The bill requires DNR to award a $500,000 dam safety grant to Sheboygan County to remove and reconstruct a dam on the Sheboygan River at the Sheboygan Marsh.
Recreation
Free admission to state parks for fourth graders
Under current law, no person may operate a vehicle in any state park or in certain other recreational areas on state land unless the vehicle displays a vehicle admission receipt. The bill requires DNR to waive the fee for an annual vehicle admission receipt issued to the parent or guardian of a pupil receiving a fourth grade level of instruction. A parent or guardian of a qualifying pupil may apply to DNR for the waiver by submitting required certifications. A parent or guardian may receive the waiver only once in his or her lifetime and DNR may issue a waiver only once for a household.
Online sales system for vehicle admission receipts and state trail passes
The bill creates a continuing appropriation from the conservation fund to DNR for costs associated with online sales systems for vehicle admission receipts for state parks, forests, and recreation areas and state trail passes.
Under current law, no person may operate a vehicle in any state park or in certain other recreational areas on state land unless the vehicle displays a current vehicle admission receipt. Vehicle admission receipts may currently be purchased in-person, via phone, at self-registration kiosks, and online. Current law also requires a state trail pass for certain activities on state trails. State trail passes may currently be purchased in-person, via phone, and at self-registration kiosks, but not online.
Campsite electrification
Under current law, DNR is authorized to establish and operate state campgrounds in state parks, state forests, and other lands under DNR supervision and management. For campsites located in a state park, DNR may provide and maintain electric receptacles, subject to certain limitations. One limitation provides that DNR may provide electric receptacles in no more than 35 percent of all state park campsites. The bill increases the limit to 40 percent.
General natural resources
Stewardship program; amounts transferred to the capital improvement fund
Current law authorizes the state to incur public debt for certain conservation activities under the Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship 2000 program, which is administered by DNR. The state may incur this debt to acquire land for the state for conservation purposes and for property development activities and may award grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations to acquire land for these purposes. Current law establishes the amounts that DNR may obligate in each fiscal year through fiscal year 2025-26 for expenditure under each of five subprograms of the stewardship program. Moneys obligated under the stewardship program are appropriated from the capital improvement fund (CIF) and stewardship bond proceeds are deposited into CIF.
Current law provides that, in obligating moneys under the subprogram for land acquisition, DNR must set aside certain amounts to be obligated only for DNR to acquire land and to provide grants to counties for land acquisition (county forest grants). Specifically, the set-aside for DNR land acquisition each fiscal year is $1,000,000 plus the amount transferred to CIF under an appropriation that transfers from moneys received for forestry activities (the forestry account) to CIF $0 in 2021-22 and $5,000,000 in 2022-23. The set-aside for county forest grants is equal to the amount transferred to CIF under an appropriation that transfers from the forestry account to CIF $0 in 2021-22 and $3,000,000 in 2022-23.
The bill maintains in the 2023-25 biennium the amounts in the schedule that may be transferred to CIF under each appropriation, but provides that the total amount transferred may not exceed the total amounts in the schedule for both appropriations less the unobligated balance in CIF at the end of that fiscal year. The bill also provides that the amount transferred to CIF under each appropriation must be reduced by the unobligated balance in CIF on a pro rata basis.
Stewardship program; JCF approval
Under current law, generally, for any project or activity for which more than $250,000 of stewardship moneys are proposed to be obligated, DNR must obtain written approval for the project or activity from JCF. The bill increases this threshold to $500,000. The bill also eliminates the requirement that DNR obtain written approval for obligating stewardship moneys for any land acquisition located north of STH 64.
The bill also eliminates a requirement under current law that DNR provide a written directory of all stewardship land that is open for public access.
Wild rice stewardship
The bill appropriates to DNR from the general fund moneys for wild rice stewardship efforts within the waters of areas where American Indian tribes or bands hold treaty-based rights to harvest wild rice. The bill provides that not less than $50,000 of the amounts appropriated for each fiscal year must be allocated for public education and outreach pertaining to wild rice harvesting.
Terrestrial invasive species prevention
The bill creates an annual appropriation from the conservation fund to DNR for grants to cooperative invasive species management areas for surveying, monitoring, and controlling terrestrial invasive species.
Reversion of tribal gaming moneys
Under current law and Indian gaming compacts, Indian tribes make payments to the state to reimburse the state for costs relating to the regulation of certain gaming activities. A certain amount of this money is appropriated to be transferred on an annual basis to several appropriation accounts. At the end of each fiscal year, unobligated funds from some of the programs that receive tribal gaming revenues revert to the appropriation account to which Indian gaming receipts are credited.
Under current law, DNR makes a payment to the Lac du Flambeau band of Lake Superior Chippewa based on the amount of fees collected by DNR for certain hunting and fishing approvals and the number of certain approvals issued within the the Lac du Flambeau reservation. DNR makes this payment from an appropriation that receives tribal gaming revenues.
The bill provides that unencumbered amounts of this appropriation revert to the appropriation account to which Indian gaming receipts are credited.
Funding from Indian gaming receipts
Current law requires DOA to transfer portions of Indian gaming receipts to certain DNR appropriations annually. The bill eliminates the requirement to transfer these amounts to an appropriation that funds snowmobile law enforcement operations and safety training and fatality reporting and eliminates that appropriation. The bill makes no change to an appropriation funding the same purposes from the conservation fund.
Forestry
Public forest regeneration grants
The bill requires DNR to establish a public forest regeneration grant program. Under that program, DNR awards grants from moneys received for forestry activities for projects involving reforestation, forest regeneration, and forest management on public land. The bill provides that a project is eligible for a grant if it is located on public land owned by a local government or school district or by this state, except for land under the jurisdiction and control of DNR.
Forestry-industry-wide strategic plan
The bill requires DNR to develop a forestry-industry-wide strategic plan and road map and to submit a final report on this plan to the Council on Forestry no later than September 16, 2024.
County forest administration grants and county sustainable forestry program
The bill separates the existing biennial appropriation for county sustainable forestry grants and county forest administration grants into two separate biennial appropriations.
PUBLIC UTILITIES
Telecommunications
Broadband expansion grant program
The bill makes various changes to the broadband expansion grant program.
Current law requires PSC to administer the broadband expansion grant program, under which PSC designates as “underserved” areas of the state that are served by fewer than two broadband service providers and awards grants to eligible applicants for the purpose of constructing broadband infrastructure in underserved areas. The bill changes the purpose of the grant program to constructing broadband infrastructure in unserved areas. Under current law, “unserved areas” are areas not served by an Internet service provider (ISP) that 1) is a fixed wireless service or wired service and 2) provides service at actual speeds of at least 20 percent of the upload and download speeds for advanced telecommunications capability as designated by the Federal Communications Commission. The bill adds that the service must be available, reliable, and affordable and changes the speed standard for an unserved area to at least actual download speeds of 100 megabits per second and upload speeds of 20 megabits per second. The bill also allows PSC to adjust those speed standards every two years if it determines there is good cause to do so in order to align with changes in technology and actual market conditions, in which case it must publish the adjusted speed thresholds on its website.
Current law requires PSC to establish criteria for evaluating applications and awarding grants under the broadband expansion grant program and requires that the criteria give priority to projects meeting various standards, such as including matching funds and involving public-private partnerships. Under the bill, the criteria must require that projects serve unserved areas. The bill specifies that the criteria must give priority to projects with at least 40 percent matching funds and higher priority to projects with more than 40 percent matching funds. The bill specifies that the criteria must give priority to projects that are capable of offering service at actual download speeds of 100 megabits per second or greater and upload speeds of 100 megabits per second or greater and higher priority to projects capable of exceeding those speeds, but allows PSC to adjust these speeds every two years, similar to the threshold speeds in the definition of “unserved area.” The bill changes a requirement under current law that the criteria prioritize projects in a large geographic area to projects in a geographic area that is difficult to connect. The bill removes a requirement to prioritize projects that will not result in delaying the provision of broadband service to areas that neighbor areas to be served by the proposed project.
When evaluating a grant application, the bill requires PSC to consider the affordability of the service and all federal funding for broadband facilities in the project area of the proposed project.
The bill adds a procedure by which an ISP in or near a project area proposed in an application for a broadband expansion grant may challenge the awarding of that grant. An ISP may challenge the grant if that ISP currently provides available, reliable, and affordable fixed wireless or wired broadband service to any part of the project area at minimum download and upload speeds or if that ISP commits to completing construction of broadband infrastructure and providing available, reliable, and affordable broadband service to any part of the project area at minimum download and upload speeds no later than 24 months after the date of the PSC order awarding grants. The bill requires such a challenger to allow PSC to inspect its broadband infrastructure to ensure it meets minimum service requirements. The bill requires PSC to evaluate the challenge and prohibits it from funding any portion of a project relating to the area that is the subject of the challenge if it determines as credible the challenging ISP’s commitment to provide broadband service that meets the requirements. If PSC denies funding as a result of such a challenge and the ISP does not fulfill its commitment, PSC is prohibited from awarding grant funding to that ISP and the ISP is prohibited from participating in the challenge process for the following two grant cycles.
The bill provides funding from the general fund for the broadband expansion grant program in addition to its current funding from the universal service fund, which consists of moneys that are required to be contributed by certain telecommunications providers and used to promote access to telecommunications service, among other purposes. The bill requires PSC to award in each fiscal year no less than 10 percent of the amount in the schedule under the new appropriation in fiscal year 2023-24 for the broadband expansion grant program (minimum amount). However, if the balance in the appropriation is less than the minimum amount, the bill requires PSC to award the entire remaining balance. Further, if PSC does not receive sufficient broadband expansion grant applications that meet the eligibility criteria to award the minimum amount or, if applicable, the remaining balance, the bill requires PSC to award the maximum amount of broadband expansion grants possible that fiscal year.
Municipality construction, ownership, or operation of broadband facilities
Current law prohibits, with several exceptions, a municipality from constructing, owning, or operating a facility for providing video service, telecommunications service, or broadband service to the public unless 1) the municipality holds a public hearing on the proposed action, 2) notice of the public hearing is given, and 3) the municipality prepares and makes available for public inspection a report estimating the total costs of, and revenues derived from, constructing, owning, or operating the facility for a period of at least three years. The bill eliminates the requirement that a municipality prepare and make available for public inspection that report if the facility is a broadband facility intended to serve an area designated as unserved by PSC.
Currently, under one of the exceptions, the public hearing and cost report do not apply to a facility for providing broadband service if 1) the municipality offers use of the facility on a nondiscriminatory basis to persons who provide broadband service to end users of the service, 2) the municipality itself does not use the facility to provide broadband service to end users, and 3) the municipality determines that, at the time of authorization, the facility does not compete with more than one provider of broadband service. The bill eliminates the requirements under items 2 and 3 for facilities that are intended to serve an unserved area. As a result, a municipality is not required to hold a public hearing or prepare a report for a broadband facility intended to serve an unserved area if the municipality offers use of the facility on a nondiscriminatory basis to persons who provide broadband service.
Currently, under another of the exceptions, the public hearing and cost report do not apply to a facility for providing broadband service to an area within the boundaries of a municipality if the municipality asks, in writing, each person that provides broadband service within the boundaries of the municipality whether the person currently provides broadband service to the area or intends to provide broadband service to the area within nine months and 1) the municipality does not receive an affirmative response within 60 days, 2) the municipality determines that a person who responded does not currently provide broadband service to the area, and no other person makes the response to the municipality, or 3) the municipality determines that a person who responded that the person intended to provide broadband service to the area within nine months did not actually provide the service within nine months and no other person makes the response to the municipality.
Under the bill, for this exception in the case of an unserved area, rather than asking whether a person plans to provide broadband service to the area within nine months, the municipality must ask whether the person intends or actively plans to provide broadband service to the area within three months.
Broadband line extension grants
The bill requires PSC to make grants to residents of properties that are not served by a broadband service provider to assist in paying the customer costs associated with line extension necessary to connect broadband service to the properties. The maximum size of a broadband line extension grant is $4,000. The bill also requires PSC to give priority to primary residences and to establish other criteria for awarding the grants.
Digital equity program
The bill requires PSC to administer a digital equity program under which it may provide outreach and assistance to promote digital equity, coordinate the administration of federal and state digital equity funding, provide digital navigation services, and implement digital inclusion activities. Under the bill, “digital equity” means all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed to fully participate in society. The bill allows PSC to use moneys in the universal service fund to administer the digital equity program.
Energy
Electric utility integrated resource plans
The bill requires investor-owned and municipal electric utilities to file integrated resource plans with PSC. An integrated resource plan must describe the resources an electric utility could use to meet the service needs of its customers over the next 5-year, 10-year, and 15-year periods, and must contain certain other information, including forecasts of electricity demand under various reasonable scenarios and plans and projected costs for meeting that electricity demand. PSC must establish requirements for the contents and filing of the plans, and PSC must approve, reject, or modify an electric utility’s integrated resource plan consistent with the public interest. The bill also requires PSC to review the integrated resource plans filed by electric utilities to inform its biennial strategic energy assessment. Under current law, the strategic energy assessment evaluates the adequacy and reliability of the state’s current and future energy supply.
Securitization of retiring power plants
Under current law, an energy utility is allowed to apply to PSC for an order allowing the utility to finance the costs of the following activities by issuing bonds: 1) the construction, installation, or otherwise putting into place of environmental control equipment in connection with a plant that, before March 30, 2004, has been used to provide service to customers and 2) the retiring of any existing plant, facility, or other property to reduce, control, or eliminate environmental pollution in accordance with federal or state law. Current law defines these activities as “environmental control activities.” If approved by PSC, the bonds, which are referred to as “environmental trust bonds,” are secured by revenues arising from charges paid by an energy utility’s customers for the utility to recover the cost of the activities, as well as the cost of financing the bonds.
The bill adds the retiring of any existing electric generating facility fueled by nonrenewable combustible energy resources as an environmental control activity, the costs of which may be financed by an environmental trust bond.
Residential and commercial energy improvements
The bill allows PSC to authorize a public utility to finance energy improvements at a specific dwelling for a residential or commercial customer. Under the bill, a public utility may recover the costs of such an energy improvement through a surcharge periodically placed on the customer’s account. The bill requires PSC to promulgate administrative rules establishing requirements for this financing, which must include that the surcharge is assigned to a location, not to an individual customer; that energy improvements are eligible for financing only if they are estimated to save an amount that exceeds the surcharge; and that the financing offered may not increase a customer’s risk or debt.
Equity-focused intervenor compensation
The bill requires PSC to reserve $50,000 annually to compensate equity-focused participants in PSC proceedings who review economic and environmental issues affecting low-income populations. Current law authorizes PSC to compensate certain participants in proceedings who provide significant contributions to the record.
Focus on Energy
Current law requires investor-owned electric and natural gas utilities to fund statewide energy efficiency and renewable resources programs, known as Focus on Energy, with 1.2 percent of their annual operating revenues from retail sales. The bill increases the amount utilities must spend to 2.4 percent of their annual operating revenues from retail sales. The bill also expands the definition of “energy efficiency program” to include a program that deploys electric technologies to meet energy needs currently served by other fuels in order to 1) reduce the usage of energy, increase the efficiency of usage of energy on a fuel-neutral basis, or reduce adverse environmental impacts, including carbon dioxide emissions and 2) reduce costs for electric public utilities and retail electric cooperatives or their customers or members.
Social cost of carbon
The bill requires PSC to consider the social cost of carbon in determining whether to issue certificates required to construct large electric generating facilities or high-voltage transmission lines or to engage in certain other public utility projects. The bill defines “social cost of carbon” as a measure of the economic harms and other impacts expressed in dollars that result from emitting one ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The bill requires PSC to evaluate and set the social cost of carbon emissions as a dollar amount per ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. The bill requires PSC to evaluate and adjust as necessary that dollar amount every two years. In making the evaluations, PSC must use integrated assessment models and consider appropriate discount rates. The bill requires any adjustment by PSC to be consistent with the international consensus on the social cost of carbon. The bill requires PSC to consult with DNR in making the evaluations.
The bill also requires that, beginning no later than December 31, 2023, PSC must submit a report every odd-numbered year to the legislature describing PSC’s evaluation of the social cost of carbon. If PSC adjusts the previously set dollar amount, the report must specify the social cost of carbon as adjusted by PSC.
Recovery of cost of low-income assistance programs
Under current law, a public utility must charge rates that are just and reasonable. The bill provides that it is not unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory for a public utility to implement low-income assistance programs if approved in a rate case in which PSC reviewed the program eligibility criteria and program credits or rebates and if that cost is incorporated in the public utility’s published schedules or tariffs.
Penalties for gas pipeline safety violations
The bill increases the maximum penalties for persons who fail to operate and maintain gas production, transmission, and distribution facilities in a reasonably adequate and safe manner. Current law requires gas production, transmission, and distribution facilities to be operated and maintained in a reasonably adequate and safe manner and authorizes PSC to issue orders and rules to promote safety of those facilities. Under current law, a person who violates one of these PSC orders or rules or fails to operate and maintain gas production, transmission, and distribution facilities in a reasonably adequate and safe manner is subject to a forfeiture of up $25,000 per day and a total forfeiture of up to $500,000 for a single persisting violation. Under the bill, a violator is subject to a forfeiture of up to $200,000 per day and a total forfeiture of up to $2,000,000 for a single persisting violation.
High-voltage transmission line fees
The bill requires PSC to administer annual impact and onetime environmental impact fees paid under current law by persons authorized by PSC to operate high-voltage transmission lines. Under current law, DOA administers the fees.
Water and sewer
Remove size limit on grants for lead service line replacement
The bill allows water public utilities to make grants that cover the full cost of replacing lead-containing customer-side water service lines. Under current law, water public utilities may, after applying to and receiving approval from PSC, make grants and loans to property owners to assist replacement of customer-side water service lines containing lead. Current law prohibits PSC from approving a water public utility’s application to provide these grants unless grants are limited to no more than one-half of the total cost of replacing lead-containing customer-side water service lines.
RETIREMENT AND GROUP INSURANCE
Benefits for domestic partners
2017 Wisconsin Act 59, the 2017-19 biennial budget act, repealed certain benefits provided to domestic partners of public employees who receive benefits through the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS), the Group Insurance Board (GIB), and the Deferred Compensation Program. The bill reestablishes those benefits. Specifically, Act 59 did all of the following: 1) for purposes of WRS, limited domestic partners to only those individuals who submitted an affidavit of domestic partnership to ETF before January 1, 2018; 2) prohibited GIB from covering an eligible employee’s domestic partner or stepchild under a domestic partnership in a group health insurance plan offered by GIB; 3) eliminated the option for a surviving domestic partner to purchase health insurance coverage under a group health insurance plan offered by GIB; and 4) for deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2018, provided that a surviving domestic partner is not a default beneficiary for purposes of a deferred compensation plan and is not eligible to receive duty disability survivorship benefits. The bill reverses, prospectively, those changes to those benefits.
WRS annuitants returning to work
Under current law, if a WRS annuitant, or a disability annuitant who has attained his or her normal retirement date, is appointed to a position with a WRS-participating employer or provides employee services to a WRS-participating employer in which he or she is expected to work at least two-thirds of what is considered full-time employment by ETF, the annuity must be suspended and no annuity payment is payable until after the participant again terminates covered employment.
The bill removes the requirement that an annuitant suspend his or her annuity and instead allows an annuitant to elect to suspend the annuity and again become a participating employee or elect to not suspend his or her annuity and not become a participating employee. In other words, the bill allows an annuitant who returns to work for a participating employer but elects not to become a participating employee for purposes of the WRS to continue to receive his or her annuity.
Under current law, a WRS participant who has applied to receive a retirement annuity must wait at least 75 days between terminating covered employment with a WRS employer and returning to covered employment again as a participating employee. The bill reduces that period to 30 days.
Waiting period for state employees
Under current law, most state employees, other than limited-term employees, may become covered under the state group health insurance plan on the first day of the first month after becoming employed with the state by filing an election within 30 days of being hired. However, most state employees are ineligible for an employer contribution towards the premiums for the health insurance for the first three months of employment. The bill changes the date to the first day of the second month for most state employees other than limited-term appointments hired on or after the effective date of the bill.
Income continuation insurance
Under current law, GIB must offer employees group income continuation insurance (ICI) coverage that pays for lost earnings as a result of injury or illness with separate provisions for short-term insurance with a benefit duration of no more than one year and long-term insurance covering injury or illness of indefinite duration.
The bill transfers oversight of the group ICI plan to the Employee Trust Funds Board (ETFB). The bill also provides that, as of January 1, 2025, ETFB must provide a group ICI plan, but ETFB is not required to provide separate short-term and long-term insurance or a particular benefit duration.
