SB671: Bill Text

SB671,10 Section 10 . 108.05 (3) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB671,7,2 108.05 (3) (a) Except as provided in pars. (c), (cm), (d) and (dm) and s. 108.062, if an eligible employee earns wages in a given week, the first $30 of the wages shall be disregarded and the employee's applicable weekly benefit payment shall be reduced by 67 percent of the remaining amount, except that no such employee is eligible for benefits if the employee's benefit payment would be less than $5 for any week. For purposes of this paragraph, “wages" includes any salary reduction amounts earned that are not wages and that are deducted from the salary of a claimant by an employer pursuant to a salary reduction agreement under a cafeteria plan, within the meaning of 26 USC 125, and any amount that a claimant would have earned in available work under s. 108.04 (1) (a) which is treated as wages under s. 108.04 (1) (bm), but excludes any amount that a claimant earns for services performed as a volunteer fire fighter, volunteer emergency medical services practitioner, or volunteer emergency medical responder. In applying this paragraph, the department shall disregard discrepancies of less than $2 between wages reported by employees and employers.

SB671,11 Section 11 . 108.05 (3) (c) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB671,7,7 108.05 (3) (c) (intro.) Except as provided in par. (cm) and when otherwise authorized in an approved work-share program under s. 108.062, a claimant is ineligible to receive any benefits for a week in which one or more of the following applies to the claimant for 32 or more hours in that week:

SB671,12 Section 12 . 108.05 (3) (cm) of the statutes is created to read:

SB671,7,11 108.05 (3) (cm) The department shall disregard an employee's hours worked for an employer in a week and wages payable to the employee for the week when determining the employee's benefit eligibility if all the following apply:

SB671,7,13 1. The employer requires the employee to work during the week as a condition of continued employment with the employer.

SB671,7,15 2. The employer is unable to pay wages because a government unit or the federal government fails to appropriate funds to the employer.

SB671,7,18 3. The employer is not expected to pay the employee for the services performed or the employer will, until funds are appropriated by a government unit or the federal government, indefinitely delay payment for the services performed.

SB671,13 Section 13 . 108.065 (1e) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB671,7,23 108.065 (1e) (intro.) Except as provided in subs. (2) and (3) to (3m), if there is more than one employing unit that has a relationship to an employee, the department shall determine which of the employing units is the employer of the employee by doing the following:

SB671,14 Section 14 . 108.065 (3m) of the statutes is created to read:

SB671,8,9 108.065 (3m) A private agency that serves as a fiscal agent or contracts with a fiscal intermediary to serve as a fiscal agent to recipients of services under ch. 46, 47, or 51 may elect to be the employer of one or more employees providing those services. As a condition of eligibility for election to be the employer of one or more employees providing those services, the private agency shall notify in writing the recipient of any such services of its election, for purposes of the unemployment insurance law, to be the employer of any worker providing such services to the recipient, and must be treated as the employer under 26 USC 3301 to 3311 for purposes of federal unemployment taxes on the worker's services.

SB671,15 Section 15 . 108.101 (5) of the statutes is created to read:

SB671,8,16 108.101 (5) Notwithstanding sub. (4), a final order or judgment of conviction for a crime entered by a court is binding on the convicted person in an action or proceeding under this chapter that relates to the criminal conviction. A person convicted of a crime is precluded from denying the essential allegations of the criminal offense that is the basis for the conviction in an action or proceeding under this chapter.

SB671,16 Section 16. 108.151 (7) (c) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB671,9,5 108.151 (7) (c) The fund's treasurer shall determine the total amount due from employers electing reimbursement financing under this section that is uncollectible as of June 30 of each year, but not including any amount that the department determined to be uncollectible prior to before January 1, 2004. No amount may be treated as uncollectible under this paragraph unless the department has exhausted all reasonable remedies for collection of the amount, including liquidation of the assurance required under sub. (4). The department shall charge the total amounts so determined to the uncollectible reimbursable benefits account under s. 108.16 (6w). Whenever, as of June 30 of any year, this that account has a negative balance of $5,000 or more, the treasurer shall, except as provided in par. (i), determine the rate of an assessment to be levied under par. (b) for that year, which shall then become payable by all employers that have elected reimbursement financing under this section as of that date.

SB671,17 Section 17. 108.151 (7) (f) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB671,9,10 108.151 (7) (f) If any employer would otherwise be assessed an amount less than $10 $20 for a calendar year, the department shall, in lieu of requiring that employer to pay an assessment for that calendar year, apply the amount that the employer would have been required to pay to the other employers on a pro rata basis.

SB671,18 Section 18. 108.151 (7) (i) of the statutes is created to read:

SB671,9,18 108.151 (7) (i) In lieu of or in addition to assessing employers as provided in par. (c), the fund's treasurer may apply amounts set aside in the fund's balancing account under s. 108.155 (2) (a) to amounts determined to be uncollectible under par. (c) by transferring those amounts to the account under s. 108.16 (6w). The fund's treasurer may not act under this paragraph whenever the balance remaining of the amount set aside under s. 108.155 (2) (a) is less than $1,750,000 and may not act to reduce the amount set aside below that amount.

SB671,19 Section 19. 108.155 (2) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB671,9,25 108.155 (2) (a) On October 2, 2016, the fund's treasurer shall set aside $2,000,000 in the balancing account for accounting purposes. On an ongoing basis, the fund's treasurer shall tally the amounts allocated to reimbursable employers' accounts under s. 108.04 (13) (d) 4. c. and all amounts transferred to the account under s. 106.16 (6w) as provided in s. 108.151 (7) (i) and shall deduct those amounts from the amount set aside plus any interest calculated thereon.

SB671,20 Section 20. 108.16 (6m) (j) of the statutes is created to read:

SB671,10,3 108.16 (6m) (j) Any amount transferred to the account under sub. (6w) as provided in s. 108.151 (7) (i).

SB671,21 Section 21. 108.16 (6w) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB671,10,8 108.16 (6w) The department shall maintain within the fund an uncollectible reimbursable benefits account to which the department shall credit all amounts received from employers under s. 108.151 (7) and all amounts transferred from the fund's balancing account as provided in s. 108.151 (7) (i).

SB671,22 Section 22 . 108.22 (10) of the statutes, as affected by 2019 Wisconsin Act 9, is amended to read:

SB671,10,25 108.22 (10) A private agency that serves as a fiscal agent under s. 46.2785 or contracts with a fiscal intermediary to serve as a fiscal agent under s. 46.272 (7) (e) or 47.035 as to any individual performing services for a person receiving long-term support services under s. 46.272 (7) (b), 46.275, 46.277, 46.278, 46.2785, 46.286, 46.495, 51.42, or 51.437 or personal assistance services under s. 47.02 (6) (c) may be found jointly and severally liable for the amounts owed by the person under this chapter, if, at the time the person's quarterly report is due under this chapter, the private agency served as a fiscal agent for the person. The liability of the agency as provided in this subsection survives dissolution, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, assignment for the benefit of creditors, judicially confirmed extension or composition, or any analogous situation of the person and shall be set forth in a determination or decision issued under s. 108.10. An appeal or review of a determination under this subsection shall not include an appeal or review of determinations of amounts owed by the person. This subsection does not apply with respect to a private agency that has made an election under s. 108.065 (3m).

SB671,23 Section 23. Initial applicability.

SB671,11,3 (1) The treatment of s. 108.02 (10e) (c) first applies to determinations issued under s. 108.09 on the effective date of this subsection.

SB671,11,5 (2) The treatment of s. 108.05 (3) (a), (c) (intro.), and (cm) first applies to claims filed on the effective date of this subsection.

SB671,24 Section 24. Effective dates. This act takes effect on the first Sunday after publication, except as follows:

SB671,11,9 (1) The treatment of s. 16.48 (1) (a) (intro.), 1., 2., 3., 4., 5. and 6. and (b), (2), (3), and (4) takes effect on February 1, 2020.

SB671,11,11 (2) The treatment of ss. 108.02 (13) (k) and 108.065 (1e) (intro.) and (3m) takes effect on January 1, 2021.

SB671,11,12 (End)