Under current law, DOT administers specialized transportation programs to provide financial assistance for transportation services for seniors and individuals with disabilities. One program provides funding to counties based on each county's proportion of the state's population of seniors and individuals with disabilities. The other program provides funds to local public bodies and nonprofit organizations through a competitive application process to supplement federal funding under the Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities program. The bill increases funding for both programs by 2 percent.

Higher education

The bill requires the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System to allocate $50,000 each fiscal year for the Institute for Research on Poverty at UW-Madison to study and provide an annual report to the public on poverty in this state.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB1145,1 Section 1. 13.48 (26m) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1145,8,6 13.48 (26m) Lead service line replacement. The legislature finds and determines that the prevalence of lead service lines in connections to public water systems poses a public health hazard and that processes for reducing lead entering drinking water from such pipes requires additional treatment of wastewater. It is therefore in the public interest, and it is the public policy of this state, to assist private users of public water systems in replacing lead service lines.

AB1145,2 Section 2. 16.03 (2) (d) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1145,8,9 16.03 (2) (d) No later than January 1 of each odd-numbered year, do all of the following:

AB1145,8,15 1. Identify ways in which the departments of administration, children and families, health services, public instruction, workforce development, and veterans affairs and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority can increase access to services for homeless individuals and families, including individuals who are included in the category of homeless children and youths, as defined in 42 USC 11434a (2).

AB1145,8,19 2. Advise each of the departments specified in subd. 2. and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority to revise any policy or practice of the department or authority that the council determines impedes homeless individuals and families from obtaining services.

AB1145,3 Section 3. 16.19 of the statutes is created to read:

AB1145,9,3 16.19 Civil legal services for the indigent. Annually, the department shall pay the amount appropriated under s. 20.505 (7) (e) to the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Inc., to provide civil legal services to indigent persons. The Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Inc., shall distribute the amount received from the department under this section as grants to programs that provide civil legal services to indigent persons, and those programs may use the grant funds to match other federal and private grants. The grants may be used only for the purposes for which the funding was provided.

AB1145,4 Section 4. 16.306 (2) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB1145,9,13 16.306 (2) (a) From the appropriation appropriations under s. 20.505 (7) (fk) and (fm), the department may award a grant to an eligible applicant for the purpose of providing housing and associated supportive services to homeless individuals and families to facilitate their movement to independent living if the conditions under par. (b) are satisfied. The department shall 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, consistent with the quality of applications submitted award grants under this paragraph on a competitive basis.

AB1145,5 Section 5. 16.3065 of the statutes is created to read:

AB1145,9,16 16.3065 Rental assistance. (1) In this section, “eligible applicant” has the meaning given in s. 16.306 (1).

AB1145,9,22 (2) From the appropriation under s. 20.505 (7) (bq), the department shall award grants to eligible applicants to provide tenant-based rental assistance to individuals and families. All grant funds shall be used to provide tenant-based rental assistance to individuals and families who have suffered an economic hardship and whose annual household income does not exceed 80 percent of the median household income for the county in which the individual or family resides.

AB1145,6 Section 6. 16.3085 (2) (b) 2. of the statutes is amended to read:

AB1145,9,25 16.3085 (2) (b) 2. Employment-related services, including connecting parents who are job training graduates or who have a recent work history with their local workforce development board established under 29 USC 2832 3122 and assisting them with using the job center website maintained by the department of workforce development.

AB1145,7 Section 7. 20.005 (3) (schedule) of the statutes: at the appropriate place, insert the following amounts for the purposes indicated: - See PDF for table

AB1145,8 Section 8. 20.435 (5) (cg) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1145,11,4 20.435 (5) (cg) Rural mental health research grants. The amounts in the schedule for grants for research on mental health issues in rural areas under s. 46.538.

AB1145,9 Section 9. 20.435 (5) (em) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1145,11,8 20.435 (5) (em) Sober living residences. Biennially, the amounts in the schedule to support sober living residences or sober living residence networks under s. 46.483.

AB1145,10 Section 10. 20.437 (2) (cs) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1145,11,13 20.437 (2) (cs) Community services block grant; state match. A sum sufficient to match 25 percent of the amounts received under 42 USC 9903 for the federal community services block grant for the purposes for which the federal community services block grant funds are received.