AB 548

This bill creates a Wisconsin conservation corps (WCC) program to protect,

enhance, and provide access to Wisconsin's natural heritage and encourage and

enable young people to learn the value of work in a natural setting by providing

employment training and career pathways. The bill also creates a WCC Board,

which is the policy-making body of the WCC and is attached to the Department of

Administration (DOA). The WCC Board consists of the secretary of natural

resources or his or her designee; the executive secretary of the Board of

Commissioners of Public Lands; two representatives to the assembly, appointed as

are members of assembly standing committees; two senators, appointed as are

members of senate standing committees; and the following members, appointed to

serve for three-year terms: one member of a nongovernmental organization that has

expertise in conservation matters or that represents employees who work in

conservation activities; two members of the faculty employed by a technical college

district board, appointed by the state Technical College System Board; one member

representing the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Extension; and one member of a

nongovernmental organization that has expertise in youth training programs.

Under the bill, DOA provides staff services to the WCC Board. The bill directs

the WCC Board to enter into an agreement with a nonprofit corporation that has

demonstrated experience in natural resources conservation and youth training

(manager) to manage and administer the WCC program. The manager then

engages, trains, and supervises work crews to carry out each project. The manager

also identifies, reviews, and recommends proposed projects for the approval of the

WCC Board. The bill requires the WCC Board to ensure that projects are equally

distributed across technical college districts to the greatest extent possible, and to

ensure that at least one project is located in each technical college district in each

year.

To finance the operation of the WCC Board and program, the bill permits the

secretary of administration to transfer not more than $400,000 from sum certain

appropriations to state agencies in the executive branch to the WCC Board during

the period beginning on the day the bill becomes law and ending on the date of

publication of the 2017-19 biennial budget act, subject to certain limitations. The

secretary is prohibited from making any transfer of moneys derived from federal

revenues and is also prohibited from making a transfer if the transfer would violate

the state or federal constitution, state or federal law, or a requirement imposed by

the federal government as a condition to receipt of aids by this state. In addition, the

secretary is prohibited from transferring certain moneys appropriated to the

Department of Transportation. Any proposed transfer must first be reported by the

secretary to the cochairpersons of the Joint Committee on Finance (committee) and

is subject to review, approval, or modification by the committee, but the committee

may waive its right to review a proposed transfer.