Housing and homelessness; emergency rental assistance program; indigent civil legal services; workforce development; community action agencies; poverty reports; mental health; economic security; reimbursement for nonemergency medical transportation services; urban mass transit aid; lead exposure and abatement services; lead service line replacement; providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures; granting rule-making authority; and making an appropriation. (FE)

Grants to defray housing costs The bill 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 2025-27 fiscal biennium for that purpose.

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

Report concerning homeless children and youth The 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.

Report concerning households with worst case housing needs The 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.

Pilot program related to the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program The 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.

Civil legal services for the indigent Under current law, the Department of Children and Families is directed to allocate in each fiscal year specific amounts of money, including federal moneys received under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, for various public assistance programs. Under current law, DCF provides funding to the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Inc., (the foundation) to provide civil legal services to TANF-eligible individuals in two ways:

1. DCF provides up to $100,000 in each fiscal year in matching funds to the foundation for the provision of civil legal services to eligible individuals. This grant does not specify what types of civil legal services may be provided.

2. DCF provides a $500,000 grant from federal TANF funding in each fiscal year to the foundation to provide grants to programs, up to $75,000 each, that provide certain legal services to eligible individuals. The legal services provided through this grant are limited to legal services in civil matters related to domestic abuse or sexual abuse or to restraining orders or injunctions for individuals at risk.

The bill removes the grant that requires matching funds and increases the grant to provide certain legal services to eligible individuals to $4,500,000 per fiscal year. Under the bill, the foundation may additionally use this funding to provide to eligible individuals civil legal services related to eviction. The bill removes the $75,000 cap on grants provided by the foundation to individual programs.

The bill also requires DOA to make annual payments of $43,000,000 to the foundation for the purpose of providing civil legal services to indigent persons.

Internet assistance program The bill requires DCF to establish an Internet assistance program under which it makes payments to Internet service providers on behalf of low-income individuals to assist with paying for Internet service, and provides $10,000,000 in each fiscal year for this purpose. The bill requires that other assistance program options be exhausted before assistance is provided under this program. The bill allows DCF to contract with a community action agency for the administration of the program. The bill requires DCF to promulgate rules to implement the program, which must include a requirement that the family income of a recipient not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty line.

Workforce development and job and income supports Job and Business Development Program The bill increases funding by $599,400 in each fiscal year of the 2025-27 fiscal biennium to supplement, on a one-to-one matching basis, federal employment opportunity demonstration project funds. This brings the state funding supplement to $800,000 per fiscal year. The program funded by these funds is commonly referred to as the Job and Business Development Program.

Skills enhancement services 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. The bill increases the earned income threshold for eligibility to 200 percent of the poverty line.

Expanded Transform Milwaukee Jobs and Transitional Jobs programs Under current law, DCF administers a temporary wage subsidy program for individuals who 1) are at least 18 years old and, if over 25 years old, are the parent or primary relative caregiver of a child; 2) have a household income below 150 percent of the federal poverty line; 3) have been unemployed for at least four weeks; 4) are ineligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits; 5) are not participating in a Wisconsin Works employment position; and 6) satisfy applicable substance abuse screening, testing, and treatment requirements. Under current law, funding is directed first to the program as established in Milwaukee County, called the Transform Milwaukee Jobs program, and next, if funding is available, to the program as established outside of Milwaukee County, called the Transitional Jobs program.

The bill provides funding for and requires DCF to establish the Expanded Transform Milwaukee Jobs program and Transitional Jobs program, which, under the bill, must be identical to the Transform Milwaukee Jobs program and Transitional Jobs program except that, to be eligible, an individual is not required to have an annual household income below 150 percent of the federal poverty line and, if over 25 years of age, is not required to be a parent or primary relative caregiver of a child.

Transitional Jobs program The bill provides an additional $1,000,000 per fiscal year in federal TANF funding to the Transitional Jobs program as it exists under current law to provide these services outside of Milwaukee County.

Job and employment services pilot program The 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 2025-27 fiscal biennium. Under the bill, the pilot program sunsets on June 30, 2027.

Council on Workforce Investment strategic plan 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 Council on Workforce Investment. The bill requires the council to identify certain populations for services under its WIOA strategic plan. 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.

Miscellaneous provisions The 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 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. The bill provides an additional $1,000,000 in each fiscal year of the 2025-27 fiscal biennium for that purpose.

The bill also provides a match from state funding to the federal community services block grant, which funds the work of community action agencies. Under current law, a community action agency is an entity that provides services such as employment or housing assistance, financial planning, or educational services to low-income individuals and that works to combat poverty in the community that it serves. The bill increases the income cap for receiving services from a community action agency from 125 percent of the federal poverty line to 200 percent of the federal poverty line.

The 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 must 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 secretary of health services.

Lead exposure and abatement Early intervention services for children with lead in their blood Under current law, DHS implements a statewide program, referred to as the Birth to 3 Program, that provides early intervention services for children aged three and under who are developmentally delayed or are diagnosed as having a condition that is likely to result in significantly delayed development. The bill ensures that children with a concentration of lead in their blood of at least 5 micrograms per 100 milliliters of blood are eligible for services under the Birth to 3 Program. The bill also allows DHS to develop a methodology to allocate funding for early intervention services across county programs.

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