42 USC 674 (4) (A) defines “foster care maintenance payments" as payments to cover the cost of (and the cost of providing) food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, school supplies, a child's personal incidentals, liability insurance with respect to a child, reasonable travel to the child's home for visitation, and reasonable travel for the child to remain in the school in which the child is enrolled at the time of placement.

As part of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, 42 USC 675 (1) (G) was created and 42 USC 674 (4) (A) was amended to add the phrase “reasonable travel for the child to remain in the school in which the child is enrolled at the time of placement."

The assessment tool prescribed by the department is used statewide in Iowa and Illinois and is used parts of Minnesota and Michigan. Michigan and Illinois have a levels of care system for foster homes.

The non-statutory requirements of the rule are based on recommendations from the Out-of-Home Care/Adoption Committee and the Foster Parent Training Committee. The committees have worked with the department for the past 5 years to incorporate new federal laws into state law and policy by referring to other state models and national standards of child welfare practice. For the past 2 years, both committees have focused on developing policy to implement the levels of care and foster parent training initiatives in 2009 Wisconsin Act 28. Both committees have statewide membership of staff from counties, tribes, private child-placing agencies, foster and treatment foster parents, court personnel, advocacy agencies, and state government.

The proposed rule will affect private child-placing agencies, some of which are small businesses. The policies in the rule were developed in collaboration with members of the Foster Parent Training Committee and the Out-of-Home Care/Adoption Committee, which included representatives from child-placing agencies.

Much of the rule is based on current practices of the majority of agencies supporting treatment foster care. The sections on agency responsibilities were part of DCF 38 and have been rewritten into DCF 56 with few changes. Representatives from child-placing agencies indicated that their agencies already require foster parents to have as much or more than the training hours in the proposed rule. Many agencies that serve treatment foster parents and treatment foster children with higher needs already have a levels or intensity system with different foster parent qualifications, training, and payments. The rule will put structure and consistency to the levels of care that will help counties know what services they are purchasing as they work with different private agencies that provide similar services. Existing treatment foster homes will be grandfathered in as Level 3 foster homes and existing shift-staffed treatment foster homes will be grandfathered in as Level 5 foster homes. Some private child-placing agencies will choose to offer Level 4 foster homes and will certify these foster parents under the emergency and proposed rules. The administrative cost will be minimal.

In addition, the department will be providing 6 hours of the new pre-placement training without charge to the agencies. The department is also creating online training to allow agency staff to receive certification and recertification in administering the standardized assessment tool without charge.

The rule will affect small businesses, but will not have a significant economic effect on a substantial number of small businesses. The Department's Small Business Regulatory Coordinator is Elaine Pridgen, elaine.pridgen@wisconsin.
gov; (608) 267-9403.

Indeterminate.

Indeterminate.

None.

This rule incorporates the administrative rule under Chapter 38 into Chapter 56 to create one universal licensing code for foster care and treatment foster care providers. This is the second phase of creating the Levels of Care system passed in 2009 Wisconsin Act 28. This rule establishes the requirements for certification at levels 3, 4, and 5. A foster home is licensed at these levels based on a number of factors, including the level of knowledge, skill, training, and experience of the licensee. This rule establishes the minimum amount of training at each of these levels. In addition, this rule mandates the use of the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) rating tool. This rating tools is designed to consistently identify the needs of children, ensure that providers are addressing those needs, and determine reimbursements to foster and treatment foster parents.

The rule will affect counties and the Department, which operates the child welfare program in Milwaukee County. The rule is not anticipated to affect current foster care and treatment foster care providers. Most existing providers meet the qualifications in the rule and existing providers are grandfathered into the rule.

The implementation of the CANS rating tool may identify some unmet needs for children, which could increase the costs of providing services to these children. Also, the CANS rating tool could more appropriately identify a lesser level of need for children who already are receiving special services, which may decrease costs to serve these children. Additionally, providing children with adequate services may reduce the length of stay for children in out-of-home care, reducing long-term costs. The net effect of these scenarios cannot be determined.

Jonelle Brom, Bureau of Permanence and Out-of-Home Care, Division of Safety and Permanence, (608) 264-6933, jonelle.brom@wisconsin.gov.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to sections 101.02 (15) (h) to (j), 101.16 (2), 101.17 and 101.19 of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Department of Commerce will hold a public Hearing on proposed rules revising Chapters Comm 2 and 40 relating to fuel gas systems, and affecting small businesses.

The public Hearing will be held as follows:

Date and Time:	Location:
February 8, 2011 Tuesday 10:30 am	Thompson Commerce Center 3rd flr, Room 3B 201 West Washington Avenue Madison, WI 53703

This Hearing will be held in an accessible facility. If you have special needs or circumstances that may make communication or accessibility difficult at the Hearing, please call Sam Rockweiler at (608) 266-0797 or at Contact Through Relay at least 10 days prior to the Hearing date. Accommodations such as interpreters, English translators, or materials in audio tape format will, to the fullest extent possible, be made available upon a request from a person with a disability.

Interested persons are invited to appear at the Hearing and present comments on the proposed rules. Persons making oral presentations are requested to submit their comments in writing, via e-mail. Persons submitting comments will not receive individual responses. The Hearing record on this rulemaking will remain open until February 14, 2011, to permit submittal of written comments from persons who are unable to attend the Hearing or who wish to supplement testimony offered at the Hearing. E-mail comments should be sent to sam.rockweiler@wisconsin.gov. If e-mail submittal is not possible, written comments may be submitted to Sam Rockweiler, Department of Commerce, Division of Environmental and Regulatory Services, P.O. Box 14427, Madison, WI 53708-0427.

The proposed rules and an analysis of them are available by entering “Comm 40" in the search engine at the following Website:https://health.wisconsin.gov/admrules/public/Home. Paper copies may be obtained without cost from Sam Rockweiler at the Department of Commerce, Division of Environmental and Regulatory Services, P.O. Box 14427, Madison, WI 53707, or at sam.rockweiler@wisconsin.gov, or at telephone (608) 266-0797, or at Contact Through Relay. Copies will also be available at the public Hearing.

Sections 101.02 (1) and (15) (h) to (j), 101.11, 101.16, 101.17 and 101.19.

Sections 101.02 (1) and (15) (h) to (j), 101.16 (2), 101.17, 101.19 (1) and 227.11 (2) (a).

Under sections 101.02 (1) and (15) (h) to (j) of the Statutes, the Department is required to establish rules and prescribe safeguards for protecting the life, health, safety and welfare of employees and frequenters of public buildings and places of employment. Under section 101.16 (2) of the Statutes, the Department is required to establish rules relating to design, construction, location, installation, operation, repair, and maintenance of equipment for storage, handling, use, and transportation by tank truck or tank trailer, of liquefied petroleum gases for fuel purposes, and for the odorization of those gases. Under section 101.17 of the Statutes, installation and use of machines and mechanical devices must comply with the rules of the Department. Section 101.19 of the Statutes authorizes the Department to assess fees for providing services. The Department also has authority under section 227.11 (2) (a) of the Statutes to promulgate rules interpreting any statute that is enforced or administered by the Department, if the rule is considered necessary to effectuate the purpose of the statute.

Some of the fuel gas systems that are addressed by the proposed rule changes are connected to gas piping and appliances or equipment that is addressed by either the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code, which is contained in chapters Comm 61 to 66, or the Uniform Dwelling Code, which is contained in chapters Comm 20 to 25. Some of the gases that are addressed by the proposed changes are also used for other than fuel purposes – and those uses may include storage in pressure vessels, which is then addressed in chapter Comm 41, and mechanical refrigeration, which is addressed in chapter Comm 45.

Chapter Comm 40 establishes minimum safety standards for design, construction, installation, operation, testing, inspection, repair and maintenance of liquefied petroleum gas systems, liquefied natural gas systems, compressed natural gas systems, gaseous hydrogen systems, and liquefied hydrogen systems – where these gas systems are used for fuel purposes, such as for heating appliances or engines.

The proposed changes would primarily update this chapter to have it include newer editions of several referenced national standards from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and to make it consistent with current industry and regulatory practices. For example, the changes include more detailed requirements from a recent amendment to a national standard, for purging piping and equipment that use liquefied petroleum gas. The changes would also clarify and refine administrative elements, such as where and how the chapter applies, and where Department-level plan approval and inspection is required, including for vehicle-fuel dispensing systems.

An Internet-based search of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) found the following existing federal regulations relating to liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas, gaseous hydrogen and liquefied hydrogen as covered in this update of chapter Comm 40:

These federal regulations were revised July1, 2010, and appear to be similar to the proposed rules. In addition to containing specific requirements for the various gas systems, the federal regulations incorporate by reference several national standards published by the NFPA, the American National Standards Institute, the Compressed Gas Association and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

An Internet-based search of the 2009 and 2010 issues of the Federal Register did not find any proposed regulations relating to gas systems as covered in this update of chapter Comm 40.

An Internet-based search of the four adjacent states' rules found the following requirements relating to gas systems used for fuel purposes:

In considering the latest editions of the referenced standards from NFPA, Department staff comprehensively compared these standards to the requirements currently in chapter Comm 40, and concluded that these standards are clearer and provide more detail than the current requirements and standards in Comm 40, and would not impose significant costs or other impacts on a substantial number of businesses. The Department's advisory council for fuel gas systems then reviewed these comparisons and agreed with these conclusions, and similarly assisted with developing the other changes for updating Comm 40. The members of that council represent the stakeholders involved in the fuel gas systems industry, and are members of the following organizations:

An economic impact report was not prepared or required under section 227.137 of the Statutes. Consideration of the potential effects on small business was based on guidelines produced by the federal Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy. The advisory council described above did not identify any significant impacts relative to compliance with the proposed changes for updating chapter Comm 40.

The proposed changes are not expected to impose significant costs or other impacts on a substantial number of businesses because the primary effect of the changes is to make chapter Comm 40 consistent with current regional and national standards for fuel gas systems, and with current industry and regulatory practices.

1. Types of small businesses that will be affected by the rules.

2. Reporting, bookkeeping and other procedures required for compliance with the rules.

3. Types of professional skills necessary for compliance with the rules.

4. Rules have a significant economic impact on small businesses.

Any inquiries for the small business regulatory coordinator for the Department of Commerce can be directed to Sam Rockweiler, as listed above.