Concentrated animal feeding operations
Under current law, a person who operates a concentrated animal feeding
operation (CAFO) must have a WPDES permit from DNR. A CAFO is a livestock
operation that contains at least 1,000 animal units, that discharges pollutants into
a navigable water, or that contaminates a well. Current law requires a CAFO
operator with a WPDES permit to pay an annual fee of $345 to DNR. The bill
increases the amount of this annual fee to $545.
Well construction notification fee
Under current law, no person may construct a high capacity well, which is a well
with a capacity of more than 100,000 gallons per day, without prior approval of DNR
and payment of a $500 fee. Prior to construction of a well that is not a high capacity
well, the owner of the property where the well is to be constructed must notify DNR
and pay a fee of $50. The bill increases the notification fee to $70.
Well construction variances application fee
Under current law, DNR regulates groundwater withdrawal. Administrative
rules promulgated by DNR establish requirements for the construction of wells and
provide that a person may request a variance from those rules if strict compliance
with the requirements is not feasible. DNR may determine whether a variance is
justified and may condition the issuance of a variance on additional construction
features to safeguard groundwater. The bill requires DNR to collect a $100 fee from
a person requesting a well construction variance.
Ballast water discharge
Under current law, DNR may issue a general permit authorizing a vessel that
is 79 feet or greater in length to discharge ballast water into the waters of this state.
DNR may charge an application fee of $1,200 and a $345 annual fee for the permit.
DNR must use collected fees to administer the permit program.
The bill repeals these provisions and provides that the owner or operator of any
commercial vessel subject to the requirements of the federal Vessel Incidental
Discharge Act that has operated outside this state must pay DNR $650 per arrival
to a port of this state. Under the bill, the owner or operator of a commercial vessel
subject to these requirements, including a vessel engaged in coastwise trade, may
not be required to pay more than $3,250 in fees per calendar year. DNR must use
collected fees for management, administration, inspection, monitoring, and
enforcement activities relating to incidental discharges, including ballast water
discharges.
Under current law, an employee or agent of DNR may board and inspect any
vessel that is subject to requirements relating to environmental protection
requirements for tank vessels or open burning on commercial vessels to determine
compliance with those requirements.
The bill provides that DNR may enter into a memorandum of agreement with
the U.S. Coast Guard authorizing an employee or agent of DNR to board and inspect
any vessel that is subject to the requirements under the bill to determine compliance
with the federal Vessel Incidental Discharge Act.
Hazardous substances and environmental cleanup
Dry cleaner response program and revitalize Wisconsin program
The bill eliminates the existing dry cleaner environmental response program
and its associated fund and council and creates the revitalize Wisconsin program,
which is administered by DNR.
The revitalize Wisconsin program created under the bill provides aid, in the
form of grants or direct services to local governments, dry cleaners, and private
parties, to address the discharge of a hazardous substance or the existence of
environmental pollution on the government's or person's property. Aid may be
provided for sites for which the site's owner or operator applied for assistance under
the dry cleaner environmental response program before its repeal; brownfields; sites
that are exempt from the state's hazardous substance remediation laws (often called
the “spill law”); and sites that are subject to the spill law but that are owned by
private parties. The bill defines “private party” to include a bank, trust company,
savings bank, or credit union; a developer; a nongovernmental organization; and an
innocent landowner. The bill defines an “innocent landowner” as a property owner
that either 1) acquired the property prior to November 1, 2006, has continuously
owned the property since the date of acquisition, and can demonstrate, through
documentation, that the discharge or environmental pollution being addressed was
caused by another person and that the property owner did not know and had no
reason to know of the discharge or pollution when the owner acquired the property;
or 2) acquired the property on or after November 1, 2006, meets all of the previously
stated requirements, and can demonstrate, through documentation, that the
property owner conducted all appropriate inquiries in compliance with the federal
All Appropriate Inquiries rule under
40 CFR part 312 prior to acquiring the property.
The bill provides that DNR may not award aid to an applicant under the
revitalize Wisconsin program if the applicant caused the discharge or environmental
pollution unless the applicant is a dry cleaner that applied for assistance under the
dry cleaner environmental response program before its repeal. The bill also provides
that DNR may require an applicant to provide a match, either in cash or in-kind, for
any aid that is awarded under the program.
Activities for which aid may be provided under the program include removing
hazardous substances from contaminated media such as surface waters,
groundwater, or soil; investigating and assessing the discharge or environmental
pollution; removing abandoned containers; asbestos abatement; and restoring or
replacing a private potable water supply.
The bill also allows DNR to inspect any document in the possession of an
applicant or any other person if the document is relevant to an application for
financial assistance under the program.
Ban on coal tar-based sealants
The bill prohibits the sale of coal tar-based sealant products and high PAH
sealant products (products with more than 0.1 percent polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons by weight) beginning January 1, 2024, and prohibits the use of such
products beginning July 1, 2024. A person who violates these prohibitions is subject
to the same penalty that applies under current law to other general environmental
provisions, which is a forfeiture of between $10 and $5,000 for each violation.
Mining
Nonmetallic mining appropriation
Under current law, fees relating to nonmetallic mining are deposited into the
segregated environmental fund, to be used for environmental management
activities. The bill instead directs that all moneys received from nonmetallic mining
fees are to be used for the administration and enforcement of the state's nonmetallic
mining regulations.
General environment
Municipal flood control aid
The bill requires DNR to award, from the amounts appropriated to DNR to
provide assistance for municipal flood control, $1,000,000 in grants in each fiscal
year of the 2023-25 fiscal biennium for the preparation of flood insurance studies
and other flood mapping projects.
Stormwater appropriation
Under current law, a person may need to obtain a permit from DNR to discharge
storm water. Current law appropriates money annually from the general fund for
the administration of the storm water discharge permit program. Storm water
permit fees collected by DNR are credited to the storm water permit appropriation.
The bill changes the storm water permit appropriation from an annual
appropriation to a continuing appropriation. An annual appropriation is expendable
only up to the amount shown in the schedule and only for the fiscal year for which
made. A continuing appropriation is expendable until fully depleted or repealed.
Bonding for urban storm water, flood control, and riparian restoration
Under current law, the state may contract up to $61,600,000 in public debt to
provide financial assistance for projects that manage urban storm water and runoff
and for flood control and riparian restoration projects. The bill increases the bonding
authority for these projects by $11,000,000.
Environmental improvement fund revenue bonding limit
Current law authorizes the issuance of revenue bonds for the clean water fund
program and the safe drinking water loan program under the environmental
improvement fund, but limits the principal amount of those revenue bonds to
$2,551,400,000. The bill increases that limit by $372,000,000, to $2,923,400,000.
Bonding for nonpoint source water pollution abatement
Under current law, the state may contract up to $57,050,000 in public debt to
provide financial assistance for projects that control pollution that comes from
diffuse sources rather than a single concentrated discharge source in areas that
qualify as high priority due to water quality problems. The bill increases the bonding
authority for these projects by $10,000,000.
Bonding for Great Lakes contaminated sediment removal
Under current law, the state may contract up to $40,000,000 in public debt to
provide financial assistance for projects to remove contaminated sediment from Lake
Michigan or Lake Superior, or a tributary of Lake Michigan or Lake Superior, if DNR
has identified the body of water as being impaired by the sediment. The bill increases
the bonding authority for sediment removal projects by $15,000,000.
Water resources account lapse
The bill lapses, to the conservation fund in fiscal year 2023-24, $350,000 from
the DNR appropriation for river management activities for habitat and recreational
projects and for environmental and resource management studies on the Mississippi
and lower St. Croix Rivers.
health and human services
Public Assistance
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Under current law, DCF allocates specific amounts of federal moneys, including
child care development funds and moneys received under the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program for various public assistance
programs. Under the bill, TANF funding allocations are changed in the following
ways, as compared to the funding allocation in the 2021-23 fiscal biennium:
1. For Wisconsin Works benefits, total funding is decreased by 10 percent.
2. For the Families and Schools Together program, total funding is maintained
at $250,000, but an additional $250,000 is available if the grant recipient provides
matching funds.
3. For homeless case management services grants, total funding is doubled.
4. For state administration of public assistance programs and overpayment
collections, total funding is increased by 12 percent.
5. For grants to Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Inc., for distribution to
programs that provide civil legal services to low-income families, total funding is
doubled.
6. For the Transform Milwaukee and Transitional Jobs programs, total funding
is increased by 18 percent.
7. For Jobs for America's Graduates, total funding is doubled.
8. For child care state administration and licensing activities, total funding is
increased by 10 percent.
9. For child care quality improvement activities, total funding is tripled.
10. For payments to support the dependent children of recipients of
supplemental security income, total funding is decreased by 32 percent.
11. For kinship care payments, total funding is increased by 62 percent.
12. For safety and out-of-home placement services, total funding is decreased
by 39 percent.
13. For grants to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, total funding is increased
by a multiple of 12.
14. For the earned income tax credit supplement, total funding is increased by
69 percent.
15. The funding for the offender reentry demonstration project is eliminated,
and the deadline for the project evaluation is extended to June 30, 2024. This was
a five-year project ending in fiscal year 2022-23.
16. For all other programs under TANF, funding is continued with a funding
change of less than 5 percent.
The bill adds a new TANF allocation item for the child support debt reduction
program.
The bill also specifies that, with respect to a TANF-funded contract for services,
“allocate” means to designate an amount of money equal to the amount under the
contract that DCF is obligated to pay.
Civil legal services grants
Under current law, DCF provides funding to the Wisconsin Trust Account
Foundation, Inc. (the foundation), to provide civil legal services to TANF-eligible
individuals in two ways:
1. DCF provides up to $100,000 in each fiscal year in matching funds to the
foundation for the provision of civil legal services to eligible individuals. This grant
does not specify what types of civil legal services may be provided.
2. DCF provides a $500,000 grant in each fiscal year to the foundation to
provide grants to programs, up to $75,000 each, that provide certain legal services
to eligible individuals. The legal services provided through this grant are limited to
legal services in civil matters related to domestic abuse or sexual abuse or to
restraining orders or injunctions for individuals at risk.
The bill removes the grant that requires matching funds and increases to
$1,000,000 per fiscal year the grant to provide certain legal services to eligible
individuals. Under the bill, the foundation may additionally use this funding to
provide to eligible individuals civil legal services related to eviction. The bill removes
the $75,000 cap on grants provided by the foundation to individual programs.
Transform Milwaukee Jobs and Transitional Jobs programs
Under current law, DCF administers a temporary wage subsidy program for
individuals who meet all of the following qualifications: 1) are at least 18 years old
and, if over 25 years old, are the parent or primary relative caregiver of a child under
the age of 18; 2) have a household income below 150 percent of the poverty line; 3)
have been unemployed for at least four weeks; 4) are ineligible to receive
unemployment insurance benefits; 5) are not participating in a Wisconsin Works
employment position; and 6) satisfy applicable substance abuse screening, testing,
and treatment requirements.
The bill modifies the qualifications for participating in the program by
removing the requirement that the individual has been unemployed for at least four
weeks, and by specifying that anyone who is not receiving unemployment insurance
benefits, regardless of his or her eligibility to receive those benefits, may participate.
Child care quality improvement program
The bill authorizes DCF to establish a program for making monthly payments
and monthly per-child payments to certified child care providers, licensed child care
centers, and child care programs established or contracted for by a school board. This
new payment program is in addition to the current law system for providing child
care payments under Wisconsin Shares. The bill allows DCF to promulgate
administrative rules to implement the program, including rules that establish
eligibility requirements and payment amounts and that set requirements for how
recipients may use the payments. The bill funds the program through a new
appropriation and by allocating federal moneys, including child care development
funds and moneys received under the TANF block grant program.
Wisconsin Shares is a part of the Wisconsin Works program under current law,
which DCF administers and which provides work experience and benefits for
low-income custodial parents who are at least 18 years old. Under current law, an
individual who is the parent of a child under the age of 13 or, if the child is disabled,
under the age of 19, who needs child care services to participate in various education
or work activities, and who satisfies other eligibility criteria may receive a child care
subsidy for child care services under Wisconsin Shares.
Under current law, DCF sets the maximum payment rates for child care
providers who provide services under Wisconsin Shares and may modify an
individual child care provider's payment rate on the basis of the child care provider's
quality rating under the Young Star system.
Child support debt reduction
The bill creates a new program administered by DCF to provide debt reduction
for overdue child support. Under the bill, if a noncustodial parent completes an
eligible employment program as determined by DCF, and the custodial parent agrees
to a reduction, the noncustodial parent is eligible for child support debt reduction in
the amount of $1,500. Under the bill, a parent may not qualify for the debt reduction
more than once in any 12-month period.
Assistance for survivors of domestic abuse
Under the bill, DCF may allocate up to $14,000,000 per fiscal year to establish
and administer the Living Independently through Financial Empowerment
program. Under that program, DCF may provide short-term assistance to
individuals who are survivors of domestic abuse. The bill allows DCF to contract
with Wisconsin Works agencies to administer the program.
Early childhood education center
The bill requires DCF to provide $1,680,000 to Wellpoint Care Network to
establish an early childhood education center in the city of Milwaukee.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Wisconsin
The bill appropriates funding annually to the Boys and Girls Clubs of
Wisconsin, in addition to TANF funding for that purpose.
Healthy eating incentives program
Subject to certain conditions, the bill requires DHS to establish and implement
a statewide healthy eating incentives Double Up Food Bucks pilot program under the
Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, which is a federal grant program
administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Under the program, DHS matches amounts spent by
FoodShare recipients under the program on fruits and vegetables from participating
retailers. For every dollar a FoodShare recipient spends on fruits and vegetables at
a participating retailer, the recipient gets an additional dollar to spend on fruits and
vegetables. FoodShare, also known as the food stamp program and the federal
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides a monetary benefit to
individuals who have limited financial resources for the purpose of purchasing food
products. DHS administers the FoodShare program. Under the bill, DHS must, on
a schedule it determines appropriate, seek any necessary federal approval and
sufficient funding, including from the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive
Program, to support the program. If the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not
approve the program, or if DHS is unable to obtain sufficient funding to support the
program, DHS may not implement the program.
Eliminating FSET drug testing requirement
2015 Wisconsin Act 55 required DHS to promulgate administrative rules to
develop and implement a drug screening, testing, and treatment policy, which DHS
promulgated as ch. DHS 38, Wis. Adm. Code.
2017 Wisconsin Act 370 incorporated
into statutes ch. DHS 38, relating to drug screening, testing, and treatment for
recipients of the FoodShare employment and training program, known as FSET. The
bill eliminates the requirement to implement a drug screening, testing, and
treatment policy and removes from the statutes the language incorporated by Act
370.
FSET requirement
Current law requires DHS to require all able-bodied adults, with some limited
exceptions, who seek benefits from the FoodShare program to participate in FSET,
unless they are already employed. The bill eliminates that requirement for
able-bodied adults with dependents while retaining the requirement for
able-bodied adults without dependents.
Eliminating FSET pay-for-performance requirement
Current law requires DHS to create and implement a payment system based
on performance for entities that perform administrative functions for FSET. DHS
is required to base the pay-for-performance system on performance outcomes
specified in current law. The bill eliminates the requirement for DHS to create a
pay-for-performance system for FSET vendors.
