The bill appropriates money from the universal service fund to provide funding to Wisconsin Library Services, Inc., commonly known as WiLS, to support the digitization of historic materials in public libraries throughout this state. The bill also requires DPI to distribute annually the amount appropriated for this purpose to WiLS. The collaborative administered by WiLS to digitize and make available historic materials throughout the state is known as Recollection Wisconsin.
Provision of opioid antagonist in public schools and independent charters
Under current law, school boards and governing bodies of private schools are required to supply a standard first aid kit for use in an emergency. Also under current law, certain school personnel, including employees and volunteers of public and private schools, are permitted to administer an opioid antagonist on a person who appears to be undergoing an opioid-related drug overdose.
The bill adds that school boards and operators of independent charter schools are required to ensure that each school maintain a usable supply of an opioid antagonist on-site, in a place that is accessible at all times.
Prohibiting vaping on school property
The bill prohibits individuals from vaping on school premises. Under the bill, “school premises” is defined as any real property owned by, rented by, or under the control of a school board, operator or governing board of an independent charter school, or governing body of a private school. “School premises” includes outdoor spaces such as playgrounds and athletic fields. The bill defines vaping as inhaling or exhaling vapor from a vapor product, regardless of whether the liquid or other substance being heated to produce the vapor contains nicotine. Under current law, a school board, operator or governing board of an independent charter school, or governing body of a private school may prohibit vaping on school premises under its respective control.
Fees for licensure of school and public library personnel; appropriation changes
Under current law, 90 percent of the fees collected by DPI for licensure of school and public library personnel and for school districts’ participation in DPI’s teacher improvement program are credited to an annual sum certain appropriation. The remaining 10 percent of these fees are deposited into the general fund under current law. The bill changes this annual sum certain appropriation to a continuing appropriation and requires that 100 percent of the total fees collected by DPI be credited to the appropriation. An annual sum certain appropriation is expendable only up to the amount shown in the schedule and only for the fiscal year for which it is made. A continuing appropriation is expendable until fully depleted or repealed.
Under current law and the bill, the purposes of the appropriation are for 1) DPI’s administrative costs related to licensure of school and public library personnel; 2) if DPI exercises its authority to provide information and analysis of the professional school personnel supply in this state, the costs of providing that information and analysis; and 3) DPI’s teacher improvement program.
Higher education
Grants for technical college district boards to provide workforce advancement training for businesses
The bill requires the TCS Board to award grants to technical college district boards for the provision of customized instruction and training opportunities for businesses to meet current workforce demands in various industries.
Technical college district revenue limits
The bill increases the limit on certain revenue, primarily derived from the property tax levy, that technical college districts may generate.
Under current law, with certain exceptions, a technical college district board may not increase its revenue each school year by more than the greater of 1) 0 percent or 2) the percentage change in the district’s equalized value due to new construction, less improvements removed, between the previous year and the current year. The amount of this limit is called the valuation factor. A district board’s revenue is the sum of its tax levy for operations and the amount of aid it receives for property tax relief and tax-exempt personal property.
The bill increases item 1 of the valuation factor from 0 percent to 2 percent, allowing an increase of a district board’s revenue by 2 percent over the previous year regardless of any change in the district’s equalized value due to net new construction.
Funding for a farm and industry short course at UW-River Falls
The bill creates a biennial appropriation for general program operations of a farm and industry short course at UW-River Falls.
UW System direct admission program
The bill requires the Board of Regents of the UW System to establish a direct admission program that provides Wisconsin high school graduates with conditional or guaranteed admission to a UW System institution based on established eligibility criteria.
Grants for technical college district boards for the creation of open educational resources
The bill requires the TCS Board to award grants to technical college district boards for the creation of open educational resources that will allow the public and technical colleges across the TCS to access technical college course materials.
Funding for equipment, supplies, and personnel training at a regional Madison Area Technical College EMT training center
The bill requires the TCS Board to award a grant of $2,500,000 in fiscal year 2023-24 to Madison Area Technical College for equipment, supplies, and emergency medical technician, advanced emergency medical technician, and paramedic personnel training at an emergency medical technician regional training center located in Baraboo.
Paid family and medical leave; paid sick leave for temporary employees
The bill requires the Board of Regents to develop a plan for a program for paid family and medical leave of 12 weeks annually for UW System employees and a plan for a program for paid sick leave for temporary UW System employees. The bill requires the board to submit these plans to the administrator of the Division of Personnel Management in DOA with its compensation plan changes for the 2023-25 biennium.
Nonresident tuition exemptions for UW and technical college students
The bill creates a nonresident tuition exemption for certain UW System and technical college students.
Under current law, a person generally must be a resident of this state for at least 12 months prior to registering at a UW System institution in order to be exempt from paying nonresident tuition. Current law also includes nonresident tuition exemptions, under which certain nonresident students pay resident tuition rates.
Also under current law, the TCS Board establishes program fees that the technical college districts must charge students. With exceptions, the fees for nonresidents are 150 percent of the fees for residents. The TCS Board must establish procedures to determine the residence of students attending technical colleges, but current law specifies that certain students must be considered residents of this state.
The bill creates a nonresident tuition exemption for an individual who is not a citizen of the United States and who 1) graduated from a Wisconsin high school or received a declaration of equivalency of high school graduation from Wisconsin; 2) was continuously present in Wisconsin for at least three years following the first day of attending a Wisconsin high school or immediately preceding receipt of a declaration of equivalency of high school graduation; and 3) enrolls in a UW System institution and provides the institution with proof stating that he or she has filed or will file an application for lawful permanent resident status with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as soon as the individual is eligible to do so. The bill also provides that an individual who meets these criteria is considered a resident of this state for purposes of admission to and payment of fees at a technical college.
The bill also creates a nonresident tuition exemption for certain tribal members or children or grandchildren of tribal members. Under the bill, a student enrolled in a UW System institution or technical college qualifies for resident tuition or fee rates if 1) the student, or the student’s parent or grandparent, is a member of a federally recognized American Indian tribe or band in Wisconsin or is a member of a federally recognized tribe in Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, or Michigan; and 2) the student has resided in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, or Michigan, or in any combination of these states, for at least 12 months prior to enrolling in a UW System institution or technical college.
Wisconsin grant program
The bill makes various changes to the Wisconsin grant program.
Under current law, HEAB administers the Wisconsin grant program, which provides grants to resident undergraduate students enrolled at least half time in UW System schools, technical colleges, private nonprofit colleges, and tribal colleges. HEAB limits its award of these grants to 10 semesters or the equivalent. For students enrolled in UW System schools, technical colleges, and tribal colleges, HEAB must award Wisconsin grants based on a formula that accounts for expected parental and student contributions and is consistent with generally accepted definitions and nationally approved needs analysis methodology. For students enrolled in private nonprofit colleges, the amount of the grant that HEAB awards is based on a mathematical calculation specified by statute. All Wisconsin grants are subject to a maximum grant amount.
The bill makes the following changes to the Wisconsin grant program:
1. The bill extends and clarifies the limit on the total number of semesters for which a UW System, technical college, or tribal college student may receive a Wisconsin grant. The bill limits these grants to 12 semesters of full-time enrollment or the equivalent. If a student receiving the grant is enrolled less than full-time, only the fraction of the student’s enrollment, in proportion to full-time enrollment, is counted toward this 12-semester limit.
2. The bill changes the enrollment requirement for a Wisconsin grant from at least half-time to at least quarter-time for students enrolled in technical colleges.
3. The bill raises the maximum amount that may be awarded through a Wisconsin grant during one academic year for UW System students. The bill raises the maximum amount of a Wisconsin grant for students enrolled in a UW System institution or college campus from $3,150 in an academic year to an amount not to exceed half of the in-state, undergraduate tuition and fees charged at UW-Madison for an academic year.
4. The bill modifies the method that HEAB uses to determine the amount of a Wisconsin grant awarded to a student enrolled in a private nonprofit college. The bill eliminates the statutory mathematical calculation used to determine the amount of such a grant and replaces this calculation with the same standard used for the award of grants to students enrolled in UW System schools, technical colleges, and tribal colleges.
5. The bill changes the meaning of the phrase “expected family contribution,” as discussed below.
Updating terminology used in calculation of student financial aid
The bill changes the meaning of the phrase “expected family contribution” in higher education statutes.
Under current state and federal law, the phrase “expected family contribution” describes a metric used in determining the amount of financial aid a college student may receive. The federal FAFSA Simplification Act of 2019 changed the name of “expected family contribution” to “student aid index,” and accompanied the name change with a change in how the federal government calculates the metric. Similar to the “expected family contribution,” the student aid index will “reflect an evaluation of a student’s approximate financial resources to contribute toward the student’s postsecondary education for the academic year.” The terminology change is set to go into effect on July 1, 2024, and will apply starting with the 2024-25 financial aid award year.
The bill changes the definition of “expected family contribution” to incorporate the changes to the federal terminology once the FAFSA Simplification Act of 2019 is implemented.
Health care provider loan assistance program
The bill makes four new categories of health care providers eligible for the health care provider loan assistance program and provides additional funding for loans to these health care providers.
Under current law, the Board of Regents administers the HCPLA program under which it may repay, on behalf of a health care provider, up to $25,000 in loans for education related to the health care provider’s field of practice. The repayment occurs over three years, with 40 percent of the loan or $10,000, whichever is less, repaid in each of the first two years of participation in the program and the final 20 percent or $5,000, whichever is less, repaid in the third year. A health care provider is defined as a dental hygienist, physician assistant, nurse-midwife, or nurse practitioner. The Board of Regents must enter into a written agreement with the health care provider in which the health care provider agrees to practice at least 32 clinic hours per week for three years in one or more eligible practice areas in this state or in a rural area. An “eligible practice area” is defined as a free or charitable clinic, a primary care shortage area, a mental health shortage area, an American Indian reservation or trust lands of an American Indian tribe, or, for a dental hygienist, a dental health shortage area or a free or charitable clinic. Money for loan repayments is derived from several sources, and loan repayments are subject to availability of funds. If insufficient funds are available to repay the loans of all eligible applicants, the Board of Regents must establish priorities among the eligible applicants based on specified considerations, including factors related to the degree of the health care need and shortage in the area. However, some funding for loan repayments is available only for health care providers who practice in rural areas.
The bill adds medical assistants, dental assistants, dental auxiliaries, and dental therapists to the health care providers who are eligible for loan repayment under the HCPLA program. These health care providers are eligible under the current terms of the program, except medical assistants. Medical assistants are eligible for loan repayment of up to $12,500 in total, with repayments of 40 percent of the loan or $5,000, whichever is less, in each of the first two years and 20 percent or $2,500, whichever is less, in the third year. For purposes of an eligible practice area, dental assistants, dental auxiliaries, and dental therapists are treated similarly to the way dental hygienists are treated under current law. The bill creates a new appropriation from the general fund to provide additional funding for loans to medical assistants, dental assistants, dental auxiliaries, and dental therapists.
UW foster youth support programs
The bill provides funding to establish or maintain support programs at UW System institutions for students who formerly resided in a foster home or group home. Support programs may offer these students scholarships, jobs, emergency funds, basic supplies, mentorships, career planning, and other forms of support.
Grant to support a center at Mid-State Technical College
The bill requires the TCS Board to award a grant of $250,000 in each fiscal year to Mid-State Technical College for an Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Technology and Apprenticeship Center to train and maintain a workforce to meet the needs of the state’s paper, pulp, and converting mills. Grants may be used for the center’s maintenance of capital equipment and supplies, information technology equipment, equipment for student learning infrastructure and student learning support, and the center’s ongoing operations.
Grants to reimburse technical colleges for health care–related dual enrollment courses
Under current law, technical colleges may offer dual enrollment programs or courses designed to provide high school students the opportunity to earn credits in both technical college and high school. The bill requires the TCS Board to award grants to technical colleges to reimburse the technical colleges for expenses related to providing to high school students dual enrollment courses related to health care.
Medical College of Wisconsin
The bill provides funding, through a new appropriation, to the Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc., (MCW) for a psychiatry and behavioral health residency program to support resident recruitment and training.
The bill also provides funding to MCW to make violence prevention grants supporting activities that enhance the safety and well-being of children, youth, and families throughout this state.
Support services for veteran students enrolled in the UW System
The bill creates a continuing appropriation to provide support services to students who are veterans at UW System institutions.
Institute for Sustainable Technology at UW-Stevens Point
The bill requires the Board of Regents to provide funding to the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology at UW-Stevens Point to broaden the institute’s support for, and further technical contributions to, this state’s forest and paper industries and for the institute’s ongoing operations.
Funding for financial education provided through the UW System
The bill creates a continuing appropriation for the UW System to provide funding for a Financial Futures Incentive Program in UW-Madison’s Division of Extension (UW Extension) that makes financial education and coaching available to Wisconsin residents.
Funding for a rural Wisconsin entrepreneurship initiative
The bill creates a continuing appropriation for the UW System to provide funding for a rural Wisconsin entrepreneurship initiative in the UW Extension that provides business development assistance, rural entrepreneurship ecosystems, and access to finance for rural entrepreneurs in this state.
UniverCity Alliance program
The bill creates an appropriation funding the UniverCity Alliance program within the UW-Madison. The UniverCity Alliance program connects in partnership communities, towns, cities, and counties with UW-Madison education, service, and research activities in order to address the communities’ biggest local challenges.
UW Missing-in-Action Recovery and Identification Project
Under the bill, the Board of Regents must provide funding to the UW Missing-in-Action Recovery and Identification Project (MIA Recovery Project) for missions to recover and identify Wisconsin veterans who are missing in action. At the conclusion of the mission for which funding is provided, the MIA Recovery Project must submit to the Board of Regents, JCF, each legislative standing committee dealing with veterans matters, the governor, DVA, and DMA a report on the mission’s findings and an accounting of expenditures for the mission. The Board of Regents must provide the funding through a new UW System appropriation.
Administration of the Wisconsin National Guard tuition grants
Under current law, an eligible Wisconsin National Guard member may apply to receive a tuition grant that covers 100 percent of the tuition charged by a qualifying school. The national guard member must submit an application for the tuition grant no later than 90 days after completion of a course, and DMA must pay to an eligible individual moneys from the grant no later than than 30 days after DMA receives certification from a qualifying school that the individual has met eligibility requirements. DMA has a sum sufficient appropriation from which it funds the tuition grants. The bill gives DMA the authority to use the appropriation from which it funds the tuition grants to also fund the administrative costs associated with the payment of the tuition grants.
Transferring risk management positions from the UW System to DOA
The bill transfers, from the UW System to DOA, 5.0 full-time equivalent positions and the employees holding those positions who perform duties in the UW Office of Risk Management.
Grants to students with visual or hearing impairment and talent incentive grants
Under current law, HEAB administers programs to award grants to postsecondary students with visual or hearing impairments and to award talent incentive grants.
The bill makes clarifying changes relating to these grants that do not substantively affect HEAB’s administration of these grant programs.
Other educational and cultural agencies
Library intern stipend payments
The bill requires the Division for Libraries and Technology in DPI to provide stipend payments to students who are pursuing a degree in library science and are placed as an intern in a public library. The stipend payments are $2,500 per student per semester, and begin in the 2024-25 school year.
ELECTIONS
Automatic voter registration
The bill requires the Elections Commission to use all feasible means to facilitate the registration of all individuals eligible to vote in this state and to maintain the registration of all eligible voters for so long as they remain eligible. Under the bill, the Elections Commission must attempt to facilitate the initial registration of all eligible voters as soon as practicable. To facilitate that initial registration, the bill directs the commission and DOT to enter into an agreement so that DOT may transfer specified personally identifying information in DOT’s records to the commission. The bill requires the commission to maintain the confidentiality of any information it obtains under the agreement and allows a driver’s license or identification card applicant to “opt out” of DOT’s transfer of this information to the commission.
Once the commission obtains all the information required under current law to complete an eligible voter’s registration, the commission adds the voter’s name to the statewide registration list. The bill also permits an individual whose name is added to the registration list or who wishes to permanently exclude his or her name from the list to file a request to have his or her name deleted or excluded from the list or to revoke a deletion or exclusion request previously made. In addition, the bill directs the commission to notify an individual by first class postcard whenever the commission removes his or her name from the registration list or changes his or her status on the list from eligible to ineligible.
The bill also directs the commission to report to the legislature and the governor, no later than July 1, 2025, its progress in initially registering eligible voters under the bill. The report must contain an assessment of the feasibility and desirability of integration of registration information with information maintained by DHS, DCF, DWD, DOR, DSPS, and DNR; the UW System; and the TCS Board, as well as with the technical colleges in each technical college district.
Under current law, a qualified voter with a current and valid driver’s license or identification card issued by DOT may register to vote electronically on a secure website maintained by the commission. To register electronically under current law, a qualified voter must also authorize DOT to forward a copy of his or her electronic signature to the commission. The authorization affirms that all information provided by the voter is correct and has the same effect as a written signature on a paper copy of the registration form. Finally, current law requires the commission and DOT to enter into an agreement that permits the commission to verify the necessary registration information instantly by accessing DOT’s electronic files.
Early canvassing of absentee ballots
Under current law, absentee ballots may not be canvassed until election day. The bill authorizes a municipal clerk or municipal board of election commissioners to begin the canvassing of absentee ballots on the day before an election, subject to the following requirements:
1. The municipality must use automatic tabulating equipment to process absentee ballots.
