CVRB 1.07 Hearings. (1) A hearing may be requested by any party or by the board. A party may appear in person or by telephone at the hearing, or may submit a written statement of position on the complaint in place of a personal appearance.

(2) A party who chooses not to appear at the hearing shall notify the board not later than two weeks prior to the hearing of this intent. A party who chooses to submit a written statement shall submit that statement to the board not later than one week prior to the scheduled hearing date.

(3) One month prior to the hearing, or at another date determined by the board, the parties may provide the board with all of the following:

(a) A list of witnesses whom the party wishes to have the board subpoena for the hearing. Subpoenas may also be issued in accordance with s. 227.45 (6m), Stats.

(b) A list of questions for the board to ask another party or witness at the hearing.

(4) The board, or its designee, or a hearing examiner proceeding under ch. 227, Stats., may preside over the hearing.

(5) The parties appearing at the hearing shall be afforded reasonable opportunity to be represented by counsel, to call witnesses, and to present evidence. Questioning of a party by another party is not favored and may be limited by the board consistent with s. 227.45 (6), Stats.

(6) The board may set reasonable time limits for testimony and may limit the number of witnesses called by a party. No party may require the mediator to testify as a witness at the hearing.

(7) Proof of a violation of the rights of a crime victim shall be made by clear and convincing evidence. “Clear and convincing evidence" means evidence which satisfies and convinces the board, because of its greater weight, that a violation occurred.

(8) A stenographic, electronic or other record shall be made of all hearings in which the testimony of witnesses is offered as evidence. Testimony will not be transcribed unless a party requests a transcript and pays any costs required to prepare the transcript. The board shall prepare a transcript, at its own expense, in the event a party seeks judicial review of the board's decision.

(9) The board may vote to hold the hearing in closed session pursuant to s. 19.85 (1) (f), Stats. Parties and their counsel or another advocate, including a family member, shall be permitted to be present during the entire hearing.

(10) Witnesses subpoenaed at the request of a party or the board shall be entitled to compensation from the board for attendance and travel as provided in ch. 885, Stats.

CVRB 1.08 Decisions. (1) At the close of the hearing, the board shall meet for purposes of deliberating on the complaint. Upon a vote of the board, the board may deliberate in closed session as provided by s. 19.85 (1) (a), Stats.

(2) Within 30 days of the close of the hearing, or by another date established by the board if no hearing is held, the board's legal counsel shall prepare a written proposed decision for the board, including findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a recommended remedy, and shall provide the proposed decision to the board.

(3) The board shall consider the proposed decision at its next regularly scheduled meeting or at a meeting called by the chairperson. The board may amend any portion of the recommended decision prior to approving the final decision. Upon a vote of the board, the board may conduct its discussion of the final decision in closed session as provided by s. 19.85 (1) (a), Stats.

(4) The board shall provide the final decision to the parties along with a notice of the right to request rehearing or seek judicial review under ch. 227, Stats.

(5) If no hearing has been held, the board shall make its final decision under the process provided in subs. (2) and (3).

CVRB 1.09 Rehearing. (1) A party aggrieved by the final decision may file a written request for rehearing with the board within 20 days after the date of the final decision.

(2) The request for rehearing shall include a detailed statement of the grounds for the request, including the material error of fact or law, or newly discovered evidence, that in the party's view warrants a rehearing. If the request is based on newly discovered evidence, the party shall state why the evidence could not have been previously discovered through reasonably diligent effort.

(3) The board may grant a rehearing on the basis of one or more of the following:

(a) A material error of law.

(b) A material error of fact.

(c) The discovery of new evidence sufficiently strong to reverse or modify the original decision which could not have been previously discovered through reasonably diligent efforts by the parties.

(4) The board shall determine whether to grant the request for rehearing at its next regularly scheduled meeting or at a meeting called by the chairperson. If the board grants rehearing, it shall follow the procedures in s. CVRB 1.07 in conducting the rehearing.

CVRB 1.10 Judicial review. Judicial review of the board's final decision is governed by ss. 227.52 to 227.59, Stats.

CVRB 1.11 Miscellaneous provisions. (1) RELIEF FROM DEADLINES. The board may grant a party's request for reasonable extension of the deadlines set forth in this chapter.

(2) REPRESENTATION. A party may be represented throughout proceedings under this chapter, including at hearing, by counsel or by another advocate.

Section CVRB 1.04 (2) refers to the complaint form that must be completed in order to file a complaint with the Board. That complaint form must be obtained from the Department of Justice after the Department has completed its action on the complaint as provided in ss. 950.08 (3) and 950.09 (2), Stats. To obtain a sample complaint form, contact:

Written statements in lieu of testimony at the public hearing should be sent to Ms. Timberlake at the address below no later than Friday, March 3, 2000. The Board will also accept written statements in lieu of testimony on the day of the hearing.

The proposed rule does not affect small business.

Assumptions Used in Arriving at Fiscal Estimate:

The Crime Victims Rights Board is a five-member board charged to hear and decide complaints concerning possible violations of rights of crime victims. The Board is attached to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for administrative purposes. The Board will require 20 hours per week of staff assistance, as well as approximately 5 hours per week of legal counsel assistance, excluding special counsel for forfeiture actions. In addition to salary and fringe benefit costs, a majority of the Board's expenses will be related to travel and lodging for Board meetings. The estimate assumes an average of 500 miles of round trip travel, reimbursed at $.29 per mile, for each Board member and staff for each of 6 meetings, in addition to meals and lodging.

Remedies available to the Board if it finds a violation include initiating legal action against the respondent to seek a forfeiture. Forfeiture actions have fiscal implications for the Board and the respondent, as both entities will need legal counsel. The estimate assumes that forfeiture actions will cost DOJ $9000 in special counsel fees, and will cost the respondent, whether a state entity or municipality, another $9000 in fees for special defense counsel.

It is impossible to predict with certainty at this time how many complaints the Board will receive each year and how many hearings the Board will hold. The estimate assumes that the Board will meet 6 times per year, that 8 complaints will lead to hearings, and that 2 cases will lead to forfeiture actions requiring special counsel for the Board and for the respondent in the forfeiture action.

The Wisconsin Department of Employe Trust Funds will hold a public hearing to review the proposed rule, which creates ss.ETF 10.01 (1k) and 20.19, Wis. Adm. Code, relating to the Department's interpretation of what Wisconsin Retirement System creditable service is considered to be performed before January 1, 2000 vs. considered to be performed on or after that date under 1999 Wis. Act 11. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 1:00 p.m. at the Department of Employe Trust Funds, Room 2B, 801 West Badger Road, Madison, Wisconsin.

The public record on the proposed rule will be held open until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1, 2000 to permit the submission of written comments from persons unable to attend the public hearing in person, or who wish to supplement testimony offered at the hearing. Any such written comments should be addressed to Linda Owen, Department of Employe Trust Funds, 801 West Badger Road, P.O. Box 7931, Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7931.

Authority for Rule: s. 40.03 (2) (i)

Section 19 of 1999 Wis. Act 11 provides higher percentage rates to be used to calculate the Wisconsin Retirement System benefits paid from the accounts of participants who are participating employes on the effective date of this provision, but only for creditable service that is considered to be performed before January 1, 2000. 1999 Wis. Act 11 provides some clarification of what creditable service shall be considered to be performed before January 1, 2000, but further clarification is required to administer this legislation.

1999 Wis. Act 11 provides that service forfeited through a separation benefit prior to January 1, 2000 shall be considered to be performed before that date; the rule would further clarify that service forfeited on or after January 1, 2000 and later purchased is considered to be performed on or after that January 1, 2000. The rule also clarifies that all other purchased service that was actually performed before January 1, 2000 shall be considered to be performed before that date.

1999 Wis. Act 11 provides that the years of creditable military service for which a participant is eligible based on the creditable service performed before January 1, 2000 shall be considered to be performed before that date. The proposed rule would further clarify that the years of military service that are considered to be performed before January 1, 2000 are the years for which the participant would be eligible if the participant would not accrue any additional service after January 1, 2000, except that if after January 1, 2000 the participant purchases creditable service that is considered to be performed before January 1, 2000, those years of “pre-2000" service are treated as “pre-2000" years of service and may increase the years of creditable military service that are considered to be performed before January 1, 2000. The proposed rule would also clarify that assumed creditable service used to calculate a Wisconsin Retirement System disability benefit that is calculated through December 31, 1999 is considered to be performed before January 1, 2000.

The rule would also clarify that the percentage of the participant's account awarded to an alternate payee in a qualified domestic relations order shall apply equally to the participant's years of creditable service that is considered to be performed before January 1, 2000 and the years of service considered to be performed on or after January 1, 2000 that date that is credited or creditable to the participant's account as of the decree date. The creditable military service credited to the alternate payee's account is that is considered to be performed either before January 1, 2000 or performed on or after that date is based on the creditable military service for which the participant would be eligible based solely on the participant's years of service that are credited or creditable to the participant's account as of the decree date.

Finally, the rule specifies the treatment of creditable service for the purpose of determining the applicable percentage rate used to calculate Wisconsin Retirement System benefits after a participant's account is reestablished after a disability or retirement annuity is terminated.

The rule has no fiscal impact on county, city, village, town, school district, technical college district and sewerage district fiscal liabilities and revenues. This rule itself has no anticipated state fiscal effect during the current biennium and no future effect on state funds, which do not include the Public Employe Trust Funds. The costs of implementing an April 1, 2000 distribution to annuitants of funds transferred into the annuity reserve by the special TAA transfer mandated in this legislation was incorporated into the fiscal effect prepared for 1999 Assembly Bill 495. However, if the payment of the special dividend resulting from the extraordinary transfer from the TAA was to be delayed after April 1, 2000 – for example because of an injunction or court action, then previously unanticipated costs in distributing these funds will arise. If the distribution survives review by the courts, then additional payments would be owed to annuitants, some of whom may have died in the interim. DETF anticipates at least some administrative costs in locating, notifying and processing claims by estates or heirs of deceased annuitants, similar to the costs incurred in making the distribution required by the Supreme Court in WRTA v. Employe Trust Funds Board, 207 Wis. 2d 1, 558 N.W.2d 83 (1997). The exact amount of these costs will depend, in large part, on how long the litigation over this legislation remains before the courts and the mortality experience among the affected annuitants during the period.

The Department anticipates that the provisions of this proposed rule will have no direct adverse effect on small businesses.

Copies of this rule are available without cost by making a request to the Department of Employe Trust Funds, Office of the Secretary, P.O. Box 7931, Madison, Wisconsin 53707, telephone (608) 266-1071. For questions about this rule making, please call Linda Owen, Policy Analyst for the Division of Retirement Services, at (608) 266-8164.

The Wisconsin Department of Employe Trust Funds will hold a public hearing to review the proposed rule, which renumbers s. ETF 10.35 and repeals and recreates s. ETF 10.31, Wis. Adm. Code, relating participation in the variable trust fund in accordance with the provisions of s. 227.16 (1), Stats. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. at the Department of Employe Trust Funds, Room 2B, 801 West Badger Road, Madison, Wisconsin.

The public record on the emergency rule will be held open until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1, 2000 to permit the submission of written comments from persons unable to attend the public hearing in person, or who wish to supplement testimony offered at the hearing. Any such written comments should be addressed to Shelly Schueller, Department of Employe Trust Funds, 801 West Badger Road, P.O. Box 7931, Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7931.

Authority for Rule: s. 40.03 (2) (i)

Section 40.04 (7) (a), Stats., closed the Variable Trust Fund to new enrollments effective April 29, 1980. Participants who elected to join the Variable Trust prior to that date remain in the program unless they elect to cancel their participation. Once a participant has cancelled participation in the Variable Trust Fund, until 1999 WA 11 is enacted there is no opportunity to re-elect variable participation.

Section 14 of 1999 Wis. Act 11 amended s. 40.04 (7) (a), Stats., to permit all participating employes on or after 1/1/2001 to elect to have 50% of their future and additional contributions deposited in the Variable Trust Fund. 1999 WA 11 also permits former Variable Trust Fund participants who have cancelled their original variable participation to re-enroll. The new election would apply only to future employe, employer and additional contributions; participants would not be eligible to transfer contributions balances into the Variable Trust Fund.

Conditional upon 1999 WA 11 withstanding review by the courts, s. ETF 10.31 must be revised to clarify when and how a participant may elect to participate in the Variable Trust and to cancel variable participation, the effective date of such an election, and the irrevocability of an election once received by the Department. Under the proposed rule revision, an election to participate in the Variable Trust Fund would be effective on January 1 of the year after the year in which the Department receives such an election, and would first apply to contributions for the year in which the election is effective. Any participating employe who participates in the Variable Trust Fund (including participants who are already Variable Trust Fund participants based on an election prior to April 29, 1980) would have one opportunity to cancel their Variable Trust Fund participation, and once they elect to cancel their participation, there would be no opportunity to re-enroll unless the participant closes his or her WRS account by withdrawing his or her account balance and is no longer a participant, then returns to work for a WRS participating employer and again becomes a participating employe.

The rule has no fiscal impact on county, city, village, town, school district, technical college district and sewerage district fiscal liabilities and revenues. This rule itself has no anticipated state fiscal effect during the current biennium and no future effect on state funds, which do not include the Public Employe Trust Funds.

The Department anticipates that the provisions of this rule will have no direct adverse effect on small businesses.