $1,000 per pupil. The second level is for costs per pupil that exceed $1,000 but are
less than the secondary cost ceiling, which is set at 90 percent of the prior school year
statewide shared cost per pupil. This bill changes the secondary cost ceiling to 100
percent of the prior school year statewide shared cost per pupil.
k. The bill eliminates the school levy property tax credit and the first dollar
property tax credit in 2021. See Taxation—Property taxation.
2. Per pupil aid
This bill provides that the amount of per pupil aid in the 2018-19 school year,
which is $654 per pupil, continues at that level for future school years. Under current
law, the amount of per pupil aid decreases to $630 per pupil in the 2019-20 school
year and in each school year thereafter.
3. Special education funding
Additional special education aid. This bill increases the amount DPI pays to
school boards, cooperative educational service agencies, county children with
disabilities education boards, and operators of independent charter schools for costs
incurred to provide special education and related services to a child with a disability
that exceed $30,000 in one school year from 90 percent of the costs that exceed
$30,000 to 100 percent of the costs that exceed $30,000 (additional special education
aid). Under current law, if the amount appropriated for additional special education
aid is insufficient to pay the full amount to the eligible entities, DPI must prorate
payments among all eligible entities. The bill converts the appropriation for the aid
to a sum sufficient, eliminating the need to prorate aid due to an insufficient
appropriation.
Supplemental special education aid. This bill eliminates supplemental special
education aid on July 1, 2020. Under current law, DPI provides supplemental special
education aid to a school district that in the previous year had revenue limit
authority per pupil that was below the statewide average, that had expenditures for
special education that were more than 16 percent of the school district's total
expenditures, and that had a membership that was less than 2,000 pupils. Under
current law, a school district may not receive both supplemental special education
aid and additional special education aid in the same school year.
Special education transition grants. This bill changes the per individual
amount for grants awarded to school districts and independent charter schools under
the special education transition grant program. Under current law, a school district
or independent charter school is awarded $1,000 per qualifying individual. Under
the bill, a school district or independent charter school is awarded the lesser of a)
$1,500 per qualifying individual or b) an amount per qualifying individual that is
determined by dividing the amount appropriated for these grants in a school year by
the total number of individuals who qualify for the grants in that school year.
4. Sparsity aid
This bill makes certain additional school districts eligible for sparsity aid.
Under current law, a school district is eligible for sparsity aid in the amount of $400
per pupil if the school district's membership in the previous school year did not
exceed 745 pupils and if the membership divided by the school district's area in
square miles is less than ten. Also, under current law, a school district that was
eligible to receive sparsity aid in the previous school year but that is not eligible to
receive sparsity aid in the current school year because the school district's
membership exceeded 745 pupils may receive up to 50 percent of the aid the school
district received in the previous school year.
Under this bill, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, a school district with the
same density of pupils per square mile and a membership that exceeds 745 pupils
is eligible for sparsity aid in the amount of $100 per pupil. The bill also provides that,
beginning in the 2020-21 school year, a school district that is ineligible for sparsity
aid because it no longer satisfies the pupils per square mile requirement may receive
50 percent of the aid the school district received in the previous school year.
5. Transportation aid
This bill increases the reimbursement rate to school districts and independent
charter school operators, beginning in the 2019-20 school year, for transporting a
pupil who lives more than 12 miles from the school the pupil attends from $365 per
school year to $375 per school year. Under current law, a school district that provides
transportation to pupils to and from summer classes may be reimbursed for certain
transportation costs, but, if a pupil is transported fewer than 30 days, that aid is
proportionately reduced. The bill eliminates the requirement that DPI reduce the
amount of state aid a school district receives for transporting a pupil if the pupil is
transported fewer than 30 days.
6. High cost transportation aid
Under current law, a school district that qualified for high cost transportation
aid in the previous school year but did not qualify in the current school year is eligible
to receive aid equal to 50 percent of the high cost transportation aid the school district
received in the previous school year, commonly called a “stop-gap” payment.
However, current law provides that, if the total amount of stop-gap payments to all
school districts in a school year exceeds $200,000, the state superintendent of public
instruction must prorate the payments. This bill eliminates that cap and instead
provides that, if the total amount of high cost transportation aid, including stop-gap
payments, for a school year exceeds the amount appropriated for high cost
transportation aid for the school year, all high cost transportation aid must be
prorated.
7. Bilingual-bicultural education; aid programs
Limited-English pupils; targeted aid program. Beginning in the 2020-21
school year, this bill requires DPI to provide additional aid to school districts for
limited-English proficient (LEP) pupils whose English proficiency is in one of the
three lowest classifications. The amount of the additional aid is $100 per eligible
pupil, unless the amount appropriated for the aid program is insufficient, in which
case DPI prorates the aid payments. Current law requires each school board to
assess the language proficiency of each LEP pupil and to classify, among other
things, the pupil's English language proficiency.
Bilingual-bicultural education supplemental aid. This bill creates a new
bilingual-bicultural aid program for school districts. Under the bill, beginning in the
2020-21 school year, DPI must annually pay each school district an amount equal
to $100 times the number of LEP pupils enrolled in the school district in the previous
school year for whom the school district was not required to provide a
bilingual-bicultural education program. If there are insufficient funds to provide
the total aid amount in any fiscal year, DPI must prorate the payments.
Under current law, a school district is required to provide a bilingual-bicultural
education program to LEP pupils who attend a school in the school district if the
school meets any of the following thresholds: a) within a language group, ten or more
LEP pupils are enrolled in kindergarten to grade three; b) within a language group,
20 or more LEP pupils are enrolled in grades four to eight; or c) within a language
group, 20 or more LEP pupils are enrolled in grades nine to twelve.
Bilingual-bicultural education program grants. This bill creates a grant
program under which DPI may award grants beginning in the 2020-21 school year,
in amounts determined by DPI, to school districts and independent charter schools
to support bilingual-bicultural education programs or other educational
programming for LEP pupils enrolled in the school district or independent charter
school.
8. Driver education aid
This bill creates a new aid program for school boards, independent charter
schools, and cooperative educational service agencies that offer a driver education
program to pupils who meet the income eligibility standard for a free or
reduced-price lunch in the federal school lunch program. To be eligible for this aid,
a school board, independent charter school, or CESA must demonstrate to DPI that
it reduced program participation fees for eligible pupils. Under the bill, DPI pays the
school board, operator of the independent charter school, or CESA an amount equal
to the number of eligible pupils who completed the driver education program in the
previous school year multiplied by the lesser of $200 or the amount by which it
reduced its program participation fees.
Primary and secondary education: choice, charter, open enrollment, and
other related programs
Parental choice program caps
This bill caps the total number of pupils who may participate in the Milwaukee
Parental Choice Program, the Racine Parental Choice Program, or the statewide
parental choice program (parental choice program) at the number of pupils who
attended a private school under the parental choice program in the 2019-20 school
year. Under the bill, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, if the number of
applications to participate in a parental choice program exceeds the program cap,
DPI must determine which applications to accept on a random basis.
2. Teacher licensure in parental choice programs and the Special Needs
Scholarship Program
With certain exceptions, the bill requires that, beginning on July 1, 2022,
teachers at private schools participating in a parental choice program or in the
Special Needs Scholarship Program must hold a license or permit issued by DPI.
Under current law, teachers at choice schools must have at least a bachelor's degree
from a nationally or regionally accredited institution of higher education, but they
are not required to be licensed by DPI. There are no current law requirements
regarding who may teach at SNSP schools.
3. Accreditation in parental choice programs
The bill requires that a private school that begins participation in a parental
choice program in the 2021-22 school year or in any school year thereafter must be
accredited by August 1 of the school year in which the private school begins
participation in the parental choice program. Under current law, a private school
must do all of the following:
a. Obtain preaccreditation by a preaccrediting entity by August 1 (December
15 for new private schools) before the first school term in which the private school
begins participation in the parental choice program, or by May 1 if the private school
begins participating in the parental choice program during summer school.
b. Apply for accreditation by an accrediting entity by December 31 of the first
school year in which the private school begins participation in the parental choice
program.
c. Obtain accreditation by an accrediting entity by December 31 of the third
school year following the first school year in which the private school begins
participation in the parental choice program.
4. Changes to the Special Needs Scholarship Program
Under current law, a child with a disability who meets certain eligibility criteria
may receive a scholarship to attend a private school participating in the SNSP. This
bill makes the following changes to the SNSP:
a. The bill provides that, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, DPI may not
provide an SNSP scholarship to a child to attend a private school unless the child was
attending a private school under the SNSP in the 2019-20 school year. In addition,
if the child does not attend a private school under an SNSP scholarship in any school
year after the 2019-20 school year, DPI may not provide an SNSP scholarship to the
child for any subsequent school year.
b.
2017 Wisconsin Act 59, the 2017 biennial budget act, created a process that
allows the scholarship amount under the SNSP to be determined based on the actual
costs to educate the child in the previous school year, as reported by the private
school. The first SNSP scholarship payments based on the actual costs will be paid
in the 2019-20 school year based on the actual costs reported for the 2018-19 school
year. The bill eliminates the process for determining SNSP scholarships based on
actual costs and reinstates the scholarship amount under the SNSP that existed
prior to the 2017 biennial budget act. Under the bill, the SNSP scholarship amount
is the same for all pupils and is determined by law. For the 2018-19 school year, the
amount is $12,431.
c. The bill provides that, with certain exceptions explained below, a private
school participating in the SNSP may participate only if the private school also
participates in a parental choice program. Under current law, a private school may
participate in the SNSP if the private school is accredited or if the private school's
educational program meets certain criteria.
The bill provides that, if a private school that is participating in the SNSP in
the 2019-20 school year does not participate in a parental choice program, the
private school must, if the private school is not accredited by August 1, 2019, do all
of the following: i) obtain preaccreditation by August 1, 2020; ii) apply for
accreditation by December 31, 2020; and iii) obtain accreditation by December 31,
2023. In addition, a private school that does not participate in a parental choice
program must, after obtaining accreditation, comply with other requirements
relating to accreditation, including maintaining accreditation and providing
information to DPI regarding the private school's accreditation status. A private
school that meets the accreditation requirement may continue to participate under
that requirement for so long as the private school continuously participates in the
SNSP.
d. The bill provides that, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, a private school
participating in the SNSP may not charge a child receiving an SNSP scholarship
tuition, in addition to the payments the private school receives under the SNSP, if
i) the child is enrolled in a grade from kindergarten to eight; or ii) the child's family
income does not exceed 220 percent of the federal poverty line. The bill also provides
that, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, a private school participating in the
SNSP may recover reasonable fees from a child receiving an SNSP scholarship for
certain enumerated items and services the school provides to the child but may not
expel or discipline a child for failing to pay those fees.
e. The bill provides that a private school participating in the SNSP must allow
a child attending the private school under the SNSP to refrain from participating in
any religious activity if the child's parent submits to the child's teacher or the private
school's principal a written request that the child be exempt from such activities.
5. Authorization of new independent charter schools
This bill provides that, beginning on the effective date of the bill and ending on
July 1, 2023, an authorizer of an independent charter school generally may not enter
into a contract with a person to operate a charter school that was not operating on
the effective date of the bill. Under current law, an independent charter school may
be authorized by the director of the Office of Educational Opportunity in the UW
System, the common council of the city of Milwaukee, the chancellor of any
institution in the UW System, any technical college district board, the College of
Menominee Nation, the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, or the
county executive of Waukesha County.
6. Eliminate Open Enrollment transfer amount based on actual costs
This bill eliminates the process for determining a full-time Open Enrollment
transfer amount for a child with a disability based on the actual cost to educate the
child in the previous year and reinstates the OEP transfer amount for a child with
a disability that existed prior to the 2017 biennial budget act. Under the bill, the OEP
transfer amount for a child with disability is the same for all children and is
determined by law. In the 2018-19 school year, the amount is $12,431. This change
is similar to the elimination of the process for determining the SNSP scholarship
amount based on actual costs, as described in item 4.
2017 Wisconsin Act 59, the 2017 biennial budget act, created a process that
allows the transfer amount for a child with a disability in the full-time OEP to be
determined based on the actual costs to educate the child in the previous school year,
as reported by the nonresident school district. The maximum OEP transfer amount
based on actual costs is $30,000. Under current law, an OEP transfer amount based
on actual costs will first be transferred in the 2019-20 school year.
7. Payment Indexing: parental choice programs, the SNSP, independent
charter schools, full-time open enrollment program, and whole grade
sharing agreements
Under current law, the per pupil payment amounts under the parental choice
programs and the SNSP, the per pupil payment amount to independent charter
schools, the transfer amounts under the full-time open enrollment program, and the
required transfer amount for a child with a disability in a whole grade sharing
agreement (collectively, per pupil payments) are adjusted annually. The annual
adjustment for per pupil payments is an amount equal to the sum of any per member
revenue limit increase that applies to school districts in that school year and any per
member increase in categorical aids between the current school year and the
previous school year. Under the bill, beginning in the 2019-20 school year, the
annual adjustment for per pupil payments is the sum of the per member revenue
limit increase that applies to school districts in that school year, if any, and the
increase, if any, in the per member amount of per pupil aid paid to school districts
between the previous school year and the current school year.
8. The Early College Credit and Dual Enrollment Programs
This bill eliminates the Early College Credit Program. Under the ECCP, a high
school pupil, including a high school pupil attending a private school, may enroll in
an institution of higher education for the purpose of taking one or more courses to
earn high school credit or postsecondary credit or both. An institution of higher
education is defined to mean an institution within the UW System, a tribally
controlled college, or a private, nonprofit institution of higher education located in
this state. The cost of tuition for each course is divided among the state, the school
board of the pupil's school or the governing body of the private school the pupil
attends, and the pupil. The share that each responsible party pays is dependent on
whether the course is taken for high school credit or postsecondary credit and
whether a course similar to the course taken at the institution of higher education
is comparable to a course offered by the school district or private school.
The bill replaces the ECCP with a requirement that the UW System implement
a program to provide tuition-free courses to high school students.
See Higher
education.
This bill also eliminates a program under which high school students may take
courses at technical colleges. Under this program, a public school pupil who satisfies
certain criteria, including providing timely notice to the pupil's school district, may
apply to attend a technical college for the purpose of taking one or more courses. With
an exception, the technical college district board must admit the pupil to the
technical college if the pupil meets course prerequisites and there is space available
in the course. The pupil is eligible to receive both high school and technical college
credit for courses successfully completed at the technical college. If the course is not
comparable to courses offered in the school district, the school district must pay to
the technical college the pupil's tuition and fees for each course taken for high school
credit, and the pupil is not responsible for any portion of the tuition and fees for the
course.
The bill replaces this program with a requirement that the technical college
districts implement a program to provide tuition-free courses to high school
students. See Higher education.
9. Eliminate Opportunity Schools and Partnership Programs
