The bill makes changes to the well compensation grant program currently administered by DNR.
Under current law, an individual owner or renter of a contaminated private well may apply for a grant from DNR to cover a portion of the costs to treat the water, reconstruct the well, construct a new well, connect to a public water supply, or fill and seal the well. To be eligible for a grant, the well owner’s or renter’s annual family income may not exceed $65,000. A grant awarded under the program may not cover any portion of a project’s eligible costs in excess of $16,000 and, of those costs, may not exceed 75 percent of a project’s eligible costs, meaning that a grant may not exceed $12,000. In addition, if the well owner’s or renter’s annual family income exceeds $45,000, the amount of the award is reduced by 30 percent of the amount by which the annual family income exceeds $45,000.
The bill increases the family income limit to $100,000. In addition, under the bill, a well owner or renter whose family income is below the state’s median income may receive a grant of up to 100 percent of a project’s eligible costs, not to exceed $16,000. The bill also eliminates the requirement to reduce an award by 30 percent if the well owner’s or renter’s family income exceeds $45,000.
The bill also expands the grant program to allow an owner or renter of a transient noncommunity water supply to apply for a grant. A “transient noncommunity water supply” is defined in the bill as a water system that serves at least 25 persons at least 60 days of the year but that does not regularly serve at least 25 of the same persons over six months per year.
Under current law, a well that is contaminated only by nitrates is eligible for a grant only if the well is a water supply for livestock, is used at least three months in each year, and contains nitrates in excess of 40 parts per million. The bill eliminates these restrictions for claims based on nitrates, and instead allows grants to be issued for wells based on contamination by at least 10 parts per million of nitrate nitrogen. The bill also allows grants to be issued for wells contaminated by at least 10 parts per billion of arsenic, or by a perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substance in an amount that exceeds any applicable health advisory or standard for that substance.
Under current law, DNR must issue grants in the order in which completed claims are received. Under the bill, if there are insufficient funds to pay claims, DNR may, for claims based on nitrate contamination, prioritize claims that are based on higher levels of nitrate contamination.
Requiring notification of water-related permit violations
Under the bill, if DNR finds that the holder of a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit has violated a limitation under the permit that is based on a groundwater standard, DNR must notify the county health department and county land and conservation department in the county in which the permit holder is located and the county health department and county land and conservation department in any adjacent county that DNR determines may be negatively affected by the violation. The bill requires DNR to provide these notices within seven business days after confirming that a violation has occurred. The bill also allows DNR to establish, by rule, procedures for providing the required notice. Finally, the bill requires DNR to create and maintain a notification system for notifying county health departments, county land and conservation departments, and interested parties of the violations but requires that the notification system ensure that county health departments and county land and conservation departments are notified of a violation at least 24 hours before anyone else is notified.
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.
