EXCERPT FROM: Journal Sentinel
By Raquel Rutledge
Madison - Lawmakers unanimously approved a wide-reaching bill Thursday aimed at curbing fraud and keeping criminals out of the state's troubled taxpayer-supported child-care program.
Gov. Jim Doyle has indicated he would sign it.
While the bill garnered bipartisan support, Republicans complained it didn't go far enough to cut costly scamming and other troubles uncovered in a yearlong, ongoing investigation by the Journal Sentinel.
"There is still rampant fraud throughout the system," said state Rep. Robin Vos (R-Racine). "Fraud will still be rampant after this vote . . . It's disappointing . . . But it's better than nothing."
Republicans from both houses unsuccessfully introduced more than a dozen amendments they said would strengthen the bill. Democrats called some of them unnecessary and offensive.
"They want to pretend that they are somehow tougher and we are weaker," state Sen. Robert Jauch (D-Poplar) said of the Republicans. "This bill is a responsible effort to respond to a legitimate problem that we all care deeply about."
The Senate unanimously approved the measure Thursday afternoon. The Assembly followed suit late Thursday.
The bill will:
• Require criminal background checks on providers every three months, or sooner, if deemed necessary. Now, background checks are required once every four years.
In July, the Journal Sentinel found nearly 500 child-care providers had criminal records. The Legislative Audit Bureau reported in September on four cases where addresses of in-home child-care providers matched those of registered sex offenders.
• Permanently ban providers from Wisconsin Shares who are convicted of certain offenses, including crimes against children, homicide, felony sexual assault, armed robbery, welfare fraud and giving false information for background checks. Under current law, many such providers are barred from the program but can be re-licensed if they show they've been rehabilitated.
• Require providers to be suspended if charged with a serious crime and have their licenses revoked if convicted of the crime.
• Give whistleblower protection to county and state employees who suspect fraud. Public employees will be immune from lawsuits if they report questionable providers and should not be disciplined by supervisors for aggressively pursuing fraud.
Supervisors will be required to look into such cases and, if fraud is suspected, report their findings to the appropriate government agency that investigates fraud. In the state's nine largest counties, supervisors will be required to report suspected fraud to the local sheriff's department.
In interviews with eight current or former government workers, six workers told the Journal Sentinel that they had been punished for looking into suspicious child-care arrangements.
Changes praised
Reggie Bicha, secretary of the state Department of Children and Families, said the bill will significantly help the department keep criminals out of the system and save taxpayer's money.
"This legislation, coupled with the changes we've already instituted at the Department of Children and Families, will have an immediate impact on the safety and quality of child care in the state," Bicha said in a prepared statement.
The bill is the latest in long string of measures by lawmakers, regulators and law enforcement officials designed to clean up the $350 million Wisconsin Shares program since January, when the newspaper began publishing the "Cashing in on Kids" series. The stories have exposed how parents and providers are scamming millions of dollars.
The Legislature passed a bill last month holding child-care providers personally liable for any money they receive improperly from the program.
The Wisconsin Shares program was designed to move people from welfare to work by covering the cost of child care for low-income working parents. The newspaper has identified suspicious payments of more than $5.7 million thus far in its investigation. A state audit released in June, prompted by newspaper reports, found an estimated $20 million misspent money in 2008 alone.
Republicans introduced amendments they said would go further to address the problems. The amendments would have, among other things, limited the appeals process for providers who get suspended from the program, required fingerprinting of child-care providers as is done with foster care parents, restricted child-care subsidies for child-care providers themselves and put a deadline on the Department of Children and Families to implement an electronic attendance system.
Jauch called some of the amendments unnecessary and offensive and questioned the motivation of the Republicans who introduced them.
Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) criticized Democrats for rejecting the amendments and accused them of mistreating her as she brought the amendments forth.
"I have every right to bring whatever amendment I want to this floor," Darling said. "I find it offensive and I find it sexist that I am treated this way by some members of this floor."
Darling said Milwaukee and Racine counties asked for the amendments to help them crack down on fraud.
"We thought it was important to look at their recommendations as well," Darling said.
Reforms and results
Since the Journal Sentinel's first installment of the "Cashing in on Kids" series in January exposed costly fraud in the taxpayer-paid Wisconsin Shares program, legislators, regulators and law enforcement officials have taken numerous steps to address the problems. Among them: