The bill provides that DNR may enter into a memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard authorizing an employee or agent of DNR to board and inspect any vessel that is subject to the requirements under the bill to determine compliance with the federal Vessel Incidental Discharge Act.
Hazardous substances and environmental cleanup
Dry cleaner response program and revitalize Wisconsin program
The bill eliminates the existing dry cleaner environmental response program and its associated fund and council and creates the revitalize Wisconsin program, which is administered by DNR.
The revitalize Wisconsin program created under the bill provides aid, in the form of grants or direct services to local governments, dry cleaners, and private parties, to address the discharge of a hazardous substance or the existence of environmental pollution on the government’s or person’s property. Aid may be provided for sites for which the site’s owner or operator applied for assistance under the dry cleaner environmental response program before its repeal; brownfields; sites that are exempt from the state’s hazardous substance remediation laws (often called the “spill law”); and sites that are subject to the spill law but that are owned by private parties. The bill defines “private party” to include a bank, trust company, savings bank, or credit union; a developer; a nongovernmental organization; and an innocent landowner. The bill defines an “innocent landowner” as a property owner that either 1) acquired the property prior to November 1, 2006, has continuously owned the property since the date of acquisition, and can demonstrate, through documentation, that the discharge or environmental pollution being addressed was caused by another person and that the property owner did not know and had no reason to know of the discharge or pollution when the owner acquired the property; or 2) acquired the property on or after November 1, 2006, meets all of the previously stated requirements, and can demonstrate, through documentation, that the property owner conducted all appropriate inquiries in compliance with the federal All Appropriate Inquiries rule under 40 CFR part 312 prior to acquiring the property. The bill provides that DNR may not award aid to an applicant under the revitalize Wisconsin program if the applicant caused the discharge or environmental pollution unless the applicant is a dry cleaner that applied for assistance under the dry cleaner environmental response program before its repeal. The bill also provides that DNR may require an applicant to provide a match, either in cash or in-kind, for any aid that is awarded under the program.
Activities for which aid may be provided under the program include removing hazardous substances from contaminated media such as surface waters, groundwater, or soil; investigating and assessing the discharge or environmental pollution; removing abandoned containers; asbestos abatement; and restoring or replacing a private potable water supply.
The bill also allows DNR to inspect any document in the possession of an applicant or any other person if the document is relevant to an application for financial assistance under the program.
Ban on coal tar-based sealants
The bill prohibits the sale of coal tar-based sealant products and high PAH sealant products (products with more than 0.1 percent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by weight) beginning January 1, 2024, and prohibits the use of such products beginning July 1, 2024. A person who violates these prohibitions is subject to the same penalty that applies under current law to other general environmental provisions, which is a forfeiture of between $10 and $5,000 for each violation.
Mining
Nonmetallic mining appropriation
Under current law, fees relating to nonmetallic mining are deposited into the segregated environmental fund, to be used for environmental management activities. The bill instead directs that all moneys received from nonmetallic mining fees are to be used for the administration and enforcement of the state’s nonmetallic mining regulations.
General environment
Municipal flood control aid
The bill requires DNR to award, from the amounts appropriated to DNR to provide assistance for municipal flood control, $1,000,000 in grants in each fiscal year of the 2023-25 fiscal biennium for the preparation of flood insurance studies and other flood mapping projects.
Stormwater appropriation
Under current law, a person may need to obtain a permit from DNR to discharge storm water. Current law appropriates money annually from the general fund for the administration of the storm water discharge permit program. Storm water permit fees collected by DNR are credited to the storm water permit appropriation.
The bill changes the storm water permit appropriation from an annual appropriation to a continuing appropriation. An annual appropriation is expendable only up to the amount shown in the schedule and only for the fiscal year for which made. A continuing appropriation is expendable until fully depleted or repealed.
Bonding for urban storm water, flood control, and riparian restoration
Under current law, the state may contract up to $61,600,000 in public debt to provide financial assistance for projects that manage urban storm water and runoff and for flood control and riparian restoration projects. The bill increases the bonding authority for these projects by $11,000,000.
Environmental improvement fund revenue bonding limit
Current law authorizes the issuance of revenue bonds for the clean water fund program and the safe drinking water loan program under the environmental improvement fund, but limits the principal amount of those revenue bonds to $2,551,400,000. The bill increases that limit by $372,000,000, to $2,923,400,000.
Bonding for nonpoint source water pollution abatement
Under current law, the state may contract up to $57,050,000 in public debt to provide financial assistance for projects that control pollution that comes from diffuse sources rather than a single concentrated discharge source in areas that qualify as high priority due to water quality problems. The bill increases the bonding authority for these projects by $10,000,000.
Bonding for Great Lakes contaminated sediment removal
Under current law, the state may contract up to $40,000,000 in public debt to provide financial assistance for projects to remove contaminated sediment from Lake Michigan or Lake Superior, or a tributary of Lake Michigan or Lake Superior, if DNR has identified the body of water as being impaired by the sediment. The bill increases the bonding authority for sediment removal projects by $15,000,000.
Water resources account lapse
The bill lapses, to the conservation fund in fiscal year 2023-24, $350,000 from the DNR appropriation for river management activities for habitat and recreational projects and for environmental and resource management studies on the Mississippi and lower St. Croix Rivers.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Public Assistance
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Under current law, DCF allocates specific amounts of federal moneys, including child care development funds and moneys received under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program for various public assistance programs. Under the bill, TANF funding allocations are changed in the following ways, as compared to the funding allocation in the 2021-23 fiscal biennium:
1. For Wisconsin Works benefits, total funding is decreased by 10 percent.
2. For the Families and Schools Together program, total funding is maintained at $250,000, but an additional $250,000 is available if the grant recipient provides matching funds.
3. For homeless case management services grants, total funding is doubled.
4. For state administration of public assistance programs and overpayment collections, total funding is increased by 12 percent.
5. For grants to Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Inc., for distribution to programs that provide civil legal services to low-income families, total funding is doubled.
6. For the Transform Milwaukee and Transitional Jobs programs, total funding is increased by 18 percent.
7. For Jobs for America’s Graduates, total funding is doubled.
8. For child care state administration and licensing activities, total funding is increased by 10 percent.
9. For child care quality improvement activities, total funding is tripled.
10. For payments to support the dependent children of recipients of supplemental security income, total funding is decreased by 32 percent.
11. For kinship care payments, total funding is increased by 62 percent.
12. For safety and out-of-home placement services, total funding is decreased by 39 percent.
13. For grants to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, total funding is increased by a multiple of 12.
14. For the earned income tax credit supplement, total funding is increased by 69 percent.
15. The funding for the offender reentry demonstration project is eliminated, and the deadline for the project evaluation is extended to June 30, 2024. This was a five-year project ending in fiscal year 2022-23.
16. For all other programs under TANF, funding is continued with a funding change of less than 5 percent.
The bill adds a new TANF allocation item for the child support debt reduction program.
The bill also specifies that, with respect to a TANF-funded contract for services, “allocate” means to designate an amount of money equal to the amount under the contract that DCF is obligated to pay.
Civil legal services grants
Under current law, DCF provides funding to the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Inc. (the foundation), to provide civil legal services to TANF-eligible individuals in two ways:
1. DCF provides up to $100,000 in each fiscal year in matching funds to the foundation for the provision of civil legal services to eligible individuals. This grant does not specify what types of civil legal services may be provided.
2. DCF provides a $500,000 grant in each fiscal year to the foundation to provide grants to programs, up to $75,000 each, that provide certain legal services to eligible individuals. The legal services provided through this grant are limited to legal services in civil matters related to domestic abuse or sexual abuse or to restraining orders or injunctions for individuals at risk.
The bill removes the grant that requires matching funds and increases to $1,000,000 per fiscal year the grant to provide certain legal services to eligible individuals. Under the bill, the foundation may additionally use this funding to provide to eligible individuals civil legal services related to eviction. The bill removes the $75,000 cap on grants provided by the foundation to individual programs.
Transform Milwaukee Jobs and Transitional Jobs programs
Under current law, DCF administers a temporary wage subsidy program for individuals who meet all of the following qualifications: 1) are at least 18 years old and, if over 25 years old, are the parent or primary relative caregiver of a child under the age of 18; 2) have a household income below 150 percent of the poverty line; 3) have been unemployed for at least four weeks; 4) are ineligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits; 5) are not participating in a Wisconsin Works employment position; and 6) satisfy applicable substance abuse screening, testing, and treatment requirements.
The bill modifies the qualifications for participating in the program by removing the requirement that the individual has been unemployed for at least four weeks, and by specifying that anyone who is not receiving unemployment insurance benefits, regardless of his or her eligibility to receive those benefits, may participate.
Child care quality improvement program
The bill authorizes DCF to establish a program for making monthly payments and monthly per-child payments to certified child care providers, licensed child care centers, and child care programs established or contracted for by a school board. This new payment program is in addition to the current law system for providing child care payments under Wisconsin Shares. The bill allows DCF to promulgate administrative rules to implement the program, including rules that establish eligibility requirements and payment amounts and that set requirements for how recipients may use the payments. The bill funds the program through a new appropriation and by allocating federal moneys, including child care development funds and moneys received under the TANF block grant program.
Wisconsin Shares is a part of the Wisconsin Works program under current law, which DCF administers and which provides work experience and benefits for low-income custodial parents who are at least 18 years old. Under current law, an individual who is the parent of a child under the age of 13 or, if the child is disabled, under the age of 19, who needs child care services to participate in various education or work activities, and who satisfies other eligibility criteria may receive a child care subsidy for child care services under Wisconsin Shares.
Under current law, DCF sets the maximum payment rates for child care providers who provide services under Wisconsin Shares and may modify an individual child care provider’s payment rate on the basis of the child care provider’s quality rating under the Young Star system.
Child support debt reduction
The bill creates a new program administered by DCF to provide debt reduction for overdue child support. Under the bill, if a noncustodial parent completes an eligible employment program as determined by DCF, and the custodial parent agrees to a reduction, the noncustodial parent is eligible for child support debt reduction in the amount of $1,500. Under the bill, a parent may not qualify for the debt reduction more than once in any 12-month period.
Assistance for survivors of domestic abuse
Under the bill, DCF may allocate up to $14,000,000 per fiscal year to establish and administer the Living Independently through Financial Empowerment program. Under that program, DCF may provide short-term assistance to individuals who are survivors of domestic abuse. The bill allows DCF to contract with Wisconsin Works agencies to administer the program.
Early childhood education center
The bill requires DCF to provide $1,680,000 to Wellpoint Care Network to establish an early childhood education center in the city of Milwaukee.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Wisconsin
The bill appropriates funding annually to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Wisconsin, in addition to TANF funding for that purpose.
Healthy eating incentives program
Subject to certain conditions, the bill requires DHS to establish and implement a statewide healthy eating incentives Double Up Food Bucks pilot program under the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, which is a federal grant program administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Under the program, DHS matches amounts spent by FoodShare recipients under the program on fruits and vegetables from participating retailers. For every dollar a FoodShare recipient spends on fruits and vegetables at a participating retailer, the recipient gets an additional dollar to spend on fruits and vegetables. FoodShare, also known as the food stamp program and the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides a monetary benefit to individuals who have limited financial resources for the purpose of purchasing food products. DHS administers the FoodShare program. Under the bill, DHS must, on a schedule it determines appropriate, seek any necessary federal approval and sufficient funding, including from the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, to support the program. If the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not approve the program, or if DHS is unable to obtain sufficient funding to support the program, DHS may not implement the program.
Eliminating FSET drug testing requirement
2015 Wisconsin Act 55 required DHS to promulgate administrative rules to develop and implement a drug screening, testing, and treatment policy, which DHS promulgated as ch. DHS 38, Wis. Adm. Code. 2017 Wisconsin Act 370 incorporated into statutes ch. DHS 38, relating to drug screening, testing, and treatment for recipients of the FoodShare employment and training program, known as FSET. The bill eliminates the requirement to implement a drug screening, testing, and treatment policy and removes from the statutes the language incorporated by Act 370. FSET requirement
Current law requires DHS to require all able-bodied adults, with some limited exceptions, who seek benefits from the FoodShare program to participate in FSET, unless they are already employed. The bill eliminates that requirement for able-bodied adults with dependents while retaining the requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents.
Eliminating FSET pay-for-performance requirement
Current law requires DHS to create and implement a payment system based on performance for entities that perform administrative functions for FSET. DHS is required to base the pay-for-performance system on performance outcomes specified in current law. The bill eliminates the requirement for DHS to create a pay-for-performance system for FSET vendors.
EBT equipment grants
The bill requires DHS to provide electronic benefit transfer and credit and debit card processing equipment and services to farmers’ markets and farmers who sell directly to consumers as a payment processing program. The bill specifies that the electronic benefit transfer processing equipment and services must include equipment and services for the FoodShare program. Under the bill, the vendor that processes the electronic benefit transfer and credit and debit card transactions must also process any local purchasing incentives.
Medical Assistance
Medicaid expansion; elimination of childless adults demonstration project
BadgerCare Plus and BadgerCare Plus Core are programs under the Medical Assistance (MA) program, which provides health services to individuals who have limited financial resources. The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows a state to receive an enhanced federal medical assistance percentage payment for providing benefits to certain individuals through a state’s medical assistance program. The bill changes the family income eligibility level to up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line for parents and caretaker relatives under BadgerCare Plus and for childless adults currently covered under BadgerCare Plus Core and who are incorporated into BadgerCare Plus in the bill. The bill requires DHS to comply with all federal requirements and to request any amendment to the state MA plan, waiver of Medicaid law, or other federal approval necessary to qualify for the highest available enhanced federal medical assistance percentage for childless adults under the BadgerCare Plus program.
Under current law, certain parents and caretaker relatives with incomes of not more than 100 percent of the federal poverty line, before a 5 percent income disregard is applied, are eligible for BadgerCare Plus benefits. Under current law, childless adults who 1) are under age 65; 2) have family incomes that do not exceed 100 percent of the federal poverty line, before a 5 percent income disregard is applied; and 3) are not otherwise eligible for MA, including BadgerCare Plus, are eligible for benefits under BadgerCare Plus Core. The bill eliminates the childless adults demonstration project, known as BadgerCare Plus Core, as a separate program on July 1, 2023.
2017 Wisconsin Act 370 requires by statute that DHS implement the BadgerCare Reform waiver as it relates to childless adults as approved by the federal Department of Health and Human Services effective October 31, 2018. The 2015-17 and 2017-19 biennial budget acts required DHS to submit a waiver request to the federal Department of Health and Human Services authorizing DHS to take certain actions, including imposing premiums on, requiring a health risk assessment of, and limiting the time of eligibility for recipients of BadgerCare Plus under the childless adults demonstration project waiver. Act 370 required DHS to implement the childless adults BadgerCare Reform waiver by no later than November 1, 2019. If JCF determines that DHS has not complied with the implementation deadline, has not made sufficient progress in implementing the BadgerCare Reform waiver, or has not complied with other requirements relating to approved waiver implementation, Act 370 allows JCF to reduce from moneys allocated for state operations or administrative functions DHS’s appropriation or expenditure authority, whichever is applicable, or change the authorized level of full-time equivalent positions for DHS related to the MA program. The bill eliminates the statutory implementation requirement for the BadgerCare Reform waiver, including the deadline and penalties, eliminates the statutory requirement for DHS to seek the waiver, and allows DHS to modify or withdraw the waiver. Eliminating legislative review of Medicaid state plan amendments
The MA program is the state’s Medicaid program and is jointly funded by the state and federal governments through a detailed agreement known as the state plan. Under current law created by 2017 Wisconsin Act 370, DHS is required to submit to JCF under its passive review process any proposed MA state plan amendment and any proposed change to a reimbursement rate for or supplemental payment to an MA provider that has an expected fiscal effect of $7,500,000 or more from all revenue sources over a 12-month period. The bill eliminates this requirement to submit for JCF review MA state plan amendments, changes to reimbursement rates, or supplemental payments. Eliminating legislative oversight over federal law waivers
