Date of enactment: January 31, 2024
2023 Senate Bill 702 Date of publication*: February 1, 2024
2023 WISCONSIN ACT 89
AN ACT to amend 38.28 (1m) (a) 1.; and to create 38.34 of the statutes; relating to: funding for technical college
oral health care programs.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in
senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. 38.28 (1m) (a) 1. of the statutes is
amended to read:
38.28 (1m) (a) 1. “District aidable cost” means the
annual cost of operating a technical college district,
including debt service charges for district bonds and
promissory notes for building programs or capital equip-
ment, but excluding all expenditures relating to auxiliary
enterprises and community service programs, all expen-
ditures funded by or reimbursed with federal revenues,
all receipts under ss. 38.12 (9) and (14), 38.14 (3) and (9),
and 118.15 (2) (a), all receipts from grants awarded under
ss. 38.04 (8), (28), and (31), 38.14 (11), 38.26, 38.27,
38.31, 38.33, 38.34, 38.38, and 38.42, all fees collected
under s. 38.24, and driver education and chauffeur train-
ing aids.
SECTION 2. 38.34 of the statutes is created to read:
38.34 Funding to expand the oral health care
workforce. (1) In this section, “eligible expenditures”
means any of the following:
(a) Capital expenditures, such as expenditures for
equipment or facility improvements or expansion.
(b) Expenditures for instructional supplies, teaching
materials and resources, consumables, or clinic fees.
(c) Instructor bonuses if the requirements in sub. (3)
are satisfied.
(2) (a) In the 2023−25 fiscal biennium, the board, in
coordination with district boards, may submit to the joint
committee on finance a request for funding in the
2023−25 fiscal biennium, in a total amount not exceeding
$20,000,000, for district board programs to expand the
state’s oral health care workforce. Subject to par. (b) and
sub. (5), the request for funding shall include a plan that
identifies each district board that requests funding, the
amount of funding the district board requests, and a
detailed description of the eligible expenditures for
which the requested funding would be used.
(b) The plan under par. (a) shall include requests for
all of the following:
1. For the district board of Northcentral Technical
College, up to $2,000,000 to expand current dental
hygienist and dental assistant programs and for develop-
ment of a dental therapy program if dental therapy
becomes an authorized dental practice.
2. For any district board that offers a dental hygienist
program on the effective date of this subdivision .... [LRB
inserts date], other than the district board of Northcentral
Technical College, up to $1,430,000.
3. For any district board that offers no dental program
or only a dental assistant program on the effective date of
this subdivision .... [LRB inserts date], up to $1,000,000
to create a new program or expand the existing program.
* Section 991.11, WISCONSIN STATUTES: Effective date of acts. “Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor’s
partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication.” − 2 −2023 Wisconsin Act 89 2023 Senate Bill 702
(c) The requirement under par. (b) does not preclude
a request for funding in the plan of any additional amount
for a district board for a purpose permissible under sub.
(5).
(3) (a) Funding provided by the board to a district
board under this section may be used to pay newly hired
instructors a hiring bonus not exceeding $5,000 per
instructor if all of the following apply:
1. The instructor is hired into a position that is at least
a 0.5 full−time equivalent position.
2. The instructor’s work responsibilities require the
instructor to devote an amount of time at least equal to a
0.5 full−time equivalent position teaching courses in an
oral health care program.
3. The district board provides matching funding for
the bonus in an amount equal to or greater than the
amount of the funds provided under this subsection.
4. The instructor agrees in writing to continue
employment with the district board for at least 3 years in
a position that satisfies the requirements in subds. 1. and
2.
5. The district board commits to pay the retention
bonus under sub. (4), from funds other than the grant
awarded under this section, if the conditions in sub. (4)
are satisfied.
6. The instructor was not employed by the district
board, or by any other district board, at any time in the
75−day period immediately preceding the effective date
of this subdivision .... [LRB inserts date].
(b) 1. The agreement under par. (a) 4. shall specify
that, except as provided in subds. 2. to 4., if the instructor
discontinues employment with the district board less than
3 years after the instructor’s first day of employment, the
instructor is required to repay the hiring bonus as follows:
a. All of the bonus if the term of employment was less
than one year.
b. Two−thirds of the bonus if the term of employment
was at least one year but less than 2 years.
c. One−third of the bonus if the term of employment
was at least 2 years but less than 3 years.
2. If the instructor discontinues employment with the
district board to begin employment with a different dis-
trict board, in a position that is at least a 0.5 full−time
equivalent position, as an instructor in an oral health care
program, the repayment requirement under subd. 1. does
not apply and the 3−year period under par. (a) 4. contin-
ues in effect from the instructor’s first day of employment
with the district board that paid the hiring bonus.
3. If a district board pays an instructor a hiring bonus
under par. (a) and the instructor is terminated for cause
less than 3 years after the instructor’s first day of employ-
ment, the instructor is required to repay all of the bonus.
4. If a district board pays an instructor a hiring bonus
under par. (a) and the instructor is terminated for a reason
other than cause, including as a result of budgetary con-
straints or program changes, the instructor is not required
to repay the bonus.
(c) An instructor who is simultaneously employed by
2 district boards may not receive more than one bonus
under this subsection.
(4) The district board shall pay to an instructor who
receives a hiring bonus under sub. (3) a retention bonus
in the amount of $5,000 if, 5 years after the date the bonus
under sub. (3) was paid, the instructor remains employed
by the district board in a position that meets the require-
ments under sub. (3) (a) 1. and 2.
(5) The plan under sub. (2) shall include sufficient
information for the joint committee on finance to deter-
mine that, for each district board program for which fund-
ing is requested, all of the following requirements are sat-
isfied:
(a) Funding will be used only for eligible expendi-
tures to expand a district board’s existing oral health care
program that has a capacity limit and a current waiting list
for program admission or to create a new oral health care
program offered by the district board after the district
board’s finding of demonstrated community interest in
and need for the program.
(b) Except as provided in sub. (3) (a) 3., the district
board will provide matching funding, from sources other
than this section, of at least 20 percent of the amount
requested in the plan to pay costs associated with the dis-
trict board’s new or expanded oral health care program.
(6) If the joint committee on finance determines that
the requirements in subs. (2) and (5) are satisfied, the
joint committee on finance may approve the plan and
request for funding, as proposed or as modified.
(7) Upon approval under sub. (6), the joint committee
on finance may provide funding from the appropriation
under s. 20.865 (4) (a), in an amount determined by the
joint committee on finance but not exceeding a total of
$20,000,000, to the board for distribution to the applica-
ble district boards as provided in the approved plan.
(8) (a) From the funding received under sub. (7), the
board shall reimburse each district board for its eligible
expenditures under the approved plan if the board finds
the district board complied with the requirements under
this section.
(b) If a district board has not requested reimburse-
ment from the board within 12 months after the joint
committee on finance approves the plan or if the district
board informs the board that it will not implement the
program changes described in the approved plan, the
board may submit a request to the joint committee on
finance to redistribute the funds allocated for that district
board to another district board to be used for a purpose
consistent with this section. The request shall identify
each district board to which funding is to be reallocated
and the amount to be reallocated to each, along with a
detailed description of the eligible expenditures for − 3 − 2023 Wisconsin Act 89 2023 Senate Bill 702
which the reallocated funding would be used. The
request shall also include the same information that was
required under sub. (5) for the original plan.
(c) If, within 14 working days after receiving the
request under par. (b), the cochairpersons of the joint
committee on finance do not notify the board that the
committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of
reviewing the request, the request is considered approved
and the board may implement the reallocation of funding
proposed in the request. If, within 14 working days after
the date of the request, the cochairpersons of the commit-
tee notify the board that the committee has scheduled a
meeting for the purpose of reviewing the request, the
request is approved only upon the committee’s express
approval, as requested or as modified.
(d) From reallocated funding approved under par. (c),
the board shall reimburse a district board for its approved
eligible expenditures if the board finds the district board
complied with the requirements under this section.
(9) Not later than January 1, 2026, a district board
that receives funding under this section shall report to the
board the amount of funding the district board received,
a detailed description of all expenditures for which the
funding was used, and the impact of the funding on the
district board’s oral health care programs. Not later than
March 1, 2026, the board shall submit to the chief clerk
of each house of the legislature for distribution to the
appropriate standing committees under s. 13.172 (3) a
report summarizing this information received from the
district boards.