Skip to content
Bills from the 2011–12 session

Assembly Bill 446

Time limits and other participation requirements, case management services, and caretaker of newborn grants under Wisconsin Works; child care provider rates and eligibility for subsidies under Wisconsin Shares; and granting rule-making authority

Topics: Children and Families, Department of, Day care, Maternal and infant care, Wisconsin Works

Stopped in committee

It never got a ⁠, so it never came up for a vote. To try again, a lawmaker would have to start a new bill.

  1. Introduced, passed

    Dec 27, 2011

  2. Committee, stopped here

    Stopped here. No public hearing was held.

  3. Assembly vote, not reached

  4. Senate vote, not reached

  5. Governor, not reached

  6. Law, not reached

Latest entry in the official record, Mar 23, 2012: “Failed to pass pursuant to ⁠”

It never got a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Children and Families. See every bill that never got a hearing this session.

Read the bill

Following saves it on this device. New actions show on your Following page. You can also get updates in a feed reader.

What it would have done

Summary by the , the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

The Wisconsin Works (W-2) program under current law, administered by the Department of Children and Families (DCF), provides work experience and benefits for low-income custodial parents who are at least 18 years old, as well as job search assistance to noncustodial parents who are required to pay child support, to minor custodial parents, and to pregnant women who are not custodial parents. Under Wisconsin Shares, which is also part of W-2, an individual who is the parent of a child under the age of 13 or, if the child is disabled, under the age of 19, who needs child care services to participate in various educational or work activities, and who satisfies other eligibility criteria, may receive a child care subsidy for child care services. The biennial budget act (Act 32) made a number of changes to W-2 and Wisconsin Shares. This bill eliminates some of the changes and restores other provisions to what the law was before Act 32, including the following:

1. Eliminating the three-month limit on participation in a trial job; the six-month limit on participation in a community service job; and the 24-month limits on trial job, community service job, and transitional placements. Current law still limits the overall time during which an individual may participate in W-2 to 60 months.

Read the full summary

2. Removing the ten-hour limit on the time during which a participant in a community service job, and the 12-hour limit on the time during which a participant in a transitional placement, may be required to participate in educational or training activities per week.

3. Restoring the maximum monthly grant received by a participant in a community service job to $673 and by a participant in a transitional placement to $628. Act 32 reduced the monthly grants to $653 and $608, respectively.

4. Restoring the requirement that DCF make certain determinations, such as whether good cause exists for a participant's failure to participate and that the services offered to a participant are appropriate for him or her, before determining that a participant is ineligible for three months to participate in W-2 due to a failure to participate in an assigned placement.

5. Restoring the requirement that, before a participant who has refused to participate in an assigned placement loses eligibility for three months, he or she must be given a conciliation period during which he or she must participate in all assigned activities.

6. Restoring the requirement that, after a W-2 agency has provided written notice to a W-2 participant whose benefits are about to be reduced by at least 20 percent or whose eligibility is about to be terminated, the W-2 agency also must orally explain the proposed action.

7. Eliminating the W-2 placement category under which a participant who is job-ready may receive case-management services but no job placement or grant.

8. Providing that the custodial parent of an infant up to 12 weeks old may receive a grant and not be required to work in a W-2 placement. Act 32 reduced the maximum age of such an infant to eight weeks.

9. Eliminating the authority of DCF to modify child care provider reimbursement rates under Wisconsin Shares on the basis of a provider's quality rating and to disqualify a provider with a low-quality rating from receiving any payment.

10. Eliminating the authority of DCF to institute a number of cost-saving measures under Wisconsin Shares, such as implementing a waiting list and increasing child care subsidy copayments.

11. Eliminating the prohibition that a child care provider under Wisconsin Shares may not receive a subsidy for a child whose parent is also a child care provider unless the provider has been granted a waiver.

12. Eliminating the prohibition that a person receiving a child care subsidy under Wisconsin Shares may not personally benefit from any marketing or promotional offerings made by a child care provider to attract clients.

Who's behind it

7 representatives are its ⁠. All 7 are Democrats.

2 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 9 names

Authors (7)

Signed on in support (2)

What happened

  1. Mar 23, 2012

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Dec 27, 2011

    Sent to the Assembly Committee on Children and Families.

  3. Dec 27, 2011

    Introduced in the Assembly.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Dec 27, 2011 · Assembly

    Introduced by Representatives Grigsby, Young, Pasch, C. Taylor, Berceau, Pocan and E. Coggs;Cosponsored by Senators Taylor and Risser

  2. Dec 27, 2011 · Assembly

    Read first time and referred to committee on Children and Families

  3. Mar 23, 2012 · Assembly

    Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1

Terms on this page

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

More in the glossary

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

More in the glossary

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1. More in the glossary

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis. More in the glossary

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor. More in the glossary

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor. More in the glossary

From the Wisconsin Legislature's official record, checked Sep 15, 2026. See the source

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor