Alzheimer’s Family and Caregiver Support Program
Under current law, DHS is required to allocate funds to agencies to be used for the administration and implementation of an Alzheimer’s Family and Caregiver Support Program for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. Current law provides that DHS may not distribute more than $3,058,900 in each fiscal year for services to persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. The bill increases that limit to $3,558,900 in each fiscal year.
Maternal and child health grants
The bill authorizes DHS to distribute up to $800,000 in each fiscal year to organizations whose mission is to improve maternal and child health in Wisconsin.
Mobile dental clinic grants
The bill requires DHS to award grants to community health centers to procure and operate mobile dental clinics. A community health center is a health care entity that provides primary health care, health education, and social services to low-income individuals.
Grants for free and charitable clinics and FQHC look-alikes
Under current law, DHS must annually award $2,250,000 in grants to free and charitable clinics. The bill increases that amount to $2,500,000 annually. Free and charitable clinics are nonprofit health care organizations that provide health services to individuals who are uninsured, underinsured, or have limited or no access to primary, specialty, or prescription care.
The bill also requires DHS to annually award $200,000 in grants to federally qualified health center (FQHC) look-alikes. Under the bill, a grant to an FQHC look-alike may not exceed $100,000. “FQHC” is a federal designation for health care entities that meet certain requirements, including providing primary health care services to medically underserved populations, and receive federal grant moneys. “FQHC look-alike” is a federal designation for health care entities that meet all of the requirements of FQHCs but do not receive federal FQHC grant moneys.
Health care provider training grants
Under current law, DHS must distribute grants to hospitals, health systems, and educational entities that form health care education and training consortia for allied health professionals in an amount up to $125,000 per consortium in each fiscal year. The grants may be used for curriculum and faculty development, tuition reimbursement, or clinical site or simulation expenses.
Current law also requires DHS to distribute grants to hospitals and clinics that provide training opportunities for advanced practice clinicians in an amount up to $50,000 per hospital or clinic in each fiscal year and to give preference to training programs that include rural hospitals and rural clinics as clinical training locations. The grants must be used to pay for the costs of operating a clinical training program for advanced practice clinicians. Current law requires grant recipients under both grant programs to match the grants through their own funding sources.
The bill combines those grant programs under a single section of the statutes and funds the grants from a single appropriation. The bill removes the current law matching requirement for grant recipients and the grant amount caps. The bill also requires DHS to distribute grants to health systems that provide training opportunities for advanced practice clinicians and to hospitals, health systems, clinics, and educational entities that form health care education and training consortia for behavioral health providers. In awarding any grant under the bill, DHS must give preference to training programs that include rural hospitals and rural clinics as clinical training locations. The bill specifies that acceptable uses of grant moneys include reasonable expenses incurred by a trainee, expenses related to planning and implementing a training program, and up to $5,000 in equipment expenses.
Falls prevention funding
The bill directs DHS to award $450,000 in each of fiscal years 2025–26 and 2026–27 to an organization committed to reducing falls among older adults for the purpose of statewide falls prevention awareness and initiatives.
Assistive technology services
Under current law, DHS awards grants for certain community programs. The bill allows DHS to distribute up to $250,000 in each fiscal year for grants to provide assistive technology services.
Community dental health coordinators
The bill requires DHS to award grants to support community dental health coordinators in rural regions of the state. Community dental health coordinators are individuals who help facilitate oral health care for families and individuals, particularly in underserved communities.
Grant funding for diaper banks
Under current law, DHS is required to award grants for certain community programs. The bill allows DHS to distribute up to $500,000 in each fiscal year as grants to diaper banks to provide diapers to families in need.
Health care provider innovation grants
The bill requires DHS to award $7,500,000 in fiscal year 2025–26 as grants to health care providers and long-term care providers to implement best practices and innovative solutions to increase worker recruitment and retention.
Medical debt collections reporting
The bill prohibits a health care provider, or a billing administrator or debt collector acting on behalf of a health care provider, from reporting to a consumer reporting agency that a debt arising from services provided by the health care provider is in collections status unless 1) the health care provider provided a written statement to the patient describing the unpaid amount and due date and that included the name and address of the health care provider that provided the services, 2) the written statement includes a statement indicating that if payment is not received, the debt may be reported to a credit reporting agency, 3) six months have passed since the due date listed on that statement, and 4) the patient does not dispute the charges.
Statewide poison control program
Under current law, DHS must implement a statewide poison control system that provides statewide poison control services 24 hours a day and 365 days a year and provides poison information and education to health care professionals and the public. Current law provides that DHS must distribute funding up to $425,000 in each fiscal year to supplement the operation of the system and to provide for the statewide collection and reporting of poison control data. The bill increases this amount to $482,500.
Conversion of lead poisoning and lead services grant appropriation from annual to continuing.
The bill converts an appropriation to DHS for the purpose of providing lead poisoning or lead exposure prevention grants from an annual appropriation to a continuing appropriation. Annual appropriations are appropriations expendable only for the fiscal year for which they are made. Continuing appropriations are appropriations that are expendable until fully depleted or repealed by the legislature.
Mike Johnson grants
The bill increases from $4,000,000 to $4,500,000 the annual maximum amount of Mike Johnson life care and early intervention services grants that DHS awards to organizations for HIV-related services, including needs assessments, assistance in procuring services, counseling and therapy, home care services and supplies, advocacy, case management services, and early intervention services.
Grants for pediatric health psychology residency and fellowship training programs
Under current law, DHS awards grants for certain community programs. The bill allows DHS to distribute up to $600,000 in each fiscal year as grants to support pediatric health psychology residency and fellowship training programs.
Trauma resilience grant
The bill allows DHS, through the grants program it is required to administer, to distribute up to $250,000 in fiscal year 2025–26 and up to $250,000 in fiscal year 2026–27 as a grant to an organization in the city of Milwaukee to support the needs of individuals impacted by trauma and to develop the capacity of organizations to treat and prevent trauma.
Behavioral health and developmental disabilities
Psychiatric residential treatment facilities
The bill establishes a DHS certification process for psychiatric residential treatment facilities. The bill defines a psychiatric residential treatment facility as a nonhospital facility that provides inpatient comprehensive mental health treatment services to individuals under the age of 21 who, due to mental illness, substance use, or severe emotional disturbance, need treatment that can most effectively be provided in a residential treatment facility. Psychiatric residential treatment facilities must be certified by DHS to operate.
The bill also provides that services through a psychiatric residential treatment facility are reimbursable under the Medical Assistance program. The bill requires DHS to submit to the federal government any request for federal approval necessary to provide the reimbursement for services by a psychiatric residential treatment facility under the Medical Assistance program.
Under current law, DHS must award grants for certain community programs. The bill allows DHS to distribute up to $1,790,000 each fiscal year to support psychiatric residential treatment facilities.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline grants
The bill requires DHS to award grants to organizations that provide crisis intervention services and crisis care coordination to individuals who contact the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline from anywhere within the state. Currently, DHS partners with Wisconsin Lifeline to provide statewide 988 crisis hotline services.
Crisis stabilization facilities grants
The bill requires DHS to award grants for services at facilities providing crisis stabilization services. Under the bill, “crisis stabilization services” are optional emergency mental health services that provide short-term, intensive, community-based services to avoid the need for inpatient hospitalization.
Crisis program enhancement grants
The bill expands the crisis program enhancement grant program to include grants to counties, regions comprising multiple counties, or municipalities to establish and enhance law enforcement and behavioral health services emergency response collaboration programs. Under current law, the crisis program enhancement grant program requires DHS to award grants to counties or regions of multiple counties to establish or enhance crisis programs to serve individuals having crises in rural areas. The bill instructs DHS to annually award a total amount of $2,000,000 in each fiscal biennium to establish and enhance law enforcement and behavioral health services emergency response collaboration programs. The bill requires any entity that receives a grant to establish and enhance law enforcement and behavioral health services emergency response collaboration programs to contribute at least 25 percent of the grant amount awarded for the purpose that the grant money is received.
Crisis urgent care and observation facilities
The bill amends a biennial appropriation to DHS for grants to support crisis urgent care and observation facilities to make it a continuing appropriation. Biennial appropriations are appropriations that are expendable for the fiscal biennium for which they are made. Continuing appropriations are appropriations that are expendable until fully depleted or repealed by a subsequent action of the legislature.
Extended intensive treatment surcharge
Under current law, an individual may be placed at or transferred to a state center for the developmentally disabled if DHS and the individual’s county of residence agree upon a maximum discharge date for the individual, among other requirements. Currently, DHS may impose a surcharge on a county for certain services provided at a center for the developmentally disabled after an individual’s maximum discharge date. Under current law, all moneys received as payment for the surcharge must be provided to counties for onetime costs associated with relocating individuals from a center for the developmentally disabled. Under the bill, the surcharge must be used instead for the provision of alternative services by mental health institutes and centers for the developmentally disabled, such as residential, dental, and mental health services.
Funding for Winnebago Mental Health Institute
The bill transfers moneys from the general fund to a program revenue appropriation for DHS to support the operations of Winnebago Mental Health Institute.
Mental health consultation program
The bill combines the child psychiatry consultation program with additional services into a new mental health consultation program. The bill also splits off funding for the existing addiction medicine consultation program into a separate appropriation.
Currently, the child psychiatry consultation program assists participating clinicians in providing care to children with mental health care needs and provides referral support and additional services. Current law requires DHS to convene interested persons, including the Medical College of Wisconsin, to develop a plan and standards for a comprehensive mental health consultation program incorporating various psychiatry specialties, including addiction medicine; a perinatal psychiatry consultation program; and the child psychiatry consultation program. This requirement is eliminated in the bill along with the separate child psychiatry consultation program. Under current law, the addiction medicine consultation program assists participating clinicians in providing care to patients with substance use addiction and provides referral support and additional services. The bill retains the program, but establishes a new appropriation to fund the program.
The bill requires an organization to administer a mental health consultation program (MHCP) that incorporates a comprehensive set of mental health consultation services and may include perinatal, child, adult, geriatric, pain, veteran, and general mental health consultation services. Under the bill, the organization that currently administers the child psychiatry consultation program must administer the MHCP during the 2025–26 fiscal year, but DHS may contract with another organization in subsequent fiscal years. The contracting organization may contract with any other entity to perform any operations and satisfy any requirements of the MHCP. The contracting organization must do all of the following: ensure that mental health providers providing services through the MHCP have the appropriate credentials as described in the bill, maintain infrastructure to provide services statewide on every weekday, provide consultation services as promptly as practicable, report to DHS any information DHS requires, conduct surveys of participating clinicians as described in the bill, and provide certain specified services. Those specified services are the following: support for clinicians participating in the MHCP to assist in the management of mental health concerns; triage-level assessments to determine the most appropriate response; diagnostics and therapeutic feedback when medically appropriate; and recruitment of other practices to a provider’s services. The MHCP must be able to provide consultation services by telephone and email but may also provide services by other means. In addition to the services required in the bill, which are eligible for funding by DHS, the contracting organization may provide any of the services specified in the bill that are eligible for funding by DHS.
HOUSING
WHEDA housing programs modifications
The bill makes modifications to three housing programs administered by WHEDA: the residential housing infrastructure revolving loan program, also known as the Infrastructure Access program; the main street housing rehabilitation revolving loan program, also known as the Restore Main Street program; and the commercial-to-housing conversion revolving loan program, also known as the Vacancy-to-Vitality program.
For the Infrastructure Access program, the bill does all of the following:
1. Allows a loan to a developer to provide for up to 33 percent of total project costs and a loan to a governmental unit to provide for up to 25 percent of total project costs. Under current law, a loan to developers may provide for up to 20 percent of total project costs and a loan to a governmental unit may provide for up to 10 percent of total project costs.
2. Permits up to 25 percent of the amount of a loan to a developer to be used for improvements to private infrastructure. Under current law, a loan may be used for improvements to only infrastructure that is or will be owned, maintained, or provided for or to a governmental unit or infrastructure in a rural area that is transferred to public use.
3. Allows tribal housing authorities to receive loans as developers of eligible projects.
For the Restore Main Street program, the bill does all of the following:
1. Allows a loan to provide for up to $50,000 per dwelling unit or 33 percent of total project costs, whichever is less. Under current law, a loan may provide for up to $20,000 per dwelling unit or 25 percent of total project costs, whichever is less.
2. Allows loans to be awarded to projects under the jurisdiction of a federally recognized American Indian tribe or band.
For the Vacancy-to-Vitality program, the bill does all of the following:
1. Allows a loan to provide for up to 33 percent of total project costs. Under current law, a loan may provide up to $1,000,000 per project or 20 percent of total project costs, whichever is less.
2. Permits housing developments with fewer than six dwelling units to be eligible for a loan. Under current law, an eligible housing development must have fewer than 16 dwelling units.
3. Allows loans to be awarded to projects under the jurisdiction of a federally recognized American Indian tribe or band.
In addition, the bill does the following for each of the three programs:
1. Removes the requirements that a governmental unit have updated the housing element of its comprehensive plan within five years in order to be eligible for a loan and permits projects to benefit from a tax incremental district and to use historic tax credits.
2. For the purpose of establishing that a governmental unit has reduced the costs of housing as part of applying for a loan, allows the governmental unit to submit to WHEDA measures taken by the governmental unit on or after January 1, 2015. Under current law, a governmental unit or political subdivision must show cost-reduction measures taken on or after January 1, 2023.
3. Allows a loan to be awarded for projects on tribal reservation or trust lands not subject to property taxes in this state.
Discrimination in housing based on receipt of rental or housing assistance
Current open housing law prohibits discrimination in housing based on sex; race; color; sexual orientation; disability; religion; national origin; marital status; family status; status as a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking; lawful source of income; age; or ancestry. The bill prohibits discrimination in housing based on receipt of rental or housing assistance in the form of a contribution from a third party.
Capital reserve fund bonding limit
Under current law, WHEDA issues notes and bonds for most WHEDA programs, including housing programs for individuals and families of low or moderate income. Current law prohibits WHEDA from issuing notes and bonds that are secured by a capital reserve fund if the total aggregate outstanding principal amount would exceed $1,000,000,000. The bill increases this limit to $1,300,000,000.
Low-income housing tax credit
Under current law, WHEDA may certify a person to claim, for a period of up to six years, a state tax credit if the person has an ownership interest in a low-income housing project in Wisconsin and qualifies for the federal low-income housing tax credit program. The bill increases the amount of credits that WHEDA may annually certify from $42,000,000 to $100,000,000. The bill also requires that the project be allocated the federal credit and financed with tax-exempt bonds that are not subject to the federal credit’s volume cap—as opposed to any tax-exempt bonds, as required under current law—and allows WHEDA to waive these requirements to the extent that WHEDA anticipates that sufficient tax-exempt private activity bond volume cap under federal law will not be available to finance low-income housing projects in any year.
Affordable housing and workforce development grants
The bill requires DOA to establish a competitive grant program to award grants to cities, villages, towns, counties, school districts, and businesses, whether operated for profit or not for profit, to fund the start-up of programs focused on developing the skilled workforce by building or rehabilitating affordable housing in their communities.
Grants to incentivize eliminating zoning barriers to affordable housing
The bill requires DOA to establish a competitive grant program to award grants to cities, villages, towns, counties, and federally recognized American Indian tribes and bands in the state that adopt one or more of the policy initiatives enumerated in the bill to eliminate zoning barriers for the creation or expansion of affordable housing.
Homeless case management services grants
Under current law, DOA may award up to 10 grants of up to $50,000 each year to shelter facilities for case management services provided to homeless families. The bill eliminates the limit on the number of grants that may be awarded and raises the grant limit to $75,000.
Geographic distribution of housing grants
Under current law, DOA may award grants to provide homeless individuals with housing and other supportive services to facilitate their movement to independent living. DOA must ensure that the funds for the grants are reasonably balanced among geographic areas of the state that correspond to the geographic areas served by each continuum of care organization designated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Under the bill, the geographic areas of the state among which DOA must balance funds for the grants need not correspond to the geographic areas served by each continuum of care organization.
Grants to Milwaukee County Housing First
