(dm) A local health department granted agent status under this subsection may contract with the department of health services for the department of health services to collect fees and issue permits. The department shall collect from the local health department the actual and reasonable cost of providing the services.
(e) The department shall establish state fees for its costs related to setting standards under this subchapter and s. 254.47 and monitoring and evaluating the activities of, and providing education and training to, agent local health departments. Agent local health departments shall include the state fees in the permit fees established under par. (d), collect the state fees and reimburse the department for the state fees collected. For each type of establishment, the state fee may not exceed 20% of the permit fees charged under ss. 254.47 and 254.68. (f) If, under this subsection, a local health department becomes an agent or its agent status is discontinued during a permittee’s permit year, the department of health services and the local health department shall divide any permit fee paid by the permittee for that permit year according to the proportions of the permit year occurring before and after the local health department’s agent status is granted or discontinued. No additional fee may be required during the permit year due to the change in agent status.
(g) A village, city or county may adopt ordinances and a local board of health may adopt regulations regarding the permittees and premises for which the local health department is the designated agent under this subsection, which are stricter than this subchapter, s. 254.47 or rules promulgated by the department of health services under this subchapter or s. 254.47. No such provision may conflict with this subchapter or with department rules. (h) This subsection does not limit the authority of the department to inspect establishments in jurisdictional areas of local health departments where agent status is granted if it inspects in response to an emergency, for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating the local health department’s licensing, inspection and enforcement program or at the request of the local health department.
(j) The department shall hold a hearing under ch. 227 if any interested person, in lieu of proceeding under ch. 68, appeals to the department alleging either of the following: 1. A permit fee established by a local health department granted agent status exceeds the reasonable costs described under par. (d).
2. The person issuing, refusing to issue, suspending or revoking a permit or making an investigation or inspection of the appellant has a financial interest in a regulated establishment which may interfere with his or her ability to properly take that action.
4. Summary and preliminary comparison of any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the rule:
There is no federal law related to regulating local health agents.
5. Description of all entities that may be impacted by the rule:
This rule will impact local health agents and the retail food and recreational establishments currently licensed and inspected by these entities.
6. Estimate of the amount of time that state employees will spend to develop the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule:
DHS estimates that it will use approximately 0.50 FTE staff time to develop this rule. This includes research, drafting, preparing related documents, holding public hearings, and communication with affected persons and groups. DHS will assign existing staff to develop this rule. DHS will work jointly with DATCP staff, who are separately proposing to revise ATCP 75 and ATCP 75 Appendix, to facilitate seamless consolidation of DHS 192 and subch. III of ATCP 75 into ch. ATCP 74. 7. Anticipated economic impact:
The proposed rule is not expected to have any negative economic impact and will positively affect state and local food safety inspectors and public health. As part of the larger initiative to consolidate and streamline Wisconsin’s food safety programs, it will remove unnecessary duplication of regulations and create a comprehensive, streamlined system for the oversight of local health agents.
Both DATCP and DHS will work closely with stakeholders to ensure the rule revisions protect public health without imposing an undue economic burden on local health agents or the industries they regulate. Proposed rule revisions will not raise fees.
