State government response to COVID-19 pandemic, extending the time limit for emergency rule procedures, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

The amount of per pupil aid paid to a school district is calculated using a three-year average of the number of pupils enrolled in the school district and a per pupil amount set by law. In the 2020-21 school year, the calculation for the amount of per pupil aid paid to a school district is $742 times the average of the school district's pupil enrollment in the 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21 school years.

Under the bill, for purposes of calculating per pupil aid in the 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 school years, a school district's pupil enrollment in the 2020-21 school year is the school district's pupil enrollment in the 2019-20 or 2020-21 school year, whichever is greater.

Pupil assessments and school and school district accountability report;

2020-21 school year exemption Under the bill, requirements to administer various pupil assessments do not apply in the 2020-21 school year.

Under current law, school boards, independent charter schools, private schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, Racine Parental Choice Program, or Wisconsin Parental Choice Program, and, under some circumstances, a private school participating in the Special Needs Scholarship Program are required to annually administer assessments adopted by the Department of Public Instruction to pupils in the fourth, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades. These assessments are commonly referred to as the Wisconsin Student Assessment System, which includes the Wisconsin Forward Exam, ACT ASPIRE, the ACT with Writing, and Dynamic Learning Maps. The requirements to administer the WSAS did not apply in the 2019-20 school year. Under the bill, the requirements to administer the WSAS do not apply in the 2020-21 school year.

Current law also requires school boards, independent charter schools, and private schools participating in a parental choice program to annually administer a standardized reading test developed by DPI to third grade pupils. The requirements to administer the third grade standardized reading test did not apply in the 2019-20 school year. Under the bill, the requirements to administer the third grade standardized reading test do not apply in the 2020-21 school year.

Under current law, each school board and independent charter school must annually administer a reading readiness assessment selected by the school board or independent charter school to pupils in four-year-old kindergarten through second grade. The requirements to administer a reading readiness assessment applied in the 2019-20 school year. Under the bill, the requirements to administer a reading readiness assessment do not apply in the 2020-21 school year.

Under current law, school boards and independent charter schools are required to evaluate teachers and principals using an educator effectiveness evaluation system that considers pupil performance on statewide assessments. School boards and independent charter schools were prohibited from considering pupil performance on statewide assessments in evaluating teachers and principals in the 2019-20 school year. Under the bill, the prohibition against considering pupil performance on statewide assessments in evaluating teachers and principals also applies in 2020-21 school year.

School and school district accountability report Under current law, DPI is required to publish a school and school district accountability report for the previous school year by November 30. To measure school performance and school district improvement for purposes of the report card, particularly measures related to pupil achievement in reading and math, DPI uses data derived from pupil performance on the WSAS.

Under current law, schools and school districts were not required to administer the WSAS in the 2019-20 school year and DPI is prohibited from publishing a school and school district accountability report in the 2020-21 school year. Under the bill, schools and school districts are not required to administer the WSAS in the 2020-21 school year and DPI is prohibited from publishing a school and school district accountability report in the 2021-22 school year.

Employment Hazard pay and paid medical leave The bill requires employers to provide hazard pay to certain health care workers during a public health emergency. The bill also requires employers to provide at least 15 days of paid medical leave for certain health care workers who contract a communicable disease. Under the bill, an employer may request a reimbursement from the Department of Administration for the paid medical leave and hazard pay. The hazard pay and paid medical leave requirements in the bill also apply until December 31, 2021, regardless of whether a public health emergency has been declared by the governor or whether the secretary of health services has issued an order.

Limited-term employees Under the bill, the director of the Bureau of Merit Recruitment and Selection in the Division of Personnel Management in DOA may adjust the number of hours a state employee in a limited-term appointment may work during the period beginning on March 12, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2021. Under current law, a limited-term appointment may not exceed 1,040 hours per year.

Use of annual leave Under the bill, a state employee may take annual leave during the period beginning on March 12, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2021, even if the employee has not completed the first six months of the employee's probationary period. Under current law, an employee may not take annual leave during the first six months of the employee's probationary period.

Unemployment Insurance; Benefit charging Current law, as enacted in 2019 Wisconsin Act 185 , requires the Department of Workforce Development, when processing claims for unemployment insurance benefits and evaluating work-share plans, to determine whether a claim or plan is related to the public health emergency declared by the governor under executive order 72. If a claim is so related, current law provides that the regular benefits for that claim for weeks occurring after March 12, 2020, and before December 31, 2020, not be charged as is normally provided. Instead, the benefits for those weeks are, subject to numerous exceptions, to be charged in one of two ways:

1. To the balancing account of the unemployment reserve fund, which is a pooled account financed by employers that pay contributions (taxes) and is used to pay benefits that are not chargeable to any employer's account.

2. To the unemployment interest and penalties appropriation account for reimbursable employers, which are employers that do not pay contributions but instead reimburse DWD for benefits directly.

The bill allows the secretary of administration to transfer moneys from any executive branch appropriation to the unemployment interest and penalties appropriation account for the purpose of paying the benefits described above attributable to reimbursable employers under Act 185. The transfers may not exceed the amount necessary to make those payments.

Unemployment Insurance; Work-share programs Current law allows an employer to create a work-share program within a work unit of the employer. Under a work-share program, the working hours of all of the full-time employees in the program are reduced in an equitable manner in lieu of a layoff of some of the employees and a continuation of full-time employment by the other employees. A claimant for unemployment insurance benefits who is included in a work-share program may receive UI benefits during his or her continued employment with the work-share employer in an amount equal to the claimant's benefit for total unemployment multiplied by the same percentage reduction in normal working hours that the claimant incurs under the program. Current law also provides for the temporary modification of certain requirements that apply to work-share plans with respect to work-share plans submitted on or after April 17, 2020, and before December 31, 2020. The bill extends the applicability of these modifications to January 1, 2022. The bill also adds an additional modification, which is made effective permanently, to allow work-share plans to remain in effect for 12 months in a five-year period, instead of six months.

Unemployment Insurance; Waiting period Currently, a claimant must generally wait one week after becoming eligible to receive UI benefits before the claimant may receive benefits for a week of unemployment, but the application of the one-week waiting period is temporarily suspended for benefit years that began after March 12, 2020, and before February 7, 2021. The bill extends the end date for suspending the one-week waiting period to January 1, 2022.

Unemployment Insurance; Registration for work and work search waivers Under current law, a claimant for UI benefits is generally required to register for work and to search for work each week in order to remain eligible, but DWD is required to waive these requirements under certain circumstances. Under current law, DWD has limited rule-making authority to modify the availability of waivers or establish additional waivers if necessary to comply with a requirement under federal law or if specifically allowed under federal law. The bill allows DWD to promulgate rules that remain in effect until January 1, 2022, that provide waivers of the registration for work or work search requirements under additional circumstances.

Unemployment Insurance; Receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance benefits Under current law, in any week in any month that a claimant is receiving a benefit under the federal social security disability program, that claimant is ineligible for UI benefits. The bill repeals that prohibition and allows an otherwise eligible claimant to receive both federal social security disability benefits and unemployment insurance benefits for the same period.

Worker's compensation; Injury to critical workers The bill provides that, for the purposes of worker's compensation, an injury caused to a critical worker by COVID-19 during the period beginning on the effective date of the bill and ending on December 31, 2021, is presumed to be caused by the individual's employment. The presumption requires a diagnosis or positive test for COVID-19 and may be rebutted by specific evidence that the injury was caused outside of employment. Under the bill, the secretary of health services determines which workers are considered critical workers during the specified period.

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS Remote notarization of estate planning documents The bill allows a notary public, through the end of calendar year 2021, to perform notarizations involving estate planning documents for individuals not physically present before the notary public.

Current law generally requires a person to physically appear before a notary public in order for the notary public to perform a notarial act, but provisions in 2019 Wisconsin Act 125 allow a notary public, using technology, to notarize documents for persons not physically present with the notary public (remotely located individuals) if certain requirements are satisfied. This authority under Act 125 for a notary public to perform a notarial act for a remotely located individual does not extend to a transaction involving estate planning documents such as wills and trusts.

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