4. Extends the time period in which an employee may file a complaint with DWD to 300 days after either the violation occurs or the employee should reasonably have known that the violation occurred, whichever is later.
5. Removes the age restriction from the definition of “child” for various purposes under the family and medical leave law.
6. Requires employers to permit employees to take family leave in the instance of an unforeseen or unexpected gap in child care for an employee’s child, grandchild, or sibling or because of a qualifying exigency as to be determined by DWD related to covered active duty, as defined in the bill, or notification of an impending call or order to covered active duty of an employee’s child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling who is a member of the U.S. armed forces.
7. Requires employers to permit employees to take family leave to address issues related to the employee or the employee’s child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling being the victim of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, or stalking.
8. Requires employers to permit employees to take family leave to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of an employee who is in medical isolation and requires employers to permit employees to take medical leave when an employee is in medical isolation. The bill defines “medical isolation” to include when a local health officer or the Department of Health Services advises that an individual isolate or quarantine; when a health care professional, a local health officer, or DHS advises that an individual seclude herself or himself when awaiting the results of a diagnostic test for a communicable disease or when the individual is infected with a communicable disease; and when an individual’s employer advises that the individual not come to the workplace due to a concern that the individual may have been exposed to or infected with a communicable disease.
Family and medical leave benefits insurance program
This bill creates a family and medical leave benefits insurance program, to be administered by DWD, under which a covered individual who is on certain family or medical leave is eligible, beginning on January 1, 2025, to receive up to 12 weeks of family or medical leave insurance benefits as specified in the bill from the family and medical leave benefits insurance trust fund created under the bill. For purposes of the bill, the following definitions apply:
1. A “covered individual” is an individual who worked for the same employer for at least 680 hours in the calendar year prior to the year in which the covered individual claims family or medical leave insurance benefits (application year) or a self-employed individual or employee of a small employer who elects coverage under the program.
2. “Family leave” means leave from employment, self-employment, or availability for employment for the birth or adoptive placement of a new child; to care for a family member who has a serious health condition or is in medical isolation; for covered active duty; or to address issues related to being the victim of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, or stalking.
3. “Medical leave” means leave from employment, self-employment, or availability for employment when a covered individual is in medical isolation or has a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform his or her employment duties.
Under the bill, the amount of family or medical leave insurance benefits for a week for which those benefits are payable is as follows:
1. For the amount of the covered individual’s average weekly earnings that are less than 50 percent of the state annual median wage in the calendar year before the individual’s application year, 90 percent of that individual’s average weekly earnings.
2. For the amount of the covered individual’s average weekly earnings that are more than 50 percent of the state annual median wage in the calendar year before the individual’s application year, 50 percent of that individual’s average weekly earnings.
Beginning on January 1, 2025, the bill requires each individual employed in this state by an employer that regularly employs at least 50 individuals, including an individual employed by the state, and any self-employed individual or employee of a small employer who elects coverage under the family and medical leave benefits insurance program to contribute to the trust fund a percentage of his or her wages from employment or income from self-employment. Under the bill, each employer must contribute the same amount as an employee. The bill requires DWD to collect those contributions in the same manner as DWD collects contributions to the unemployment reserve fund under current law.
The bill provides that an employer that provides paid family and medical leave benefits that are identical to or more generous than those provided under the program may request an exemption from participation in the program. The bill requires DWD to promulgate rules to provide exemptions from participation in the program.
The bill further does the following:
1. Requires DWD to promulgate rules providing for a right to a hearing in cases of disputes involving an individual’s eligibility for benefits or status as a covered individual under the program.
2. Requires DWD to promulgate rules providing for a right to a hearing in cases involving the liability of employers for contributions under the program.
3. Allows DWD to seek repayment of family or medical leave insurance benefits that are paid erroneously or as a result of willful misrepresentation. The bill allows DWD to establish other procedures for recovering overpayments and allows DWD to utilize procedures under the unemployment insurance law.
Paid family and medical leave
This bill requires the administrator of the Division of Personnel Management in the Department of Administration to develop a program for paid family and medical leave of 12 weeks annually for most state employees. The bill requires the administrator to submit the plan for approval as a change to the state compensation plan to the Joint Committee on Employment Relations. If JCOER approves the plan, the plan becomes effective immediately.
The bill also requires the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System to develop a plan for a program for paid family and medical leave of 12 weeks annually for employees of the system and requires the board to submit the plan to the administrator of the Division of Personnel Management in DOA with its compensation plan changes for the 2023-25 biennium.
UW–Madison engineering building
This bill amends the 2023-25 Authorized State Building Program to add one project for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The project involves the demolition of an engineering facility and construction of a replacement engineering building at UW–Madison. The bill transfers $197,336,000 from the general fund to the capital improvement fund for purposes of the project.
Moneys transferred to capital improvement fund
2023 Wisconsin Act 19 transferred moneys from the general fund to the capital improvement fund to fund projects in the 2023-25 Authorized State Building Program. This bill specifies that those moneys may be used for those projects. Current law generally provides that the capital improvement fund may be used only for purposes of public debt. 2023 Wisconsin Act 19 also provided the following: 1. That excess moneys transferred to the capital improvement fund under the act not used to fund projects authorized in the 2023-25 Authorized State Building Program must be transferred back to the general fund.
2. That moneys transferred to the capital improvement fund under the act, not to exceed $20,000,000, may be used to offset building program project budget cost overruns caused by inflation.
This bill provides that all moneys transferred to the capital improvement fund under the act not specified under item 1 above, or are not used to offset cost adjustments with respect to any building project authorized in the 2023-25 Authorized State Building Program, must be transferred back to the general fund.
Funding for the UW System
This bill provides additional funding for the UW System under its general program operations appropriation.
Wisconsin grant program
Under current law, the Wisconsin grant program, administered by the Higher Educational Aids Board, provides grants to postsecondary resident students enrolled at least half time and registered as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors in UW System, technical college, private, and tribal postsecondary institutions.
The bill increases HEAB’s biennial appropriation for Wisconsin grants in the 2023-25 fiscal biennium by various amounts for UW System students, technical college students, students enrolled in a private, nonprofit institution of higher education in this state, and tribal college students.
Nurse educator program funding
Under current law, HEAB administers a nurse educator program that provides 1) fellowships to students who enroll in certain postgraduate nursing degree programs at institutions of higher education; 2) postdoctoral fellowships to recruit faculty for nursing programs at institutions of higher education; and 3) educational loan repayment assistance to recruit and retain faculty for nursing programs in institutions of higher education.
This bill increases HEAB’s biennial appropriation for the nurse educator program by $5,000,000 in each year of the 2023-25 fiscal biennium.
Funding for the Technical College System
This bill provides additional funding for the Technical College System for state aid for technical colleges.
WRS annuitants returning to work
Under current law, if a Wisconsin Retirement System 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 the Department of Employee Trust Funds, the annuity must be suspended and no annuity payment is payable until after the participant again terminates covered employment.
This 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.
Health care workforce innovation grants
This bill requires DWD to establish and operate a program to provide grants to regional organizations to design and implement plans to address their region’s health care-related workforce challenges that arose during or were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding for the WisCaregiver Careers program
This bill increases by $6,000,000 in fiscal year 2024-25 the amount appropriated to DHS to provide funding for the WisCaregiver Careers program. The WisCaregiver Careers program is a workforce development program that provides free nurse aide training and evaluation, as well as retention bonuses for individuals who have been employed as nurse aides in a nursing home for at least six months.
Treatment program grants
Under current law, DHS is required to distribute a total of $750,000 in grants in each fiscal year to support treatment programs. Grant recipients are required to use the grant money for supervision, training, and resources, including salaries, benefits, and other related costs. This bill removes the requirement that DHS distribute a total of $750,000 in each fiscal year and provides $1,576,600 in fiscal year 2024-25 for grants to support treatment programs.
Graduate medical education grants
This bill increases the maximum amounts that DHS may award each fiscal year in grants to hospitals to support existing graduate medical training programs. Under current law, DHS may not distribute more than $225,000 to a particular hospital or more than $75,000 to fund an individual position in an existing graduate medical training program during a given fiscal year. The bill increases those limits to $450,000 and $150,000 per fiscal year, respectively.
Health care workforce opportunity grants
This bill requires DWD to establish and operate a program to provide grants to local workforce development boards to assist individuals whose employment was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and whose employment outcomes have not improved since then. The department must target the program to individuals employed or seeking employment in health care-related fields and individuals who are currently ineligible for services under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
Grants to encourage teaching careers
The bill creates a new grant program administered by the Department of Public Instruction and available to school districts and operators of independent charter schools to reimburse the cost of “Grow Your Own” programs. Under the bill, Grow Your Own programs include high school clubs that encourage careers in teaching, payment of costs associated with current staff acquiring education needed for licensure, support for career pathways using dual enrollment, support for partnerships focused on attracting or developing new teachers, or incentives for paraprofessionals to gain licensure. The bill appropriates $5,000,000 in fiscal year 2024-25 for this purpose.
Teacher improvement program
Under current law, DPI operates a teacher improvement program to provide prospective teachers with one-semester internships under the supervision of licensed teachers, in-service activities, and professional staff development research projects.
Under the bill, DPI must provide stipends to individuals who are participating in the teacher improvement program. The stipends are $9,600 per individual per semester and begin in the 2024-25 school year.
Stipends to student teachers
The bill provides stipends, through DPI, to student teachers who are completing a teacher preparatory program that is approved by the superintendent of public instruction. The stipends are $2,500 per student teacher per semester and begin in the 2024-25 school year.
Stipends to teachers overseeing student teachers
The bill provides stipends, through DPI, to teachers who are overseeing a student teacher in their classrooms. The stipends are in the amount of $1,000 per teacher per semester and begin in the 2024-25 school year.
Stipends to library interns
The bill provides $50,000 in funding for 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 or school library. The stipend payments are $2,500 per student per semester and begin in the 2024-25 school year.
Development of apprenticeship pathways related to health care
This bill provides funding and position authority to DWD to conduct outreach to stakeholders and partners to develop new apprenticeship pathways related to health care.
Health care provider innovation grants
Under current law, DHS is required to award grants for certain community programs. This bill allows DHS to distribute up to $7,225,000 in the 2023-24 fiscal year and up to $14,500,000 in the 2024-25 fiscal year as grants to health care providers and long-term care providers to implement best practices and innovative solutions to increase worker recruitment and retention. The bill increases appropriations to DHS to fund these grants and to support state administration and evaluation of the grant program.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
SB1,,44The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: SB1,15Section 1. 18.08 (2) of the statutes is amended to read: SB1,,6618.08 (2) The capital improvement fund may be expended, pursuant to appropriations, only for the purposes and in the amounts for which the public debts have been contracted, for the payment of principal and interest on loans or on notes, for the payment due, if any, under an agreement or ancillary arrangement entered into under s. 18.06 (8) (a) with respect to any such public debt, for the purposes identified under s. 20.867 (2) (v), (3) (x), and (4) (q), and for expenses incurred in contracting public debt. SB1,,8818.08 (7) Notwithstanding sub. (3), moneys transferred under 2023 Wisconsin Act 19, section 9251 (1), cannot be commingled with other moneys in the capital improvement fund and all earnings on or income from investments of the moneys transferred under 2023 Wisconsin Act 19, section 9251 (1), and all excess moneys so transferred that are not used to fund building projects authorized in the 2023-25 Authorized State Building Program or are not used to offset cost adjustments with respect to any building project authorized in the 2023-25 Authorized State Building Program, shall be deposited into or transferred to the general fund. SB1,39Section 3. 20.005 (3) (schedule) of the statutes: at the appropriate place, insert the following amounts for the purposes indicated: SB1,410Section 4. 20.255 (1) (hg) of the statutes is amended to read: SB1,,111120.255 (1) (hg) Personnel licensure, teacher supply, information and analysis and teacher improvement. The amounts in the schedule to fund licensure administrative costs under s. 115.28 (7) (d) and 118.19 (10), teacher supply, information and analysis costs under s. 115.29 (5), and teacher improvement under s. 115.41 (1). Ninety percent of all moneys received from the licensure of school and public library personnel under s. 115.28 (7) (d), and all moneys received under s. 115.41 (1), shall be credited to this appropriation. SB1,512Section 5. 20.255 (2) (ch) of the statutes is created to read: SB1,,131320.255 (2) (ch) Grow your own programs; teacher pipeline capacity building. The amounts in the schedule for grants under s. 115.422 to school districts and operators of a charter school under s. 118.40 (2r) or (2x). SB1,614Section 6. 20.255 (3) (ci) of the statutes is created to read: SB1,,151520.255 (3) (ci) Teacher improvement program stipends. The amounts in the schedule for payments to individuals under s. 115.41 (2). SB1,716Section 7. 20.255 (3) (cL) of the statutes is created to read: SB1,,171720.255 (3) (cL) Library intern stipend payments. The amounts in the schedule for library intern stipend payments under s. 43.05 (12m). SB1,818Section 8. 20.255 (3) (cs) of the statutes is created to read: SB1,,191920.255 (3) (cs) Student teacher stipends. The amounts in the schedule for payments to student teachers under s. 115.421. SB1,920Section 9. 20.255 (3) (ct) of the statutes is created to read: SB1,,212120.255 (3) (ct) Cooperating teacher stipends. The amounts in the schedule for payments to teachers under s. 115.424.
