AB 55

2017 Wisconsin Act 184

modified the procedure for determining the placement

of a sexually violent person on supervised release. One change eliminated the ability

of the court to choose a county other than the person's county of residence to prepare

a report identifying appropriate residential options for the person. Prior law had

allowed the court, with good cause, to choose another county. The effect of this

change was that the person could not be placed in a county that was not his or her

county of residence. The changes made in

2017 Wisconsin Act 184

applied to any

petition for supervised release pending as of March 30, 2018. This bill clarifies that

a petition for supervised release was pending if the person had not been physically

placed in a residence on supervised release.

This bill also requires the Department of Health Services to identify any person

on supervised release whose residence is not in his or her county of residence and who

had been physically placed in a residence on supervised release on or after March 30,

2018. If DHS identifies any such person, DHS must notify the court, and the court

must revoke the person's supervised release and order the person's county of

residence to prepare a new report.

Under

2017 Wisconsin Act 184

, a county was required to prepare its report for

the court within 180 days of the court order if the order was made on or after March

30, 2018, and before April 1, 2019, and within 120 days if the order was made on or

after April 1, 2019. If the county failed to prepare its report in that time frame, the

county would violate the person's rights as a patient and would be subject to

enforcement and damages for each violation. This bill eliminates the shortening of

the time frame beginning on April 1, 2019, so that a county is required to prepare its

report for the court within 180 days of the court order. This bill also allows a county,

if it fails to prepare its report within 180 days, to request that the court make a

finding that the county is making a good faith effort to prepare the report, and, if the

court makes such a finding, the county is not subject to enforcement and damages.

Under current law, when a sexually violent person is placed on supervised

release, he or she may not be placed within 1,500 feet of a school, child care facility,

place of worship, park, youth center, or other specified places. Under the bill, the

county must consider the proximity of the placement to the places specified under

current law, but the bill removes the exact distance.