Housing and homelessness; workforce development; community action agencies; poverty reports; mental health; public assistance advisory committee; economic security; adverse childhood experiences reports; creating a nonrefundable individual income tax credit for household and dependent care services; reimbursement for nonemergency medical transportation services; urban mass transit aid; and making an appropriation. (FE)

This bill also increases funding for DOA to award grants to persons or families of low or moderate income to defray housing costs. The bill provides an additional $220,000 in each fiscal year of the 2019-21 fiscal biennium for that purpose.

This bill requires the Interagency Council on Homelessness to do all of the following every two years:

1. Review all of the state's housing and homelessness-related programs.

2. Identify ways in which DOA and other state agencies specified in the bill and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority can increase access to services for homeless individuals and families, including homeless children and youths as defined under federal law.

3. Advise each of the state agencies specified in the bill and WHEDA to revise any policy or practice that the council determines impedes homeless individuals and families from obtaining services.

This bill requires WHEDA to issue up to $1,000,000 in bonds to make grants directly to individuals and families or to one or more local housing authorities for the purpose of providing rent assistance to individuals and families who are in danger of being evicted.

This bill requires the Department of Public Instruction to annually issue a report to the legislature on the number of homeless children and youths in the public schools of this state. Under the bill, “homeless children and youths” is defined by reference to federal law providing homeless assistance.

This bill requires WHEDA to annually issue a report to the legislature on the number of households with worst case housing needs in this state. “Households with worst case housing needs” is defined in a manner consistent with that used by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The report must include data and demographic information on these households, analysis of the impediments to obtaining affordable housing, and recommendations on how to improve state and local programs to assist these households with their housing needs.

This bill creates a two-year pilot program that gives priority to homeless children and their families, as defined under federal law, on the waiting list that WHEDA, or a public housing agency that contracts with WHEDA, maintains under the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program. Under the bill, WHEDA is required to develop policies and procedures for the pilot program.

Workforce development and job and income supports This bill increases funding by $799,400 in each fiscal year of the 2019-21 fiscal biennium to supplement, on a one-to-one matching basis, federal employment opportunity demonstration project funds and funds from other federal and private foundation sources for job creation and development for individuals with low incomes. The program funded by these funds is commonly referred to as the Job and Business Development Program.

Under current law, the Department of Children and Families must distribute grants to community action agencies to provide skills enhancement services, including access to transportation, child care, career counseling, job placement assistance, and financial support for education and training. This bill provides an additional $500,000 in each fiscal year of the 2019-21 fiscal biennium for that purpose.

This bill requires the Department of Workforce Development to establish a pilot program that offers job and employment services for individuals receiving housing vouchers or receiving services from state-funded homeless shelters. The bill requires the pilot program to offer services similar to those offered under the existing Transform Milwaukee Jobs and Transitional Jobs programs in current law. The bill funds the pilot program with $500,000 in each fiscal year of the 2019-21 fiscal biennium. Under the bill, the pilot program sunsets on June 30, 2021.

Under current law, DCF must distribute grants to community action agencies to provide skills enhancement services, including access to transportation, child care, career counseling, job placement assistance, and financial support for education and training. Under this program, a community action agency may provide these services to individuals who work at least 20 hours per week and whose earned income is at or below 150 percent of the poverty line. This bill increases the earned income threshold for eligibility to 200 percent of the poverty line.

Under current law, the Department of Transportation may award grants to public and private organizations for the development and implementation of demand management, ride-sharing, and job access and employment transportation assistance programs. This bill increases the amount of state monies appropriated for the development and implementation of job access and employment transportation assistance programs by $249,450 in each year of the 2019-21 fiscal biennium.

Under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA), federal funds are allocated to the state and, in turn, to local workforce development areas designated by the governor to provide employment and training activities for job seekers and workers. The WIOA repealed a prior law known as the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), which contained a number of similar provisions. To receive funding under the WIOA, the governor must establish a state workforce development board. This bill requires the board to identify certain populations for services under their WIOA strategic plans. The populations to be included are: 1) homeless individuals from ages 18 to 24; 2) certain children placed in out-of-home care; and 3) homeless adults.

This bill repeals a provision concerning review and approval of certain matters regarding assistance to dislocated workers that was administered as part of the WIA, but that no longer exists. In addition, the bill updates references to the United States Code sections regarding WIOA.

Community action agencies This bill provides a 25 percent match from state funding to the federal community services block grant, which funds the work of community action agencies.

A community action agency is an entity that provides services such as employment or housing assistance, financial planning, or educational services to individuals whose income is at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty line and that works to combat poverty in the community that it serves.

This bill also requires the Department of Health Services to establish a grant program to provide grants to community action agencies to enable them to respond to the needs of communities and low-income families and individuals in crisis resulting from opioid addiction-related issues. Through the program, DHS is required to endeavor to expand and support effective community efforts to identify and respond to causes and consequences of opioid misuse and addiction experienced by low-income individuals, families, and communities. Under the bill, DHS shall award grants of at least $25,000 and up to $250,000 per year. The bill sets out criteria DHS must use in awarding grants, as well as characteristics of applications to which DHS must give preference. Grants under the bill may not be more than three years in duration unless approved by the DHS secretary.

Public assistance advisory committee This bill requires DHS, in consultation with DCF and DOA, to create an advisory committee to review proposed legislation and proposed requests for approval from the federal government of changes to public assistance programs and to review performance data outcomes and costs of changes to public assistance programs after federal approval of changes to those programs. The bill specifies participants DHS must appoint to the advisory committee. The bill also requires a state agency that administers a public assistance program to hold a public comment period before developing language for a proposal to waive federal law and to conduct no fewer than three public hearings on the proposed waiver before submitting to the federal government. The agency may not submit the request on the proposed waiver without prior approval of the proposed waiver request by the Joint Committee on Finance.

Sober living and mental health This bill requires DHS to encourage the development, expansion, and quality control of networks of sober living residences and to allocate moneys to create a revolving loan fund for establishing sober living residences or a network of sober living residences or to award grants for purposes specified in the bill.

This bill requires DHS to award grants to entities or groups that meet its qualifications to perform research projects on mental health issues and access to mental health services in rural areas of the state.

Nonemergency medical transportation services This bill requires DHS to determine and implement a reimbursement rate for nonemergency medical transportation services for Medical Assistance recipients who are nursing home residents that is the same as the prevalent brokerage reimbursement rate applied to other nonemergency medical transportation services for Medical Assistance recipients.

Household and dependent care services expenses tax credit This bill creates a nonrefundable individual income tax credit for certain expenses for household and dependent care services, based on a similar federal credit.

Under current federal law, there exists a tax credit for expenses for household and dependent care services necessary for gainful employment. Generally, the federal credit is a nonrefundable individual income tax credit that may be claimed by an individual for employment-related expenses for household services and dependent care services for a qualifying individual. Because the credit is nonrefundable, it may be claimed only up to the amount of a taxpayer's tax liability.

Generally, under federal law, a qualifying individual is someone who has the same principal place of abode as the claimant for more than one-half of the year, is the claimant's dependent, and is 1) a child age 12 or under; 2) a child age 13 or older who is incapable of self-care; or 3) the claimant's spouse who is incapable of self-care.

The credit may be claimed for expenses to enable the claimant to be gainfully employed or actively search for gainful employment. Generally, allowable expenses for a qualifying individual under federal law include costs for in-home care or daycare, nursery school or preschool programs, and before-school and after-school care for school-age children. Depending on the claimant's adjusted gross income, the credit may be worth between 20 percent and 35 percent of the claimant's allowable expenses, up to a maximum annual amount of $3,000 if there is one qualifying individual and up to $6,000 if there are two or more qualifying individuals.

This bill creates a nonrefundable individual income tax credit based on the federal tax credit for expenses for household and dependent care services. Under the bill, an individual who is eligible for and claims the federal tax credit for expenses for household and dependent care services may claim the same amount as a nonrefundable credit on his or her Wisconsin income tax return. Under the bill, the Wisconsin credit may not be claimed by a part-year resident or nonresident of this state.

Transportation Under current law, DOT provides state aid payments to local public bodies in urban areas served by mass transit systems to assist the local public bodies with the expenses of operating those systems. This bill increases the total amount of state aid payments for mass transit systems serving urban areas having a population of less than 50,000 to $5,707,800 in calendar year 2020 and thereafter.

Children This bill requires DCF to prepare and transmit to the governor and the legislature an annual report on the number of children in out-of-home care in the previous year who have experienced adverse childhood experiences. Under current law, a child may be placed in out-of-home care, such as in a foster home, the home of a guardian or relative other than a parent, or a group home, if a court assigned to exercise jurisdiction under the Children's Code finds the child to be in need of protection or services.

Higher education This 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 the UW-Madison to study and provide an annual report to the public on poverty in this state.

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