Wisconsin Works (W-2), Medical Assistance (MA), and the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the food stamp program,
are public assistance programs that provide cash benefits and job assistance,
medical care, and assistance with food purchases to low-income persons who satisfy
other eligibility criteria generally relating to age, pregnancy, or disability. Each of
these programs is administered by the Department of Children and Families (DCF)
or the Department of Health Services (DHS).

Under current law, a person who applies for W-2, MA, or SNAP must, as a
condition of eligibility, provide a declaration of citizenship or satisfactory
immigration status and may be required to provide additional verification of
citizenship or satisfactory immigration status. Current law also provides, with some
exceptions, that as a condition of eligibility for MA, including BadgerCare Plus, or
the program that provides prescription drug assistance for elderly persons,
commonly known as SeniorCare, an applicant or recipient who declares himself or
herself to be a U.S. citizen or national must provide satisfactory documentary

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evidence that he or she is a citizen or national. Satisfactory documentation for this
purpose consists of those documents and other forms of evidence specified under
federal law.

This bill provides that, to the extent permitted under federal law if there are
any conflicting federal provisions, any person who applies for a program that is
administered by DHS or DCF under the public assistance chapter of the statutes and
that provides services, benefits, or other assistance (public assistance program)
must, as a condition of eligibility for that program, provide documentary evidence of
citizenship or satisfactory immigration status. In addition to SeniorCare and MA,
including BadgerCare Plus, which have their own documentation requirement
under current law for persons who declare themselves to be citizens or nationals of
the United States, the public assistance programs to which the new requirement
under the bill applies include W-2, including the child care subsidy program known
as Wisconsin Shares; SNAP; the program that provides eligible persons with
assistance in establishing the paternity of a child, establishing or modifying child
support obligations, enforcing child support or maintenance (alimony) obligations,
and locating persons who owe child support or children taken by parents in violation
of court orders; the programs that provide state supplemental payments to persons
receiving federal supplemental security income; the program that pays funeral,
burial, and cemetery expenses for persons whose estates are insufficient to pay those
expenses; and the disease aids program that provides assistance in paying the costs
of medical treatment for eligible persons with cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, or chronic
renal (kidney) disease.

The bill requires every application for a public assistance program to include
a certification clause, to be completed by the welfare worker or other person
processing the application, certifying that he or she has received from the applicant
the necessary documentary evidence and specifying the nature of the documentary
evidence. Any person who falsely certifies that he or she received the documentary
evidence is subject to a $250 forfeiture, in addition to any other penalties that might
apply under current law.