AB444,2,5 An Act to repeal 20.192 (1) (d), 20.380 (1) (c), 20.505 (1) (am), 49.45 (2p), 49.45 (23) and 86.31 (3s); to amend 20.395 (2) (fc), 20.435 (1) (cr), 20.435 (1) (fh), 20.435 (4) (jw), 36.11 (3) (d) (intro.), 36.11 (47m) (title), 49.45 (23b) (title), 49.45 (23b) (b), 49.45 (23b) (c), 49.45 (23b) (e), 49.471 (4) (a) 4. b., 49.686 (3) (d) and 196.504 (2) (a); to create 13.48 (26m), 20.155 (3) (a), 20.165 (2) (d), 20.192 (1) (c), 20.192 (1) (d), 20.255 (3) (fs), 20.285 (1) (bm), 20.292 (1) (fm), 20.320 (2) (a), 20.370 (6) (ed), 20.380 (1) (c), 20.435 (5) (ef), 20.455 (5) (ec), 20.505 (1) (am), 20.505 (1) (bg), 36.11 (47m) (c), 36.25 (40), 38.274, 49.471 (1) (cr), 49.471 (4) (a) 8., 49.471 (4g), 51.72, 51.73, 85.0215, 115.28 (66), subchapter III of chapter 153 [precedes 153.85], 165.932, 250.15 (2) (d), 250.16, 250.20 (7), 250.20 (8), 281.61 (8) (b) and 292.66 of the statutes; and to affect 2017 Wisconsin Act 59, sections 202e, 202g, 1646t to 1646y, 1655g to 1655j, 1806f and 9439 (4t); relating to: expanding eligibility under the Medical Assistance program; funding infrastructure, land acquisition, and building projects; providing assistance and local government grants; maintaining an opioid and methamphetamine data system; transferring moneys to the budget stabilization fund; creating a University of Wisconsin System partnership program and admissions application fees; providing an exemption from rule-making procedures; and making an appropriation.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Medicaid expansion

BadgerCare Plus and BadgerCare Plus Core are programs under the state's Medical Assistance program, which provides health services to individuals who have limited financial resources. The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allows a state to receive an enhanced federal medical assistance percentage payment for providing benefits to certain individuals through a state's Medical Assistance program. This bill changes the family income eligibility level to up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line for parents and caretaker relatives under BadgerCare Plus and for childless adults currently covered under BadgerCare Plus Core and who are incorporated into BadgerCare Plus in this bill. The bill requires the Department of Health Services to comply with all federal requirements and to request any amendment to the state Medical Assistance plan, waiver of Medicaid law, or other federal approval necessary to qualify for the highest available enhanced federal medical assistance percentage for childless adults under the BadgerCare Plus program.

Under current law, certain parents and caretaker relatives with incomes of not more than 100 percent of the federal poverty line, before a 5 percent income disregard is applied, are eligible for BadgerCare Plus benefits. Under current law, childless adults who 1) are under age 65; 2) have family incomes that do not exceed 100 percent of the federal poverty line, before the 5 percent income disregard is applied; and 3) are not otherwise eligible for Medical Assistance, including BadgerCare Plus, are eligible for benefits under BadgerCare Plus Core. The bill eliminates the childless adults demonstration project, known as BadgerCare Plus Core, as a separate program.

Transfer to the budget stabilization fund

This bill transfers $151,565,605 from the general fund to the budget stabilization fund in fiscal year 2021-22.

Miscellaneous project grants

This bill requires the Department of Administration to award grants to eligible recipients, as determined by DOA, in the following amounts for the following projects:

1. $2,000,000 for a visitor center in the city of Green Bay.

2. $2,000,000 for a Hmong cultural center.

3. $5,000,000 for historic renovation and accessible access to the Potawatomi State Park observation tower in Door County.

4. $5,000,000 for a Food + Farm Exploration Center in Portage County.

5. $30,000,000 for a genomic sequencing wing at the State Laboratory of Hygiene.

6. $15,000,000 for the Blood Research Institute.

7. $4,000,000 for a western Wisconsin forensic center.

8. $400,000 for new laboratory equipment for the Children's Research Institute.

9. $220,000 for improvements to the city of Reedsburg community center.

10. $5,000,000 for the relocation of coal piles currently located near the mouth of the Fox River in Green Bay and for the revitalization of the neighborhood from which the coal piles are to be relocated.

11. $400,000 to construct a machine shed and shop at the Wisconsin Cranberry Research Station.

12. $530,000 for a new water supply control system in the city of Waukesha.

13. $50,000,000 for veterans housing statewide.

14. $2,000,000 to assist in completion of the United Community Center's Ricardo Diaz Early Learning Academy in the city of Milwaukee.

Grant for psychiatric bed capacity expansion in Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties

This bill requires DHS to award a grant to a hospital in Eau Claire County, as specified in the bill, in the amount of $15,000,000 for the purpose of expanding capacity by 22 psychiatric beds between the hospital in Eau Claire County and a hospital in Chippewa County.

Emergency detention is a current law procedure for temporary involuntary commitment of individuals who are believed to be mentally ill, drug dependent, or developmentally disabled and who demonstrate a substantial probability of causing harm to themselves or others or an inability to satisfy certain basic needs due to a mental illness. The hospital that is awarded the grant under the bill must do all of the following: 1) give preference in admissions for the beds added under the bill to individuals who meet the criteria for emergency detention and who are from one of the counties specified in the bill; 2) identify measures it believes will serve the needs of residents with mental health needs, especially in reducing the burden on the Winnebago Mental Health Institute; and 3) report annually to the legislature on the services provided with grant moneys. The grant recipient is liable to repay the grant to the state if it fails to maintain continued expanded services and expanded numbers of psychiatric beds. The bill specifies that the determination of whether the hospital is meeting its requirement to provide expanded services must be based on findings that at least half of the expanded psychiatric beds are available for individuals admitted for emergency detention and that the hospital enters agreements containing terms specified in the bill with at least two-thirds of the specified counties.

Purchase of the Verso Paper Mill in Wisconsin Rapids