Voter registration list
Under current law, all moneys received from the federal government under the
Help America Vote Act and from the sale of copies of the official statewide voter
registration list are deposited into the election administration trust fund. Copies of
the list are typically used for political purposes such as voter or constituent outreach.
The Elections Commission spent all HAVA moneys from the fund as of April 2019.
However, the moneys received from sales of the registration list have not been
appropriated and, therefore, cannot be spent. The bill creates an appropriation for
the moneys received from selling the registration list and authorizes the commission
to spend the moneys for election security and maintenance of the statewide voter
registration system.
Lobbying fees
Under current law, a person who employs a lobbyist (a principal) and who
spends more than $500 in a calendar year on lobbying activities must file a principal
registration form with the Ethics Commission and pay a fee. In addition, in order
for a lobbyist to represent a principal, either the lobbyist or the principal must file
an authorization statement with the commission and pay a fee.
The bill increases the principal registration fee from $375 to $430 and the
authorization statement fee from $125 to $180. The increase first applies to lobbying
that occurs during the 2023-24 legislative session.
The bill also imposes a $55 surcharge applicable to lobbying during the 2021-22
legislative session that is in addition to the fees collected for filing the principal
registration form and the authorization statement.
EMINENT DOMAIN
Condemnation authority for recreational trails, bicycle lanes and ways, and
pedestrian ways
The bill allows certain entities, such as a county board, village board, or DOT,
to use the power of condemnation to acquire land or interests in land for the purpose
of establishing or extending recreational trails, bicycle ways or lanes, or pedestrian
ways. Current law prohibits the exercise of condemnation power to acquire land or
interests for those purposes.
employment
Employment regulation
Minimum wage
The bill raises the minimum wages to be paid to most employees annually, from
the effective date of the bill through January 1, 2025. After that date, the bill
requires DWD to determine the percentage difference between the consumer price
index for the preceding 12-month period and the consumer price index for the 12
months before the preceding 12-month period, to adjust the minimum wages then
in effect by that percentage difference, and to publish those amounts in the
Wisconsin Administrative Register and on the DWD website.
The bill requires the secretary of workforce development to establish a
committee to study options to achieve a $15 per hour minimum wage and other
options to increase compensation for workers in this state. Under the bill, the
committee consists of nine members, with five appointed by the governor, and one
each appointed by the speaker of the assembly, the assembly minority leader, the
senate majority leader, and the senate minority leader. The committee is required
to submit a report containing its recommendations for options to achieve a $15 per
hour minimum wage and other options to increase compensation to the governor and
the appropriate standing committees of the legislature no later than October 1, 2022.
Collective bargaining for state and local employees; employee rights
Under current law, state and local governments are prohibited from collectively
bargaining with employees except as expressly provided in the statutes. Current law
allows certain protective occupation participants under the Wisconsin Retirement
System, known as public safety employees, and certain municipal transit employees
to collectively bargain over wages, hours, and conditions of employment. Under
current law, other state and municipal employees may collectively bargain only over
a percentage increase in base wages that does not exceed the percentage increase in
the consumer price index. In addition, under current law, the Employment Relations
Commission assigns employees to collective bargaining units, but current law
requires that public safety employees and municipal transit employees be placed in
separate collective bargaining units.
The bill adds frontline workers to the groups that may collectively bargain over
wages, hours, and conditions of employment. In the bill, “frontline workers” are state
or municipal employees with regular job duties that include interacting with
members of the public or with large populations of people or that directly involve the
maintenance of public works. Under the bill, ERC determines which state and
municipal employees meet the criteria. Also, the bill allows ERC to place in the same
collective bargaining unit both frontline workers and employees that are not
frontline workers. If ERC places employees of both types in a collective bargaining
unit, the entire collective bargaining unit is treated as if all members are frontline
workers and all members may collectively bargain over wages, hours, and conditions
of employment.
Under current law, state or municipal employees in a collective bargaining unit
elect their representative. The representative for a unit containing public safety
employees or transit employees requires the support of the majority of the employees
who are voting in the election, and the representative for a unit containing other
employees requires the support of the majority of all of the employees who are in the
collective bargaining unit. Under the bill, the representative for any collective
bargaining unit containing any state or municipal employees requires the support
of the majority of the employees who are voting in the election regardless of the
number of employees who are in the collective bargaining unit.
Under current law, ERC must conduct an annual election to certify each
representative of a collective bargaining unit representing state or municipal
employees who are not public safety employees or transit employees. At the election,
if a representative fails to receive at least 51 percent of the votes of all of the members
of the collective bargaining unit, the representative is decertified and the employees
are unrepresented. The bill eliminates this annual recertification process.
The bill requires state and municipal employers to consult about wages, hours,
and conditions of employment with their employees who are not public safety
employees, transit employees, or frontline workers. The employers must consult
when policy changes that affect wages, hours, or conditions are proposed or
implemented or, in the absence of policy changes, at least quarterly.
The bill adds that employees of authorities, such as the University of Wisconsin
Hospitals and Clinics Authority, WHEDA, and WEDC, may collectively bargain as
state employees.
Right-to-work law
The current right-to-work law prohibits a person from requiring, as a
condition of obtaining or continuing employment, an individual to refrain or resign
from membership in a labor organization, to become or remain a member of a labor
organization, to pay dues or other charges to a labor organization, or to pay any other
person an amount that is in place of dues or charges required of members of a labor
organization. The bill repeals these prohibitions and the associated misdemeanor
offense for violating the right-to-work law.
The bill explicitly provides that, when an all-union agreement is in effect, it is
not an unfair labor practice to encourage or discourage membership in a labor
organization or to deduct labor organization dues or assessment from an employee's
earnings. The bill sets conditions under which an employer may enter in an
all-union agreement. The bill also sets conditions for the continuation or
termination of all-union agreements, including that, if ERC determines there is
reasonable ground to believe employees in an all-union agreement have changed
their attitude about the agreement, ERC is required to conduct a referendum to
determine whether the employees wish to continue the agreement. ERC is required
to terminate an all-union agreement if it finds the union unreasonably refused to
admit an employee into the union.
Prevailing wage
The bill requires that laborers, workers, mechanics, and truck drivers
employed on the site of certain projects of public works be paid the prevailing wage
and not be required or allowed to work a greater number of hours per day and per
week than the prevailing hours of labor unless they are paid overtime for all hours
worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor. Projects subject to the bill include
state and local projects of public works, including state highway projects, with
exceptions including projects below certain cost thresholds, minor service or
maintenance work, and certain residential projects. Under the bill, “prevailing wage
rate” is defined as the hourly basic rate of pay, plus the hourly contribution for bona
fide economic benefits, paid for a majority of the hours worked in a trade or
occupation in the area in which the project is located, except that, if there is no rate
at which a majority of those hours is paid, “prevailing wage rate” means the average
hourly basic rate of pay, plus the average hourly contribution for bona fide economic
benefits, paid for the highest-paid 51 percent of hours worked in a trade or
occupation in the area. “Prevailing hours of labor" is defined as 10 hours per day and
40 hours per week, excluding weekends and holidays. The bill requires DWD to
conduct investigations and hold public hearings as necessary to define the trades or
occupations that are commonly employed on projects that are subject to the
prevailing wage law and to inform itself of the prevailing wage rates in all areas of
the state for those trades or occupations, in order to determine the prevailing wage
rate for each trade or occupation. The bill contains certain other provisions
regarding the calculation of prevailing wage rates by DWD, including provisions
allowing persons to request recalculations or reviews of the prevailing wage rates
determined by DWD.
The bill requires contracts and notices for bids for projects subject to the bill to
include and incorporate provisions ensuring compliance with the requirements. The
bill also establishes a requirement that state agencies and local governments post
prevailing wage rates and hours of labor in areas readily accessible to persons
employed on the project or in sites regularly used for posting notices.
The bill makes a contractor that fails to pay the prevailing wage rate or
overtime pay to an employee, as required under the prevailing wage law, liable to the
affected employee for not only the amount of unpaid wages and overtime pay, but also
for liquidated damages in an amount equal to 100 percent of the unpaid wages and
overtime pay.
The bill includes, for both state and local projects of public works, provisions
regarding coverage, compliance, enforcement, and penalties, including 1)
requirements for affidavits to be filed by contractors affirming compliance with the
prevailing wage law; 2) record retention requirements for contractors regarding
wages paid to workers and provisions allowing for the inspection of those records by
DWD; 3) liability and penalty provisions for certain violations, including criminal
penalties; and 4) provisions prohibiting contracts from being awarded to persons who
have failed to comply with the prevailing wage law.
Family and medical leave
Under the current family and medical leave law, an employer that employs at
least 50 individuals on a permanent basis must permit an employee who has been
employed by the employer for more than 52 consecutive weeks and who has worked
for the employer for at least 1,000 hours during the preceding 52 weeks to take family
leave to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner, or parent of the employee who has
a serious health condition. An employer covered by the law must also permit an
employee to take up to two weeks of medical leave in a 12-month period when the
employee has a serious health condition. An employee may file a complaint with
DWD regarding an alleged violation of the family and medical leave law within 30
days after either the violation occurs or the employee should reasonably have known
that the violation occurred, whichever is later.
The bill makes the following changes to the family and medical leave law:
1. Requires employers that employ 25 or more employees on a permanent basis
to comply with the family and medical leave law.
2. Decreases the number of hours an employee is required to work before
qualifying for family and medical leave to 680 hours during the preceding 52 weeks.
3. Extends the time period in which an employee may file a complaint with
DWD to 300 days after either the violation occurs or the employee should reasonably
have known that the violation occurred, whichever is later.
4. Requires employers covered under the law to permit employees to take
family leave to provide care for a grandparent, grandchild, or sibling who has a
serious health condition.
5. Removes the age restriction from the definition of “child” for various
purposes under the family and medical leave law.
6. Requires employers to permit employees to take family leave to care for the
employee's child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or
sibling who is in medical isolation and requires employers to permit employees to
take medical leave when the employee is in medical isolation. The bill defines
“medical isolation” to include when a local health officer or DHS advises that an
individual isolate or quarantine; when a health care professional, a local health
officer, or DHS advises that the individual seclude herself or himself when awaiting
the result of a diagnostic test for a communicable disease or when the individual is
infected with a communicable disease; and when an individual's employer advises
that an individual not come to the workplace due to a concern that the individual may
have been exposed to or infected with a communicable disease.
7. Requires employers to permit employees to take family leave in the instance
of the unexpected closure of the child care provider or school that the employee's
child, grandchild, or sibling attends or because of a qualifying exigency as to be
determined by DWD related to covered active duty, as defined in the bill, or
notification of an impending call or order to covered active duty of a child, spouse,
domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling who is a member of the
U.S. armed forces.
8. Requires employers to permit employees to take family leave to provide
caregiving services to a child, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, grandparent,
or grandchild of the employee if the child, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent,
grandparent, or grandchild suffers from a chronic condition. The bill defines “chronic
condition” as a health condition, illness, impairment, or physical or mental condition
that involves any of the following: 1) a condition or disease that is persistent or
otherwise long-lasting in its effects; 2) a condition or disease that lasts for at least
three months; 3) a condition or disease that requires the individual to have
assistance with one or more essential daily activities; or 4) outpatient care that
requires continuing treatment or supervision by a health care provider. The bill also
includes adult children who suffer from a chronic condition in the definition of “child”
for the purposes of taking family leave for caregiving.
Small Business Retirement Savings Board; retirement savings program
The bill creates a Small Business Retirement Savings Board attached to DFI
and requires the board to establish and oversee a small business retirement savings
program for certain privately employed individuals who are not eligible for an
employer-sponsored retirement plan. The board must contract with a vendor
(investment administrator) to provide specified services in administering the
program, including investment services and record-keeping services.
Under the bill, the board consists of the following nine members: the state
treasurer or his or her designee; the secretary of financial institutions or his or her
designee; two members appointed by the governor; two members appointed,
respectively, by the speaker of the assembly and president of the senate; one member
appointed by the state treasurer; one member appointed by the State of Wisconsin
Investment Board; and one member appointed by the other members. The bill
requires certain members to possess specified attributes or experience, and all
members except the state treasurer and secretary of financial institutions, or their
designees, serve four-year terms.
Under the bill, the board must design the program to meet certain
requirements. Among these, the program must allow eligible employees to
contribute to their accounts through payroll deductions and require participating
employers to withhold from employees' wages, through payroll deductions,
employees' account contributions and remit those contributions directly to the
investment administrator. A “participating employer” is a private employer that
does not offer a retirement savings plan to all employees; has at least one employee
who is a resident of this state; provides notice to the board of its election to participate
in the program; and certifies that, on the date of this notice, it had 50 or fewer
employees. An “eligible employee” is an individual who resides in this state and who
is employed by a private employer that does not offer a retirement savings plan in
which the individual may participate. The bill defines “account” as a retirement
savings account established for an eligible employee under the program. Other
requirements of the program are that the administrative costs must be low and the
fee that the investment administrator may charge an eligible employee is limited to
a fixed monthly fee in an amount approved by the board. The program must also
allow an eligible employee who has established an account to continue the account
after separating from employment with a participating employer if the account is
maintained with a positive balance.
Under the bill, after electing to participate in the program, a participating
employer must provide notice to each of its eligible employees of the eligible
employee's right to opt out of the program. Unless the eligible employee opts out, the
participating employer must enroll the eligible employee in the program and begin
making payroll deductions, the amounts of which are remitted to the investment
administrator as account contributions of the employee. Unless a different account
type is offered and the employee selects another option, these contributions are made
to a Roth IRA for the employee. Unless the employee directs otherwise, during the
employee's first year of enrollment in the program, the participating employer must
make a payroll deduction each pay period at a rate of 5 percent of the employee's gross
wages, with this rate increasing by 1 percent per year until a maximum rate of 10
percent is reached. Under the program, the eligible employee must have certain
investment options within each account type, including a stable value or capital
preservation fund and a target date index fund or age-based fund. An eligible
employee's first $1,000 of contributions must be deposited in a stable value or capital
preservation fund, and thereafter, unless the employee selects a different
investment option, the employee's contributions must be deposited in a target date
index fund or age-based fund.
The bill specifies that, in establishing the program, the board may create or
impose any requirement or condition not inconsistent with the bill's requirements
that the board considers necessary for the effective functioning and widespread
utilization of the program. The bill also authorizes the board to enter into contracts
for services necessary for establishing and overseeing the program, including
services of financial institutions, attorneys, investment advisers, accountants,
consultants, and other professionals. The board may promulgate rules related to the
program. DFI must provide the board with assistance necessary for the program,
including staff, equipment, and office space. The board may delegate to DFI
responsibility for carrying out any day-to-day board function related to the
program.
Employment discrimination based on conviction record
The bill provides that it is employment discrimination because of conviction
record for a prospective employer to request conviction information from a job
applicant before the applicant has been selected for an interview. The bill, however,
does not prohibit an employer from notifying job applicants that an individual with
a particular conviction record may be disqualified by law or under the employer's
policies from employment in particular positions.
Employment discrimination based on gender expression and gender identity
Current law prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of a person's
sex or sexual orientation. The bill prohibits employers from discriminating against
an employee on the basis of the employee's gender identity or gender expression.
“Gender expression” is defined in the bill as an individual's actual or perceived
gender-related appearance, behavior, or expression, regardless of whether these
traits are stereotypically associated with the individual's assigned sex at birth.
“Gender identity” is defined in the bill an individual's internal understanding of the
individual's gender, or the individual's perceived gender identity.
Civil actions regarding employment discrimination
Under current fair employment law, an individual who alleges that an
employer has violated employment discrimination, unfair honesty testing, or unfair
genetic testing laws may file a complaint with DWD seeking action that will
effectuate the purpose of the fair employment law, including reinstating the
individual, providing back pay, and paying costs and attorney fees.
The bill permits DWD or an individual who is alleged or was found to have been
discriminated against or subjected to unfair honesty or genetic testing to bring an
action in circuit court to recover compensatory and punitive damages caused by the
act of discrimination, unfair honesty testing, or unfair genetic testing, in addition to
or in lieu of filing an administrative complaint. The action in circuit court must be
commenced within 300 days after the alleged discrimination, unfair honesty testing,
or unfair genetic testing occurred. The bill does not allow such an action for damages
to be brought against a local governmental unit or against an employer that employs
fewer than 15 individuals.
Under the bill, if the circuit court finds that a defendant has committed
employment discrimination, unfair honesty testing, or unfair genetic testing, the
circuit court may award back pay and any other relief that could have been awarded
in an administrative proceeding. In addition, the circuit court must order the
defendant to pay to the individual found to have been discriminated against or found
to have received unfair genetic testing or unfair honesty testing compensatory and
punitive damages in the amount that the circuit court finds appropriate, except that
the total amount of damages awarded for future economic losses and for pain and
suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other
noneconomic losses and punitive damages is subject to the following limitations:
1. If the defendant employs 100 or fewer employees, no more than $50,000.
2. If the defendant employs more than 100 but fewer than 201 employees, no
more than $100,000.
3. If the defendant employs more than 200 but fewer than 501 employees, no
more than $200,000.
4. If the defendant employs more than 500 employees, no more than $300,000.
The bill requires DWD to annually revise these amounts on the basis of the
change in the consumer price index in the previous year, if any positive change has
occurred.
Worker classification notices and information
The bill requires DWD to design and make available to employers a notice
regarding worker classification laws, requirements for employers and employees,
and penalties for noncompliance. Under the bill, all employers in this state must post
the notice in a conspicuous place where notices to employees are customarily posted.
The bill provides a penalty of not more than $100 for an employer that does not post
the notice as required. DWD must also establish and maintain on DWD's website
information regarding worker classification laws, requirements for employers and
employees, penalties for noncompliance, and contact information at each state
agency that administers worker classification laws.
Substance abuse prevention; employer registration
With certain exceptions, current law prohibits employees from using,
possessing, attempting to possess, distributing, delivering, or being under the
influence of a drug, or from using or being under the influence of alcohol, while
performing certain work on a project of public works or public utility project, and
requires that, before an employer may commence work on a project of public works
or a public utility project, the employer have in place a written employee substance
abuse program.
The bill specifically allows DWD to enforce these provisions and requires
employers subject to these provisions to register with DWD. The bill allocates
registration fees to DWD's substance abuse prevention administration and
enforcement activities.
Unemployment insurance
Drug testing
Current state law requires DWD to establish a program to test certain
claimants who apply for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for the presence of
controlled substances that is consistent with federal law. A claimant who tests
positive for a controlled substance for which the claimant does not have a
prescription is ineligible for UI benefits until certain requalification criteria are
satisfied or unless he or she enrolls in a substance abuse treatment program and
undergoes a job skills assessment, and a claimant who declines to submit to a test
is simply ineligible for benefits until he or she requalifies. The bill repeals the
requirement to establish the drug testing program.
Also under current law, an employer may voluntarily submit to DWD the
results of a preemployment test for the presence of controlled substances that was
conducted on an individual as a condition of an offer of employment or notify DWD
that an individual declined to submit to such a test. If DWD then verifies that
submission, the employee may be ineligible for benefits until he or she requalifies.
However, a claimant who tested positive may maintain eligibility by enrolling in a
substance abuse treatment program and undergoing a job skills assessment. The bill
repeals these preemployment drug testing provisions.
Benefit rates
Under current law, a person who qualifies for UI receives a weekly benefit equal
to a percentage of that person's past earnings, but the weekly benefit is capped at
$370. The bill changes the maximum weekly benefit in the following ways:
1. For benefits paid for weeks of unemployment beginning on or after January
2, 2022, but before January 1, 2023, the maximum weekly benefit is capped at $409.
2. For benefits paid for weeks of unemployment beginning on or after January
1, 2023, but before December 31, 2023, the maximum weekly benefit is capped at 50
percent of the state's annual average weekly wages.
3. For benefits paid for weeks of unemployment beginning on or after December
31, 2023, the maximum weekly benefit is capped at 75 percent of the state's annual
average weekly wages, or the maximum weekly benefit amount from the previous
year, whichever is greater.
Under the bill, DWD is required to calculate the state's annual average weekly
wage for each year based on quarterly wage reports that are submitted to DWD. The
state's annual average weekly wage is calculated by June 30 of each year and is used
to calculate the following year's maximum weekly benefit amount.
Waiting period
Currently, a claimant must wait one week after becoming eligible to receive UI
benefits before the claimant may receive benefits for a week of unemployment,
except for periods during which the waiting period is suspended. The waiting period
does not affect the maximum number of weeks of a claimant's benefit eligibility. The
bill deletes the one-week waiting period, thus permitting a claimant to receive UI
benefits beginning with his or her first week of eligibility.
Social security disability insurance payments
Under current law, in any week in any month that a claimant is issued a benefit
under the federal social security disability insurance program (SSDI benefits), that
claimant is ineligible for UI benefits. The bill repeals that prohibition and instead
requires DWD to reduce a claimant's UI benefit payments by the amount of SSDI
payments. The bill requires DWD to allocate a monthly SSDI payment by allocating
to each week the fraction of the payment attributable to that week.
Work search and registration
Under current law, a claimant for UI benefits is generally required to register
for work and to conduct a work search for each week in order to remain eligible.
Current law requires DWD to waive these requirements under certain
circumstances, for example, if a claimant who is laid off from work reasonably
expects to be recalled to work within 12 weeks, will start a new job within four weeks,
routinely obtains work through a labor union referral, or is participating in a
training or work-share program. Under current law, DWD may modify the statutory
waivers or establish additional waivers by rule only if doing so is required or
specifically allowed by federal law.
The bill removes the waiver requirements from statute and instead allows
DWD to establish waivers for the registration for work and work search
requirements by rule. The bill also specifies that the work search requirement does
not apply to a claimant who has been laid off but DWD determines that the claimant
has a reasonable expectation to be recalled to work.
Acceptance of suitable work
Under current law, if a claimant for UI benefits fails, without good cause, to
accept suitable work when offered, the claimant is ineligible to receive benefits until
he or she earns wages after the week in which the failure occurs equal to at least six
times the claimant's weekly UI benefit rate in covered employment. Current law
specifies what is considered “suitable work” for purposes of these provisions, with
different standards applying depending on whether six weeks have elapsed since the
claimant became unemployed. Once six weeks have elapsed since the claimant
became unemployed, the claimant is required to accept work that pays lower and
involves a lower grade of skill.
The bill modifies these provisions described above so that the claimant is not
required to accept less favorable work until 10 weeks have elapsed since the claimant
became unemployed.
Termination due to substantial fault
Under current law, a claimant for UI benefits whose work is terminated by his
or her employer for substantial fault by the claimant connected with the claimant's
work is ineligible to receive UI benefits until the claimant qualifies through
subsequent employment. With certain exceptions, current law defines “substantial
fault” to include those acts or omissions of a claimant over which the claimant
exercised reasonable control and that violate reasonable requirements of the
claimant's employer. The bill repeals this provision on substantial fault.
Quits due to nonsuitable work
Under current law, unless an exception applies, if a claimant for UI benefits
quits his or her job, the claimant is generally ineligible to receive unemployment
insurance benefits until he or she qualifies through subsequent employment. Under
one such exception, if a claimant quits his or her job and 1) the claimant accepted
work that was not suitable work under the UI law or work that the claimant could
have refused; and 2) the claimant terminated the work within 30 calendar days after
starting the work, the claimant remains eligible to collect UI benefits. Under the bill,
this exemption applies if the claimant terminated that work within
10 weeks after
starting the work.
Quits due to relocations
