The bill eliminates statutory renewal dates for these credentials and instead
allows DSPS, in consultation with the credentialing boards, to establish renewal
dates. The bill makes various changes to continuing education requirements for
various professions to account for the flexible renewal periods allowed in the bill,
including allowing DSPS and the credentialing boards to adjust continuing
education requirements and to establish interim continuing education or other
reporting requirements as needed to align with changes to renewal cycles.
Under current law, in order to renew a registered nurse or licensed practical
nurse license, a licensee must complete and submit to DSPS with the application for
renewal of the license a nursing workforce survey developed by DWD, completed to
the satisfaction of the Board of Nursing, along with a nursing workforce survey fee
of $4. The bill modifies this requirement so that it no longer applies specifically as
a condition of renewal of a nurse license.
Licensing fee revenue
Current law generally appropriates funding for the licensing, rule-making,
and regulatory functions of DSPS for professional credentials and other approvals
using 90 percent of revenues from the fees paid for those credentials and other
approvals. The remaining 10 percent of these revenues are instead credited as GPR
in the general fund.
The bill eliminates the exception whereby 10 percent of these revenues are
credited as GPR and instead appropriates 100 percent of these revenues to DSPS for
the purposes described above.
Reviews of criminal records
The bill requires DSPS, when conducting an investigation of the arrest or
conviction record of a credential applicant, to review and obtain information to
determine the circumstances of each case or offense, except that the bill allows DSPS,
in its discretion, to complete its investigation of an arrest or conviction record
without reviewing the circumstances of certain types of offenses specified in the bill.
These offenses include certain first offense operating while intoxicated and related
violations; certain underage alcohol violations; and minor, nonviolent ordinance
violations, as determined by DSPS.
Rules; license portability
The bill provides that DSPS or a credentialing board in DSPS may promulgate
administrative rules to facilitate enhanced license portability to help facilitate
streamlined pathways to licensure for internationally trained professionals and
increased reciprocity.
Trade exams administered by test service providers
Under the bill, DSPS is authorized to approve a test service provider to prepare,
administer, and grade the examinations required for credentials to practice various
trades, including for electricians, plumbers, fire sprinkler contractors and fitters,
elevator mechanics, and blasters.
Buildings and safety
Use of vapor products in indoor locations
The bill specifies that the general prohibition under current law against
smoking in indoor locations includes inhaling or exhaling vapor from a vapor
product. Under the bill, a “vapor product” is a noncombustible product that produces
vapor or aerosol for inhalation from the application of a heating element to a liquid
or other substance. The prohibition applies to vapor products regardless of whether
they contain nicotine.
Private on-site wastewater treatment system grants
The bill extends the grant program aiding certain persons and businesses
served by failing private on-site wastewater treatment systems (POWTS), which are
commonly known as septic tanks. Under current law, the program is repealed
effective June 30, 2023. In addition, under the bill, a failing POWTS installed at least
33 years before the submission of a grant application is eligible to receive a grant.
Current law authorizes grants only for failing POWTS that were installed before
July 1, 1978.
Create appropriation for DSPS contractors
The bill creates an appropriation for payments received by DSPS contractors
and vendors for services performed related to the regulation of industry, buildings,
and safety.
shared revenue
Public safety, per capita, and aidable revenues allocations
Under current law, counties and municipalities annually receive county and
municipal aid payments, commonly referred to as shared revenue. Generally, each
county and municipality receives a payment equal to the payment it received in 2012.
The bill provides additional aid payments by creating a municipal and county
shared revenue program and using a percentage of state sales tax revenue to make
the payments. The total amount available to make the payments under the bill is
an amount equal to 20 percent of the state sales tax revenue collected in each fiscal
year, minus the amounts distributed for county and municipal aid, as state aid for
exempt personal property, and as payments under the expenditure restraint
program.
Beginning in 2024, each county and municipality will receive a public safety
payment to be used for law enforcement, fire protection, and ambulance and
emergency medical services and to pay the costs of prosecutorial and judicial
functions. The amount that DOR will distribute for these payments is equal to 43.4
percent of the total amount allocated for all payments under the bill. The amount
of the payments are determined on the basis of the most recent three-year average
of the county's or municipality's expenditures for law enforcement, fire protection,
or ambulance and emergency medical services.
Under the bill, each county and municipality will also receive a payment based
on the county's or municipality's population. Seventy percent of this per capita
distribution is paid to municipalities and 30 percent to counties.
Finally, each county and municipality receives a payment on the basis of its
aidable revenues. The bill defines “aidable revenues” as the total of the three-year
average of revenues from general property taxes, other taxes, payments in lieu of
taxes, special assessments, licenses and permits, fines and forfeitures, public
charges, intergovernmental revenues, and shared revenues, not including public
utility aid payments. The total amount that DOR distributes for aidable revenues
is the amount remaining after determining the amounts distributed as public safety
payments or per capita payments. Generally, each county and municipality receives
an aidable revenues payment, as adjusted by DOR, in proportion to the amount of
its aidable revenues, compared to the aidable revenues for all counties or
municipalities.
Nontaxable reservation property
The bill provides an additional county and municipal aid payment for certain
towns and counties that will no longer be able to impose property taxes on property
located within the boundaries of an American Indian reservation and owned by the
tribe or tribal members. A federal court recently held that, pursuant to the 1854
Treaty of La Pointe, the state and its political subdivisions are prohibited from taxing
all real property within the Bad River, Lac Courte Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, and
Red Cliff reservations if that property is owned by the tribe or by one or more tribal
members, regardless of whether the property was previously owned by a person
other than the tribe or a tribal member. See Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin v. Evers, 46 F.4th 552 (7th Cir. 2022).
Under the bill, DOA determines the amount of the payments to the affected
towns and counties for the payments in 2024. In 2025, and in each year thereafter,
the amount of the payment a town or county receives is the amount received in the
previous year, less 10 percent. No payments are made under the bill after the
distribution in 2033.
Energy storage facility
Under current law, counties and municipalities where power production plants
are located receive public utility aid payments on the basis of the value or megawatt
capacity of the plant. Generally, the amount of the payment to a county or
municipality is determined by applying a mill rate to a specified amount of the
license fees paid by the power production plant located in the county and
municipality.
The bill provides utility aid payments to counties and municipalities where
energy storage facilities are located. The bill defines an “energy storage facility” as
property that receives electrical energy, stores the energy in a different form, and
converts that other form of energy back to electrical energy for sale or to use to
provide reliability or economic benefits to the electrical grid. The bill also defines an
“energy storage facility” as property that is owned by a light, heat, and power
company, electric cooperative, or municipal electric company and includes
hydroelectric pumped storage, compressed air energy storage, regenerative fuel
cells, batteries, and similar technologies.
Under the bill, DOA annually distributes to each county and municipality in
which an energy storage facility is located an amount calculated by multiplying the
facility's megawatt capacity by $2,000 and then multiplying the product of that
calculation by three mills for a county and by six mills for a municipality. However,
if the energy storage facility is located in a town, the town receives a payment equal
to multiplying the product of that calculation by three mills and the county where
the town is located receives a payment equal to multiplying the product of that
calculation by six mills.
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure
The bill provides utility aid payments to counties and municipalities where
qualified electric vehicle charging infrastructure is located. The bill defines
“qualified electric vehicle charging infrastructure” as level three electric vehicle
supply equipment that has a minimum charging capacity of 480 volts and that is
owned by a light, heat, and power company, electric cooperative, or municipal electric
company. Under the bill, DOA annually distributes to each county and municipality
in which qualified electric vehicle charging infrastructure is located an amount equal
to the value of the qualified electric vehicle charging infrastructure, multiplied by
three mills for a county and by six mills for a municipality. However, if the qualified
electric vehicle charging infrastructure is located in a town, the town receives a
payment equal to the value of the qualified electric vehicle charging infrastructure
multiplied by three mills and the county where the town is located receives a
payment equal to the value of the qualified electric vehicle charging infrastructure
multiplied by six mills.
Expenditure restraint program
Under current law, generally, a municipality is eligible to receive an
expenditure restraint payment if its property tax levy is greater than five mills and
if the annual increase in its municipal budget is less than the sum of factors based
on inflation and the increased value of property in the municipality as a result of new
construction. The bill excludes the following from being considered in determining
eligibility for an expenditure restraint program payment: 1) money received from
the federal government; 2) revenues from a municipal vehicle registration fee that
is approved by a majority of voters voting at a referendum; and 3) tax revenues
resulting from a tax increase approved by a majority of voters voting at a referendum.
Moving the date of computer aid payments
Beginning in 2024, the bill requires DOA to make computer aid payments to
taxing jurisdictions by the first Monday in May. Under current law, computers and
certain computer-related equipment are exempt from local personal property taxes,
and DOA makes computer aid payments to taxing jurisdictions to compensate them
for the corresponding loss of property tax revenue. Current law requires DOA to
make computer aid payments by the fourth Monday in July.
state government
General state government
Grant to a professional baseball park district
The bill requires DOA to award a grant in the amount of $290,000,000 to a local
professional baseball park district created under state law to assist in the
development, construction, improvement, repair, and maintenance of the district's
baseball park facilities. Under the bill, DOA may not award the grant unless the
secretary of administration determines that all of the following apply:
1. The district has entered into a lease arrangement for a term that expires not
earlier than December 31, 2043, with a professional baseball team that uses the
district's baseball park facilities as its home facilities.
2. The district has entered into a nonrelocation agreement with the
professional baseball team, in a form satisfactory to the secretary of administration,
that requires the professional baseball team to play substantially all of its home
games at the baseball park facilities, and prohibits the professional baseball team
from relocating while the lease term specified above is in effect.
3. The district has entered into an agreement with the professional baseball
team, in a form satisfactory to the secretary, that requires the professional baseball
team, or a third party on the professional baseball team's behalf, to make
expenditures relating to or in connection with the baseball park facilities during the
term of the lease specified above in an agreed upon amount satisfactory to the
secretary.
4. The district has agreed to provide on an ongoing basis to DOA, the
Legislative Fiscal Bureau, and the Legislative Audit Bureau all baseball park
facilities project reports and all financial reports of the district.
Grant moneys DOA awards under the bill may not be used to retire the debt of
the local professional baseball park district.
Security operations centers
The bill requires DOA to establish one or more security operations centers to
provide for the cybersecurity of information technology systems maintained by state
agencies, local governmental units, and other eligible entities specified in the bill.
The bill requires the Division of Enterprise Technology in DOA to manage the
operation of the centers. The bill authorizes DOA to charge fees in connection with
the division's cybersecurity support services provided under the bill.
Project labor agreements
Under current law, the state and local units of government are prohibited from
engaging in certain practices in letting bids for state procurement or public works
contracts. Among these prohibitions, as established by
2017 Wisconsin Act 3, the
state and local governments may not do any of the following in specifications for bids
for the contracts: 1) require that a bidder enter into an agreement with a labor
organization; 2) consider, when awarding a contract, whether a bidder has or has not
entered into an agreement with a labor organization; or 3) require that a bidder enter
into an agreement that requires that the bidder or bidder's employees become or
remain members of a labor organization or pay any dues or fees to a labor
organization. The bill repeals these limitations related to labor organizations.
Vacancies in certain appointive offices
Under current law, vacancies in public office may occur in a number of ways,
including when the incumbent resigns, dies, or is removed from office, or, in the case
of elected office, when the incumbent's term expires. However, as the Wisconsin
Supreme Court held in State ex rel. Kaul v. Prehn, 2022 WI 50, expiration of an
incumbent's term of office does not create a vacancy if the office is filled by
appointment for a fixed term. Absent a vacancy or removal for cause, these
incumbents may remain in office until their successors are appointed and qualified.
Under the bill, a vacancy in public office is created if the office is filled by
appointment of the governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate for a
fixed term and the incumbent's term expires or the governor submits his or her
nomination for the office to the senate, whichever is later.
Director of Native American affairs
The bill requires the secretary of administration to appoint a director of Native
American affairs in the unclassified service to manage relations between the state
and American Indian tribes or bands in this state.
Grants to each American Indian tribe or band in Wisconsin
The bill requires DOA to award grants of equal amounts to each American
Indian tribe or band in this state for the purpose of supporting programs to meet the
needs of members of the tribe or band.
The bill also requires DOA to award grants of equal amounts to each American
Indian tribe or band in this state to promote tribal language revitalization and
cultural preservation.
Under the bill, no grant moneys awarded under the above grant programs may
be used to pay gaming-related expenses.
Other tribal grants
The bill requires DOA to do all of the following:
1. Award grants to the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin to support the Healing to
Wellness Court program at the Oneida Nation, in an amount not to exceed $259,100
annually.
2. Award grants to the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin to support coordination
between the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and Great Lakes tribal
nations, in an amount not to exceed $110,100 annually.
3. Award grants to the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin to support the Oneida
Nation's collaboration with the Audubon Society concerning Audubon Great Lakes
restoration projects, in an amount not to exceed $175,000 annually. This grant
requirement sunsets after five years.
4. Award grants to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin to support the
Menominee Indian Tribe's transit services, in an amount not to exceed $266,600
annually.
Gaming investigative services
The bill creates a GPR appropriation for the Division of Gaming in DOA to fund
investigative and outreach services for charitable gaming and tribal gaming.
Investment and capital grants programs
The bill creates three new grant programs to be administered by DOA: a
neighborhood capital investment grant program; a health-care infrastructure
capital grant program; and a tourism capital investment grant program. The bill
also creates a new GPR appropriation for the grant programs and allocates specified
dollar amounts to the programs during the 2023-25 fiscal biennium.
Fund of funds investment program
Currently, DOA administers a program for the investment of moneys in venture
capital funds that invest in businesses located in this state, called the fund of funds
investment program. Under the program, the state initially contracted with an
investment manager during the 2013-14 fiscal year to invest $25,000,000 in venture
capital funds. The gross proceeds from the investment of this $25,000,000 were to
be returned to the state for deposit into the general fund. The bill provides that the
gross proceeds are to be reinvested in venture capital funds unless otherwise
directed by DOA.
Programs for the certification of certain businesses for preference in state
contracting
Under current law, DOA administers disabled veteran-owned business
certifications, woman-owned business certifications, and minority business
certifications. A business that qualifies for and maintains one or more of those
certifications may be eligible to receive certain benefits, including some advantages
when bidding on public projects. Current law authorizes DOA to charge a
certification fee to cover its costs to administer the certifications programs. The bill
eliminates that fee authorization.
Additionally, the bill establishes the following new certification programs:
1. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender-owned businesses, including
financial advisers and investment firms. DOA may certify a business as a lesbian,
gay, bisexual, or transgender-owned business if it determines the business satisfies
all of the following:
a. One or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals own at least
51 percent of the business or, in the case of any publicly owned business, one or more
lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals own at least 51 percent of the stock
of the business.
b. One or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals or one or more
duly authorized representatives of one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender
individuals control the management and daily business operations of the business.
c. The business is currently performing a useful business function.
2. Disability-owned businesses, including financial advisers and investment
firms. Under the bill, the distinction between disabled veteran-owned businesses
and businesses owned by veterans is removed. This means that under the bill, there
are certifications for veteran-owned businesses and disability-owned businesses.
DOA may certify a business as a disability-owned business if it determines the
business satisfies all of the following:
a. One or more individuals with a disability own at least 51 percent of the
business or, in the case of any publicly owned business, one or more individuals with
a disability own at least 51 percent of the stock of the business.
b. One or more individuals with a disability or one or more duly authorized
representatives of one or more individuals with a disability control the management
and daily business operations of the business.
c. The business has its principal place of business in this state.
d. The business is currently performing a useful business function.
Under the bill, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender-owned businesses and
disability-owned businesses are not charged a fee for certification and, if certified,
are eligible to receive certain advantages including when bidding on public projects,
similar to certified disabled veteran-owned businesses, woman-owned businesses,
and minority businesses.
Under current law, state agencies must attempt to ensure that they pay
minority businesses 5 percent of the total amount expended for state procurements
in each fiscal year. The bill requires state agencies to attempt to ensure that they
pay veteran-owned businesses, disability-owned businesses, and lesbian, gay,
bisexual, or transgender-owned businesses an aggregate amount of 5 percent of the
total amount expended for state procurements in each fiscal year.
Finally, the bill requires DOA to develop, maintain, and keep current a
database of certified minority-owned businesses.
Creating the Office of Environmental Justice
