Wis. Stat. § 93.07 Department duties. It shall be the duty of the department: (1) REGULATIONS. To make and enforce such regulations, not inconsistent with law, as it may deem necessary for the exercise and discharge of all the powers and duties of the department, and to adopt such measures and make such regulations as are necessary and proper for the enforcement by the state of chs. 93 to 100, which regulations shall have the force of law. The department [of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection], after public hearing, may issue general orders forbidding methods of competition in business or trade practices in business which are determined by the department to be unfair. The department, after public hearing, may issue general orders prescribing methods of competition in business or trade practices in business which are determined by the department to be fair.
Wis. Stat. § 704.95 Practices regulated by the department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection Practices in violation of s. 704.28 or 704.44 may also constitute unfair methods of competition or unfair trade practices under s. 100.20. However, the department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection may not issue an order or promulgate a rule under s. 100.20 that changes any right or duty arising under this chapter. 4. Estimate of the amount of time that state employees will spend to develop the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule:
DATCP estimates that it will use approximately 0.25 FTE staff to develop this rule. That includes time required for investigation and analysis, rule drafting, preparing related documents, and holding public hearings. DATCP will use existing staff to develop this rule.
5. Description of all entities that may be impacted by the rule:
This existing rule affects residential tenants, residential rental property owners, and those who manage such properties.
6. Summary and preliminary comparison of any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the rule:
No existing or proposed federal regulations have an impact on this rule.
7. Anticipated economic impact
The proposed rule will have minimal impact on the state. Potential tenants may need to pay more, but the statute authorized and required this. The rule merely harmonizes an existing rule with 2017 Wisconsin Act 317, § 41, which passed in the last session. The inconsistency between the existing rule and the new statute was identified during the routine rules review required by 2017 Wisconsin Act 108.
