Standards and ordinances regulating shoreland zoning, Medicaid expansion, and eligibility for BadgerCare Plus and BadgerCare Plus Core. (FE)

Act 55 made various changes to the laws regulating shoreland zoning including the following:

1. Prohibiting a county shoreland zoning ordinance from regulating a matter more restrictively than the matter is regulated by a shoreland zoning standard promulgated by DNR.

2. Prohibiting a shoreland zoning ordinance from requiring a person to establish a vegetative buffer zone on previously developed land or expand an existing buffer zone.

3. Requiring a shoreland zoning ordinance to allow a vegetative buffer zone to contain a viewing corridor of at least 35 feet wide for every 100 feet of shoreline frontage and to allow the corridor to run contiguously for the entire maximum allowable width.

4. Prohibiting DNR from establishing shoreland zoning standards and prohibiting counties from enacting shoreland zoning ordinances that regulate certain outdoor lighting, that regulate certain construction activities with respect to nonconforming structures, and that impose certain standards for impervious surfaces.

5. Allowing certain maintenance and repair of nonconforming structures in shorelands that are accessory structures such as garages, sheds, sidewalks, and patios.

6. Generally requiring city and village shoreland zoning ordinances that apply to certain shorelands that were annexed or incorporated by the city or village to be consistent with the requirements and limitations applicable to county shoreland zoning ordinances.

7. Prohibits DNR from appealing a decision of a county to grant or deny a variance to a law regulating county shoreland zoning.

This bill eliminates the changes to the law made by Act 55 so that the law is consistent with pre-Act 55 law.

This bill changes the family income eligibility level to up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL) for parents and caretaker relatives under BadgerCare Plus (BC+) and for childless adults under BadgerCare Plus Core (BC+ Core).

Currently, the Department of Health Services (DHS) administers the Medical Assistance (MA) program, which is a joint federal and state program that provides health services to individuals who have limited financial resources. Some services are provided through programs that operate under a waiver of federal Medicaid laws, including services provided through the BC+ and BC+ Core programs.

Under current law, certain parents and caretaker relatives with incomes of not more than 100 percent of the FPL, before a 5 percent income disregard is applied, are eligible for BC+ benefits. Under current law, adults who are under age 65, who have family incomes that do not exceed 100 percent of the FPL, before a 5 percent income disregard is applied, and who are not otherwise eligible for MA, including BC+ (childless adults), are eligible for benefits under BC+ Core.

The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allows a state to receive an enhanced federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) payment for providing benefits to certain individuals through a state's MA program. The bill expands the income eligibility level for parents and caretaker relatives under BC+ and for childless adults under BC+ Core. The bill requires DHS to comply with all federal requirements and to request any amendment to the state MA plan, waiver of Medicaid law, or other federal approval necessary to qualify for the highest available enhanced FMAP for parents and caretaker relatives and childless adults eligible for BC+ Core (collectively nonpregnant, nonelderly adults). If DHS does not qualify for the enhanced FMAP or if the FMAP is reduced, DHS is required to submit to the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) a fiscal analysis comparing the cost of covering nonpregnant, nonelderly adults under the MA program at up to 133 percent of the FPL to the cost of limiting income eligibility to those adults to up to 100 percent of the FPL. DHS may reduce income eligibility levels for nonpregnant, nonelderly adults to up to 100 percent of the FPL only if JCF approves.