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LRB-5847/1
MED&EAW:cjs&wlj
2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE
February 1, 2022 - Introduced by Committee on Labor and Regulatory Reform.
Referred to Committee on Labor and Regulatory Reform.
SB897,2,4 1An Act to repeal 16.48 (1) (b), 16.48 (2), 108.02 (26) (c) 9., 108.02 (26) (c) 14.,
2108.062 (1) (c), 108.062 (2) (b), 108.062 (2) (e), 108.062 (4) (a) 2., 108.062 (19) (a),
3108.062 (19) (b), 108.062 (20) and 108.19 (3); to renumber 108.04 (7) (h); to
4renumber and amend
16.48 (1) (a) (intro.), 16.48 (1) (a) 1., 2., 3., 4., 5. and 6.,
5108.062 (4) (a) 1. and 108.062 (19) (intro.); to amend 16.48 (3), 59.40 (4), 71.93
6(8) (b) 1., 108.02 (2) (c), 108.02 (13) (c) 2. a., 108.02 (13) (k), 108.02 (14), 108.02
7(15) (j) 5., 108.02 (15) (k) 5., 108.02 (17m), 108.02 (19), 108.04 (12) (b), 108.04
8(16) (d) 1., 108.04 (18) (a), 108.04 (18) (b), 108.062 (2) (a), 108.062 (2) (c), 108.062
9(2) (d), 108.062 (2) (h), 108.062 (2) (m), 108.062 (3), 108.062 (3r), 108.062 (4) (b),
10108.062 (6) (b), 108.062 (15), 108.065 (1e) (intro.), 108.10 (intro.), 108.13 (4) (a)
112., 108.14 (8n) (a), 108.14 (8n) (e), 108.14 (26), 108.141 (1) (h), 108.141 (3g) (a)
123. b., 108.141 (7) (a), 108.141 (7) (b), 108.145, 108.15 (3) (d), 108.151 (2) (d),
13108.151 (7) (c), 108.151 (7) (f), 108.152 (1) (d), 108.155 (2) (a) and (d), 108.16 (6m)
14(a), 108.16 (6w), 108.16 (6x), 108.16 (9) (a), 108.18 (3) (c), 108.22 (8e), 108.22

1(10), 108.223 (2) (b), 108.23, 108.24 (3) (a) 3. a. and 108.24 (3) (a) 4.; and to
2create
16.48 (4), 71.93 (8) (b) 1. d., 108.02 (10e) (c), 108.02 (15) (k) 21., 108.065
3(3m), 108.101 (5), 108.151 (7) (i) and 108.16 (6m) (j) of the statutes; relating
4to:
various changes to the unemployment insurance law.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill makes various changes in the unemployment insurance (UI) law,
which is administered by the Department of Workforce Development. Significant
changes include all of the following:
Unemployment insurance financial outlook statement; council report;
special committee
Under current law, DWD must submit a statement regarding the
unemployment insurance financial outlook to the governor and legislative
leadership by April 15 of every odd-numbered year. The report must contain all of
the following: 1) financial projections of unemployment insurance operations,
including benefit payments, tax collections, borrowing or debt repayments, and any
amounts of interest charges and the economic and public policy assumptions upon
which the projections are based, and the impact upon the projections of variations
from those assumptions; 2) proposed changes to the laws relating to unemployment
insurance financing, benefits, and administration and financial projections under
the proposed changes; 3) if there are significant cash reserves in the unemployment
fund, the justifications for maintaining them; and 4) if program debt is projected at
the end of the forecast period, the reasons DWD is not proposing to liquidate the debt.
The bill changes the submittal deadline of the statement to May 31 of every
even-numbered year. The bill also requires the statement to contain proposed
methods for liquidating any debt, instead of the reasons DWD is not proposing to
liquidate any debt.
Under current law, DWD must submit a report of the activities of the Council
on Unemployment Insurance to the governor and legislative leadership by May 15
of each odd-numbered year. Current law also requires DWD to submit to each
member of the legislature by June 15 of each odd-numbered year an updated
statement of unemployment insurance financial outlook.
The bill replaces the two aforementioned requirements with a single
requirement for DWD to submit, by January 31 of each even-numbered year, a
report of the activities of the Council on Unemployment Insurance and the most
recent statement regarding the unemployment insurance financial outlook to the
governor and legislative leadership, rather than to every member of the legislature.
The bill also requires DWD to post the most recent version of the report and
statement on its Internet site.
Finally, under current law, after the report and statement are submitted to the
governor and leadership by May 15 of each odd-numbered year, the governor may

convene a special committee to review the financial outlook statement and the
activities report. The bill repeals that provision. However, the bill does not affect
the governor's authority under current law to convene advisory committees by
executive order.
Effect of criminal convictions
Current law provides that no finding of fact or law, determination, decision, or
judgment in any action or administrative or judicial proceeding in law or equity not
arising under the UI law made with respect to the rights or liabilities of a party to
an action or proceeding under the UI law is binding in an action or proceeding under
the UI law.
The bill provides that notwithstanding this provision, 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 the UI law that relates to the criminal conviction, and
that 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 the UI law.
Reimbursable employer debt assessment
Under current law, DWD must annually determine the total amount due and
uncollectible from nonprofit employers that have elected what is known as
reimbursement financing (reimbursable employers), and DWD must then charge
that amount to an uncollectible reimbursable benefits account in the unemployment
reserve fund. Whenever, as of a given year, that account has a negative balance of
$5,000 or more, DWD must assess all such nonprofit reimbursable employers to
reimburse for the uncollectible amount, except that employers that would otherwise
be assessed less than $10 are not assessed, and their portion is instead applied to the
amount owed by other employers on a pro rata basis.
Also under current law, pursuant to 2015 Wisconsin Act 334, $2,000,000 was
set aside in the unemployment reserve fund to repay reimbursable employers for
erroneous payments charged to them that resulted from a false statement or
representation (e.g., identity theft).
The bill does the following:
1. Raises the threshold for charging a reimbursable nonprofit employer the
assessment to $20 instead of $10.
2. Allows DWD, in lieu of or in addition to assessing nonprofit reimbursable
employers as described above, to apply moneys from the $2,000,000 set aside to the
uncollectible reimbursable benefits account described above, subject to certain
limitations.
Waiver of overpayments
Current law requires the recovery of benefits that were erroneously paid to an
individual to be waived if certain conditions apply, including that the erroneous
payment was the result of a departmental error. Current law specifies what does and
does not constitute a “departmental error” and also provides that if a determination
or decision is amended, modified, or reversed by an appeal tribunal (administrative
law judge), the Labor and Industry Review Commission, or any court, that action is
not to be treated as establishing a departmental error.

The bill specifically provides that, for the purposes of the waiver of recovery of
benefits, a “departmental error” does not include an error made by an administrative
law judge.
Excluded employment
The bill excludes from coverage under the UI law seasonal work performed by
a full-time student at an organized camp, other than an organized camp operated
by a governmental or nonprofit entity, that operates for not more than seven months
per calendar year, consistent with federal law. Under the bill, “full-time student”
includes a person who is currently enrolled in school full time or who was enrolled
in school full time during the previous academic year if there is a reasonable
assurance that the person will be so enrolled for the immediately succeeding
academic year. An individual who performs such services is not eligible to claim UI
benefits based on the performance of the services, and a person who employs an
individual to perform such services is not subject to a state UI contribution
requirement (a requirement to pay taxes) based on the performance of the services.
Work-share programs
Current law allows an employer to create a work-share program within a work
unit of the employer. Under a work-share program, the working hours of all of the
full-time employees in the program are reduced in an equitable manner in lieu of a
layoff of some of the employees and a continuation of full-time employment by the
other employees. A claimant for UI benefits who is included in a work-share program
may receive UI benefits during his or her continued employment with the
work-share employer in an amount equal to the claimant's benefit for total
unemployment reduced by the same percentage as the percentage reduction in the
claimant's normal working hours that the claimant incurs under the program.
Former law provided also for the temporary modification of certain requirements
that apply to work-share programs with respect to work-share programs submitted
on or after April 17, 2020, and before July 4, 2021.
The bill makes a number of the former-law modifications permanent. Among
other things, it eliminates a requirement that work-share programs be limited to
particular work units, reduces the minimum number of employees who must be
covered under a work-share program from 20 to two, and eliminates a requirement
that working hours be reduced equitably among employees. In addition, the bill
allows a work-share program to remain in effect for 12 months in any five-year
period instead of six months in any five-year period.
Collection of debt by Department of Revenue
Subject to certain exceptions, current law requires a state agency and the
Department of Revenue to enter into a written agreement to have DOR collect
certain amounts owed to the state agency. The bill provides that this requirement
does not apply to amounts owed to DWD under the UI law or other federal
unemployment programs administered by DWD.
Fiscal agent election of employer status
Generally, under current law, an individual who receives long-term support
services in his or her home through certain government-funded care programs is

considered to be an employer under the UI law of a person who provides those
services to the individual. Such individuals may use fiscal agents, whose
responsibilities include remitting any federal UI taxes or state UI contributions
owed by the individual as a result of that employment.
The bill allows a private agency that serves as a fiscal agent or contracts with
a fiscal intermediary to serve as a fiscal agent to such an individual receiving
long-term support services to elect to instead be the employer of one or more
employees providing those services, subject to certain requirements.
Other changes
The bill makes various changes to a) reorganize, clarify, and update provisions
relating in the UI law; and b) address numerous out-of-date or erroneous
cross-references in the UI law, including all of the following:
1. Changing certain out-of-date cross-references to federal law to reflect
current federal law and the current numbering under the U.S. Code.
2. Repealing certain provisions that reference federal laws that have been
repealed.
3. Correcting various cross-references that are otherwise incomplete or
erroneous.
4. Replacing certain references to provisions in federal acts or to the Internal
Revenue Code with references to the U.S. Code in order to facilitate accessibility to
federal law.
5. Making other nonsubstantive changes to the UI law to improve organization,
modernize language, and provide further clarity, specificity, and consistency in the
law.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SB897,1 1Section 1 . 16.48 (1) (a) (intro.) of the statutes is renumbered 16.48 (1) (intro.)
2and amended to read:
SB897,6,23 16.48 (1) (intro.) No later than April 15 May 31 of each odd-numbered
4even-numbered year, the secretary of workforce development shall prepare and
5furnish to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the
6assembly, and the majority and minority leaders of the senate, and the council on
7unemployment insurance,
a statement of unemployment insurance financial

1outlook, which shall contain all of the following, together with the secretary's
2recommendations and an explanation for such recommendations:
SB897,2 3Section 2 . 16.48 (1) (a) 1., 2., 3., 4., 5. and 6. of the statutes are renumbered
416.48 (1) (am), (bm), (c), (d), (e) and (f), and 16.48 (1) (bm), (c) and (f), as renumbered,
5are amended to read:
SB897,6,76 16.48 (1) (bm) Specific proposed changes, if any, in the laws relating to
7unemployment insurance financing, benefits, and administration.
SB897,6,88 (c) Projections specified in subd. 1. par. (am) under the proposed laws.
SB897,6,109 (f) If unemployment insurance program debt is projected at the end of the
10forecast period, the reasons why it is not methods proposed to liquidate the debt.
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